1 18 Annals of Horticulture. 



their varieties. No attempt should be made to classify the 

 varieties, but they should be added to their respective lists, 

 and these examined and passed upon and be numbered con- 

 secutively from the beginning. The ground to be covered by 

 the register should include the useful plants and their varieties 

 which are found naturall}^ or otherwise in the United States. 



''The register can contain, ist, the number ; 2nd, the official 

 name ; 3rd, the popular and local names, or synonyms ; 4th, 

 description ; 5th, short history and a statement of the pecu- 

 liarities and habits of the plant, and 6th, in many cases if not 

 always, a photograph, drawing or series of photographs or 

 drawings of the plant, fruit or flower. While the reproduction 

 of these views might be too expensive for general circulation 

 and distribution, complete copies of them should be found at 

 least in all the state libraries of the country and in many of 

 the other larger libraries and educational institutions, while 

 a printed copy of the register without photographs could be 

 within the reach of every one, as one of the ol3Jects of this 

 register is to provide a way for the identification of varieties 

 of plants and to settle all questions and disputes. 



''A great national botanical and horticultural garden would 

 in time, be a natural outgrowth of a national plant register 

 such as is suggested. 



''The originators of new varieties of plants, who do not 

 wish to secure exclusive sale-rights, should have the right to 

 offer them for registration with a proposed name, and if after 

 investigation they are accepted, the originator should be enti- 

 tled to a certificate, without, or for a nominal charge, setting 

 forth the facts of the case, which would secure to him the 

 honor and prestige to which he is entitled. 



"Previous to registration, lists of new plants with proposed 

 names, descriptions, etc., should be published for examination, 

 criticism and suggestion, and the plants should be kept in the 

 list of proposed names until all questions are satisfactorily 

 settled, when they may be numbered and entered in the regis- 

 ter. After once being entered they should not be revised un- 

 less for very serious reasons. 



"The plan is to employ the foregoing in a bill to be intro- 

 duced into Congress ; what follows to be embodied in a second 

 bill to be based upon the first, and to be introduced into Con- 

 gress shortly after the first. 



