CHAPTER XI 

 FIFTY STANDARD VARIETIES 



THE increase in the number of varieties is such that there 

 are somewhere between 500 and 600 which are possibly 

 obtainable. Not a single grower knows all of these, 

 and probably not one of them desires that knowledge. 

 Hundreds have been superseded by later introductions of 

 superior merit, while among others the differences are so 

 slight, that only those who are especially desirous of seeing 

 them can find them ; the ordinary individual, even if he be a 

 whole-souled enthusiast, may have a dim idea that the two 

 similar flowers are not identical, but he cannot say definitely 

 where the difference is or of what it consists. 



The raiser of new varieties finds many swans ; the grower 

 who purchases them finds many geese, and wretchedly poor 

 ones at that. The buyer blames the distributor for putting 

 inferior varieties upon the market ; the distributor blames 

 the buyer for insisting on getting a constant succession 

 of new names. It is probable that the purchaser is the 

 more to blame of the two, since he will not be contented 

 to grow the same varieties season after season, with an 



