446 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE EXAMPLE OF THE FLORIST. 



We select seeds of certain plants -which come tlie nearest to our standard of 

 perfection. No two breeders of any kind of stock have the same ideal stand- 

 ard in all particulars, so with those wlio improve plants. Our choice short- 

 horns, draft horses, Merino slieep, Essex swine, Liglit Brahma fowls were not 

 brouglit to their present state of perfection by mere good lack or accident, 

 but by the long and patient study and experience of able men. The same is 

 true of many plants, more especially of plants which arc raised for the beauty 

 of their flowers or foliage. It is not by accident that our green-houses and 

 gardens are so well supplied with choice roses, orchids, rhododendrons, azalias, 

 camellias, pansies, petunias, phloxes, dahlias, gladioli, hyacinths, tulips, pelar- 

 goniums, calceolarias, asters, fuchsias, chrysanthemums. These and many 

 others have been produced by judicious labor in breeding and cultivation. The 

 jioorest and those of medium quality were weeded out; only a few of the 

 choicest were saved. The work was divided. One man devotes years of 

 patient work to certain strains of pelargoniums; another to asters, roses, or 

 pansies, and so on through the long list of '* Flora's sweetest treasures." 

 Burbidge says, "From a houseful of fuchsias, Mr. 11. Cannel — who is well 

 known for his new varieties of this favorite plant — only obtains about a quar- 

 ter of an ounce of perfect seed, the value of whicli cannot be calculated, as it 

 is never sold." One man raises 10,000 pelargoniums and each year for ten 

 years or more, and only gets half a dozen a year fit to send out under a name, 

 and many of these are soon replaced by others. Choice strains of cineraria 

 and calceolaria and primula seeds are worth $50 or $75 an ounce, or S900 or 

 even 81,500 per pound. 



Great pains have been taken with many of our garden vegetables, notablv 

 peas, beans, cabbages, cauliflowers, beets, celery, melons, sweet-corn, lettuce, 

 potatoes and squashes. 



The above flowers and vegetables may have been much experimented on be- 

 cause of the quick returns whicli were likely to be made for an experiment. 

 For the same reason much has been done to improve strawberries, gooseberries, 

 raspberries and grapes. Considerable has been done with peaches, compara- 

 tively little with quinces, pears, plums, cherries, and in this country, almost 

 nothing with apples. Some attention has been given to Indian corn, but very 

 little to wheat, rye, oats, and barley. 



POTATOES. 



Some years ago potatoes rotted. Nearly every one thought we must give up 

 this useful tuber. New varieties were originated and from those others were 

 produced, and from the best of these still others and others in succession, un- 

 til now we hear little about diseased potatoes in Europe or in America. From 

 this I have taken a hint, — perhaps not the right one, — that we may raise up 

 races of peaches which shall be healthy and strong enough to resist the yellows. 

 Potatoes probably became degenerated by long propagation from the tubers 

 (especially in unsuitables soils or climates), which arc not the true seeds. Per- 

 haps under favorable conditions this might have been continued indefinitely, 

 but the conditions were not all favorable and the varieties became diseased, and 

 by merely planting tubers could not be brought back to healtli and former pro- 

 ductiveness. 



Peaclics are perpetuated by buds set in the young seedlings. The seedling 

 makes a large growth the first year, nearly all of which is cut off the next 



