AMERICAN SEED CATALOGUES 



half -page cabbages and whole-page lima beans, of 

 half -page petunias and of whole-page antirrhinums 

 may cause a smile upon the countenance of the 

 unbeliever; but true it is that "Burpee's seeds 

 grow," and the terse descriptions of flower or of 

 vegetable are all that is needed to induce one to 

 buy. 



Bobbink & Atkins issue a dignified, correct, and 

 handsome list; this house also issues a separate 

 catalogue of seeds for rock gardens. Thorburn 

 has an excellent reputation as a seedsman in the 

 East, at least; this firm is of great age, but its book 

 has ever seemed to me to be really too conserva- 

 tive, to show a certain rigidity of manner. Some 

 day I shall expect to see upon its plain and attrac- 

 tive cover Sir Walter's lines: 



"This rock shall fly 

 From its firm base as soon as I." 



Vaughan's is a list of greatest interest to us in 

 the Middle West. Each year it improves in type 

 — alas, not in its outward dress, where impossible 

 pansies of hideously large dimensions flaunt them- 

 selves this season. But inwardly it is satisfying, 

 and usually offers many delightful new flowers 

 from all over the world. 



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