August 1, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



137 



country, especially since the advent of 

 the cactus varieties. We like the neat 

 little typical pictures of the various 

 sections, which is a happy idea on the 

 part of the author, for florists' distinc- 

 tions in flowers are not always well 

 conveyed in verbal descriptions. Se- 

 lected lists of varieties for show and 

 for the garden are supplied. As a cul- 

 tural manual it is a useful little book, 

 but Mr. Wroe in his opening chapter, 

 entitled the evolution of the dahlia, 

 somewhat startles us when he says in 

 his first few lines, "Information avail- 

 able for the history of the dahlia is 

 not as plentiful as we could wish." If 

 Mr. Wroe knew the literary aspect of 

 the dahlia as well as he knows the cul- 

 tural he would hardlv have started off 

 with this rather amazing statement. 

 There is probably as much information 

 available for the history of the dahlia 

 as there is for any other flower, if you 

 know where to find it. Price 50 cents. 

 Essais sur l'Histoire de Quelques 

 Fleurs d'Ornement. L'Oeillet, by Le 

 Texnier. Here we have an author 

 who unlike the preceding has nothing 

 to say about culture but everything 

 about history. M. Le Texnier is writ- 

 ing a series of books on the history of 

 florists' flowers. The first was rather 

 a bare historical record of the chrysan- 

 themum, the next is that we now no- 

 tice and is devoted to the car-nation 

 and its kindred flowers. This little 

 brochure is in French and consists of 

 40 pages brimful of historical and lit- 

 erary details relating to the carnation 

 from the earliest times. As a favorite 

 flower it was cultivated in France 

 three centuries ago, and there exists 

 in French horticultural literature quite 

 a number of important treatises begin- 

 ning from the middle of the 17th cen- 

 tury downwards. Some of our modern 

 English authors would do well to con- 

 sult these old authorities before they 

 start at the work of building up a his- 

 tory of the flower, for its history is a 

 far wider one than is confined to its 

 culture in England. We should have 

 much liked M. Le Texnier to have add- 

 ed a carnation bibliography to his lit- 

 tle book which, interesting and valu- 

 able as it is from a historical point of 

 view, would have been materially en- 

 hanced by this suggested addition. 

 Quite recently we bought in Germany 

 a finely drawn picture of an old car- 

 nation grown there in 1C28. It is a 

 lifelike study of a rich crimson flower 

 with notched edges and about four 

 inches in diameter. The name of the 

 variety was Gross Roth, and in spite 

 of all our progress today it is evident 

 from this drawing that the old florists 

 knew something about carnation grow- 

 ing. Price 25 cents. 



C. HARMAN PAYNE. 



NORTHERN GROWN COTTON. 



Well 



BETWEEN YOU AND ME. What 

 do you think of the Buyers' Directory 

 and Ready Reference Guide of HORTI- 

 CULTURE? I always look it over be- 

 fore I do any buying 



For many years, the late superin- 

 tendent of public grounds of Boston, 

 Mr. William Doogue. used to grow 

 among other economic plants, a few 

 hundred cotton plants. These were 

 pot-grown and started early in the 

 year in the greenhouses and later 

 placed in the Public Garden where 

 they tip-, er failed to give great pleas- 

 ure. 



The purpose in growing these plants 

 was that they might be distributed in 

 the fall to the different schools as an 

 object lesson for the pupils. In this 

 Mr. Doogue was never disappointed in 

 results as the hundreds of letters, both 

 from the teachers and children, testi- 

 fied. 



How the Cotton Is sent to the schools. 



The first lot was sent around in 

 boxes, with a number of ripened bolls 

 in each but in each succeeding year 

 entire plants were distributed, a num- 

 ber to each school. Mr. Xelson of the 

 Lowell Textile School wove several 

 pieces of cloth appropriately inscribed 

 from some of the product. 



Another attractive feature along 

 these lines was a bed of coffee plants, 

 some in fruit and others in flow r er with 

 a ground of pineapples in fruit. 



A NORTHERN ENTERPRISE. 

 The Elmwood Select Nursery of 

 Paynesville, Minn., is, I think, the 

 furthest north of any nursery of 

 importance in our northern states. 



Really, it is an outgrowth of the 

 York Select Nursery. It was found, as 

 business opened, that the springs were 

 so much earlier in Xebraska than iu 

 Minnesota and the Dakotas that it was 

 necessary to have a branch further 

 north. The enterprise is connected 

 also with the S. Dakota Experiment 

 Station under the care of Prof. X. E. 

 Hansen. 



Hansen's Dakota Xo. 2 strawberry, 

 a cross between Glen Mary and North 

 Dakota Wild, proves hardy with- 

 out mulching in Manitoba. It is 

 a fruit of promise, tco soft to ship 

 yet, quite productive and of tremen- 

 dous vigor, fighting its way with 

 ■"vceds, heat or cold— the very thing for 

 the farmer who cannot give his straw- 

 berry bed the attention it needs. Han- 

 sen's Sunbeam Raspberry is a cross 

 between a Manitoba mild red rasp- 

 berry and Shafer's. It is very hardy 

 and a good bearer. His fourth genera- 

 tion of Northern sand cherries gives 

 good promise also. The Northern type 

 of the Hippophea rhamnoides— the 

 Siberian Buffalo berry— one of the most 

 prolific fruits ever seen on tree or bush, 

 is proving a success. 



In the matter of evergreens we found 

 we could not raise the finer sorts in 

 the hot climate of Nebraska, but by 

 going into the hazel brush thicksts and 

 poplar groves of that cooler climate 

 and sowing iu the leaf mould. Mr. 

 Brown has had phenomenal success, 

 and is raising the pungens, Jack pines 

 and spruces by the hundreds and thou- 

 sands. White and Black Hill's spruces 

 grow much faster and have a richer 

 color than those grown in Nebraska. 



The colors in peonies are richer, and 

 the flowers much finer than in the hot- 

 ter air further south, and we have by 

 careful experiments in Minnesota and 

 Manitoba demonstrated the fact that 

 the peony is as hardy as peil plant or 

 horseradish, and that all the hardy 

 perennials find a most congenial cli- 

 mate in all those northern regions. 



It is a matter of lejoicing that those 

 homes on the bleak prairies can be 

 beautified by the fairest flowers that 

 bloom. We are now sending out 

 perennials to be tested through Mani- 

 toba and Alberta, and are beginning 

 to have cheering accounts of their suc- 

 cess. C. S. HARRISON. 

 York, Neb. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



T. C. Thurlow & Co., West Newbury, 

 Mass.— Select List of Peonies, Iris and 

 Phlox, with cultural directions. 



Hammond's Slug Shot Works, Fish- 

 kill-on-Hudson. N. Y.— A treatise on 

 the control of bugs and blights, illus- 

 trated, and showing how useful slug 

 shot and other remedies are against 

 these pests. 



V. Fromhold & Co., Naumburg on 

 Saale, Germany.— Wholesale Price List 

 of Choice Pansy Seeds. 



INCORPORATED. 

 Crestline Floral Co., Crestline. Ohio; 

 canital, ? 5,000. 



ber Seed Co., Peoria, 111.; L. F. 

 Stoecker, president; K. and N. W. 

 StoecVer, E. Nuzicker. 



