788 



HORTICULTURE 



June 23, 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. 



One of the best suggestions made at the 

 A national Washington meeting of the American As- 

 arboretum soeiation of Park Superintendents was 

 that offered by Jackson Dawson and 

 applauded by the members, recommending the estab- 

 lishment of a national arboretum at Washington. Not 

 only would this greatly enhance the attractions o[ our 

 already beautiful Capitol City but it would exert an 

 immense influence in the horticultural advancement of 

 the people of the entire country. Words cannot express 

 what Boston's Arnold Arboretum has accomplished in 

 this direction since its foundation. Its stately forest 

 trees, its romantic scenery, its plantations of rich 

 flowering shrubs, its interesting botanical groups 

 affording the best of opportunity for study and com- 

 parison, are but the surface indications of what this 

 unique feature of Boston's great park system is doing 

 for the people. It is already the Mecca of the lover of 

 Nature's best products and should serve as a stimulus 

 not only to Washington but to many other sections of 

 our country to establish similar institutions in their 

 midst. 



The peony society has a problem to 

 Keeping solve similar to that which has vexed 



peony flowers the carnation society for many years. 

 viz.: the cause of the wilting of 

 flowers on the exhibition table. Horticultural Hall, 

 Boston, has proved to be an admirable place for keep- 

 ing flowers in good condition — much better in this 

 respect than most exhibition halls — yet many of the 

 peonv exhibits last week made a sorry sight on the sec- 

 ond day. Flower- shipped from a distance were the 

 greatest sufferers in this respect but the trouble was by 

 no means confined to these. One observant peony 

 grower states it as his belief that the peony is irrepara- 

 bly injured by being kept any length of time out of 

 water after cutting and that he makes a practice of hav- 

 ing a tub (if water hand} in which lie plunges blooms 

 il'ter the other as they are cut. instead of carrying 

 them about in the hand or a basket until a load has 



been gathered as is a c mon custom. Wide npeked 



with an abundance of water frequently renewed 

 and the avoidance of any crowding of the >toms would 



doubtless go far towards keeping exhibition blooms in 

 good shape. It is to be hoped that the trouble will not 

 prove so obstinate as in the case of the carnation — or as 

 to discourage the peony enthusiasts from keeping up 

 these exhibitions of this charming and useful flower and 

 securing for it the widespread popularity it merits. 



Modem travelling appliances and corn- 

 Gardening forts i lave given a tremendous impetus to 

 art the sitburban home idea and thus rendered 



an inestimable service to horticulture and 

 to those who follow horticulture as a profession. We 

 have already had occasion to call attention to the great 

 opportunity thus thrown open to the florist and gardener 

 to elevate and broaden his line of work and take posses- 

 sion zealously of this fertile field which holds out so 

 much of promise. The call for hardy garden material, 

 large as it has become, is bound to increase immeasur- 

 ably. The public are bound, sooner or later, to realize 

 the shallow and misleading nature of much of the 

 descriptive and cultural stuff presented to them by a 

 certain class of hysterical amateurish writers, much in 

 evidence of late, and will learn to look to the straight 

 horticultural profession for advice and assistance in 

 arranging and caring for their gardens and the con- 

 tents thereof. This big field exists in every community 

 on this continent and. while it may have but littl? at- 

 traction for those engaged in large landscape operations, 

 yel its problems will be found complex enough to call 

 for a high quality of artistic ability. "Scope for the 

 play of sunshine and shadow, haze and mist," may not 

 enter into these minor operations, individually, but the 

 same underlying principles of good taste, balance, and 

 picture creating will need to be mastered and for those 

 who undertake it in the proper spirit adequate recom- 

 pense will be promptly forthcoming. 



If it be true that, as has been said, cities 



Wherein we usually reflect in their external aspects 



lack the tastes, customs and intellectual 



desires of their inhabitants, then it will 

 be conceded that the people of many of our cities are 

 sadly in need of education in taste and refinement. 

 Budyard Kipling has publicly called attention to the 

 conspicuous absence of gardens — gardens in the English 

 sense of the word — in all sections of this country. We 

 think the censure is merited. The culture of flowers is 

 woefully neglected by the masses and the absence of the 

 bits of verdure and bright color which, we are told, 

 adorn the homes of comfort and soften the squalor of 

 back yards and brighten the window ledges of the tene- 

 ment districts abroad, is a most regrettable fact. Flower- 

 less windows suggest that something is lacking within. 

 Again, while it is true that anything whatever in tho way 

 of verdure is far better than nothing at all. it must be 

 admitted that evidences of discriminating taste m ar- 

 rangement are none too plenty in such gardens as we do 

 see. Our public grounds, which might and should 

 serve as objeel lessons for the people, are in many 

 instances excellent examples of how not to do it. and the 

 average window box with il- inappropriate material and 

 incongruous colors emphasizes the fact that we are far 

 from the ideal in our perceptions as regards these things. 

 Tlie park superintendent, the florist, and the gardener 

 are in a position to exercise a powerful influence in shap- 

 ing and directing the public taste but they must see to it 

 that the inspiration is on the right lines. 



