VkumuiNT State Houticultukal Society 57 



stock of old sorts in order to distinguish that stock from others 

 of the same sort ; and each one of the remainder was Hsted be- 

 cause that variety or stock proved at some time and place to be 

 not only different but in some respects superior to any sort the 

 observer was acquainted with. Now, do these different names 

 stand for distinct sorts? I have been over the list pretty care- 

 fully and I do not hesitate to say that from a planting of some 

 25 plants of each of 25 to 30 sorts there could be selected exhi- 

 bition plates of tomatoes which in the appearance of the fruits 

 would be acceptable to the best judges as representatives of each 

 and every one of the 321 varieties listed in the Bulletin. Now 

 does that mean there are only 25 to 30 distinct sorts ? Not neces- 

 sarily. I think druggists recognize some 350 to 400 distinct 

 medical drugs and a druggist's stock ordinarily consists of from 

 500 to 1000 distinct lots. I have been assured by a competent 

 druggist that with from 50 to 75 stock solutions, crystals and 

 powders he could fill every one of those 1000 bottles so that the 

 best druggist in the city could not by appearance detect with cer- 

 tainty more than 5 per cent of the errors. Does this prove that 

 there are only 50 to 75 distinct drugs instead of 1000? Or 

 would you be willing to make use of the contents of any of the 

 bottles so filled simply because it looked like what you wanted? 

 I think not, you recognize that drugs which can not readily be 

 distinguished by the eye, may have materially diiTerent quali- 

 ties, and in the same way tomato fruit which can not be dis- 

 tinguished by the eye may differ materially in flavor, shipping 

 and keeping qualities and otherwise or what is of greater im- 

 portance to the planter, may come from plants which are radically 

 different in habit of growth and adaptation to particular condi- 

 tions of soil, climate, method of culture, etc. During the past 

 season seed of the same lots of different varieties of tomatoes 

 were planted in Missouri, Nebraska, Maine and Ohio, often in 

 one of the trials every plant in a lot of 50 would have more 

 or better fruit on it than the nearest plant in an adjoining row 

 of another kind. You say it was a more productive sort, yes, 

 for that section, but for that section only, for in many instances 

 in the planting of the same stocks in one of the other trials every 

 plant of the second lot would have more and better fruit than 

 the adjacent one of the first. Often a sort, not only in trials 

 but in large plantings will do admirably in one location, while 

 in a different one on similar soil with seemingly the same or 

 even better cultivation it will be a failure. Horticultural, or 

 Wren's Egg beans do well almost universally through the north- 

 ern New England states, but out of an average of 100 acres a 

 year for 25 years, which were planted under my direction in 

 Michigan in widely different locations and on different soils, 



