1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



27 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT. AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



A Vl.r.X FOI! OUI! SEKDSMKX. AND OUR CATA- 



r.oGCEs AS THEY ai!e: bv one who 



HAS HAD YEARS OF EXPEKIEXf'E 

 IX MARKET -GAI!1>EX SEED- 

 STORES. 



Frioid Root: — Having been a reader of 

 Gleaxixos for several years, I, of course, take 

 some interest in its make-up. and particularly 

 so in regard to cutting down the varieties iii 

 seed catalogues: but at the same time I can 

 not indorse all you and Mr. Green say on that 

 subject, \yhile I agree with you. that we 

 have too many kinds, yet the seedsman has 

 points to look after that INIr. Green loses sight 

 of entirely. From his standpoint he would 

 Jiave nothing in a seed catalogue except the 

 kinds lie had tested and found to be the best — 

 losing sight of the fact that a seed establish- 

 ment is not a local concern. It is national. 

 Catalogues are going from Maine to California, 

 and all the isles of the sea. Now. while the 

 kinds he would catalogue may be the best for 

 his particular locality, how is it with his neigh- 

 bor in California? The climate there is very 

 different: the varieties that do best here may 

 be and often are entirely worthless thei-e. while 

 the very kinds Mr. Green condemns will be jtist 

 what he must have to make a success. The 

 seedsman is constantly getting reports from his 

 customers from different parts of the country, 

 and knows this to be a fact: ajid as long as he 

 has tlie financial, end of this problem to handle, 

 it is safe to say that he knows what he is doing. 

 Now. if the seed establishment is to be a nation- 

 al concern, the seedsman must carry varieties 

 adapted to all parts of the country; but if he is 

 just going to keep a countiy store, the case is 

 very different. Which is it to be — shall we 

 adopt Mr. Green's policy, and thereby reduce 

 all the big seed establishments down to the 

 same footing with the country store, or shall 

 we consider that seedsmen know their business. 

 and conclude to let them run it as their experi- 

 ence has taught them is best? I believe there 

 is not a seedsman in the woild who would not 

 gladly cut very materially, if he could do so, 

 and satisfy his customers. 



Suppose we come right down to the local as- 

 pect of the case — the local market. If Mr. G. 

 had followed gai'dening and attending market 

 for a living for. say. ten years, as I have done, 

 he would begin to talk like this, perhai)S: •' Yes. 

 in thcnnj it's all right: but as a ?*/T'»(?-tr(/i/K'r 

 it is nat a success."' The man who attempts to 

 make a living on marketing very soon discovers 

 that there are different tastes to consult be- 

 sides his own: and a customer who wants a 

 head lettuce, for instance, will have a head let- 

 tuce, if ifs on the market, while probably the 

 very next customer would not have that kind if 

 you gave it to him. You may rest assured, the 

 market-gardener knows better than to cut 

 down his list to the extent I\Ir. Green recom- 

 mends: and if his seedsman doesn't keep the 

 seeds he has found to be the most profitable, he 

 will send to some other part of the country and 

 get them. It is not theory the market-gardener 

 is after: it's hard, solid facts in the shape of 

 dollars and cents: and he knows what brings 

 them in, better than any outsider can tell him. 



One more point and I will close: but in that 

 one point I beg leave to differ with Mr. Green. 

 from the word go. He says, in Gleanings of 

 Oct. 1.5. "The new kinds and sorts are mostly 

 made by the seedsman in order to have a novel- 

 ty to introduce."' Shades of Moses I Did he 

 ever stop to consider how long it takes a seeds- 



man to get up a reputation, and that the repu- 

 tation represents just that much capital? The 

 better it is. the more it is worth. It certainlv 

 takes more than tirn years. Now. I ask you in 

 all candor. Do you think that, after a seedsman 

 has gotten up a pretty good reputation, he is 

 going to be either knave or fool enough to 

 throw it away for the few paltry dollars he 

 would get out of it as a novelty ? Oh. no! it's 

 worth too niHch nionei/ for tliat. even if he 

 were inclined to be dishonest, and I believe 

 very few are. I think if Mr. Gi'een had. say. 

 two years' expei'ience now in some good reputa- 

 ble seed-house it would modify his views con- 

 siderably as to the honesty of seedsmen, and 

 also as to the cutting-down process. Study this 

 question over on both sides, friend Root, before 

 you make up your catalogue: and I think that, 

 if you expect to lun any thing more than a lo- 

 cal store you will not cut down so severely. 



Yours respectfully. . 



:My good friend, I am very glad indeed to get 

 the above communication, especiallv because it 

 enjoins the very virtue (charity) that I have 

 been exhorting to. I am glad to liave somebody 

 sp(>ak well of the seedsman, who is in noway 

 interested, and j-et one who knows all about 

 the inside machinery of the establishment of a 

 seedsman who issues a nice catalogue. Rut. 

 my good friend, your experience has been most- 

 ly with one of the best and most honorable 

 seedhouses in the United States. Our Experi- 

 ment Station, represented by our good friend 

 (Jreen. knows very well that all you sav is true 

 of the seeds where you work. If vou take all 

 the seed catalogues that are put out. as friend 

 Green and I have done, you will see a good deal 

 that sadly needs the very work that friend 

 Green and myself are trying to do. The same 

 thing is over and over again catalogued undei- 

 different names: and no attempt is made, seem- 

 ingly, to reduce the number. Many times 

 there is only a shade of difference in varieties, 

 and yet year after year the two are catalogued! 

 Again, there is the greatest misrepresentation. 

 Let me give you an illustration. It will come 

 in very well, for I have been thinking to-dav it 

 devolved (m the bee-papers to show up affahi 

 this fraud in regard to the Rocky :Mountain 

 bee-plant: viz.. calling it byanew'and flashv 

 name: repi'esenting it as heretofore unknown, 

 and telling most preposterous falsehoods in re- 

 gard to the amount of honey it yields. We ex- 

 posed it a year oi- two ago. and I wrote to the 

 proprietor of the seed catalogue. It is true. I 

 got a reply fiom him. but he neither seemed to 

 want to be set I'ight nor did he make anv nrom- 

 ise of correcting his false statements when thev 

 were plainly pt)inted out to him. 



A TRIIUTE TO " WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO BE 

 IIAPI'Y WHILE DOING IT."" 



I send you si.oo for your excellent Gleanings. 

 It is as good as the liible in manv respects. I 

 can just cry with joy over a great" part of vour 

 talk, of the garden as well as the Home talk. 

 From experience 1 know just how dear Mother 

 Earth fills you with joy and wonder. Oh how 

 wonderful those berries are ! I had a crop last 

 year that surprised the people about here, and 

 also with my early and late work in the garden. 

 God smiles over me with love when in the field. 

 I always feel like shouting when I .see the way 

 you get at it. which is the true way to be happv. 

 May you live long to encourage all. 



Hallowell. Me., Dec. 2.5. E. P. Chukchill. 



Why. bless your heart, dear brother. I did not 

 know before that the world contained another 

 man who loves (rod and nature so exactly as I 

 do. And then your wonderfully graphic way of 



