157 



one by which a particular type shall be known. In order to apply 

 the rule of priority, it becomes necessary to consult all the available 

 seed catalogues of some 250 seedsmen. As a result of such con- 

 sultation a great deal of useful information regarding the history 

 of varieties has been acquired. As a rule the first name applied 

 to a variety is the one here adopted, but in order to preserve the 

 identity of some varieties this rule could not be applied. Many old 

 varietal names have gone out of use and some other name has 

 been substituted. A good example of this is found in the well- 

 known variety Golden Wax, which was first introduced about 1871 

 as York Wax ; but very few people know the variety by this name. 

 For this reason, in many cases the more popular name has been 

 chosen in preference to the one by which the variety was first known. 



Much confusion is caused by the similarity of varietal names. 

 Examples are : Burpee's Stringless Green Pod, Giant Stringless 

 Green Pod, Giant Stringless Wax, and Grenell's Stringless Green 

 Pod, names applied to varieties which are quite difi:"erent from each 

 other, as are also Refugee, Early Refugee, Golden Refugee, 

 Refugee Wax, and Stringless Refugee Wax. In such cases an at- 

 tempt has been made to alter the name and at the same time pre- 

 serve its identitv. 



The greatest source of confusion, however, lies in the indiscrimi- 

 nate use of descriptive words that may, or may not, indicate real 

 varietal differences. A good example in which the descriptives mark 

 no real varietal charr^cters is found in the variety Red \'alentine, 

 which is catalogued under 67 dififerent names, of which the follow- 

 ing are a few : Early V^alentine, Extra Early \^alentine, Early Red 

 Valentine, Extra Early Red Valentine, Improved Extra Early Red 

 Valentine, Round Red Valentine, Round Pod A^alentine. Early 

 Round Pod Valentine, Extra Early Round Pod Valentine, Improved 

 Valentine, Improved Round Pod Red Valentine, Earliest Improved 

 Round Pod Red Valentine, Red Speckled A'alentine, Improved 

 Round Pod Red Speckled Valentine, Xew Improved Round Pod 

 Extra Early Red Speckled Valentine and so on. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, such descriptive words do mark varietal differences. Ex- 

 amples are: Henderson Bush Lima and Iiuproved Henderson Bush 

 Lima ; Golden Wax, Improved Golden Wax and Rustless Golden 

 Wax. It frequently happens also that such words indicate superior- 

 ity of stock. But their use has been so much abused that they carry 

 little weight with the public. On the following pages such descrip- 

 tive words that do not indicate varietal differences have been 

 dropped, except in cases where confusion with other varieties is 



