February 1, 1913 



HOETICULTUEE 



147 



Out of the Ginger Jar. 



The editor of this paper evidently 

 thinks himself a very superior person. 

 He suppresses all the finest thought! 

 we send in to him. Why? We don't 

 know. Only, we gather from his edi- 

 torials, that he thinks his cue is: — 

 the benediction: — "Be quiet, my chil- 

 dren; God bless you!" But there's 

 nothing in that. 



The Jenkins lad who writes for this 

 paper has the style about him, all 

 right! We'd like to meet him. We 

 guess we'd never get to bed. We'd 

 convoy each other to the top of tlie 

 hill — and then back again — half a 

 dozen times! before the moon sunk 

 behind Ben Lomond. But, as a starter 

 to our better acquaintance, let me 

 ask him what he knows about "tree 

 vaccination." Is that proposition an 

 "axiom" or "a fallacy?" And who can 

 tell us where is the "Royal Nursery 

 of England? ■ There is a party round 

 here near Philadelphia who has been 

 calling Prof. Surface in question and 

 who writes to the daily papers saying 

 that vaccination for trees is all right 

 and signs himself a graduate of "The 

 Royal Nursery of jEngland." Have 

 heard of Kew and Chiswick, but the 

 R. N. E. — let's hear about that. Is 

 there any such institution of learning? 



CATTLEYA MOSSI/E ALFRED DIMMOCK. 



Definition of a diplomat: "A man 

 who belongs to a royal family and 

 when he's wrong he's right." This is 

 from Tommy of the Bellevue-Strat- 

 ford. Tommy meets all the multi-mil- 

 lionaires and takes care of their crea- 

 ture comforts — and gathers wisdom, 

 incidentally, as well as tips. So he 

 must be right even if he is wrong. Ed. 

 Lonsdale's idea of a diplomat, as I re- 

 member it, was "the lad who could be 

 on both sides of the fence at once." 

 Gurney Hill's idea of a diplomat would 

 be, I think: I'm your friend; now tell 

 me all about it." Modest John Bur- 

 ton's idea of a diplomat would be, I 

 fancy: "Well now, I don't know any- 

 thing about that proposition; of course 

 you know more about it than I do. ' 

 P. Welch's idea of a diplomat would 

 probably be: "My dear sir! You've 

 got to consult the authorities on a 

 thing like that; this thing is not as 

 simple as it looks!" But wouldn't it 

 make an interesting chapter if all the 

 moguls from Pat O'Mara down were to 

 honestly, tell us their definition of a 

 diplomat. I'm going to offer a valuable 

 prize for the man whose definition I 

 think is best and I buy the dinner to 

 the winner. In case any one may 

 doubt the genuineness of this offer, I 

 wish to announce now, that I think 

 Tommy gets it. But we'll see. 



GEORGE C. WATSON. 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 

 The National Rose Society. 

 A satisfactory record of progress was 

 presented at the annual meeting of 

 the National Rose Society in London. 

 The total number of members is 5504, 

 this being a net increase of 379 over 

 last year, and of 3020 since 1907. The 

 financial position is equally encourag- 

 ing. An excellent programme has 

 been arranged for 1913. For the first 

 time a spring show is to be held In 

 London on May 1st. This will enable 

 the members to have an opportunity of 



Our illustration depicts a very 

 charming variety of the old favorite 

 C. Mossiae. The flowers are large and 

 of remarkable texture and having that 

 desirable attribute ot a good cattleya 

 — a broad expanded and distinctively 

 colored lip. The variety is said to 

 have originated from a cross of C. 

 aurea with C. Lawrenceana at the or- 

 chid conservatories of Clement Moore, 

 Hackensack, N. J. The flower shows 

 the influence of C. Lawrenceana in the 



form and color of the labellum; the 

 sepals and petals are golden yellow, 

 with a beautiful flushing of crimson- 

 purple. As a hybrid, this cattleya is 

 extremely interesting and valuable 

 from the fact that under normal con- 

 ditions the two parents flower at wide- 

 ly different periods of the year— one 

 being a spring bloomer and the other 

 an autumn bloomer. The group of 

 plants shown In the picture was ex- 

 hibited by Sir Geo. Holford at the In- 

 ternational Horticultural Exhibition. 



seeing the best type of roses for forc- 

 ing. C. E. Shea was elected president 

 for two years and E. Mawley was 

 agaii. installed as honorary secretary, 

 his services being fittingly recognized. 

 Some Other Societies. 



The Perpetual Flowering Carnation 

 Society has held its annual meeting at 

 which the following oflBcers were elect- 

 ed: President, Lord Howard de Wal- 

 den; chairman ot committee, J. S. 

 Brunton; vice-chairman, W. B. Wal- 

 lace; treasurer, L. J. Cook; secretary, 

 T. A. Weston. Arrangements are be- 

 ing made for a spring show to be held 

 in Leamington, Warwickshire. 



The members of the National Hardy 

 Plant Society, at their annual meeting, 

 decided to co-operate in a primula con- 

 ference to be held in April. A show 

 will be held by the society in June. 



G. Gordon has been elected presi- 

 dent, J. Green, treasurer, and J. B. 

 Riding, secretary, of the National 

 Dahlia Society. W. H. ADSETT. 



Some advertisements are as valu- 

 able as the best reading matter, full 

 of sound practical advice. Read "Why 

 Failures Result" on page 168, and, in- 

 cidentally, put the advice into practice 

 and see how it proves. 



A BEDDING PLANT QUERY. 



Will some ot your readers please in- 

 form me as to whether or not there 

 is any definite rule or way to ascer- 

 tain the number of plants required to 

 fill flower beds of given sizes and 

 shapes such as stars, oval, diamond- 

 shaped beds, etc. SUBSCRIBER. 



There can be no hard and fast rule 

 as to the- number of plants in a bed 

 as circumstances of size, location, soil, 

 etc.. all count. A fair spacing for ger- 

 aniums would be from 9 to 12 Inches 

 apart each way; Madame Salleroi 

 would be set closer, of course. Can- 

 nas. on the other hand, should have, 

 at least. 15 to 18 inches space each 

 way and the larger growing ones will 

 require more. Salvias should have 15 

 inches, coleus 9 inches, French mari- 

 golds 9 inches, zinnias and African 

 marigolds 12 inches, Centaurea candld- 

 issima and Cineraria maritima 9 to 10 

 inches, alternantheras. golden feather 

 lobelias and other small edging materi- 

 al about 4 Inches and heliotrope 10 or 

 12 inches according to whether soil is 

 light or heavy. The foregoing are sim- 

 ply suggestive. A knowledge of the 

 probable spread of a plant during a 

 season's growth will enable the plant- 

 er to use proper judgment. 



