602 



HORTICULTURE 



November 9, 1907 



successful in the exhibitions of the 

 year, making valuable memoranda for 

 the future. 



I wish to thank the horticultural 

 press for their courtesy in printing our 

 notices, and also for their interest in 

 the work of the society, and I hope in 

 the future a column can be devoted to 

 items of interest to chrysanthemum 

 grov.ers, and be contiibuted to by 

 meuibers of the society. 



1 also wish to thank the various 

 committets who have so readily per- 

 formed the duties of their office, to the 

 donors of special premiums we also 

 extend our thanks, and to the Ameri- 

 can Institute who have so kindly taken 

 care of us during this convention, and 

 to all those who have contributed in 

 any way to tlie advancement of the 

 interests of the Chrysanthemum Socie- 

 ty of America. 



" Wm. Duckham then read a paper on 

 the culture of the chrysanthemum, in 

 which he contended that larger, nobler 

 and more stately flowers is the key to 

 continued popularity for the chrysan- 

 themums. This paper will appear in 

 these columns next week. 



C. H. Totty then read an interesting 

 paper on Single Chrysanthemums, 

 which we present herewith. 



Single-Flowered Chrysanthemums. 



This type of chrysanthemum is not 

 new, in the sense that it is a recent 

 break from any other type, and yet 

 it was until the past two years practi- 

 cally unknown by the majority of 

 flower buyers in America. 



Therf are several reasons for this, 

 the princii)al one, perhaps, being that 

 the general public has been educated 

 to the large flowers and could not see 

 flieir money's worth in the more mod- 

 est tingles, putting them down in their 

 own minds as merely outdoor hardy 

 liowers. Today things are changing 

 and the single varieties are becomintj 

 lecognized at their true v,-orth. 



I will confess that it was the work- 

 ing of the law of supply aud demand 

 that caused me to turn to the single 

 varieties. Americans travelling in 

 Europe and noting the many beautiful 

 types of singles and the varied uses 

 to which they were put, asked their 

 superintendents why these singles 

 were not grown more in America. As 

 in every walk of business lite the de- 

 mand crtated the supply, aud today I 

 can point you to many private estab- 

 lishments where the singles are grown 

 in ever-increasing quantity for con- 

 servatory decoration as pot plants, and 

 where they a'.-e highly appreciated for 

 cut flower use One day last week I 

 spent a few minutes in a high-class 

 retail store; on the couuter were two 

 vases of singles, one Kitty Bourne, a 

 yellow, and the other Ladysmith, a 

 light pink. During those few minutes 

 1 noticed that two sales were made of 

 those varieties, and though this may 

 be only a straw, does not the old prov- 

 erb say that a straw shows how the 

 wind blows? 



Aside, however, from the financial 

 side of the question, the singles make 

 beautiful pot plants, they are easy to 

 grow, and there are few homes whose 

 occupants cannot enjoy them if they 

 care anything for flowers at all. There 

 is no fcai that the singles will displace 

 the big fellows either on the show ta- 

 ble or for large decorations; both 



have their place and should be recog- 

 nized. 



I am not aware that the Chrysanthe- 

 mum Society of America has ever 

 made provision in its classification or 

 scale ot points for the single flowered 

 types, but I sulimit it to the executive 

 board for their consideration at some 

 future date. The .American hybridizer 

 is busy raising new singles, and if the 

 C. S. A. will give him encouragement 

 and an ideal to aim for, I think we 

 could soon see v/onderful improvement 

 over present types. I do not happen 

 to know the scale of points of the 

 British Society, but for the sake of 

 uniformity it might be well, perhaps, 

 in case this Society takes up the mat- 

 ter, to find out and see how they 

 would apply to our own ct.se. 



A good tj'pe of singles to my mind 

 should be first dwarf in habit. The 

 weedy, loose-growing forms are not ao 

 well adapted for pot plants, nor Jo 

 they make the showing as a cut flower 

 that the dwarf or closer type does. The 

 flower should be almost flat when 

 opened; if the petal droops too much 

 it destroys the shape of the flower, 

 which thould be circular — also the 

 flower should not have too many rows 

 of petals. A semi-double flower can- 

 not be called a single in any sense of 

 the word. If one add to these quali- 

 ficatitms a flower of good, clean color, 

 the result is a thing of beauty, which 

 if not a joy forever is at least a 

 source ol great satisfaction to the 

 grower and a boon to the .gardener who 

 has to produce a good deal of stock 

 from a limited space. 



Culturally, the singles present no 

 problems to master. There is 

 no question of crown or terminal 

 buds, since the plants are allowed to 

 develop naturally and of course give 

 flowers only from terminals. I find it 

 pays to disbud slightly, as the flowers 

 then come out much finer and the 

 plants respond to generous feeding as 

 readily as do the big fellows. 



A selection of good varieties would 

 run about as follows: White — Miss 

 Irene Cragg, Nancy Perkins, Gertrude, 

 Miss T. C. Warden, and Merstham 

 White. Pink — Ladysmith, Mrs. E. 

 Roberts, Cracie Lambert. F. W. Smith, 

 Reine des Roses, Katie Covell and 

 Maivel. Yellow — Kitty Bourne, Lily 

 Beer, Golden Star, Miss A. Holden, 

 Pretoria and Kathleen Bunyard. Odd 

 colors — Mary Richardson, salmon-red 

 — one of the finest we have — Crown 

 Jewel, a fine bronzy yellow. Belle of 

 Weybridge, chestnut; Felix, chestnut; 

 Linton, a large flowered deep blush; 

 Rev. W. E. Rewfrey, a crimson ma- 

 roon; lOthel Beer, a bright terra cotta. 



The list of varieties runs into the 

 hiuidreds and all have some merit, 

 though many are almost identical iu 

 color, and one naturally looks for the 

 cream only. 



In conclusion, gentlemen, permit me 

 to say that few plants will give better 

 return for the amount of time and 

 trouble involved in their culture than 

 the once-despised singl? chrysanthe- 

 mum. 



Elmer D. Smith spoke in approval of 

 the suggestion that the Society should 

 recognize the different types of pom- 

 pons, singles, etc., and provide a scale 

 of points to meet all requirements in 

 judging same. A motion by Mr. Totty 



to appoint a committee to report a 

 scale of points accordingly was carried. 

 Mr. Herrington addressed the meet- 

 ing, urging that something be done 

 to make the Society more truly na- 

 tional, and R. Vincent made an appeal 

 on behalf of the hardy pompons, the 

 only flower of the home gardens at 

 this season of the year. He said thit 

 more than two-thirds of the hardy 

 chrysanthemums now on the market 

 had originated with him. Messrs. 

 Totty, Smith and Duckham were ap- 

 pointed the committee to consider the 

 interests of the pompons and single va- 

 rieties. 



Election of oiflcers followed and the 

 result was the re-election by a unani- 

 mous vote of all the officers of the 

 present year, except the vice-presi- 

 dency, for which August Poehlmann of 

 Chicago was chosen. The selection of 

 the next meeting place was left for the 

 executive committee to decide. 



Elmer D. Smith advocated action to 

 get into co-operative relations with 

 other societies. Mr. Herrington spoke 

 in approval, as did also W. J. Stewart, 

 who called attention to the existing 

 committee on closer relations of the 

 Society of American Florists, who 

 would doubtless be glad to confer with 

 a similar committee of the C. S. A. 

 Mr. Herrington made a motion for an 

 affiliation committee, which was car- 

 ried, and the president appointed W. 

 N. Craig, A. Herrington and Wm. 

 Kleinheinz accordingly, with instruc- 

 tions to report as soon as possible to 

 the executive committee. 



President Loveless made an ideal 

 presiding officer. He had as a special 

 bodyguard the following members from 

 Lenox, Mass.: Thomas Proctor, A. H. 

 Wingett, Edwin Jenkins, Thomas 

 Page, Frank Nash and Walter Fenn. 



The Work of Committees. 



Cincinnati. Oct. 2Cth. Commandant 

 Mathieu. Yellow, Jap incurved. Ex- 

 hibited by The E. G. Hill Co., Rich- 

 mond, Ind.; scored 87 points commer- 

 cial and 8S points exhibition scale. 



Cincinnati, Oct. 26th. Pacific Su- 

 preme. Pink. Glory of Pacific type. 

 Exhibited by Nathan Smith & Son. 

 Adrian, Mich.; scored 86 points com- 

 mercial scale. 



New York, Nov. 2nd. Seedling No. 1. 

 Light pink, Jap reflexed. Exhibited by 

 Frank Witney, Fishkill-on-Hudson, N. 

 Y. : scored 88 points exhibition scale. 



New York, Nov. 2nd. Joseph Tom- 

 lison. White, Japanese. Exhibited by 

 Howard Nichols, Yonkers, N. Y.; 

 scored 77 points commercial scale. 



New York, Nov. 2nd. Nc. 10. Pink. 

 Short petalled. Japanese. Exhibited by 

 John Marshall. Newport. R. I.; scored 

 75 points commercial scale. 



DAVID FRASER, Sec'y. 



NEWS 



of general interest to the profession 

 and 



Cultural Methods and Improved Proc- 

 esses 

 in any department of HORTICULTURE 

 are always welcome, from whatever 

 source. Send them along to the office 

 of HORTICULTURE, 11 Hamilton 

 Place, Boston. 



