GAEDENING AFTER THE AVAR 09 



gardener. I have an idea that they are written for competitors. 



" Surely every specimen or variety of one vegetable or flower 

 cannot be Mammoth, Colossal, the Earliest, the Largest, the most 

 Prolific. Take Peas, for instance. How is one to select Peas 

 from A's catalogue? What do these different varieties mean? I 

 find that some of the names given to the varieties are the exclusive 

 property of the seedsman, and others seem common to the vege- 

 table world. 



" I decided to have Savoy Cabbage because we like that better 

 than any other kind, having eaten it a great deal in England, but 

 Savoy Cabbage is not catalogued in either A or B. By good luck 

 I find an article in a magazine on raising cabbage, which says that 

 the best of the Savoys is the Drumhead. I find Drumhead in both 

 catalogues, but neither description mentions that the Drumhead 

 is Savoy. How are we to know these things? 



"You may possibly reply that the catalogue is not written for 

 such an ignoramus as I am, but there must be a lot like me. I 

 think that an intelligent advertising man could work a revolution 

 in seed catalogues by making them so anybody can select seeds 

 intelligently. 



"Restrictions have been put upon numbers and styles of many 

 businesses on account of the war. In certain lines manufacturers 

 were ordered to cut out variations that merely multiply, and the 

 restrictions placed on the use of paper combined to simplify the 

 situation. Shoemakers, stationers, tire manufacturers, had hith- 

 erto carried unnecessary numbers in various lines with very little 

 idea of selling them, but rather to dazzle the trade and the public. 



"Every time Jones got a new style in his particular line Smith, 

 Brown, and Robinson hastened to rush out a similar style to com- 

 pete with it. To dress the line, not to sell. Nearly all these 

 manufacturers welcomed the necessity to cut them out; and few 

 of them will go back to the old method. Is it possible that a good 

 many of the different strains and varieties that the seedsmen think 

 it necessary to show are inspired by the same motive?" 



What will the seedsman answer? 



It is difficult for a man to stand off and get perspective on his 

 own case, and under existing conditions the seedsman's outlook is 

 none too bright for the immediate future and perhaps for a couple 



