Chapter FIVE 



-purcimsmg of 



BUYING seeds is largely a matter of expe- 

 rience. So glowing are the descriptions 

 in the numerous catalogues sent out that 

 one may easily be led into ordering many 

 worthless novelties, and many desirable 

 ones for which there is neither room nor sufficient 

 knowledge of their wants to grow them successfully. 

 Cheap collections, where one is requested to send ten 

 cents for a catalogue and twelve packages of seeds, are 

 worst of all. 



In buying flower-seeds, as in everything else, one 

 never gets "something for nothing" not even experi- 

 ence, and cheap seeds usually prove a very poor invest- 

 ment; the only safeguard is to buy of trustworthy 

 dealers whose seeds are offered at fair prices. Take, 

 for instance, Pansy seed: one ought not to expect to 

 buy a fine mixture in a full-size packet two hundred 

 and fifty seeds for less than twenty-five cents, while 

 such varieties as Giant Trimardeau and Giant Gassier 

 should be fifteen cents or more, according to the place 



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