1894.] ESSAYS. 27 



aud florists for not helping us in this matter. They tire at the mercy 

 of a fickle public. Somebody must call that fickle public to order. 

 A patron comes into a seed-house, and asks, " Have you such a vari- 

 ety of Sweet Peas?" If the seedsman disputes whether there be 

 such a variety he loses his customer. "Yes, we have it," and with a 

 mental reservation he lets it pass as a synonym, and deals out what 

 he thinks the customer ought to have. Years roll on, and that seed- 

 house lets that false name go into their list, and they know it ought 

 not to be there. I write them frequently in a courteous way, and 

 they thank me for what I am trying to do, and look on me as a 

 genuine friend, and I respect them. They want a genuine list of 

 names as much as we do, but somebody has got to protect them from 

 a fickle public, by giving that public to understand the truth of the 

 matter. And, again,, our seedsmen have to depend on the seed 

 growers. Where is there a seed-house that knows what the true 

 descriptions of varieties are? Their trial gardens are to see whether 

 their seed germinates. There is hardly a house in this countrj' that 

 can tell the names of one-half the Sweet Peas at sight. Tliey have a 

 thousand other flowers, and how can they know tliem all in all their 

 varieties? Aud yet it would be a pity if somebody in this country 

 did not know exactly the name and description of each one of a hun- 

 dred sorts. Somebody needs to stand between our reliable seedsmen 

 and the public ond mediate for them, and hasten the day when the 

 standard list of each popular flower shall be uuiform in our seed cata- 

 logues, so far as they keep the varieties in stock, and uniformly relia- 

 ble. The seedsman will go on doing the best he can, and the public 

 will go on suffering disappointment till a race of specialists grow up 

 to watch with impartial eyes the interests of all. 



