662 



HORTICULTURE 



May 8, 1909 



horticulture: 



YOL. IX 1«AY 8, 1909 NO. 19 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 11 Hamilton Pliice. Boston, Mas*. 



Telephane, Oxford 193 

 Wli. J. STEWART, Edit or »Bd M«B»cef 



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tatand ss locond-dsss matter December 8, 1904, at the Post Office al Boston, Mais 

 under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

 COVER ILLUSTRATION— Dendrobium superbum Dearei 



DEXDROBIUM SUPERHUM DEAREI— M. J. Pope 661 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE— W. H. Adsett 661 



ORCHIDS AT ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



— Frederick Moore 661 



OBITUARY 663 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM — Charles H. Totty 663 



NEWS OP THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES: 



American Pomological — North Shore Horticultural — 

 Florists' Club of Philadelphia— New York Florists' 

 Club — Winnipeg Florists' Association — American 

 Carnation Society— Florists' Club of Washington- 

 Newport June Show— Notes 664 



New England Fruit Show 668 



SEED TRADE— Bush Limas Short — Damage in the 

 Norfolk District— Ely Seed Company— Pea Pros- 

 pects—New Y'ork Pure Seed Bill— Notes 670 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS — Business 

 Troubles — Steamer Departures — Winnipeg Trade 



Notes — Washington — New Flower Stores 672 



Flowers bv Telegraph— A Florist Robbed 673 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Betroit. Indianapolis 675 



Philadelphia, New York 677 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



News Notes 663, 666, 608 



Greenhouses Wrecked — Illustrated 665 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated— George 



Sykes, Portrait 665 



Truss-Roof Greenhouses in Gale 665 



Wreck of Miller Greenhouses — Illustrated 665 



Philadelphia Notes : 665 



Personal 665, 668 



The Tree Agent — Apples in New England 668 



Publications Received 668 



Conservatories at Central Park, Davenport, la 668 



Incorporated — Business Changes 673 



Patents Granted 683 



Harvard Takes Up the Moth Fight 083 



Chicago Notes 684 



The appeal of President Elmer D. Smith 



A society in last weelc's issue of Horticulture, 



and a duty for a more widespread and hearty support 



for the Chrysanthemum Society of Amer- 

 ica is well seconded in the brief communication from C. 

 H. Totty in this issue. Horticulture is fully in sym- 

 pathy with the sentiments expressed by these gentle- 

 men." That the splendid work which the C. S. A. has 

 done during its existence might have been done fully as 

 well under the auspices of the S. A. F. and the gentle- 

 men who have given so freely of their own time and 

 money relieved of the unpleasant financial worry con- 

 nected with it, is undoubtedly true. But the S. A. F. 

 has not been disposed to undertake it and until some 

 mutually acceptable system can be devised the C. S. A. 

 should have the full and hearty support of every florist 

 whose knowledge of what varieties are best to grow and 

 how to grow them is directly due to the intelligent and 

 really philanthropic work this useful society has been 

 conducting. It will be a reproach to the chrysanthe- 



mum growers of America if a willing response is not 

 forthcoming. 



Among our newspaper clippings of late 

 What we find frequent congratulatory refer- 

 "pure seed" ence, editorial or correspondence, to the 

 means various statutes passed by legislatures 

 from time to time providing severe pen- 

 alties for the selling of impure seeds. The ignorance 

 and prejudice which inspire most of these articles are 

 apparent in the implication all through that the 'seed 

 dealers are in the habit of intentionally adulterating 

 their wares in the same manner for instance as a milk 

 man might mix water with his milk and that legal 

 means are necessary to restrain him, overlooking the 

 fact that purity in seed, reversing the situation as it 

 applies to milk, is not a primary condition but a con- 

 summation approached or reached only through succes- 

 sive .processes of cleaning and elimination. In calling 

 for the strict enforcement of these laws we incline to the 

 belief that these writers forget in their enthusiasm that 

 the purification demanded must be paid for and the 

 cost must of necessity fall finally upon the consumer. 

 Buyers have demanded cheap seed and they have got it. 

 While it would be absurd to assert that there have been 

 no rascals or dishonesty in the seed business yet, as a 

 general thing,-we believe it has been usually possible for 

 those who wanted pure seed and were willing to pay its 

 value, to procure it. Under the new laws the difference 

 will be that they must pay the price of pure seed or go 

 without. When low-grade is banished low-price goes 

 with it and nobody will rejoice thereat more heartily 

 than the seedsman himself. 



We have read with considerable 

 Change of interest a lengthy article con- 



policy at the Bussey tributed to the Country Oentle- 

 Institution man, in which changes recently 



made in the policy and manage- 

 ment at the Bussey Institution, Harvard's Agricultural 

 School, are severely criticised and the record of the 

 Institution under former methods put forward as evi- 

 dence that it was satisfactorily fulfilling its proper 

 functions as intended by its founder. As we understand 

 it, it is not proposed that the Bussey Institution shall be 

 a teaching institution any longer except for a few 

 special students, but that it shall be an institution for 

 scientific research. While not disposed to take issue 

 with the writer of the article in the Country Gentleman 

 as to the propriety or wisdom of this change of policy 

 we must say that his presentation of the case seems hard- 

 ly a fair one. From the very fact that at times there 

 were fewer students than instructors in the Institution it 

 is not unreasonable to say that from the standpoint of 

 puhlic appreciation and support the Bussey was a fail- 

 ure as a .school of agriculture and this notwithstanding 

 the fact that some very brilliant young men went 

 through its courses and also that among its instructors 

 were men who labored loyally and whom the graduates 

 will always hold in affectionate esteem. The shortcom- 

 ings which have long been apparent seem to have at 

 last dawned upon the Corporation of Harvard University 

 and in trying to remodel the Institution along some 

 more useful lines they are presumably doing what they 

 feel to be their serious duty. The names of the gentle- 

 men entrusted with the work of carrying out the new 

 policy are such as to warrant a reasonable hope that in 

 the next twenty-five years results of great importance to 

 agriculture and horticulture will be obtained. In the 

 meantime Amherst offers opportunities for practical 

 horticultural education such as would be forever impos- 

 sible in a place like the Bussey Institution. 



