PLEASE READ BEFORE ORDERING 
Seeds and bulbs are forwarded as ready. All seeds, but 
not actual bulbs or live plants, are postpaid. Safe arrival 
is guaranteed. Goods are offered subject to arrival or 
harvest. All previous prices are withdrawn. 
I try to send out only good seeds, but I cannot control 
the conditions under which they are planted. I give no 
warranty, express or implied, as to description, quality, pro¬ 
ductiveness, or any other matter of any seeds, bulbs, or 
plants I sell, and I will not be responsible for the crop. 
Please remit in full with your order. Postal and ex¬ 
press money orders are cheap, safe and easily obtained. 
I suggest their use where possible. Personal checks will be 
accepted, however, should it not be convenient to get a 
money order, but if remittance is made by check, be sure 
to add five cents (not 5 %), to the total sum, thus being 
about the average cost per check, (not per dollar), for 
handling, bank collection charges, etc. If you enclose 
actual cash, currency in any form, by ordinary unregis¬ 
tered mail, it must be at j'our own risk. C. O. D. ship¬ 
ments of seeds made only when substantial deposit ac¬ 
companies order. Bulbs, plants and books are not sent 
C. O. D. Orders of less than fifty cents value are handled 
at an actual loss, and whatever' the future may hold forth, 
I am still depending upon the profit system for my own 
living, and for the money to pay my helpers. 
REX. D. PEARCE 
Merchantville New Jersey 
ORDERS FROM ABROAD—We send seeds to all parts of 
the world without charge for regular postage, but cus¬ 
tomers in isolated regions where additional special transit 
chargeSi are levied, should remit for these. Customs duties, 
(if levied at all, these are usually low on flower seeds), are 
payable by the purchaser, usually at his local postoffice. 
Remittance with order can readily be made by purchasing 
an International Postal Money Order at your own post- 
office. We cannot use stamps, or actual currency of other 
countries. Please allow for differences in exchange. 
This catalog is a descriptive offering of newer 
plant materials, new in the sense that many of 
them have not hitherto been available commercially. 
Most of them, though, have long been known to 
botanists, and to certain garden-connoisseurs. We 
are trying to make them accessible to all who gar¬ 
den. Please note that, very definitely, this is pot 
intended as a catalog of specious “novelties,” in 
the unfortunate modern implication of the term. The 
kinds we offer are all horticulturally worthy, given 
proper placement, handling, and climatic setting. 
WHERE NEW SEEDS COME FROM 
First of all, we are seed-growers. At our Old Orchard 
Seed Gardens, Bridgeboro Road, Moorestown, N. J., we have 
several acres of flowers, some thousands of species and 
hybrid strains of rarer plant materials growing under 
label, primarily for seed-production purposes. We actually 
grow a large proportion of the seeds we sell. We do not, 
though, “just save seeds” (back-yard style). Our stocks 
are subjected to continued and unrelenting selection. Any 
plant in the slightest degree off-type, or in any way un¬ 
satisfactory, is destroyed as soon as detected. Further, we 
are doing considerable hybridization work. All this is 
reflected in the uniformly high quality of the seed strains 
that we offer our customers. Where the sign (#) ap¬ 
pears after a variety listing, it indicates that the seed is 
altogether, or partly, of our own production. 
Other seeds come from the more than one hundred pro¬ 
fessional or amateur botanical collectors with whom we 
have contact in various parts of the world. Manchuria, 
China, Japan, India, Palestine, Anatolia, Ethiopia, Kenya, 
South Africa, The Canaries, Alaska, Canada, New Zealand, 
Tasmania, Western Australia, South America, and almost 
every European country and American state contribute to 
the supply. Beyond this, we, ourselves make some thousands 
of miles of special botanical and study trips each season, 
in the area from the Great Smokies on the south to the 
Adirondacks on the north. The correspondence alone, inci¬ 
dent to gathering these rare seeds together, and to tracking 
down sources of supply for specific rarities, runs into sev¬ 
eral thousand letters each year. 
KEY TO LETTERS USED IN DESCRIPTIONS 
a—Prefers acid soil, 
at—Tolerant of acidity, 
b—Suitable for the hardy border, 
bt—For background or screen plantings, 
c—Of value as a cut flower, 
d—Will grow in rather dry soils, 
e—Of easy culture for the beginner, 
f—Protect with mulching in winter, north, 
ft—Lift in autumn, and store in frost-proof 
place through winter, 
g—Ground cover or carpeting plant, 
h—Sow in early spring or late autumn, or if 
sown in summer, shade the seed-bed. 
lit—Makes a good pot or house plant, 
j—Tree. 
k—Sow in early spring. 
1—Needs lime. 
It—Tolerant of, or slightly prefers, lime, 
m—Likes moist soil. Keep watered, 
n—Eft'ective for wild naturalizing. 
0 —An annual, 
ot—A biennial. 
p—For pavements, step crevices or walls, 
q—Shrub. 
r—Of value in rock garden, 
s—Prefers shade. 
st—Tolerates light shade, but will grow in sun 
also. 
t—Means nothing alone. Must always be taken 
in combination with letter before it. 
u—Bulb or tuber, or of bulb-like habit, 
ut—Bulb for forcing or pot culture. 
V—Vine. 
w—Sow in heat in sunny window, frame or con¬ 
servatory. 
X —Sow in spring or summer, up to August, 
y—Sow in late autumn. (November through 
February), in open ground or frames, for 
spring germination. May usually be sown in 
spring also, if stratified or given refrigera¬ 
tor treatment. See cultural leaflet sent with 
seeds for directions. 
z—Annuals of course, flower first year, bien¬ 
nials and most perennials the second season. 
The symbol “z” indicates that a longer period 
is required. Not used with trees, or other 
woody plants. 
NUMERALS IN PARENTHESES indicate season and dura¬ 
tion of bloom, as follows: (1) early spring, (2) late spring 
and early summer, (3) summer, (4) late summer and early 
autumn, (5) all autumn, (6) late autumn, (7) winter, 
(8) tends to be ever-blooming, (9) grown for fruit, form 
or foliage, rather than flowers. 
NUMERAL FOLLOWING PARENTHESIS indicates nor¬ 
mal mature height in inches, under good culture. Height 
of trees and many shrubs is given in feet. 
STAR (*) before variety name, indicates an an¬ 
nual. 
STAR (*) following name indicates a hardy per¬ 
ennial that will bloom first season if sown early. 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS — No 
sign is used to show these, but it is to be as¬ 
sumed that any variety is a hardy perennial un¬ 
less the key sign, or the description, indicates 
otherwise. 
When part of the key letter group is enclosed in parentheses, 
an alternative cultural method is indicated. 
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