When these varieties were last for sale
A seed bank tells you a variety still exists. A seed catalogue tells you somebody could still buy it. We searched 26 catalogues, 1852–1918, for the 142of Burr’s varieties that turn up in them.
Every figure here is a floor, not a census. We read 26catalogues, not the twenty-odd thousand the National Agricultural Library has digitised. A variety missing from this data may have been sold for decades by houses we did not read. So “last seen 1885” means the last year our sampleshows it offered — never that it vanished in 1886.
How a match is counted.A first pass searched each catalogue for every one of Burr’s 439 names and credited any hit. That gave “Early Frame” to peas, cucumbers, carrots and cabbage at once, because it is a real variety name for several crops. A hit now only counts when the crop’s own word appears shortly before it, the way a catalogue prints varieties under a heading. That halved the matches and removed every cross-crop error we could find. Names under six characters are skipped entirely — “Giant” and “Early” collide with ordinary catalogue prose.
What we will not draw. The tempting chart is an extinction curve. The data does not support one: last sightings by decade run 25, 29, 13, 9, 30, 19, 17, which is no trend, on four catalogues a decade. The share of each catalogue given to varieties Burr knew does fall steadily, but that is confounded by catalogue length and by later catalogues being full of newer varieties. An observation, not a rate.
The seed bank is holding varieties the shops gave up on
Our germplasm check found 2of Burr’s varieties still held by the federal seed bank. Seventeen of those also appear in the catalogues we read — and several had already left the trade before the First World War.
Tennis-ball lettuce last appears in our sample in 1854. Garnet Chili potato in 1875. London Long Green cucumber in 1869. All three are in a federal collection today, and all three were last offered, in our sample, before the United States turned a hundred.
That is the gap the phrase “still available” hides, and it is why the seed-saving page states its method above its number. Held is not sold.
The ones that stayed on the shelf
Varieties found in catalogues furthest apart — still being sold decades after Burr counted them.
| Variety | Crop | Seen | Span |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Spanish | Radish | 1852–1918 | 66 yrs |
| Mohawk | Bush bean | 1852–1912 | 60 yrs |
| Early York | Cabbage | 1852–1912 | 60 yrs |
| Large York | Cabbage | 1852–1912 | 60 yrs |
| Early Horn | Carrot | 1852–1912 | 60 yrs |
| Short Prickly | Cucumber | 1852–1912 | 60 yrs |
| Long Scarlet | Radish | 1852–1912 | 60 yrs |
| Large Red | Tomato | 1852–1912 | 60 yrs |
| Long Green Prickly | Cucumber | 1854–1912 | 58 yrs |
| Tall Green Curled | Kale | 1860–1918 | 58 yrs |
Span is first to last sighting in our sample, so it is a minimum in both directions.
The 26 catalogues we read
Every one linked to its scan, so any figure above can be checked at source. Discovered by a fixed query, four per decade, so a re-run picks the same catalogues.
- 1852
The family kitchen gardener : containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of c
32 matched - 1852
Descriptive catalogue of garden seeds : cultivated and sold at the Wethersfield seed garden
38 matched - 1854
Catalogue of garden seeds, and a list of agricultural seeds, garden implements, books on horticulture, &c., &c. : also a
52 matched - 1858
J. M. Thorburn & Co.'s descriptive catalogue of vegetable and agricultural seeds, &c. : garden, field, fruit, &c. seeds.
41 matched - 1860
B.K. Bliss's seed catalogue, containing a choice collection of flower, vegetable and agricultural seeds, comprising sple
23 matched - 1866
General catalogue of agricultural, vegetable, and flower seeds / Law, Somner, & Co.
30 matched - 1868
Catalogue of fresh and genuine field and garden seeds
36 matched - 1869
Ferre, Batchelder & Co's catalogue of seeds, and vegetable and flower garden manual, comprising a list of all the valuab
52 matched - 1875
Annual circular and retail catalogue of warranted vegetable and flower seeds
41 matched - 1876
Annual circular and retail catalogue of warranted vegetable and flower seeds
38 matched - 1877
Annual circular and retail catalogue of warranted vegetable and flower seeds
43 matched - 1878
Annual circular and retail catalogue of warranted vegetable and flower seeds
39 matched - 1884
A. D. Perry & Co. fourteenth annual catalogue of flower, field and garden seeds, implements and drain tile
14 matched - 1886
Amateur guide and illustrated catalogue of flower and garden seeds
1 matched - 1886
Annual descriptive catalogue of seeds : for the vegetable garden, for the flower garden, for the lawn, for the farm, for
22 matched - 1888
A. D. Perry & Co.'s eighteenth annual catalogue of flower, field and garden seeds, implements and drain tile
14 matched - 1894
1894 annual descriptive catalogue : seeds
33 matched - 1896
Alneer Brothers illustrated catalogue of everything for the flower and vegetable garden
11 matched - 1896
Annual catalogue : vegetable, field and flower seeds
28 matched - 1896
Annual descriptive catalogue of seeds
32 matched - 1907
Price list of manures, agricultural seeds, vegetable seeds, flower seeds / Wright, Stephenson & Co., Ltd.
9 matched - 1907
Allen's catalogue of choice strawberry plants my specialty also dewberry, blackberry, raspberry, gooseberry, currant and
6 matched - 1908
Allen's catalogue of choice strawberry plants and other small fruits, vegetable seeds etc
9 matched - 1909
Allen's catalogue 1909 : choicest strawberry plants and other small fruits, vegetable seeds etc
12 matched - 1912
Foster's premier agricultural, vegetable, and flower seeds, 1912 / Foster & Sons, established 1880
15 matched - 1918
Barnard's wholesale price list : vegetable and flower seeds 1918
2 matched
Notes from Eugene
We're working through the agricultural record and marking what still holds. Occasional notes from an art business with agricultural roots, working its way toward farming.
We'll email you to confirm before sending anything. After that, occasional seasonal notes from Sun & Rain Works — we won't share your address, and every email has an unsubscribe link.
Sources: Fearing Burr, The Field and Garden Vegetables of America (1863), for the variety names. Seed and nursery catalogues digitised by the USDA National Agricultural Library and hosted at the Internet Archive, 1852–1918; identifiers linked above. Germplasm holdings from the USDA National Plant Germplasm System, surveyed 2026-08-10. Matching, and every inference drawn from it, is ours.