“Your seeds germinated about perfect. The seedlings are now in bloom and 
are conspicuous for bright colors. The variety of colors seems to be extraordinary 
and the size is evidently going to be very good.” Jack Ingold, Madison, Wis. 
‘ ‘ Your strain of hand pollinated seed is certainly the finest thing in delphiniums 
thus far.” Lunn’s Nursery, Falmouth, Mass. 
<( From a packet of orchid self crosses I got some outstanding plants with ex¬ 
quisite mauve tones, beautifully shaped large florets, and height up to seven feet.” 
Mrs. S. N. Magill, Elkins Park, Pa. 
“I wore a delphinium floret grown from your seed to the office yesterday. It 
was 3-1/4 inches across. It ivas an amazement to my friends, even to some of the 
best delphinium fans.” J. R. Spalding, Downers Grove, Ill. 
“ Your lavenders and violets are now coming into bloom here, and again I must 
congratulate you on your achievement. On the whole America has been behind the 
great English breeders in quality of color with the notable exception of the American 
whites and your violets and orchids. Frankly I must say that there is nothing to be 
compared to your light lavenders.” Vladimir Simkhovitch, Robisnton, Maine. 
“I am much interested in your catalog. As an advertising woman, your sales talk 
is one of the most interesting I have ever seen. By telling people you don’t care 
whether they buy or not, you make their mouth ivater for what you have to sell. 
Probably you don’t intend it that way but I am sure that is the effect. Anyway, I 
want to be one of those customers, faithful but dumb!” Miss Esther Eaton, Spring 
Valley, N. Y. (A smart gal, that. But really I am sincere when I say that it is 
immaterial to me whether I have many new customers or not because I can’t take care 
of what I have. I leave the sales talk to my customers.—L. H. L.). 
‘ ‘ The packet of white delphinium I received from you last winter came to 
bloom 80 per cent white, and some of them beauties. I won first prize at our flower 
show with them.” J. Walter Ringholm, Delhi, N. Y. 
“I bought a packet of your delphinium seed last fall and after reading over 
the testimonials you publish I have come to the conclusion that you are a fraud. 
You promised to send me 100 seeds for $2.50. I planted them according to directions 
and when they quit coming up I had 126 fine healthy plants. Row come?” Dr. 
Eugene Carmichael, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
“1 have found Lyondel delphiniums to be consistently far ahead of everything 
else I have seen in delphinium line.” William F. Troxell, Franklin, Pa. 
THIS BUSINESS OF FAILURE TO GERMINATE 
If there is a breeder or dealer wdio does not receive complaints about 
seed germination, let him come forward and be crowned king of Never-Never 
Land. Expert or novice alike are faced every now and then with failure of 
their seeds to germinate. Their first reaction is to blame the seed. I used to 
do it myself; but I know better now even though I still waste a lot of my own 
seeds and those of others trying to find better ways of obtaining good stands 
of seedlings. Soil is a complex, unknown substance in which all kinds of 
activities are going on; we may hope to control some of these but never all! 
Naturally many things may go wrong without our knowledge; the gardener 
honestly believes that he has done everything to give the seeds the best of 
chances; when there are no seedlings, the obvious thing that pops into his 
mind is that the seed seller was dishonest and the seeds worthless. This is 
particularly true when he uses some seeds harvested by him, or some other 
cheap seeds side by side with the highly bred sorts. Such a gardener realizes 
that a thoroughbred and a plow horse do not respond to the same treatment 
but he cannot understand that there might such a diflerence between seeds. 
When one person reports a perfect germination and another no germination, 
6 
