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HORTICULTURE 



March 3, 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. 



The cut flower commission man can 

 ••The most now sympathize with the carnation nov- 

 unkindest city introducer, who is getting a taste of 

 cut of all" w hat it feels like to be called bad names. 

 Hitherto the commission man has been 

 the stock rascal of the business but, judging from the 

 various communications recently published by some of 

 our contemporaries, this distinction is in danger of 

 shifting from the commission man to the wicked carna- 

 tion man. We shudder as we think of the tricks that 

 are practiced, the giant humbugs turned loose, the 

 wilful deceptions that shake confidence and forebode 

 fearful things, but are glad to still feel that our friends 

 of the Carnation Society don't really mean all they are 

 saying about one another ami that there will be no 

 funeral. 



That the approaching meeting 

 For the advance- ;111( ] exhibition of the American 

 ment of the rose j> ose Society at Boston will do 

 much to stimulate activity and 

 open up new spheres of activity in rose breeding, rose 

 culture under glass and in the open, and awaken fresh 

 interest in the Queen of Flowers as a decorative subject, 

 no one can doubt. The prize schedule of the Rose So- 

 ciety is liberal and comprehensive and will undoubtedly 

 bring out a remarkable display. The spring show of 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, always a 

 scene of rare beauty, in lie held at the same time, should 

 prove a further incentive to a large and representative 

 attendance Erorn far and near and insure the transac- 

 tion of business at the sessions of the society of far- 

 reaching importance to tin' rose and the rose grower. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' 



A course of study ( <i„|, ,,f Boston contemplates the 



in landscape work inauguration of a course of study 



next season in the fundamentals 



of landscape construction work for gardeners who wish 



to perfect themselves in this branch of their art. For 



the lack of a proper working knowledge of plan draw- 

 ing, road building, etc., many gardeners, otherwise 

 fitted to attain great eminence, have been forced into 

 obscurity by landscape architects, many of whom pos- 

 sess only a very superficial knowledge of plants and 

 their adaptations. The proposition to provide the am- 

 bitious gardener with the technical instruction he 

 stands so much in need of is one worthy of Boston and 

 is certainly well timed, for there are in this section of 

 the country many young men of ability and promise to 

 whom the acquirement of an education on the lines pro- 

 posed will be the stepping stone to a position of honor 

 and distinction in their future career. We hope the 

 plan will lie put in operation and that many will take 

 advantage of it. 



Our readers are hammering away at 



Plant the old but very timely question as to 



retrogression whether varieties deteriorate or not 



and the an( j SO me valuable lines of thought 



plant breeder are being opened up. We are not 



quite sure that all are agreed in the 

 premises as to what constitutes deterioration. When 

 a variety takes advantage of the discontinuance or mod- 

 ification of the forces or conditions which have 

 contributed to the development of abnormal qualities to 

 gradually revert to ii- natural form the process may be 

 deterioration or it may be the reverse, according to the 

 standpoint from which one judges and the special pur- 

 poses for which the plant is valued. Fortunately this 

 tendency towards original forms as soon as control is 

 relaxed can be depended upon to provide a wide and 

 ever-fascinating field for the enthusiast. Perhaps there 

 is no department of horticultural industry from which 

 the substantial returns are so meagre in proportion to 

 the intelligent labor and application expended as that 

 of the plant breeder and improver. His work has been 

 likened to a lottery in which the blanks are many and 

 the prizes few. If the charm of mystery and the zest 

 of discovery were not fully as potent influences as the 

 hope of pecuniary reward, advancement would be slow. 

 Our debt to the patient hybridizer is much greater than 

 we realize. 



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