QBARS - v15n2 About the Origin of the Barto Plants

About the Origin of the Barto Plants
Joseph Gable, Stewartstown, PA

In the October Bulletin, the list on page 230 "Barto's List of Plants, sent to Gable 1932" has brought some correspondence which obviously has led the readers to think that Mr. Barto sent me specimens of all the plants named on this list, whereas it was the list of names only, and not the plants named on the list that I received from him.

He sent me many of these, but most of them as seeds not plants. I sent him many seeds in return. Some species, perhaps all the Rock numbers beginning with No. 18 were sent to Mr. Anton Brower of New York though some correspondence with Dr. Bowers (I cannot recall) I had some part in it, but that was my first move. I sent some other Rock numbers also. I never met Barto personally, but I thought that he lived in the right climate to be able to succeed better than anyone else I knew.

I think he got all the Forrest and Kingdon Ward numbers (also the Farrer) and M. V. (Maurice Vilmorin) collections from other sources, and he sent some of these to me. I have no record of any of these succeeding here. The most or perhaps all of those seeds came through Mr. Gurney Wilson of the British Association.

It is a pity that the importance of keeping complete and accurate records only comes after we have grown "Too soon old and too late schmardt" as we Pennsylvania Dutch say.