APRIL 



1S98. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



775 



A Bunch of Genesee Carnations. 



pending in Congress, urges every mem- 

 ber to send a letter to liis Congress- 

 man asljing that a section be included 

 as follows: "That the provisions of 

 this act shall not apply to florists' 

 greenhouse trees, shrubs, plants, bulbs, 

 etc., commonly known as florists' 

 stock," and stating in the letter: "I 

 desire the addition of this section on 

 account of the very perishable nature 

 of florists' stock, which would not al- 

 low of its being held in transit or 

 opened for inspection, and on account 

 of its entire freedom from San Jose 

 scale." 



Such action need not be confined 

 to members of the society, and every 

 member of the trade would find it to 

 his interest to do all in his power to 

 avoid the application of the proposed 

 legislation to greenhouse plants, as 

 it would otherwise cause the trade 

 much useless annoyance and expense 

 as well as occasional loss through 

 damage by delay. 



CARNATION GENESEE. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph of a bunch of flow- 

 ers of the new white carnation Gen- 

 esee. By many good growers this' 

 variety is considered a coming white 

 of the most profltable type, the plants 

 producing with remarkable freedom 

 and regularity. It was originated by 

 Messrs. Harmon & Burr, Darien, N. Y., 

 and is being introduced by Mr. D. B. 

 Long, Buffalo, N. Y. 



BOTANY— IT'S AID IN GARDENING. 



[Read bv Mr. Jas. J. Scott, at the meeting of the 

 New Vork Gardeners' Society, March 12, 189S.] 



There are many sciences which 

 merge themselves into gardening, 

 namely, chemistry, biology, etc., but 

 botany is horticulture's allied science, 

 and there is scarcely a phase in the 

 gardener's work in which it does not 

 assist him. Scientists have for con- 



venience divided the science into many 

 divisions, such as morphology, ana- 

 tomy, histology, etc.. but it will be suf- 

 ficient for our present purpose to treat 

 (and that only in a very general way) 

 the matter under two heads, viz.: 

 structural and physiological. 



In taking up the study of a given 

 subject, one naturally, first of all, ac- 

 quaints himself or herself with the ex- 

 ternal form and appearance of the sub- 

 ject in hand, and before we can fully 

 acquaint ourselves with the different 

 forms and parts, we find arrayed 

 against us a host of big names that 

 at once dampen our ardor, but if we 

 set about and learn first how to spell 

 these names, then trace their etymolo- 

 gy, the barrier soon vanishes, and the 

 actual working of the thing becomes 

 interesting. This is how it is in bo- 

 tany. It is necessary to know the 

 forms and parts; the rest is easy. 



The gardener who has no knowl- 

 edge of the external structure of 

 leaves, stems, roots and branches, who 

 does not know the names that botan- 

 ists have for convenience applied to 

 the different forms, who cannot dis- 

 tinguish botanically between a "thorn 

 and a spine," or between a reniform 

 and a hastate leaf, or between the 

 many forms of leaves, fronds, bracts, 

 etc., must find it a laborious work to 

 hunt up any variety of plant in such 

 a work as Nicholson's Dictionary, or 

 any botanical manual, not to speak of 

 the ordinary nurseryman's catalogue. 

 Even though it were for no other pur- 

 pose than to be able to trace plants In 

 any such work as these, the knowledge 

 is of vast importance, and he who once 

 acquires the knowledge will never re- 

 gret it. 



Physiology. 



Let us now look at the inner work- 

 ing of the plants, and the phenomenon 

 attendant upon life. 



The economy of nature is so com- 

 plete that its very completeness adds 

 to our negligence and lack of appre- 

 ciation. 



We have the vegetable kingdom on 

 the one hand, acting as passive storers. 

 On the other, the animal kingdom ful- 

 filling the role of active spenders. The 

 vegetable kingdom is changing the ki- 

 netic energy of sunlight, atmosphere 

 and mineral matter into potential 

 energy. The animal kingdom is again 

 changing this potential energy, this 

 storehouse of materials, into kinetic 

 energy, and thus the course goes on. 

 Animals are fast changing the oxygen 

 of the atmosphere into gas, vegetables 

 are using it in building up new tissue 

 and liberating to us the oxygen. Plants 

 and animals are both alive, both alike, 

 but not equal. The senses of animals 

 are centralized, plants are not. Plants 

 and animals have however one syno- 

 nymous quality — namely, their untir- 

 ing effort to produce progeny after 

 their own kind. 



In the vegetable kingdom the pro- 

 cesses of reproduction and growth 

 very much resemble a see-saw. We 



