46 



HORTICULTURE, 



January 8, 1910 



ICHELL'S NEW CROP FLOWER SEEDS 



VERBENA 



ntchell's Mammoth Fancy Strain 



Cannot be excelled for large size, purity of 

 and free flowering qualities- 



Blue 



Pink 



Scarlet 



Striped 



White 



Mixed 



Tr. Pkt. 

 $0.30 $ 



.30 



.30 



.30 



.30 



.30 



color 



Oz. 

 .25 

 1.25 

 1.25 

 1.25 

 1.25 

 1.00 



IMPATIENS 



Hoisti) 

 Sultani 



Tr. Pkt. Oz. 

 $0.50 

 .30 



MOON FLOWER 



IpomaeaNoctifloraper '/(lb. $1.50 .15 $0.50 



MAURANOYA 



Barciayaoa Purple .20 1.25 



Mixed .20 1.25 



PYRETHRUM 

 SMILAX 



Aureum 



Per a lb. $i.oo 



.10 .25 

 .10 .30 



ASPARAGUS 



PLUMOSUS NANUS 

 New Crop. Greenhouse Grown 



100 Seeds 



SCO " 



1000 " 



5000 " 



10000 " 



ASPARAGUS SPRENQERI 



100 Seeds 

 1000 " 

 5000 " 



$0.50 



2 00 



3.50 



16.00 



30.00 



.15 



.75 



3.00 



HENRY F. MICHELL CO., Philadelphia 



UNIFORMITY OF VARIETAL 



CHARACTER IN GARDEN 



VEGETABLES. 



Read by Dr. William W. Tracy, Bureau of 



Plant ludustiy, before the New Jersey 



State Horticultural Society, Treu- 



ton, N. J., Dec. 22, 1909. 



One of the most important phases of 

 modern scientific investigation is the 

 worlt of securing plant variations 

 especially adapted to different climatic 

 and soil conditions and economic re- 

 quirements. It is carried on along 

 two quite distinct and seemingly con- 

 flicting lines. 



Two Lines of Work. 



First, the brealving up of existing 

 natural forms through judicious 

 crossing, the aim being to secure the 

 greatest posible variations along lines 

 of possible increased usefulness or 

 adaptation to specific cultural and 

 economic conditions and requirements, 

 and, second, the breeding of stocks of 

 seed which shall uniformly develop 

 into plants of the exact varietal char- 

 acter desired. 



The first line of work is the one 

 which is most generally attractive, not 

 only to those who engage in it, but to 

 the general public. It was his work 

 along this line that has made the 

 name of Burbank famous the world 

 over, and it is along this line that 

 your own Professor Halsted has been 

 at work in New Brunswick. His work 

 there, however, has been very differ- 

 ent from that of Burbank in Cali- 

 fornia. The latter's aim seems to 

 have been, by taking advantage of 

 the marvelous variations which result 

 from crossing and the very favorable 

 climate of California, to secure start- 

 ling so-called novelties like Spineless 

 Cactus and Wonderberry, with little 

 regard to the real practical value. 

 Prof. Halsted, on the other hand, 

 has modestly and conscientiously 

 aimed to secure really useful varia- 

 tions which shall be of practical value 

 to horticulturists of the State. : 



The second line of work, the breed- 



ing of stocks of seed, every one of 

 which shall develop into plants of the 

 exact varietal character best suited to 

 some specific set of conditions and 

 uses is far less attractive to those who 

 engage in it and generally is less ap- 

 preciated by the public, but it is quite 

 as importnt a factor in the real ad- 

 vancement of horticultural art and 

 practice, and I aslt your attention for 

 a few minutes to consideration of 

 some phases of this work. 



Some Characteristics of Seeds. 

 First, I want to speak of some char- 

 acteristics of seeds, not that you do 

 not know of them, but because of the 

 truth embodied in the old saying, 

 "Familiarity breeds contempt," and 

 in practice we come to ignore or fail 

 to appreciate the value and beauty of 

 common things. Few of us really see 

 the beauty which is all about us every 

 day, because our attention is so fixed 

 on what we have to do that we have 

 no time to see or to enjoy that which 

 costs us nothing. The injunction to 

 "consider the lilies of the field," is 

 just as wise and necessary as it was 

 2000 years ago. A seed is essentially, 

 simply a plant packed for transporta- 

 tion, and carries within itself the un- 

 alterable potentiality and limitation 

 of development of the plant into which 

 it may grow. We may, through con- 

 trol of conditions of climate, soil and 

 culture, E'ecure the more or less per- 

 fect development of these potentiali- 

 ties, but we cannot add to or change 

 them. They are made up of a bal- 

 anced sum of tendencies which the 

 seed has inherited in different degrees 

 of intensity from each of its ancestors 

 back for an indefinite number of gen- 

 erations. In a few exceptional cases 

 the varietal characters of the plant into 

 which the seed will develop are indi- 

 cated by distinguishing characteristics 

 in the seed itself, but such indications 

 are not readily discernible or to be 

 depended upon and we can only know 

 with certainty the varietal character 

 of the seed through a knowledge, not 

 only of the character of the producing 

 plant, but that each and all of its an- 

 cestors back for a number of genera- 

 tions had been of exactly the same 

 character. 



We have spoken of the character of 

 a seed, but seeds, particularly those 

 of vegetables, are rarely used in this 

 way, but collectively and for the pur- 

 pose of growing a crop in which there 

 is in most cases little opportunity for 

 the selection or rejection of indi- 

 viduals, so that the use of seed, every 

 plant of which will develop into a 

 plant of the exact varietal character 

 desired, becomes of the utmost im- 

 portance. 



Importance of Uniformity of Varietal 

 Character. 



There has already been developed 

 In the case of most of our vegetables 

 varieties adapted to different cultural 

 conditions and market requirements, 

 and the success and profit of the 

 planter is very largely dependent upon 

 a wise selection of the sort best adapt- 

 ed to his conditions and requirements, 

 and the securing of seed which shall 



{Continued on page _i(?) 



3-Year Valley 



1000-$11.00. Case of 2500— $26.00 



Sold Out of Perfection. 



WM. ELLIOTT & SONS, 



42 Vesey St., New York. 



Reliable Seeds 



Of My Own Raising. 



Agcratum Blue Star, dwarftest of all, Oz. Tr. Pkts 



6Tr. Pkts $1.95 ■ .35 



Alyssum Zangeo's Carpet Quten, 



dwaifest for pot use, 6 Tr. Pkts, 



$1.25 $5-oo -25 



Phlox dwarf Fireball, 2.50 .35 



'* Roseball 2 co .3 



" Snowball ■.•- 3*^ -40 



•* " Cecily, all shade* mixed a. 50 .35 

 Salvia Zangen's Fireball, fine for 



pots, early -* 400 ,50 



Salvia Zangen's King of Scarlets late 10.00 .50 



'• " Zurich, earliest dwirf 8.00 .50 



For Other Seeds See My New CnUlogue. 

 IT'S FREE. 



0. V. ZANGEN, Seedsman. HOBOKEN, N. J. 



