54 



THE CARDJ'.XI'.R'S MOX IIIJ.V 



\ /''i/>rinin\ 



luediiiin has been kept in view. It rontiiiiis 

 euouijlj of scitMK'ci to satisfy, without tl«)\ in^, thi- 

 ahnora>al ajjpotite of the thorounjh-ijoinj; sci- 

 entist ; hut, at the same time, the popular reader 

 is drawn to i(s paijes hy tlie ])erspi(nily of its 

 phraseoIo<;y, tiie simplicity of its arraiincmeiit. 

 and thflu'auty of its iUustrutions. 



I ( aiinot allow the i)resent opportunity to 

 pa>s unnoticed without makinji a few favorable 

 conunents upon the mechanical part of the work. 

 The excellence of the typo<j;rai)hy and the supe- 

 rior (piality of the paper, whi('ii was manufat- 

 tured exjjressly for it, are in harmony with the 

 otlier j)arliculars. The enterj)risinij; pul)lisher is 

 deserving: of unstinted praise for his part of flic 

 undertaking. May this beautiful and matchless 

 work meet with a success commensurate with the 

 wishes of all concerned. 



PROTECTION TO NOVELTIES. 



nv KIOEXK GLEN, IU)( HESTER, N. V. 



In dLscussinj^ the probable result of a horti- 

 cultural copyright law upon the sale of inferior 

 sorts, we must, of course, consider its permanent 

 rather than its immediate effect. It may be 

 true that while the system is new, and the pub- ' 

 lie are unacciuaintcd with its nature, some igno- ' 

 rant people may be led to believe that the fact 

 that a variety has a copyrighted name is an 

 additional reason for purchasing specimens of it ; i 

 but it is difficult to conceive that on the start 

 such people can be humbugged any more than 

 they now are ; and as even this class now under- 

 stand that a plow or other implement is »io bet- 

 ter because it is patented, it cannot be doubted 

 that they will soon learn that the same is true 

 of a tree or plant upon which a copyrighted 

 name is claimed. 



What is necessary to protect people from 

 inferior varieties is familiarity with the claims 

 of good sorts ; and if we place those having good 

 sorts to offer in a position where they will be 

 reasonably certain of a fair return for so doing, 

 they will not hesitate to incur the CApense of 

 familiarizing people with the merits of these 

 varieties. I'nder the proposed law, a nursery- 

 man holding a copyright upon the name of a 

 good sort would see that all trade for it which 

 could be developed under that name would come 

 to him, and that no such advantage could accrue 

 to the advertiser of it under any other name. 

 Hence he would exhibit its products and adver- 

 tise its name and qualities in other ways so 

 thoroughly that the}' would Ijocome familiar to 



• very household in tlie laiul. 'Ilu' iiolder of the 

 nanic of a poor sort could not ad'ord to pursue 

 this course, because every time it wa.s brought 

 in comparison with better varieties its reputa- 

 tion would sutler; and yet this method of de- 

 veloping a demand for a variety would become, 

 in a greater or less degree, a necessity of the 

 trade. Hence it would become necessary to 

 know that a variety is good before increasinu: 

 the expense of placing it on the market. Mere 

 novelty would cease to attract attention, and 

 the returns from pressing poor varieties would 

 become so unreniunerative that the number of 

 these which would pass beyond the crucial stage 

 of testing, and be brought to the attention of 

 the general public, would be proportionately 

 much less than it now is. 



If any one questions the correctness of this 

 conclusion, let him calculate the chances of 

 profit he would have in introducing to the public 

 a dictionary or sewing machine wanting in real 

 merit, in competition with " Webster's " or the 

 " Singer " on the grounds that his book or ma- 

 chine is novel in its arrangement, and cannot be 

 had of other publishers or manufacturers. He 

 will then be enabled to determine, hi great de- 

 gree, whether the propesed law would retard or 

 quicken the sale of "Utah Hybrid'' cherry, 

 "Vermont Seedling" peach, "Tree Alpine" 

 strawberry, and other mythical or worthless 

 varieties which are now sold in large numbers 

 to even intelligent farmers who are not familiar 

 with their merits. 



I'nder existing conditions a man does not 

 really press the sale of any variety of trees, 

 plants, or seeds beyond the stage of its novelty, 

 because people learn to know it by its name 

 wherefor the expense of so doing would inure 

 , largely to the benefit of less enterprising dealers, 

 who also offer it by this name — genuine or spur- 

 ious. At that point it must give way to a leader 

 hitherto unknown ; and the period during which 

 a leader can be successfully pressed as such, is 

 \ so limited that it becomes comparatively un- 

 important whether or not the article possesses 

 actual merits. As illustrating this point, let me 

 say that an intelligent nurseryman who has suc- 

 cessfully introduced a variety which he believes 

 to be superior, all things considered, to any of 

 its species going before it, and has brought it to 

 I a point where others are now producing it to a 

 limited extent, and a still larger number supply- 

 ing spurious specimens, recently informed one 

 that he already saw the importance of getting a 



