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seed characters are sought the unit must be the seed. A common 

 error in plant breecHng is the working in opposition to nature. 

 For example, extreme earliness and extreme productiveness should 

 not be looked for in the same variety. 



After having produced the ideal type, very careful selecting and 

 " roguing " will be necessary to maintain it. A grower should 

 always have a separate plantation from which to select his seed. 

 However, unless he is favorably situated and is prepared to give to 

 the work of selection the necessary attention, it is much better for 

 him to purchase his seed from a reputable house. There are many 

 such houses that contract the growing of their seed with men who 

 are experts in the production and selection of good seed. 



Synonymy. 



The list of varieties of beans is so large that one is inclined to 

 say at once that many of the names must be synonymous. Of the 

 number of varieties of beans listed by American seedsmen in 1905, 

 about fifty per cent, proved to be distinct forms. Environmental 

 conditions are extremely variable. Moreover, since only a few 

 seedsmen maintain trial grounds, and authentic printed descriptions 

 are wanting, the causes of such wholesale re-naming are evident. 

 Again, seedsmen often list the same variety under two or more 

 names in order to maintain their trade in certain localities where 

 certain types have local names. Then there are some growers and 

 'possibly a few seedsmen who think more of something they can 

 name than something of real value. The productions of such men 

 are the forms which shine in the pages of the seed catalogue for a 

 few years and then suddenly fall into oblivion. 



There is, however, another type of synonym, or what we may 

 call a " typonym." Tt is easy to understand why a certain stock 

 of a varietv bv irood cultural treatment and careful selection mav 

 be somewhat improved, and how another stock with poor treatment 

 may deteriorate. This is exactly what appears to have taken place 

 in manv instances. Often a variety has become modified to such 

 an extent that it has been given a name and put on the market 

 as a distinct variety. It is quite proper and desirable that this be 

 done, but when the seed gets into the hands of another seedsman 

 or grower who is not careful to maintain the standard, the variety 

 tends to revert to the original type. We find all stages of this 

 modification and reversion. The general characters are similar but 

 the minor characters differ. 



