78 MARKET GARDENING. 



much disguised humbug and open misrepresentation as 

 in the seed business, misrepresentation in description of 

 color, form and merit of vegetables and flowers, due, on 

 one hand, to ignorance, and on the other, to design, by 

 illustration or pictures of monstrous and impossible veg- 

 etables and flowers ; also in the illustration of seed stores, 

 offices, seed-packing rooms, and published statements of 

 sales, all schemes to catch the eye and take the money 

 of the confiding gardener. 



This reprehensible practice, originated by English 

 seedsmen, has been adopted in this country, and, as 

 Americans do not like to be outdone by Britons, they 

 have gone, not one better^ but advanced by strides and 

 jumps, till the Englishman hides his head in abashment 

 at his own insignificance. 



It will, however, remain for the planter of novelties 

 and specialties to determine for himself, whether they 

 develop features of superior excellence upon his soil and 

 under the conditions of his climate. On some soils they 

 may possess very desirable qualities, and entirely fail on 

 others. Merit in vegetables covers a wide range of char- 

 acter. It may consist of coloring, form, size, texture, 

 flavor, precocity, productiveness, or freedom from dis- 

 ease, sunburn or decay, resistance to insect depredations, 

 and excessive heat or cold, wet or drought. All these 

 qualities are subjects for study in the field by the ob- 

 serving seed grower, market or private gardener, for 

 these cannot be determined at the desk of the modern 

 catalogue manufacturer. So much humbug has been 

 thrown into the seed catalogues of the past ten years, 

 that the intelligent gardener has had his eyes opened, 

 and he is now discriminating between those dealers who 

 can advise technically and those who have no training 

 in the field. 



