☆ jUN Im /Jw. \ 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL 
THE MOCKING BIRD imitates the songs of other birds, and the hermit crab 
appropriates the discarded shells of mollusks. There is something akin be¬ 
tween me and these feathered and featherless friends of mine, but whereas 
they apporpriate without improving, 1 appropriate and endeavor to improve; 
but unlike many other breeders I do not claim to have created anything; I 
merely build upon the improved varieties of others. Or maybe I just fool my¬ 
self into thinking such a. thing. Any way, I confess publicly and without blush¬ 
ing that I have appropriated the delphinium strains of Watkin Samuel, Black- 
more and Langdon, Major Vanderbilt, the Sage of Hoodacres, and my friend 
Frank Reinelt of Pacific fame; excellent breeders and gentlemen all who 
tower high in the world of delphinium. Their fine delphiniums, such as I have 
been able to secure, have gone through the “melting pot” of Lyondel Gardens 
and have brought forth a strain which some have called the world’s worse, and 
some the world’s best, and which I think is fairly good, with some fine qual¬ 
ities and some poor ones. I am endeavoring to eliminate the poor and to 
accentuate the best. This task requires neither jealously guarded secrets nor 
the touch of a wizard. So, my friends, what I am offering to you as Lyondels 
is not strictly my own; at least no more than any other strain is the exclusive 
property of any given breeder. Hybridizers depend on each other’s products 
with which to build their own conception of delphinium beauty. Plant im¬ 
provement is like a relay race: it is advanced by individual breeders who carry 
the baton lor one or more laps but eventually must surrender it to others who 
come after them. There is credit and profit in it for all. Just as I have intro¬ 
duced into the Lyondels every promising strain that has been developed by 
breeders all over the world, so have a few others paid me the compliment of 
introducing the Lyondels into their own strain; still others have regarded the 
Lyondels with disdain. I salute them all, and may they prosper! 
Unlike some breeders I refuse to make exaggerated claims. To tell you 
that my delphiniums are the best in the world would amount to telling you 
that I am a better man than all other delphinium breeders in the world, a bald 
faced statement that would shame me before my own conscience. I would feel 
like a traitor to many others who have gone before me and to many of my 
esteemed contemporaries now actively and successfully engaged in the im¬ 
provement of delphinium. With the high pressure salesmanship now in vogue; 
with shady business methods masquerading under the term of smart business; 
with obvious falsehoods dressed up in sales talks to make worms appear like 
birds of paradise, and with old and discarded types and designs varnished with 
the glitter of attractive words to make a tottering old man appear like a new 
born babe, the more intelligent buying publ : c is getting wise, and will no longer 
accept the word of the man who has something to sell; he must have solid, 
sane facts. Any way, this breeder of Lyondels who is endeavoring to sell you 
something, is not going to treat you to sales talk. All he can say truthfully is 
that every year since ho has sold delphiniums most lines of his seeds have 
been sold out even before the seedpods were ripe. No advertising campaign 
or nationwide publicity have been the cause of this. My old friends and cus¬ 
tomers do all the selling for me; their numerous gardens all over the country 
are miniature Lyondel Gardens for the public to see. By refusing to sell open 
pollinated seeds, and by crossing only the best, I obtain my small supply of 
seeds. By continuing my interest in my customers long after the sale is made; 
by keeping up with the newest developments in delphinium and passing them 
on to my customers, and by making each year’s seed offerings of higher qual¬ 
ity than those of previous years I have prevented the Lyondels from going 
stale and friends of Lyondel from deserting me. 
1 
