60 EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



one of the most valuable works that can be carried ou by experiment 

 stations is an attempt to /establish a true nomenclature and description 

 of the varieties of vegetables grown in our country and the bringing to- 

 gether as synonyms all the names that are applied to each individual 

 variety. 



In spealiiug of the many different names under which single varieties 

 are sold, he mentions the French Horn or very Early Scarlet Forcing, 

 oue of the earliest varieties, as being sold under eleven or more differeut 

 uames. In the report of 1883 it was shown that the Philadelphia Extra 

 Early pea had seven different names. 



The tendency [says Dr. Sturtevant] that exists among seedsmen to rename particu- 

 larly desirable varieties is well illustrated in the cases akeady referred to. While ad- 

 mitting that the word "variety " as applied to vegetables is not specifically defined, it 

 is nevertheless evident that the difference between two varieties should be greater than 

 between normal individuals of the same vaiiety ; and it is because the samples we 

 call synonyms have not shown these differences that we are led to pronounce them 

 as such. So long as two distinct investigators cannot be sure that they are experi- 

 menting upon the same kind of plant their results cannot be strictly comparable. 

 Even professional botanists have not recognized the importance of variety as a factor 

 iu their experiments. Just so fast as we obtain diagnostic points in our vegetables 

 uiay we hope to succeed in our attempts at close identification. 



Mr. W. J. Green, of the Ohio experiment station, says he has a " cer- 

 tain pea under twelve different names, from as many seedsmen, but 

 that they are all so near alike as to make distinction impossible except 

 by the most careful comparison." He further says, " that when a per- 

 son pays a high price for a mere name, he feels like expressing his 

 oi)inion of the .seedsman from whom the purchase was made in the plain- 

 est possible Anglo-Saxon.-' This reprehensible habit of renaming old 

 tilings is one which all honest seedsmen are, or should be, prompt in 

 conilemning. It tends to the greatest possible confusion iu seed nomen- 

 clature. This uncalled-for multiplication of high-sounding names for 

 some old variety is not confined alone to seeds. The same cause for com- 

 plaint is common in regard to plants and fruits. In regard to seeds, it 

 would be infinitely better for reliable seedsmen to cut down the list of 

 varieties, carefully excluding from their catalogues all that are known 

 ^o be worthless. 



METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION. 



It is becoming more and more evident that there should be, as sug- 

 gested in your address to the convention of delegates from the various 

 agricultural colleges and experiment stations held in the seed division 

 building, July 8, 1885, some very imi)ortant modifications iu the method 

 of distributing the seeds which are annually sent out. 



An increased appropriation could be very advantageously used in co- 

 operating with the directors of experiment stations in the various States 

 in securing and tabulating, for the use of the Department and for pub- 

 lication and general distribution, the reports relative to the adaptation 

 of the various varieties of seeds for special localities in the various States 

 where tested. Such annual or, still better, quarterly reports from expe- 

 riment stations, agricultural colleges, county and subordinate granges^ 

 farmers' clubs, and other agricultural organizations, avouUI, when care- 

 fully compiled, form a most valuable addition to our current agricultural 

 literature, and would be more eagerly sought for and read by tliinking, 

 working farmers, than almost any other information relating to what 

 must ever be the most important and leading occupation of mankind. 



