192 



HORTICULTURE 



February 17, 1906 



IMPRESSIONS OF CALIFORNIA 

 AND ITS CLIMATE. 



[nued from page 14::. i 

 Near Oceana, I saw carnations 

 growing in a garden which were 

 finer in plant and flower than 

 any I have ever seen in a green- 

 house; the plants being sturdy and 

 symmetrical with beautiful foliage and 

 stiff erect stems surmounted by the 

 finest and most symmetrical flowers; 

 no stakes or support was needed, and 

 here should be the perfect field for the 

 work of the hybridizer and seeker after 

 new varieties. 



At Pasadena, I saw on the lawns a 

 number of beautiful specimens of 

 Phoenix reclinata, ten to twenty feat 

 in height and of most symmetrical 

 form, but this was the only one of the 

 finer palms that I saw used to any 

 extent in California and it seems to 

 me that our large palm growers 

 should work up this field and encour- 

 age California planters to make use 

 of the seaforthia, lantanas, kentias, 

 etc., which have a more graceful ap- 

 pearance than' the old fan palm with 

 its spiky leaves and thread-like fila- 

 ments. 



In the vicinity of Santa Barbara are 

 large lemon orchards nestling in the 

 valleys between the hills wherever 

 there is an opening with a supply of 

 water for irrigation and just below 

 Santa Barbara, there is a beautiful 

 place on the sea shore called Mitainar, 

 consisting of small cottages each sur- 

 rounded with a fresh green lawn, also 

 a country club with spacious grounds 

 all with the greenery of our suburbs 

 and a splendid view of the sea. 



Just before reaching Los Angeles, 

 the train passes through several miles 

 of strawberry fields closely planted, 

 with just room to walk between the 

 rows and all under irrigation, but one 

 has to look twice to recognize this 

 well-known plant as each leaf looks as 

 though it had just been washed, waxed 

 and varnished. Looking along the 

 rows every once in a while you see a 

 plant with a large cluster of ripe 

 berries, not a crop at all, but say one 

 plant in twenty-five with ripe fruit, 

 and affording a good picking from the 

 large area, and as the winter season 

 advances they become more plentiful. 

 A" little nearer Los Angeles, in fact 

 just outside the city, there is a pigeon 

 establishment with thirty thousand 

 breeding birds, the whole arrangement 

 consisting simply of orange boxes 

 piled in tiers for nests and covered 

 with wire netting supported by rough 

 poles. In the Los Angeles markets 

 I saw huge piles of the winter pine- 

 apple, musk mellons labeled "fine 

 Casabas," which must have originated 

 in the imagination of some grower 

 who had never seen the true type of 

 the fine old Casaba as nothing more 

 could have been conjured in the 

 garden. 



The giant redwoods near Vera 

 Cruz resemble an enormous growth of 

 hemlock spruce many times magnified, 

 and these trees increase in size as one 

 ascends the mountains, culminating in 

 a grove of fine trees averaging three 

 hundred feet in height in a valley 

 near the summit. This grove has been 



enclosed for a park and will be pre- 

 served for future generations. 



On many ranches there are groves 

 of eucalyptus planted closely together 

 twenty to twenty-five years ago and 

 now seventy-five to a hundred feet in 

 height with trunks as straight as an 

 arrow, but so far no use has be n 

 found for this tree excepting for fire- 

 wood and it is about as ornamental 

 as the Carolina poplar. 



Among the disappointments of the 

 trip, was that I did not see any San 

 Jcse scale at San Jose, although I en- 

 quired for it repeatedly. No one 

 .seemed to be acquainted with this 

 small pest which is raising so much 

 commotion here, except by reputation. 



Although my stay in California was 

 limited to two weeks duration, every 

 moment was crowded with interesting 

 sights and experiences and I have only 

 been able to give you a very meager 

 account of the interesting things to be 

 seen. To give a full account of what 

 I saw in even such a short visit would 

 require several evenings and would, 1 

 fear, tire your patience unless you, too, 

 have been there and have a fellow- 

 feeling in the reminiscences. The 

 country has a charm which lingers in 

 your memory and makes you wish to 

 go again, but if the choice is yours 

 the trip should be made in the spring 

 when everything is fresh and green 

 and the flowers are in full bloom. 



SAMUEL MURRAY. 



We introduce to our readers, through 

 the portrait which appears herewith, 

 one of the best known and best liked 

 hi the fraternity of American llorists. 

 Samuel Murray of Kansas City. Mo. 

 Mr. Murray is one of those all-round, 

 indispensable men who can be relied 

 upon to do his share and more whe i 



artistic decorative work is called for, 

 when cultural abilities are to be dem- 

 onstrated in the exhibition hall. wh?n 

 the stranger within the gates is to be 

 welcomed or any self-sacrificing duty 

 for the benefit of the craft presents it- 

 self. Mr. Murray's busy little estab- 

 lishment, next to the Coates House, is 

 'lie first objective point of every horti- 

 cultural visitor to Kansas City. 



FORCING LILAC DE MARLEY FOR 

 CUT FLOWERS. 



Translated from the French. 



On arrival in the fall, after unpack- 

 ing, place in a cool shed and pack 

 plants close together without watering 

 (that means, starve the plants a little). 

 A spell of moderate freezing will im- 

 prove the forcing chances. When 

 wanted for forcing, remove to the 

 greenhouse, where they are to be 

 planted right close in the ground, but 

 so that enough passageway be left to 

 attend to them. Small houses of 150- 

 200 each would be preferable when 

 larger quantities are to be forced, so 

 that new stock can be set in every 

 week. The houses must be darkened, 

 and the temperature may be run up 

 at once to 86-95 deg. Fahrenheit. 

 Water every day towards noon with 

 cold water, and spray the branches 

 freely; plants want air and light from 

 time to time, best for an hour or two 

 in the middle of the day. After 18-20 

 days, flowers should be ready to cut, 

 which will be white when forced in 

 the dark; the natural color of de 

 Marley being a pale lilac. If the leaf- 

 buds are allowed to grow, it will inter- 

 fere with the development of the 

 flower buds; therefore always allow 

 the latter the preference to develop 

 first, and until they are fairly out re- 

 move the growing leafbuds. 



If wanted in the natural tint, do not 

 start forcing before January; earlier 

 they will not take color. Force in well 

 lighted and ventilated houses with 

 85-95 deg. Fahrenheit; they want much 

 heat at the start, until the buds have 

 pushed 3 to 4 inches long, then grad- 

 ually lower the temperature; the 

 lower the temperature and the more 

 air and light you give the more pro- 

 nounced will the color appear. This 

 of course is a slower process. Field- 

 grown plants of Charles X, and white 

 Mari' j Legraye. are both treated suc- 

 cessfully for the Paris market in the 

 latter way, and will then show their 

 natural colors to perfection. 



PERSONAL. 

 A. Schultheis of College Point, has 

 sufficiently recovered from his long 

 and severe illness to go to Lakewood. 

 « lie re he will spend a few weeks in 

 recuperating. 



Philip Breitmeyer, manager of J. 

 Breitmeyer's Sons, Detroit, Mich., has 

 been appointed second vice-president 

 of the German-American bank of that 

 city. With its notable prominence the 

 bank could have chosen no man more 

 worthy of the position. 



C. A. Dards of New York, has gone 

 on a trip to Egypt, and expects to 

 J. M. Keller there and gather 

 cyclamen persicum and nelumbiums 

 on the banks of the Nile, in company 

 with that distinguished plantsman, 

 with the kind permission of the croco- 

 diles. 



Recent visitors in Buffalo: J. A. 

 Valentine of Denver, Arnold Ringier 

 of Chicago, F. R. Gillmann, of Rhine- 

 beck, Max Beatus of Dayton, P. R. 

 Quinlan of Syracuse, Wm. Schomburg 

 of Rochester, P. Berkowitz of Phila- 

 delphia and Wm. Hagemann of New 

 York. 



