January 20, 1906 



HORT1 CULTU RE 



67 



AFTER ADJOURNMENT. 



Guttman & Weber report advance 

 orders for their scarlet carnation Vic- 

 tory, aggregating 200,000 up to date, a 

 sterling tribute to the flower itself and 

 the enterprising manner in which its 

 merits have been given publicity. 



Fresh magnolia branches with rich 

 glossy foliage are among the nicest 

 things in the green line carried in 

 stock by the Kervan Company, New 

 York. For decorative effect, in artis- 

 tic hands, they have no superior. 



Double flowering peach, white and 

 pink, apple blossoms and lilacs are 

 among the most attractive novelties 

 seen in the windows of New York 

 florists. These things make a window 

 display which demands notice from 

 the passer-by. 



The New Jersey State Horticultural 

 Society has again voted, at its 31st an- 

 nual meeting, to advocate legislation 

 permitting the destruction of the robin 

 by the fruit growers. A much more 

 general approval is likely to be given 

 their vote in favor of a parcels post 

 and for the discontinuance of discrim- 

 ination in freight rates against eastern 

 fruit growers. Bird destruction is not 

 popular now-a-days. 



On account of the high commercial 

 tax now imposed upon all traveling 

 salesmen entering Canada. large 

 American houses are withdrawing their 

 representatives from that territory, as 

 the prices charged for goods cannot 

 ■cover this additional cost. Canadian 

 buyers will find our advertising col- 

 umns especially useful under these cir- 

 cumstances and, ordering by mail from 

 the advertisers found therein, can de- 

 pend upon careful consideration of all 

 business so transmitted. 



The Rural New Yorker is doing some 

 telling work in agitating the parcels 

 post matter and the communications 

 from some of its readers indicate that 

 gratifying progress is being made in 

 awakening public sentiment in favor 

 of this much-needed reform. One 

 writer in the issue of Jan. 13 shows 

 how for the sum of ten or twelve cents 

 packages of considerable size may be 

 sent by parcels post from London to 

 Jerusalem! Jerusalem, with all her 

 misfortunes, has evidently thus far 

 eluded the express monopoly. Ameri- 

 cans have yet something to learn from 

 old world ways. 



We notice that the esteemed "cor- 

 respondent of a western paper" has 

 transferred his masterly handling of 

 the S. A. F. and its "proposed exhibi- 

 tion," the "censorious editor" and the 

 "Boston people," to the roomy col- 

 umns of an eastern contemporary. 

 Would briefly say, with all due respect 

 to our friend Craig's contrary opin- 

 ion, that we still think we are fairly 

 familiar with Boston sentiment and 

 able to speak for Boston as a Boston 

 man, even though we were deprived 

 of the liberal education in this re- 

 spect provided for those who were 

 present at the momentous Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club meeting in ques- 



tion. Perhaps Mr. Craig will be will- 

 ing to give us a chip from the store 

 of knowledge emitted on that occa- 

 sion and tell us who it was that flung 

 the bugaboo into the meeting, and 

 what the motive behind this attempt 

 to lure a fair-minded, honorable body 

 such as the Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club of Boston into the discourtesy of 

 a premature discussion and recorded 

 condemnation of the alleged plans of 

 a friendly society before any com- 

 munication had been transmitted by 

 that organization or any official pub- 

 lic announcement made. 



"May go out for wool ami come borne 

 shorn themselves." 



According to The New York Tribune, 

 Bronx Park has a "plant hospital." 

 The "plant doctor," a Mr. E. A. Cos- 

 tain, it appears, entertained The Trib- 

 une reporter with a full column dis- 

 sertation on plant life, plant diseases 

 and plant medicines, as he followed 

 him on his rounds among his "pa- 

 tients." We read that: 



"Among the patients treated were the 

 feather palm, parosol, bamboo, Bungalow, 

 blooming cane broom, fern, jaguar, royal, 



fan, umbrella ami Bourbon. Some of these 

 palms were drooping and fainting like the 

 sick alter a long, hard night of nerve rack- 

 ing pain. Tin- Bourbon was in a state of 

 complete nervous prostration; the feather 

 hn>ked rheumatic, its offshoots curled up 

 ami knotted; the fan had some pulmonary 

 trouble, and many of the others were vic- 

 tims of indigestion, being unable to relish 

 their food. A warm bath, a sponging with 

 oil. doses of plant medicine, ehauging of 

 position and a loosening of the earth 

 around made them more comfortable. In 

 a sh.nl time ii needed no imagination to 

 see thai they felt mueli better and were 

 on the road to recovery." 



The "doctor's" plants may be sickly, 

 but there is evidently nothing the 

 matter with the digestive apparatus of 

 The Tribune's readers. 



The old epidemic has apparently 

 struck in on The New York Sun, also. 

 Its representative has had an en- 

 counter with a "Broadway florist." 

 According to the interview, which oc- 

 cupies a full column, for which any 

 legitimate enterprise would have to 

 pay dearly, we learn that: 



"Carnation Aristocrat was sold by a Cin- 

 cinnati firm to the Carnation Association 

 of Juliet, III., recently, hut the associa- 

 tion will have no trouble in getting its 

 money back. 



"It will get it back in one season. You 

 see. they will sell the first shoots for $o 



.i| e. They'll have about a thousand of 



them. Then the shoots will lie doubled 

 and tripled and quadrupled and they'll sell 

 them all for $5 apiece. 



"It is unusual to grow anything very 

 wonderful in the way of a carnation in 

 iliis country. That was probably what 

 raised the price of the Aristocrat. Carna- 

 tions grow much better in England. 



"There seems to he a fad for rare carna- 

 tions among many rich people. I have 

 known people to pay fabulous prices for 

 rare carnations and never let them go out 

 of their greenhouses except for presents 

 to their friends. 



"But as to the way flowers take to differ- 

 ent countries. There is the American 

 Beauty rose. They can't mow that In 

 England at all. It refuses to take root. 

 They have tried it again and again and 

 failed. Yes. 1 suppose that is the reason 

 they an' called American Beauty roses. 

 It suits them best to grow here. 

 " "That amaryllis you see in the window, 

 grows best on the Pacific coast. That one 

 didn't, of course. It was grown in a green- 

 house. Yes. it is beautiful. It is almost 

 impossible to believe it could be more beau 

 tiful unless you saw it trailing along on 

 its native heath. It is a thing to look at 

 there." 



A town that can stand for that will 

 stand for anything, even tin horns and 

 rattles on New Year's eve! 



OUT OF THE BEAN POD. 



So much hot air has been used in 

 Boston's recent political battles that 

 it may have had a tendency to keep 

 away the cold weather and give the 

 florists a chance to keep down the 

 coal account, but things have gone 

 down to their normal point and the 

 spring-like weather cannot last much 

 longer. 



The c ming of the Carnation Society 

 to Boston excites much interest 

 amongst the craft here, and the good 

 fellowship for which Boston is noted 

 will be freely extended. But Presi- 

 dent Fisher should have put the ex- 

 ecutive committee wise in the selection 

 of the date, for on the 25th of January 

 the weather man usually hands out 

 one of his best samples of winter, but 

 the president may get qn the right 

 side of that gentleman ar*l prevail on 

 him to give us a moderate dose. Pos- 

 sibly he had in mind that this will 

 be the day so dear to all Scotchmen, 

 the anniversary of the birth of 

 "Robbie" and I shouldn't be sur- 

 prised if he had tickets bought in 

 advance to give his co-workers a 

 chance to worship at the shrine of the 

 illustrious bard. 



Be that as it may, let us all welcome 

 the coming of the American Carnation 

 Society and we all hope that the 

 weather will be such that the public 

 will be given a chance to see the ex- 

 hibition. At the same time it may 

 not be out of place to add that none 

 of us has any patent rights in the 

 growing of our specialties. No society 

 or member of a society can afford to 

 be arrogant or try as individuals to 

 bring about antagonisms between dif- 

 ferent societies. Most of us gain our 

 daily bread from a specialty and are 

 trying to work out plans which will 

 bring that specialty to a higher plane. 

 In some lines results are more quickly 

 achieved than others, but let none of 

 us in the flush of victory think that 

 others are less industrious than our- 

 selves. The path in some lines has 

 been very difficult to climb but there 

 have been brave-hearted men who have 

 given their time and money freely to 

 overcome obstacles that have seemed 

 insurmountable. The late Edmund M. 

 Wood was one of these men, and in 

 him Boston and the entire country 

 lost a man who did much for the par- 

 ticular industry for which he had a 

 great love. Were he alive today both 

 the American Carnation Society and 

 the American Rose Society would have 

 had a warm welcome from a friend 

 of both. 



ROBT. T. McGORUM. 



HORTICULTURE A BUSINESS 

 GETTER. 



Under the remark, "You see HOR- 

 TICULTURE reaches beyond the 

 United States," an advertiser sends 

 us an inquiry received from England. 

 This is suggestive to those who are 

 looking for a wider market for their 

 products. 



PERSONAL. 



Frank L. Sterling, nurseryman, was 

 married on New Year's day to Mrs. 

 Martha McLain. 



Thos. H. Meade severed his connec- 

 tion as travelling man with Jos. Breck 

 & Sons' Corporation January 1. 



