August 21, 1902 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



385 



the south and the ladies and gentlemen 

 present. 



The subject allotted to me by the Exec- 

 utive Committee — some of the wants of 

 the north, east, and west, in the line of 

 plants, trees, shrubs, vines, bulbs, tube- 

 roses stocks for budding, grafting, etc., 

 by the commercial florist, the landscape 

 architect, the park and cemetery superin- 

 tendents, the private and the jobbing 

 gardener. Their wants and requirements 

 to successfuly carry on their various lines 

 of horticulture are varied and many. The 

 usual way of supplying these wants is 

 by importing them from foreign coun- 

 tries, European countries in particular, at 



know of any good reason why this coun- 

 try should not become a great exporter 

 horticulturally as well as a large im- 

 porter. A free interchange of merchan- 

 dise is the very life of our b\isiness. The 

 government at Washington is doing a 

 good work on the right lines by organiz- 

 ing thr Bureau of Plant Industry. Al- 

 readv good results have been secured by 

 following the policy thus laid down, and 

 important plant problems are being 

 studied. 



A foreign visitor to Massachusetts, who 

 is connected with the Royal Netherlands 

 Nurseries, Hillegom, Holland, an author- 

 ity on tulips, says: "Twenty-five of his 



Cereus Grandiflorus in Bloom at Humboldt Park, Chicago. Max Kleppin, Gardener. 



great cost and much risk, and frequently 

 with unsatisfactory results in general. 

 Without going into details the imports 

 into the United States of plants, trees, 

 and bulbs, and other, horticultural prod- 

 ucts, seeds not included, from January, 

 1901, to March, 1902, in round numbers 

 to the value of $1,.500,000. I am in- 

 formed by a gentleman who is in a posi- 

 tion to know, that the imports in horti- 

 cultural goods would average over $1,- 

 000,000 a year for the past four years, 

 with imports on the increase, but the ex- 

 ports were less than $100,000 per year. 



Now, my friends of the south,- is it 

 necessary that the florists of the United 

 States should continue to pay out so 

 much money for imports and receive so 

 little for exports. With this great, great 

 country at our feet, it has been said 

 that about everything we import can be 

 produced between Virginia and Texas. 

 Without going into items some of the 

 principal imports are azaleas, bay trees, 

 spirea, rhododendrons, trees and shrub- 

 bery. These heavy and bulky goods cost 

 about 60 per cent freight ana customs- 

 duty alone. Hybrid roses in great quan- 

 tities, Manetti stocks by the million, 

 palms in variety, lily of the valley by the 

 million, bulbs and tuberoses in unlimited 

 quantities at an advance on their original 

 cost of not less than 50 per cent for 

 freights and customs duty. I do not 



countrymen connected with the bulb ex- 

 porting business are about to visit the 

 United States in connection with that 

 industry." He is reported as saying, 

 Holland annually sends to this country 

 .$1,000,000 worth of bulbs from which 

 the United States gets $250,000 in duties. 

 I think the above goes to show that the 

 gentleman from Holland thinks favorably 

 of some part of this country for the 

 growing of bulbs. 



A clipping from a Dutch correspondent 

 to the Horticultural Trade .Journal says: 

 "Seldom, if ever, has the month of May 

 kept us in such a continuous wintry tem- 

 perature as this year, and bulb crops are 

 very likely to show the results. This refers 

 more especially to tulips which must have 

 their principal growth in the month of 

 May. Hyacinths have not suffered quite 

 so much, their growth is made later. It 

 will greatly depend upon the weather we 

 get in June if we get a fairly good crop." 

 I think the gentlemen from Holland have 

 some good reasons for looking up new 

 and more favorable locations where cli- 

 matic conditions play such an important 

 part in the bulb industry. 



What is the south doing on these lines? 

 What are the prospects of American- 

 grown bulbs? 



Mr. Buechi, Buffalo, N. Y., has for 

 several years successfully grown White 

 Romans. His stock of 10,000 were equal 



in all respects to the French bulbs de- 

 livered in 1901. Will force fully as well 

 as the French stock and they can be pro- 

 duced in this country at less cost than 

 the imported ones. Ho grows them in 

 muck land, and the richer the better. 



State Vice-President Lilenthall, San 

 Francisco, is in receipt of a communica- 

 tion from the Department of Agriculture, 

 at Washington, containing a valuable 

 amount of information relative to the 

 bulb industry, which he is anxious to see 

 introduced into California. Owing to 

 its climatic advantages as a bulb produc- 

 ing section. Secretary Wilson, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, announces his active 

 sympathy with the horticulturists of 

 California in their efforts to secure this 

 profitaVjIe field of commercial gardening. 

 There are other states in the Union that 

 can justly claim genial temperatures and 

 congenial soils that can produce almost 

 anything from peanuts to a full-grown 

 stately pine. 



The state of North Carolina is one of 

 the oldest of the colonies and one of the 

 original thirteen states, but her history 

 horticulturally is not so generally known 

 as some of the other states, still it is said 

 to be the greatest botanical state in the 

 Union. On her soil was the tirst settle- 

 ment in the United States, the first white 

 child of English parentage was born, 

 the white people of this state probably 

 represent today the purest type of 'Amer- 

 ican citizen in the Union. 



But it is not the history of the State 

 I will speak of, but some of the resources 

 of the state and the south in general as 

 they exist in the present, and the great 

 possibilities for future development horti- 

 culturally. No other one thing contrib- 

 utes so much to satisfactory results in 

 horticulture as a favorable climate, which 

 this state has. There are none of the 

 extremes of heat and cold, rainfall or 

 drought, and the geographical position 

 and topographical features of North 

 Carolina afford a variety of soil and cli- 

 mate hardly to be found elsewhere within 

 the same range of territory. This variety 

 of soil and climate makes one of the rich- 

 est in the American Union. There is no 

 section of the state in which some variety 

 of fruit, vegetables, or flowers cannot 

 be grown profitably. Of strawberries, 

 peaches and apples, not forgetting the 

 peanuts, not less than 100,000 acres were 

 planted in the year 1900, with a produc- 

 tion of about 4,000,000 bushels. Another 

 profitable field is the production of plants 

 and bulbs. While this industry has re- 

 ceived but little attention, whenever, ex- 

 periments have been made very satisfac- 

 tory results have been shown. The above 

 are a few extracts from the Congres- 

 sional Record by Mr. Small, M. C, June 

 28th, 1902. 



It is generally understood by gentle- 

 men in active business and well versed 

 in everything pertaining to horticulture 

 that a great many plants, trees, shrubs, 

 bulbs, and things too numerous to men- 

 tion here, that at the present time are 

 being imported at great cost and much 

 risk, can be grown on the American con- 

 tinent. I do not pretend to tell the 

 florists and nurserymen of the south what 

 to grow, or what not to grow, for I am 

 not well enough acquainted with the con- 

 ditions and conveniences to give such 

 advice in any particular state or locality, 

 but I do know some of the wants and 

 needs of the east and west in the line of 

 horticultural products. 



