CHAPTER XVI. 



DESCRIPTION OF VARIETIES. 



~TT would be worse than useless to give a list of all the 

 -*- varieties that have appeared. A large number of 

 them, if tried, would prove to be merely duplicates of 

 known kinds, or so closely resembling them, that the differ- 

 ence is not noticeable. Many others have been consigned 

 to oblivion as unworthy of culture. Of the fifteen hun- 

 dred varieties collected in the Garden of the Luxembourg, 

 only about three hundred arc regarded as distinct, and 

 less than fifty can be called really desirable. Of these, it 

 would be best to make a still larger reduction, selecting 

 the best five or ten, or at most twenty ; always placing 

 the Black Hamburg in the fore-front fov general cul- 

 ture. It is therefore wise to retain only such kinds as 

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