March 14. UKIS 



HORTICULTURE 



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FOR EASTER BLOOMING 



We have an elegant lot of these old-fashioned favorites, 

 field-grown plants, which were potted up into four-inch 

 pots during the latter part of September and which have 

 been carried through the winter in cold frames and are 

 now in prime condition to move. If placed in a carnation 

 house temperature they will come in nicely for Easter, at 

 which time there will be ready sale, at remunerative prices. 



Strong, bushy, shapely plants from four-inch pots, $1.25 per 

 dozen; $8.00 per 100; $70.00 per 1000. 



HENRY A. DREER, 714 chisM st., Philadelphia, Pa. 



mony and Contrast of Colors by M. R. 

 Chevreul; Herrlngton and Smith on 

 Chrysantiemums. 



Cultivate a love for books; it is a 

 liabit that grows by indulgence; as 

 the fondness for books grows you can 

 add to your library; all the larger 

 seed houses now carry the best of the 

 horticultural books which you are 

 privileged to look over and select ac- 

 cording to your needs or taste. Sub- 

 scribe for one or more of the trade 

 papers and get your names on the lists 

 of the Agricultural Stations so as to 

 get up-to-date information; the re- 

 sults of the latest experiments along 

 all lines. The seedsmen's catalogues 

 are great educational factors; I know 

 of no greater improvement horticul- 

 turally than in the character and con- 

 tents of these valuable publications. A 

 gardener should study natural land- 

 scapes so as to readily apprehend their 

 points of beauty and their beauty as a 

 whole, and then with 'The art that 

 doth mend nature" put the finishing 

 touches thereto. 



Have a Hobby. 



Every garden may be made more 

 interesting by excelling in some 

 specialty; every gardener should have 

 a hobby. If the place be a small one 

 and your opportunity meagre, take in 

 the flower line, pansies, verbenas or 

 Phlox Drummondil or the herbaceous 

 phlox and in the greenhouse plants 

 either cyclamen, cineraria, primula, 

 etc. By saving your own seed, care- 

 fully selecting, year after year, the 

 finest. It Is astonishing how you can 

 Improve the varieties in any species. 

 Like results follow a similar course in 

 vegetables. Buy, for instance, the 

 finest varieties of corn and select from 

 these for seed the ears that contain the 

 greatest average of good points, as 

 flavor, size and good appearance and 

 you are likely to get corn better than 

 you can buy. Or if your place and op- 

 portunity are greater start for in- 

 stance making a collection of conifers; 

 in groups or in single specimens; or a 

 collection of rhododendrons or lilacs, 

 of which there are now so many fine 

 kinds; or roses, or paeonies, or simi- 

 lar plants in the hardy garden. You 

 will find in a few years your constant 

 and careful pursuit of your hobby will 



result in making you and the place you 

 represent, more or less famous, and 

 your application to work along a 

 special line will enable you to give 

 valuable points to your fellows. As 

 Emerson says "If you make shoes bet- 

 ter than anyone else you will find a 

 path beaten to your cottage door." 



Raising New Varieties. 



It is profoundly interesting to study 

 how new varieties come. Nature 

 works, often we know not how, in 

 bringing forth new varieties, the in- 

 Huence ot heredity undoubtedly pre- 

 vails to some extent and instances are 

 not wanting to show that it does. Let 

 me give you just one in my own ex- 

 perience, — three years ago we made a 

 number of crosses in carnations using 

 the variety Harlowarden as one of the 

 parents; you will recollect that this 

 sort had a very long, very desirable 

 stem and we noticed that about one- 

 fifth of these seedlings had this 

 Harlowarden stem, but there were 

 characteristics developed in a number 

 of seedlings which had no visible con- 

 nection with either of the parents. 

 Sometimes however the influence of 

 both parents can be distinctly traced. 

 Time will allow me to mention only 

 one or two instances: — Many of you 

 will recollect the introduction of the 

 "Daybreak" carnation, a charming 

 variety which had not many stems, 

 but these were long and stiff and 

 every shoot produced a flower. About 

 the same time was introduced "Tidal 

 \A'ave" which produced many stems 

 but lacking in length; the crossing of 

 these two varieties produced the 

 famous "Lawson" which inherited the 

 good points of both varieties. Among 

 the seedlings with Lawson blood has 

 been found Enchantress which I think 

 has more good qualities than any 

 other variety and following along this 

 line has resulted in producing a free 

 blooming vigorous type which has 

 made Mr. Fisher famous. The results 

 ot Mr. Walsh's work in roses of the 

 Wichuraiana type are little short of 

 marvellous; the man who does such 

 Uiinss is a public benefactor. But, 

 while man can do something in breed- 

 ing from types, nature is always at 

 work and often produces, we know not 

 how, valuable "breaks" in seedlings or 



sports, which are frequently lost be- 

 cause the gardener fails to recognize 

 their merits and propagate and per- 

 petuate them. Private gardeners have 

 done much in the past to preserve and 

 propagate good new things and should 

 be ever on the alert to take advantage 

 of any opportunities along this line 

 which kind nature may afford. The 

 famous Seckel pear was a "chance" 

 seedling found growing along the road- 

 side and man had no hand in its 

 origin, but some one should receive 

 the blessings ot generations for pre- 

 serviog and propagating it. 



Forcing Vegetables. 



One of the main branches of work 

 for the private gardener is the growing 

 ot vegetables. Our enterprising seeds- 

 men are continually introducing new 

 varieties and a large percentage of 

 these novelties have merit and occa- 

 sionally there is a great advance over 

 previous varieties. Be ever on the 

 alert for the good new things. 



There should be an abundance of 

 vegetables for spring, summer and fall 

 and where the facilities exist, in the 

 winter also. George Elliott says: "No 

 man can be wise on an empty 

 stomach" and Ben Jonson that "A 

 good dinner lubricates business." No 

 dinner is complete without fresh 

 vegetables and many of the very finest, 

 most luscious and delicately flavored 

 cannot be purchased in the markets, 

 because they do not pay to grow com- 

 mercially. If you can furnish your 

 employer a regular supply of these 

 dainties, you will find yourself in 

 close touch with him and he is likely 

 to help you in any of your plans. 

 Vegetables grown under glass are 

 superior to those grown out-doors, in 

 tenderness, crispness and fine flavor 

 and every large garden should have 

 special houses or ranges of houses for 

 this purpose; these need not be ex- 

 pensive structures and may be in any 

 out-of-the-way place so as not to in- 

 terfere with the architectural effect of 

 the plant structures; connected with 

 these vegetable houses there could be 

 other inexpensive houses where seed- 

 lings could be started, dormant plants 

 kept and much of the repotting and 

 unsightly work done, thus giving op- 

 portunity to keep the show houses 

 more attractive. 



