from Maine to California, and too often the marvellous portraits of
fruits that he exhibits do not even resemble the varieties whose names
they bear. It is best to buy of those who have a "local habitation and
a name," and then, if anything is wrong, one knows where to look for
redress.

Even if one wishes to be accurate, it is difficult to know that one's
stock is absolutely pure and true to name. The evil of mixed plants is
more often perpetuated in the following innocent manner than by any
intentional deception: For instance, one buys from a trustworthy
source, as he supposes, a thousand "Monarch" strawberry plants, and
sets them out in the spring. All blossoms should be picked off the
first year, and, therefore, there can be no fruit as a test of purity
that season. But by fall there are many thousands of young plants. The
grower naturally says: "I bought these for the Monarch, therefore they
are Monarchs," and he sells many plants as such. When coming into
fruit the second summer, he finds, however, that not one in twenty is
a Monarch plant. As an honest man, he now digs them under in disgust;
but the mischief has already been done, and scattered throughout the
country are thousands of mixed plants which multiply with the vigor of
evil. Nurserymen should never take varieties for granted, no matter
where obtained. I endeavor so to train my eye that I can detect the
distinguishing marks even in the foliage and blossoms, and if anything
looks suspicious I root it out. The foliage of the Monarch of the West
is so distinct that if one learns to know it he can tell whether his
plants are mixed at a glance.

If possible, the nurseryman should start with plants that he knows to
be genuine, and propagate from them. Then, by constant and personal
vigilance, he can maintain a stock that will not be productive chiefly