What a fun day, full of surprises and rich memories, for Nora Hughes and nieces, as they unearthed a bevy of treasures from the attic of the old Woodhead homestead. One such treasure, addressed to Willis Woodhead and sporting a one cent postmark, the 1937 McFayden Seed List promises seeds that "are new, fresh and full of life" and that "a well planted garden sends out a perpetual smile." The well preserved, 62 year old, newspaper style catalog, greets you with a farm girl in a pumpkin patch, warmed by the rays of a morning sun. The McFayden Seeds that "cost so little-grow so much" advertise that their big oversize packets are only 3 to 4 cents each.

Snippets about horticultural scientists and recent advances in hybrid varieties are highlighted by one, Mr. L. Ptitsin, who was "our seed and plant collector for Northern Manchuria." He states, "Many of the people of N. Manchuria... as well as Siberia, are vegetarians and as the growing conditions there are similar to our prairie in climatic extremes, many of our hardy shrubs and fruits... hardy lilies... beautiful perennials, as well as our early vegetables, originated there. By...testing the most promising of these we hope to get greater earliness...we have two vegetables that are decided forward steps in gardening, and these will be offered as soon as the stock has been trued up and increased..."

Some varieties not available today, are things like "crystal apple", an odd cucumber very popular in Australia. Citrons, a type of melon, are "not to be eaten raw but used for making a transparent preserve of peculiarly fine flavor...one fruit that every practical housewife grows..." Some old types of corn are Dorinny, Whipples and Sioux Squaw. Mangels are sugar beets, "the cheapest food you can grow for cattle, sheep and poultry." New and odd from Europe, are chick peas and extra large, yellow lentils. Early Northern Red Peanuts were already popular, but vegetable spaghetti was regarded as a novelty without much food value.

The "Oxheart" tomato is a new listing and determinate varieties are called "self-pruning." They also had yellow pear, cherry tomatoes (re-introduced in modern times). I was surprised to find that varieties that I thought were new, were actually old and vice versa. "Flowers add beauty and value to your property," McFayden's famous flower seeds section begins. They had outstanding collections and mixtures of every sort, including wildflower and ornamental grasses. Exotic varieties include the blue Tibetan Poppy and Mexican Fire Plant (Poinsettia). Sweet peas were very popular, listing 36 types. Varieties impossible or hard to find today are Plume Poppy, Chinese Woolflower, Orange-flare Cosmos, Moon flower vine, White-leaved Centaurea, and Musk plant.

Fruit trees are offered as bundled seedlings and some potatoes are offered as conical wedges of "eyes" to start one's own seed potatoes. Surprisingly, hybridized potato seed is also offered. The fertilizer department offers Elephant Brand ammonium phosphate 11/48 and it was "organic"! "...it does not drain quickly out of the soil...made from the hardstone British Columbia formation and once placed in the soil, to stimulate growth for at least a three-year period." The section ends with this tidbit, "Remember, also, that humans and animals need a balanced diet and food from soils deficient in phosphate, in many cases, are the cause of ailments that finally lead to very poor health and premature death. Postpaid: 1 lb 25 cents." Amazing! The prices of seeds and plants today are disgustingly exorbitant; I wax poetic for the days of old when b.s. was not genetically engineered. Would those folk have paid $3 to $5 for a measly pack of seeds? Could they even imagine you could not take a cutting from a plant or save seeds because it was a licensed patent? Forgive me, I am still suffering from "seed madness."

by A. Martinson