RULES FOR DESCRIPTION. 



15 



impossible to say when the first stringless variety appeared; it cer- 

 tainly must have been later than 1860. The highest standard of 

 quality in snap pods was reached in 1889 with Yosemite Wax. 

 Many varieties of excellent quality have been introduced since that 

 date and some old varieties improved, which are practically equal to 

 but do not surpass the Yosemite in quality. 

 V All the Lima varieties grown in this country have had their origin 

 in America. The first bush form of these beans was listed in 1889. 

 Only during the last twenty-five years has the greatest improvement 

 been made by American seedsmen and seed growers in bean, varie- 

 ties, but as all these improvements and other historical matters 'are 

 mentioned in the varietal descriptions it is not necessary to make 

 further reference to them here. 



RULES FOR DESCRIPTION. 



To simplify varietal nomenclature and avoid confusion in variety 

 descriptions, it is necessary to adopt the following rules for the use of 

 names and description of types. 



Type names. — After a varietal type is described, it is next neces- 

 sary to decide which of the many names applied by seedsmen to the 

 type shall be selected as the one by which the type shall be known. 

 Generally the name first used should be adopted, but as the original 

 name sometimes goes out of general use or even disappears alto- 

 gether from the trade this rule is not always practicable. Even 

 though possible to determine which name was first used, there yet 

 remains the doubt as to whether the old name represents at the pres- 

 ent time the same type as when first used. Another type may have 

 been adopted, as, for example, an improved strain may have appeared 

 in the old type, and this may have been given a new name and called 

 a new variety. In course of time seedsmen, in receiving orders for 

 the old variety, may think it best to fill such orders with seed of the 

 improved strain instead of with that of the old type, which they may 

 have discarded altogether. This is what seems to have occurred 

 w^'th Horticultural Bush, so that instead of sending out the old type 

 nearly all seedsmen now send out Ruby Horticultural Bush, which 

 was developed from Horticultural Bush. 



Confusing names. — Some names are undesirable because so similar 

 to others as to be easily confused with them; others because so 

 many worded as to be bewildering and inconvenient. In regard to 

 the latter point, it is generally safe to drop from variety names all 

 such words as improved, selected, perfected, extra, select, choice, 

 superior, celebrated, fine, true, and most words in the possessive case. 



Source of seed. — As different seedsmen sometimes recognize quite 

 different types for the same variety, it becomes important that the 

 3523— No. 109—07 2 



