The chronicle=news., 1913-01-24

Garden seed orders should soon he
sent TO the seedsmcn. II IL poor pol
Icy 10 delay the purchase OF seeds
until planting time. First. because
later In the season work Is TOO press
ing 10 take time to decide what Is
her, TO get. and II is also essential
tina. some of our seeds he sown with
IN the next month or 50.
With all the reliable seed caia-
logs coming TO hand at this time OF
year. We can usually pick out good
selection OF garden seed which VIII
20 long way toward making our
next years garden activities n sue
cess.
We should he careful not to Let
tho ovcrdrnwn pictures and descrip-
tons In the catalogs lead ms TO sc-
lcci u lot OF untricd novelties In the
place OF tried out. standard vnric-
ties that are known TO he satisfnc-
tory. II may he that the writer Is
somewhat prcjudiccd. but We have
come TO make Il practice OF throwing
in the waste basket all those cata-
logs that widely overdrnw the de-
scrip,ions OF plants beyond what We
know to he possibilities. Another
class Of sccdsmcn that We always
strike off our list are those who Of
fer something for nothing. We know
that II Is much cheaper In the end
to pay fair price for seeds and get
wha. "" wan than to either buy seed
ut bargain lots or accept free seeds
that are distributed by the govern
ment. In either case We are tempted
to plant something that we do not
pcnsive and. TO say the least. mnsat-
isfactory.
Tho hest plan Ia to study our cata-
logs and decide between those reli-
able firms which have the varieties
OF the different species OF vegetables
and fruits which We think are hest
adapted to our conditions. More gar
dcns come TO grief through the dis
couragemcnt OF the gardner having
been led TO try some startling new
discovery In varieties that are being
sold nj high prices than in any other
way. Tho scheme of the unscrupu-
ious and even the honest scotsman.
to make his best money easy. is each
year TO introduce some novelty which
may he sold two or three times the
price OF the standard varieties. For
instance. You will gind in n nursery
cntalog Concord grape vines sold at
frim to 10 cents piece, depend
ing upon circumstances. In the same
catnloS you will usually find litho-
grnpb picture and flowery descrip-
ton OF some new grape that Is very.
very much superior to the OLD stand
ard variety. This Is probably sold at
from so cents to 81 per plant. II we
try these grapes out. side by side.
in nine cases out OF ten We will find
that the old standard variety Il
hardy. prolific. OF good quality and
desirable in every way. and that the
new high-priced plant is either ten
der. unproductive or of poor quality.
This is the history that repeats itself
every year. For If We care to inves-
tignte the matter we will find that
there are many varieties of every
species OF fruit and vegetable being
sold constantly at a high price that
nre in n few years discarded and for
gotten.
Another trick Of the trade is to
bring out some old standard variety
under new description and n new
name, and sell at high price.
We do not wish to discourage the
trial of these novelties and new in
as VIC find some of them
desirable, and we believe that every
one who gardens for the love of the
work or cares to improve on present
should try out in IL small
way those new varieties that seem
II it be done in an exper-
mental way rather than to depend
on them for a standard crop.
One important fact in selecting the
seed for the garden should always be
borne in mind. The market garden
rr selects those varieties which be-
cause of high yielding qualities or
extreme earliness are desirable for
The market, but there are nearly al
ways better varieties which. though
less productive. are more desirable
for the kitchen garden because of
better quality. For instance, some
)f our finest strawberries are well
ldaptcd to grow to be used immc-