No. 4.] GARDEN SEEDS. 51 



shipping and marketing qualities, and especially the forms, 

 colors and shapes of plants, leaf and fruit which go with 

 and indicate such qualities. They can make a study of the 

 innumerable varietal names which are now in use and what 

 they stand for, and throw them together under a few which 

 shall stand for each distinct type, which type shall be most 

 minutely and accurately described with mention of every 

 desirable and undesirable quality, as fitting the sort for spe- 

 cial and different uses and conditions. It may be said that 

 varieties are already fully described in our seedsmen's cata- 

 logues, but I do not think they are, or that we ought to ex- 

 pect to find accurate descriptions there. The seedsmen pub- 

 lish and distribute these catalogues at great expense, and 

 they do so primarily for the sake of selling the seed they 

 offer. They answer' the purpose for which they are designed 

 in proportion as they secure orders for seeds. Will this be 

 measured by the accuracy and completeness of their de- 

 scriptions ? Whatever your answer may be, the answer given 

 by the catalogues themselves is an emphatic No. Looking 

 through the 1906 catalogues of 125 seedsmen who list Davis 

 wax bean, we find that 77 speak of its good quality, 82 speak 

 of the beauty of its pods, 96 speak of its vigor and produc- 

 tiveness of vine, 30 call it stringless, and only 7 admit that 

 it is stringy or not of the best quality. Now, this bean has 

 been in cultivation long enough so that everybody knows of 

 its character and value ; and I ask if a description which fails 

 to mention the distinctly stringy character of its beautiful 

 pod can be called complete % This is not an exception, but a 

 typical case ; very rarely is any quality which could be con- 

 sidered as a defect mentioned, while those which are valu- 

 able are spoken of in exaggerated terms of praise. 



It may be argued that the variety trials at our experiment 

 stations already do this work. Some of them are doing most 

 excellent work along this line, but in many eases such trials 

 are really but a study of seedsmen's names for different 

 stocks, rather than a study of the actual varietal types of the 

 vegetables themselves and their usefulness for certain pur- 

 poses. The seedsmen can do a great deal, and I think with 

 great profit to themselves. They can, especially through the 



