To the Trade Generally* 
During the last ten years I have been grow- 
ing the bulbs of the Western United States in 
large numbers and have had nearly all of the 
known species in my garden and often many 
forms of the same thing. In my tests 1 have 
grown each sort in many soils and exposures 
and have had an excellent opportunity, both 
through my own experiments and from the 
reports received from the Eastern United 
States and Europe, to judge of the comparative 
merits of the different varieties. Research is 
developing wonderful variety in all of these 
plants, and with so many beautiful colors to 
choose from, the time has come, it seems to 
me, to begin the elimination of weak or poor 
fo rms, and the selection and dissemination of 
only the best ones. From a gardener's stand- 
point the plants which with beauty have the 
best qualities as growers, are the ones to be 
retained. To this end I offer to the trade the 
following preferred list in which, without any 
consideration of price, I recommend the very 
best species to make a representative offering. 
I do not mean by this list that the other 
species have no merits, but my lecommenda- 
tion is that in ordering, the trade take this 
preferred list first. And of this preferred list 
my choice would follow the numerical order. 
I shall in the future as in the past spare no 
pains to secure not only new species, but will 
also test lots of old species from many 
localities for experimental tests, that I may be 
able to find which have the greatest vitality 
