October 5, 1907 



HOKTiCULTORE 



447 



hundred years ago were the wealthier 

 citizens; there were really no profes- 

 sional gardeners then. The Pennsyl- 

 vania and Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Societies were organized by these in- 

 terested amateurs. A similar society 

 was organized in New York in 1818, 

 but ceased to exist in 1837. 



The first professional gardener to 

 come to this country was .John Hes- 

 keth, who settled in Hallowell, Maine, 

 in 1797, and was not afterwards heard 

 of. In 1824, Mr. Andre Parmentier, 

 from Enghien, Holland, settled in 

 Brooklyn, and established nurseries, 

 where he gave an example of the nat- 

 ural style of laying out grounds. As 

 the first American landscape gardener, 

 Mr. Parmentier soon had many clients 

 from all parts of the country, and 

 even from Canada, to whom he fur- 

 nished both plans and plants. Mr. 

 Downing considered that Mr. Par- 

 mentier had done much more for land- 

 scape gardening in America than any 

 other individual. It is our turn to 

 pay the same compliment to Mr. 

 Downing, whose masterly works on 

 landscape gardening, although written 

 about seventy years ago, are still the 

 standards. 



In the economic line of horticulture 

 there has been progres also. In New 

 England we have now not only de- 

 licacies for the sick and luxuries for 

 the wealthy, as our ordinary garden 

 vegetables and fruits were considered 

 in the early days, we go much further, 

 we have gardeners who produce aspar- 

 agus, cucumbers, tomatoes, string 

 beans, melons, etc., as freely during 

 December, January and on to June or 

 .Tuly, as they are produced in the open 

 ground in their season. One Newport 

 gardener ships to his employer in New 

 York a bushel or two of melons 

 weekly. Another on the North Shore 

 of Massachusetts sent in during last 

 March a daily supply of fresh peas, 

 sweet corn, etc. 



Possibilities in Fruit and Vegetable 

 Culture. 

 Notwithstanding the progress made 

 there is still much to be done in fruit 

 and vegetable culture. We are import- 

 ing hot-house grapes from Europe. We 

 are importing cauliflowe" during spring 

 and early summer, and we are import- 

 ing a number of salads, all of which 

 may and in time will be produced 

 here. In case of salads there are 

 many excellent kinds unknown here 

 which should be introduced, and the 

 people instructed how to prepare them. 

 Among hot-house fruits the lichee 

 should find a place; it is most prolific 

 and equals Muscat grapes in flavor. 



In commercial floriculture the East 

 has made great progress. I need only 

 recall the I.awson and Enchantress 

 carnations ra'sed by Mr. Peter Fisher 

 of Boston: the work of the Waban 

 Rose Conservatories, the recent new 

 roses of Mr. M. H. Walsh of Woods 

 Hole, Mass., which are quite as popu- 

 lar in Europe as they are here. 



The Gardeners' Opportunity. 



The concentration of wealth in New 

 York ensures for the western floiist the 

 highest price tor choice flowers. It 

 also affords the gardener the largest 

 opportunity tor the pursuit of his pro- 

 fession. Within the past five years 

 there seems to have been much greater 

 interest on the part of the wealthy 



class than formerly, in horticultuie 

 and rural lite, "his may be accounted 

 for paitly by travel and a desire to 

 have such gardens as are seen in 

 Euiope. but I think it is due rather 

 to the fact that the automobile has 

 rendered the country home more ac- 

 cessible to the business man. The in- 

 terest of the well-to-do in liorticulture 

 is further manifested by their support 

 and activity in societies for its promo- 

 tion, as the New York Botanical 

 Gardens, the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society and others. 



The three largest Eastern cities have 

 each much to be proud of horticul- 

 turally. .although the Bowery is no 

 longer the Governor's Garden, New 

 York has a noble horticultural insti- 

 tution in Bronx, Philadelphia has her 

 Vieautiful Fairmount Park, sections ot 

 which were notable gardens of the 

 past tv.o centuiies. Boston has always 

 been at the fiont in hortioUtural work. 

 No institution in the country has done 

 more than the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society. The names of General 

 Dearborn, H. H. Hunnewell, Marshal 

 P. V'ilder, C. M. Hovey and F. L. Olm- 

 sted are too well known for the great 

 works they have accomplished to 

 necessitate my reviewing them. 



Boston's Great Arboretur 



But we have in Boston today on 

 who is doing a greater work for hor- 

 ticultu'e than any one who has pre- 

 ceded him. I refer to Professor C. ri. 

 Sargent. To him Boston and the 

 countiy is indebted tor the finest ar- 

 boretum in the world, in which there 

 are now gi owing over five thousand 

 species and vaiieties or trees and 

 shrubs. He has travelled over the 

 greater pait of the globe seeking new 

 material, and his ccllectois are now 

 busy in hitheito unexplored regions, 

 collecting new matei ial for shipment 

 10 Boston witli which to enrich Ameri- 

 can horticulture. Daily he spends 

 houis in his office personally examin- 

 ing and describing species and varie- 

 ties of trees and fhrubs for his Silva, 

 the greatest work relating to horticul- 

 ture ever undertaken in this country. 

 The magnitude of the work at the 

 Arnold \rboretum may be better un- 

 derstood when learned that three- 

 hundred and fifty varieties of Cratae- 

 gus have been planted in the Order. 

 There are approximately one-hundred 

 and flftv varieties of Syringa vulgaris, 

 seventy varieties of Pruuus, thirty-five 

 of Pyrus, forty of Mains and about 

 four hundred species and varieties of 

 willows. 

 The Gardeners' and Florists' Club. 



Anotiier medium of horticultural 

 progress is the Gardeners' and Flor- 

 ists' Club which has over five hundred 

 active members. Meetings are held 

 monthly for the discussion of garden 

 topics and a class devoted to the study 

 of landscape gardening meets twice a 

 week during the winter months. 



The magnificent private estates with 

 extensive greenhouses of the East, in- 

 cluding those of Bar Harbor, Boston 

 and tiie Massachusetts Coast, Lenox, 

 .Vewport. bong Island Sound, on the 

 banks of the Hudson, along the New 

 Jersey Coast, and in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia demand from the garden- 

 er the highest degree of energy and 

 progress. 



THE COMMERCIAL GROWING OF 

 CUT FLOWERS. 



Rea<l before the Hoi-tir'u!tnvnl CoLgress 



at the Jaiuesunvn E.\pi>sitii>'i, by !• . 



R. I'iei'siiii. Tarrytfiwn. N. 1. 



A Phenomenal Growth. 

 The development in the commercial 

 "rowing of cut flowers in this country 

 during the last thirty years is phe- 

 nomenal. What might be dignified as 

 the commercial growing of cut flow- 

 ers practically had its beginning less 

 than thirtv years ago. Prior to that 

 time the quantity of flowers produced 

 was ' insignificant, the quality, com- 

 pared with present standards, inferior, 

 and the methods of culture crude in 

 the extreme. With the increase of 

 wealth there has been a marvelous 

 progress in the production of cut flow- 

 ers," both in the quality and the im- 

 mense quantities produced. It seems 

 incredible now that the writer, less 

 than thirty years ago. was advised by 

 one of the foremost florists of that 

 time not to go into the cut flower 

 growing part of the business, because 

 it would soon be overdone. This 

 seems the more incredible when on« 

 considers that today many single es- 

 tablishments are producing more cut 

 flowers than the entire greenhouse 

 production of the United States prob- 

 ablv amounted to at that time. 



Conditions Thirty Years Ago. 

 New Yoi-k, which is one of the great- 

 est cut flower centers in the world, 

 thirtv vears ago depended on Boston 

 for its 'supply of roses. The leading 

 varieties of roses in those days were 

 Safrano. Isabella Sprunt, and Bon 

 Silene, all of which have practically 

 disappeared, having been superseded 

 bv improved sorts, and to-day these 

 one-time popular roses are almost un- 

 known. In carnations at that time 

 the leading variety was Pres. De Graw. 

 \ Ions-stemmed carnation was then 

 unthoiight of, as many buds being al- 

 lowed to develop on one stem as pos- 

 «ibk and the flowers were cut with no 

 ^tern's Loose, long-stemmed flowers 

 were then an unknown quantity. These 

 -ho.t-stemmed flowers were supple- 

 mented bv wooden stems and wires, 

 and made up into baskets, bouquets 

 etc m the most formal and artificial 

 arrangement. In fact, th3 inferior qual- 

 Itv of the flowers permitted nothing 

 better The best flowers then pro- 

 duced would simply be unsalable to- 

 dav on account of their small size and 

 shok .^tems. At that time so fevv 

 roses and carnations were grown that 

 thev were necessarily sui)plemented by 

 French and Dutch bulbs, which in 

 those days were forced In compara- 

 tivelv large .luantities. 



In the earlier davs of the cut flower 

 Industrv. European methods of culture 

 were in vogue. The few roses and 

 carnations that were grown were 

 grown mostly in pots, the greenhouses 

 of those days being very primitive. Up 

 to that time, the buildings erected for 

 the production of cut flowers were very 

 small and Insignificant and compara- 

 tivelv crude affairs. With the introduc- 

 tion 'of some of the finer roses, like 

 Perle Cornelia Cook, Catheriue Mer- 

 inet 'Pride, and Bridesmaid, a great 

 impetus was given the cut flower in- 

 dustry, and then came the queen of all 

 j-oses— American Peauty. 



