84 
Gardeners and Florists’ Annual for J9J8 
not too pronounced, and certainly never coarse, will readily suggest 
themselves to those who issue catalogs. The humor, whatever it be, 
should always suggest the excellence of the seedsman’s seeds or the 
vegetables and flowers grown from these, in short, be a humor such as 
will increase sales. 
The covers of not a few catalogs are detachable, not that the 
seedsman contracts to have them so, but because the printer’s binder 
does not do his work well, and, after a little handling by seed buyers 
into whose hands the catalog comes, the covers and catalogs part com- 
pany. The covers of a catalog should be so firmly attached to it in 
some way that they cannot be separated from it, unless they are torn 
off. 
The novelties which the seedsman is introducing in vegetable seeds, 
flower seeds and plants are usually, though not always, all given a posi- 
tion in the front of the catalog. It would be more systematic to place 
the vegetable seed novelties just before the standard varieties or general 
list of vegetables, and the flower seed novelties just before the standard 
varieties of flower seeds, and to follow the same arrangement with the 
plants, both the ornamentals and small fruits. In some catalogs this 
system is now followed. The pages devoted to novelties should have a 
heading: Novelties ik Vegetable Seeds, or something similar, and the 
first page where other vegetable seeds are offered should have a head- 
ing: Standard Varieties of Vegetable Seeds. Some catalogs use in 
featuring their novelties, paper of a different color; this indicates 
clearly which are novelties and which standard varieties, but gives the 
catalog, it seems to us, a rather cheap, flashy appearance. 
In seed catalogs, a page or two could well be devoted in the vege- 
table seed part to directing beginners in gardening how to prepare and 
fertilize the soil, and how to plant vegetable seeds, and in the flower 
seed part instruction could be given about soil preparation, and fertili- 
zation and the planting of flower seeds. Most gardening is poorly 
carried on from start to finish. Nursery and plant catalogs also should 
contain definite information of a similar nature, with the exception that 
it should give careful instruction as to the transplanting of plants and 
trees. 
Seed catalogs should contain a few plans for both vegetable and 
flower gardens, and for the two combined. These plans should not 
assume that all gardens are either square or rectangular in form; some 
garden plots are in the general form of a triangle, or in some irregular 
form. A plan for an irregular shaped garden would be helpful and 
suggest plans for other irregular gardens of other shapes. These gar- 
den plans should, of course, be drawn on a scale, which should be given 
with the plan, and should show the exact position of the vegetables and 
flowers, preferably through the placing of the names of these on the 
plan, or by a key accompanying each plan. Some one will say that this 
wiU hurt the sales of garden books, and that it is outside of the prov- 
ince of catalogs. We believe that a little instruction through brief 
garden articles and garden plans will, on the contrary, encourage begin- 
ners in gardening, and help them to enough of success so that it will 
whet their appetites for good gardening books. A gentleman of much 
general intelligence, who is on the staff of one of the largest New York 
City dailies, became last Spring an enthusiastic gardener. One day he 
