SEEDS 



that " it has a neat habit of growth." In this 

 they remind me of the Professor who when 

 shown by a proud mother a baby far from beau- 

 tiful, exclaimed with apparent rapture, " What 

 an alert face ! " 



In most of the seed catalogues there is a 

 section devoted to novelties, generally printed 

 upon a vivid-colored paper, probably to keep 

 pace with the flaming descriptions. In my ex- 

 perience, not one in ten of these so-called novel- 

 ties is worth planting at all, and not one in ten 

 of these ten ever produces a flower that bears a 

 near resemblance to the description. Of course, 

 now and then, a new variety of real merit is 

 introduced, and naturally it first appears on these 

 pages, but the prizes are so few and the blanks 

 so many that it is not worth while to risk money 

 on this sort of gambling. The seedsmen are 

 straining every nerve to produce something new 

 and good in flowers or vegetables, for in the 

 event of success the profits are large, and the 

 effbrt is in every way commendable, but, failing 

 to obtain a plant of real merit, the temptation to 

 invent one is strong. Every one knows that in 

 certain localities and under exceptionable con- 

 ditions old and well-known flowers have been 



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