Decembeb 31, 



190». 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



■■^v- 



son & Son, Boston, England, vegetable 

 and flower seeds; Walter P. Stokes, 

 Philadelphia, Pa., "Stokes' Standard 

 Seeds'.'; Amzi Godden Seed Co., Bir- 

 mingham, Ala., "Southern Truckers' 

 Guide"; J. E. Tonkin, Buffalo, N. Y., 

 seeds and supplies; Gate City Seed Co., 

 Keokuk, la., garden, field and flower 

 seeds; W. W. Barnard & Co., Chicago, 

 list of flower seeds; Mangelsdorf Bros. 

 Co., Atchison, Kan., general catalogue 

 for 1909. 



IMPROVEMENT IN SEEDS. 



[A synopsis of a paper by O. D. Black, of 

 Independence, la., read before tbe Minnesota 

 State Hortlcultoral Society.] 



The desire for cheapness is the great- 

 est hindrance to improvement in garden 

 seeds. Our best radish, lettuce, spinach, 

 etc., are those which remain good long- 

 est and produce only a small quantity 

 of seeds. It costs more to produce a 

 pound of this seed and it is worth more 

 to the planter than .many pounds of ordi- 

 nary seed. The same rule will apply to 

 the tomato, cucumber, and in fact nearly 

 all vegetables except those of which the 

 seeds are the edible part. 



Judicious selection, thorough cultiva- 

 tion and favorable location all have a 

 tendency toward improvement and are 

 the most potent agencies we can employ 

 for this purpose. 



First Lessons in Selection. 



I learned my first lesson in seed grow- 

 ing nearly fifty years ago as I toddled 

 through the garden after my mother 

 while she placed stakes beside the best ' 

 radishes, lettuce plants, etc., and cau- 

 tioned me not to disturb them. She 

 explained as best she could to my young 

 mind that our hopes for fine vegetables 

 in the future depended upon the seeds 

 which these best specimens would pro- 

 duce. That garden had been planted with 

 seeds brought from Ohio to the wild 

 west, as Iowa was known at that time. 

 Store seeds could not be obtained. 



It requires much experience and good 

 judgment in making selections, as we have 

 such a wide range of variations to select 

 from. We can safely assert that no two 

 plants are exactly alike in all their parts. 

 The seeds of commerce are not produced 

 in this way, because they would be too 

 expensive. They are mostly grown from 

 what is known as stock seed. During a 

 number of years we grew several acres 

 of tomatoes to produce seeds for other 

 firms. Our first crop was planted from 

 stock seed bought at a high price from 

 Livingston, the tomato specialist. We 

 saved seeds from a few plants which 

 were most productive, and produced .to- 

 matoes which came nearest to our ideal 

 of perfection in tomatoes, but always 

 keeping in mind trueness to type of that 

 particular variety. This is what we call 

 stock seed and use for the production 

 of future crops of seeds, which will be 

 an improvement if sufficient judgment 

 and care have been exercised in selection. 

 The main crop, after carefully removing 

 all rogues or plants which show a radical 

 departure from the variety, is harvested 

 and the quality of this seed depends 

 upon the thoroughness of this roguing. 



I believe that more improvement can 

 be made by careful selection than by 

 hand pollination for the production of 

 new varieties. After the cross is made 

 it requires several generations to estab- 

 lish the type. Most of the novelties that 

 are introduced each season with much 

 praise and price are soon dropped, while 

 flome of the old standard varieties, which 



DREER'S 



Reliable 

 New Crop 



Flower Seeds 



AKeratum 



Our Wholesale and Retail Catalogues 

 for 1909 have been mailed to all our 

 Florist Customers. If you have not 

 received copies, please let us know and 

 we will send. 



We offer below a short list of items 

 which should be sown early. 



Trade Pkt. Oz. 



Aeeratum Blue Perfection, 

 Best dark blue 15c $0.40 



AgBVAtum Cope's Pet, best 

 light blue 15c .36 



AlyMum Little Gem or Car- 

 pet of Snow, extra selected, 

 very dwarf 10c .30 



Antirrhinum Giant, 6 sep- 

 arate colors 20c .50 



Antirrhinum Giant, mixed. 15c .40 



Begfonia Semperflorens 

 Vernon, red 25c 



Begonia Semperflorens 

 Gracilis, rose 25c 



Centaurea Candidissima. .25c .75 

 ** Gymnocarpa. . . 15c .35 



Cineraria Marit. Candidis- 

 sima 10c .20 



Cobaea Scandens 10c .30 



Dracaena Australis 15c .60 



•• Indivisa lOc .30 



Grevillea Robusta. 15c .50 



Lobelia Crystal Palace 

 Compacta, true 25c 1.00 



Lobelia Speciosa, dark blue, 

 trailing 15c .50 



Pennisetum Longfistylnm . . 10c .20 

 ** Rueppelianum.lOc .25 



Petunia, Dreer's Superb 

 Double Fring^ed, 500 seeds, 

 75c; 1000 seeds, $1.50. 



Petunia, Dreer's Superb 

 Single Fring^ed 50c 



Pyrethrum Aureum 10c .25 



Salvia Splendens, "Scarlet 

 Sage" 25c 1.00 



Salvia Splendens, Bonfire.40c 2.25 



" Burninfr Bush. 30c 1.50 



" " Ball of Fire... 50c 4 00 



" Zurich 50c 4.00 



Solanum Capsicastrom 10c .25 



Stocks, Large Flowering 

 Ten Weeks*, 6 separate 

 colors 40c 2.50 



Stocks, Large Flowering 

 Ven Weeks^, mixed 30c 2.00 



Stocks, Cut and Come 

 Again, 6 separate colors. . .50c 3.00 



Stocks, Cut and Come 

 Again, mixed 50c 2.50 



Verbena, Dreer's Mam- 

 moth, 5 separate colors 30c 1.25 



Verbena, Dreer's Mam- 

 moth, mixed 25c 1.00 



Vinca Rosea, 3 separate 

 colors. 15c .50 



Vinca Rosea, mixed 15c .40 



Our strains of Asters, Sweet Peas, Cosmos, 

 Antirrhinums, Cydamen and other Florist Flower 

 Seeds are unsurpassed. See catalogues for com- 

 plete list. 



HENRY A. DREER9 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Salvia Bonfire 



-f 



