Catalogs, seed

Since its conception in 1970, the temporal fates of literally thousands of various initial configurations have been analyzed and cataloged. As always, the obvious way to start is by asking what happens to simple seeds. 

I check the mail every day with a sense of anticipation, hoping for checks and invitations, but receiving bills, catalogs, and PennySaver mailers instead. The selection today is mostly junk a credit card offer, local coupon book, catalogs and, wait a second—jackpot Here is something even better than checks or invitations the 2006 Johnny s Selected Seeds catalog. 

Stuffing the mail under my arm, I head into the house, and dump everything on the island in the kitchen. Moments later I find myself sitting in a comfortable chair in the living room with the Johnny s seed catalog. All thoughts of food have vanished, and I m not aware of how I got here. My brain has shifted all its attention to the seeds, the plants, and their traits. 

Johnny s owners, Rob Johnston and Janika Eckert, are featured on the catalog cover holding a basket full of long, red peppers. It s unusual to picture the owners on the cover of a seed catalog, because the vegetables are the stars of this book. Perhaps this is an effort to show how these two are accessible and proud of their product, but it also looks like they are there to protect their latest variety from unsavory characters waiting to steal their seed. 

I am about three-fourths of the way through the catalog, dazzled by the pictures of plump hybrids and beautiful open-pollinated vegetable varieties, but when I start adding up the bill for my choices, I get into triple digits very quickly, and I start to think that maybe we should just grow and save our own seed at the student farm. 

Sutton White — U.K. origin. Ex-catalog of Sutton Seeds, Suffolk, U.K. Garcia-Rodriguez and Gautheret, 1976. 

Choose cultivars that are adapted to local growing conditions. Many are resistant to one or more problems. Resistant cultivars are usually denoted in seed catalogs as follows F = Fusarium-resistant, V = Verticillium-resistant, T = tobacco mosaic virus-resistant, and N = nematode-resistant. 

Numerous ethical drug companies also had saw palmetto-based formulas for similar problems. The Tilden Company, which had started producing herbal medicines in New Lebanon, New York, in 1824, listed three saw palmetto formulas in its 1937 catalog, including a saw palmetto compound that contained Serenoa, sandalwood, kola nut, and celery seed. 

John Wyeth and Brother of Philadelphia, in a 1901 catalog, listed a saw palmetto compound that also contained kola nut, parsley seed, and coca leaves. They recommend it for urinary complaints, prostatic irritation, and catarrhal conditions, and as an aphrodisiac. Major pharmaceutical companies, including Lilly, Squibb, and Merck, all produced products from this aromatic berry. 

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