12 



horticulture: 



January 6, 1906 



horticulture: 



AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE 



FLORIST, PLANTSMAN, LANDSCAPE 



GARDENER AND KINDRED 



INTERESTS 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



II HAMILTON PLACE. BOSTON, MASS. 



Telephone, Oxford 292, 



WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager. 



A good indication that the violet men 



Optimistic are no t y ( .t dismayed by the reduced 



violet growers market value of their product is 



found in I he statement that a joint 



order for enough glass to construct 2000 running feet 



of greenhouses has recently been placed in Pittsburg 



by the Rhinebeck violet growers. 



So great is the danger and so fre- 



Protection quent the eases of Loss at this season 



for tender plants j n the shipment of azaleas and 



in transit other plants susceptible to cold. 



even by express, that no grower 



ran afford to assume any responsibility as to their safe 



arrival. Possibly the time may yet come when the 



extent and importance of the plant nursery trade may 



warrant the providing of ears slightly warmed ami 



otherwise specially equipped for this business on regular 



routes, 'flu' inauguration of such a service would 



mean a big increase in shipments. 



The proposal of the Toledo 

 The Florists' Club to hold quarterly 



value of exhibitions as noted in our columns 



local exhibitions ,,f last week discloses the right 

 spirit and if duly carried out will 

 prove a strong factor in tin/ popularity ami prosperity of 

 the organization. It is impossible to realize the indi- 

 rect advantage to every flower and plant dealer in a 

 community that may he derived from a series of well- 

 managed free public exhibitions. It is essential to 

 Keep out everything tending to individual aggrandize- 

 ment, keeping the chili idea strictly in the foreground 

 and relying solely on the common benefit to come from 

 an awakened public interest in the florist ami his 

 wan--. 



While we deprecate -udden and 

 intrinsic violent advances in prices of 



value of the staple flower- as detrimental to 



modern carnation the flower growers' industry vet 

 we cannot but note with gratifi- 

 cation the better values obtained lor carnations of the 

 choice grades during the nasi three weeks. From its 



lowly antecedents, the public has persisted in regarding 

 the carnation as a "common" flower, notwithstanding 

 the $30,000 and $40,000 trumpeting, and are slow to 

 realize the intrinsic value that the fancy flower of today 

 represents and it may he added that a large proportion 

 of the florists themselves are as obtuse as the general 

 public in this respect. The market value of the carna- 

 tion as a cut flower has not kept pace with the increased 

 cost of production and if it were not for the revenue 

 from the sale of young plants some growers would 

 soon come to a keen realization of the fact that the 

 average wholesale price of the better grades is entirely 

 too low. With a fifty per cent, advance in price the 

 year through the buyers would still be getting good 

 value for then- money and the growers a very moderate 

 return for the expert culture demanded. 



Parties receiving shipments of nur- 



Of interest ser y stock at this season of the year 



to the nursery should make prompt and thorough 



trade examination of the plants and if it 



appears that they have suffered 

 injury from exposure take immediate steps to ascertain 

 the exact cause. Stock dug early in the season or in 

 sections where the climate is mild, while the wood is in 

 unripe condition and the roots active, is liable to be 

 ruined by a few days of freezing, whereas the same 

 varieties, in dormant condition and well-hardened oil', 

 might go through a long period of extreme cold without 

 much injury. This is especially true as regard's roses. 

 These lines are suggested by controversies and litigation 



over s e Crimson Rambler shipments a year or two 



ago in which several nursery firms are involved. The 

 roots of the roses are said to have been dead at time of 

 delivery and the divergent views of shipper and receivers 

 as to responsibility have engendered enmities as deplor- 

 able as the direct pecuniary loss. The time, money 

 and worry expended in adjusting these unfortunate 

 affairs, which arc repeatedly coming up. might better be 

 devoted to a broad-spirited consideration of ways and 

 means whereby their recurrence may be prevented. 



Nothing should he left undone 



Improving which will tend to promote the 



packing methods; the best interests of the American 



settling disputes ornamental nursery trade, the 



prospects for which are so prom- 

 ising in the light of the reviving popular regard for 

 decorative garden shrubbery. The facilities for the 

 production of high-class material are unexcelled and 

 the country is ready to accord its support but so long as 

 difficulties such as we have commented on in the preced- 

 ing paragraph are possible the nursery trade is not 

 rising to its opportunity. While our home concerns are 

 wrangling over these grievances our cousins across the 

 water find no difficulty in delivering roses and other 

 material that conic out in g I condition after a trans- 

 Atlantic voyage and sometimes a week's sojourn in the 

 custom house, simply by puddling the roots in a thick 

 clay mixture. On the continent, instead of resorting 

 to legal means to obtain redress for real or fancied 

 wrongs, dealers have established systems of adjudication 

 by means of mutually acceptable arbitrators and the 

 cost and the enmities of litigation are thus avoided. Can 

 we not learn something to our advantage from these 

 facts? 



