October 19, 1907 



horticulture: 



513 



ers and otiier busiuess men bave em- 

 ployed landscape gardeners for the im- 

 provement of the grounds around their 

 mill properties and other buildings, 

 much to the improvement of the lo- 

 calities in which they are situated, as 

 well as to the uplifting influence it 

 exerts on the employes. 



Real estate companies are falling in 

 line with improvement work. A large 

 tract of land in Springiield has this 

 summer been planned to present as 

 park-like an appeal ance as possible, 

 and where each lot is considered as a 

 part of the whole. An attractive pam- 

 phlet describing the property with a 

 landscape plan of the wbole tract has 

 been printed, so that intending pur- 

 ohagers can see at a glance the pro- 

 posed development of the property. 



Value of Village Improvement So- 

 cieties. 



The artistic treatment of school 

 grounds now so common in our New 

 England cities and towns will in the 

 next generation have a great influence 

 towards making cities beautiful. A 

 Village Improvement Society ought to 

 be established in every town and vil- 

 lage in the country. The proper loca- 

 tion of streets, the selection of shade 

 trees, their planting, proper spacing 

 and care, should be in their absolute 

 cxjntrol; also all the small city parks, 

 squares and triangle.? formed by the 

 intersection or junction of streets 

 should be under their direct supervi- 

 sion and no improvement work at- 

 tempted until a definite plan had been 

 workel out either by themselves or 

 some competent landscape gardener in 

 their employ. 



In many of the older streets in our 

 New England towns one may see the 

 result of not having definite plans in 

 the planting of street trees alone. For 

 instance on Elm street in Northampton 

 there are no less than six or seven 

 different species of trees planted, while 

 it should have been devoted to one, 

 and that one the elm. .since it is a wide 

 street and perhaps the principal street 

 ■of the city. 



Then too often if the planting is left 

 to the property owners, one man pre- 

 fers to plant the trees on bis own prop- 

 erty and not in the space for the tree 

 belt, another plants three or four trees 

 in the space only one should occupy. 

 another will plant elms in a thirty- 

 foot street, or Norway maples in a 

 one-hundred-foot street, which is just 

 the reverse of how they should be 

 planted. Then again some property 

 ■owners will plant well-grown nursery 

 trees while others will go to the woods 

 and transplant any gannt-stemmed 

 ■specimen 



Judgment in the Selection of Road- 

 side Trees. 



There is always some part of the 

 world where certain trees attain their 

 highest development. The American 

 ■elm is most at home in the Connecticut 

 Valley for instance. It is not only 

 one of the most beautiful of all trees 

 but a typical New England tree, there- 

 fore it should become tjpical of our 

 New England towns and villagps and 

 be planted on the main and widest 

 avenues or where it has space to de- 

 velop. Smaller growing trees should 

 always be selected for the narrower 

 streets. 



In small city parks, where space 

 admits, the American elm should be 

 planted in preference to other trees. 



THE DUTCHESS COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AT UPLANDS. 



The members of the Dutchess Coun- 

 ty Horticultural Society to the num- 

 ber of sixty were the guests of Mr. 

 W. P. Clyde at his beautiful estate. 



Uplands. Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Sept. 27. 

 They were escorted through the vari- 

 ous gardens and greenhouses and fed 

 royally. Our group picture shows how 

 they looked after the latter operation. 



I have often thought Uiat the planting 

 of the young pin oaks in Court Square, 

 Springfield, evidently to take the place 

 of the decaying elms, was a mistake. 

 It looks like "dignity and impudence," 

 to see a majestic looking elm in com- 

 |iany with an upstart pin oak; not but 

 that Iho pin oak is a beautiful tree, 

 but out of place in such company. The 

 proper grouping of shrubbery in trian- 

 gles formed by tire junction of streets, 

 or around the base of public buildings 

 and in many places to be found in all 

 towns and villages, should always be 

 under the supervision of a Village 

 Improvement Society. 



I would emphasize once more that 

 a thoroughly practical and systematic 

 plan should in all proposed improve- 

 ment work be drawn whether for the 

 home gr-5'mds. public parks and build- 

 ings, mill properties or city streets, 

 even though a small portion can only 

 be carried out each year, it will be 

 found in the end far more pleasing and 

 satisfactory than haphazard planting. 



OBITUARY. 

 Mrs. Hanna Humfeld. mother of W. 

 H. and E. A. Humfeld, passed away 

 on October 2, in Clay Center, Kansas. 



Andrew Pryal. one of the most emi- 

 nent horticulturists in California, was 

 buried, on October 1, from his resi- 

 dence in Berkelev. 



Mrs. Laura Cooms, mother of O. B. 

 Cooms, Jr., florist at .Jamaica, Long 

 Island, died on October 10. Interment 

 was at Lcngmeadow, Mass. 



E. E. Peterson, of Denver. Colo, 

 died., on September 28. at Los An- 

 geles, Calif., where he had gone in 

 search of health. His body was 

 brought to Denver for interment. A 

 widow and three children survive him. 



.PERSONAL. 



Visitor in New York this week, P. R. 

 Quinlan. Syracuse. 



Brendell & Schultz are to open a 

 rttail flower store in McKeesport, Pa. 



News of the death in Trinidad of 

 Henry W. C. Dihm. of Astoria, L. I., 

 N. y., has been received. Mr. Dihm 

 went to Trinidad several years ago, 

 to take charge of a large floral estab- 

 lishment at Daladie. British West In- 

 dies. He was .54 years old, and leaves 

 three daughters and a son. 



Arthur, of Moore, Hentz & Nash, 

 New York, who recently went under 

 an operation for appendicitis, is back 

 again at his post, fully recovered. 



F. Gomer Waterer. of John Waterer 

 & Sons. Bagshot. England, is a visitor 

 in Boston this ■n-eek. Also Superinten- 

 dent Beatty, of Manhattan Parks. 



Wm. L. Bond, of Pittsburg. Pa., died, 

 on October 4. at the age of 81. Mr. 

 Bond was a pioneer in the nursery 

 business in this section; was asso- 

 ciated for many years with A. J. 

 Downing, and assisted him in the 

 work on the grounds of the Smith- 

 sonian Institute. Washin.gton, D. C. 

 He leaves flve sons. 



James D. McGregor, formerly with 

 Senator Guggenheim at Elberon, N. J., 

 has been appointed gardener to the 

 Hon. Levi P. Morton at Rhinecliff, 

 N. Y. 



Miss Georgia Humphrey, of Holyoke, 

 Mass.. and Charles N. Currier, of 

 Northampton, were married on Oct. 8. 

 Mrs. Currier will continue the busi- 

 ness on Dwight street, which she has 

 built up so successfully. 



The preliminary schedule of prizes 

 for the exhibitions of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society in January, 

 February and March, 1908, has been 

 issued and copies can be procured by 

 applying to Wm. P. Rich, secretary. 

 Horticultural Hall, Boston. Primulas, 

 violets, carnations, roses, orchids, aza- 

 leas, forced bulbs, hard-wooded green- 

 bouse plants. Easter flowering plants, 

 pansies, calceolarias, etc., are among 

 the flowers and plants specially pro- 

 vided for. 



