Alarch 14, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



329 



AFTER ADJOURNMENT. 



We have to apologize to our readers, 

 a number of whom have told us of 

 their fruitless search through the 

 oolunins of our last issue for the "Pri- 

 vate Gardener" paper, by Robert 

 Craig, to which we called attention 

 editorially. Late advertising copy was 

 the cause of the holding over ff Mr. 

 Craig's paper until this week, and un- 

 fortunately we neglected to change 

 our editorial line accordingly for all 

 of which remissness we beg pardon. 



We frequently hear predictions of 

 the return of the camelia to its old 

 time popularity with the flower buyers. 

 That it will ever regain its prestige as 

 a short stemmed cut flower to be 

 wired and used flat in floral work we 

 think very doubtful but that it will 

 yet take a high place in the list of 

 choice long-stemmed cut flowers as 

 well as in small neatly grown bloom- 

 ing plants seems inevitable when one 

 sees some of the beautiful new varie- 

 ties offered such as are in evidence at 

 the greenhouses of Julius Roehrs 

 Company at the present time. One 

 of the loveliest flowers is Reticulata, a 

 brilliant colored single variety with 

 large wavy petals resembling a fine 

 hibiscus. Among the best of the 

 double forms is Elegans Chandleri 

 rose-pink often irregularly variegated 

 and spotted with white. 



A SONG FOR MARCH. 



Who sings of March, must siug the mart, 

 lAine mau-at-arms, the straggler clad 



III motley white and browu — 

 Who in the walie of Winter's flight 

 I'unis now to caper, now to fight — 



Half hector and half clown. 

 Cue moment from a cloud-cayped hill 

 He hlares his slogan, wild and shrill; 



The next with gusty laughter. 

 Outsteps the sunbeams as they dance. 

 And leers and flouts, with backward glance. 



The maid who foUovfs after. 

 O! sing the maid. 

 The light-heart maid. 



Who follows, follows after. 



He llees her down the lengthening days; 

 She follows him through wooland ways, 



O'er hills and vales between, 

 And sets tor mark of victory 

 On every bush and hedge and tree 



Iler H.-ig of tender green; 

 And when her breath hath spiced the night 

 With promise of the warm delight 



Of young June's love and laughter, 

 No other song may true hearts shig 

 Hut "Speed thy passing, March, and bring 



The maid who follows after; 



The light-heart maid, 

 The lil.v maid. 



Who follows, follows after." 



— T. A. Daly, in Catholic Standard and 

 Times. 



The above beautiful lines will de- 

 light the poetic soul. Shakespeare's 

 glorious flash of imagination: 



"When well apparel'd April on the heels 



Of limping wint u- treads, 

 has here been supplemented with a 

 new thought— piebald March — bluster- 

 ing — laughing — ^running; an original 

 conception. 



"THE JAPANESE SHAMROCK." 



March is heie, blowing and splutter- 

 ing. In a week or two we may look 

 lor the hepaticas. Meantime I am 

 cheered even now, while the snow lies 

 in my back yard, by the Japanese 

 emblem of good luck — (Adonis Amur- 

 ensis) — its green and golden flowers 

 making a lovely patch of color above 

 finely cut, fern-like foliage of the 

 deepest green. This is the earliest- 

 flowering hardy perennial in existence 

 and a. charming thing that everybody 

 ought to have. As it is the Japanese 

 "good luck plant" we might be 

 justified in making an Irish bull on it 

 and calling it the Japanese "Sham- 

 rock." i got my first plant of it from 

 J. D. Eisele of Dreer's and his good 

 words for it have been amply borne 

 out by experience. 



G. C. WATSON. 



"Are as well satisfied with results 

 from your paper as any." 



WHITE BROS. 

 Gasport, N. Y., March 9, 1908. 



THE IRISH SHAMROCK. 



Strictly speaking, the word "sham- 

 rock" is not Irish but comes from the 

 Arabic "shamrakh" signifying trefoil. 

 Most commentators start out with St. 

 Patrick however, and ignore the fact 

 that the shamrock was held sacred in 

 Iran and was emblematic of the 

 Persian triad long before St. Patrick's 

 day. St. Patrick used the plant to 

 illustrate the trinity in unity to the 

 early Christians. What plant he used 

 nobody knows. Keough, Threlkeld, 

 and other Irish botanists assert that 

 Trifolium repens (white clover) is the 

 true Irish shamrock and will have 

 nothing to do with that "little, sour, 

 puny plant, the Wood Sorrel," which 

 Mr. Bicheno and others have favored 

 Lioudon .favored the black medick 

 (Medieago lupulina). Croker poinls 

 out that as far back as 168'J the Irish 

 themselves considered shamrocks and 

 sorrel as entirely distinct. The "Irish 

 Hudibras'' printed in lfiS9 sings of 

 "Springs, happy springs adorned with sal- 

 lets. 

 Which nature purpos'd for their palats; 

 Slianuogs and watercress he shows. 

 Which was both meat and drink and 



clothes." 

 and further along the Irish are repre- 

 sented as 



"Without a rag. trouses or brogues; 

 I'icking of sorrel and sham-rogues." 



In another ancient Irish poem the 

 "Hesperi-neso-graphia" the following 

 passage occurs: 



■nesides all this vast bundles came 

 Of sorrel, more than I can name, 

 .\nd nianv Fhe'aves I hear there was 

 Of shamrocks, and of water grass." 



Dr. Withering and Professor Rennie 

 both favored the white clover as St. 

 Patrick's plant, and from its common- 

 ness and the likelihood of the Saint 

 taking the first three-leaved plant he 

 came across to illustrate his meaning 

 there can be little doubt that the white 

 clover is the genuine Irish shamrock. 



"The sweet little, green little. Sham- 

 rock of Ireland" has a sentimental 

 significance, however, outside of the 

 religious. Next to — 

 "Sublime potatoes, that from Antrim's 



shore 

 To famous Kerry, form the poor man s 



store." 

 it is probably the most universally 

 distributed plant we know and one of 

 the mo.st useful— besides typifying to 

 us all that is charming and lovable in 



the Irish character— a race that blends 

 in happy unison. 



■■Three godlike friends, 



l.ove. Valor, Wit, forever." 



At the present time the shamrock is 

 as popular in London as in Dublin 

 town or New York City and is there- 

 fore emblematic of the improved 

 sentiments of imperial comity and 

 good feeling which peace-loving citi- 

 zens of the universe so rejoice to see. 

 We can all heartily subscribe to the 

 sentiment of- the Old song: 

 "The plant that blooms forever 



With the rose combined 



And the thistle twined. 

 Defy the strength of foes to sever. 



"Firm be the triple league they form. 



Despite all change of weather; 

 in sunshine, darkness, calm or storm. 

 Still may they fondly grow together.'' 

 The 17th of March will be here in 

 three days, and it behooves every 

 florist to have plenty of shamrocks for 

 (hat day as the demand is sure to be 

 greater than ever before. They will 

 sell on sight. But you cannot sell 

 them unless you show them properly. 

 GEORGE C. WATSON. 



ILEX CROSSES. 



Two beautiful species of Ilex are 

 common in the fields of New England. 

 The winter-berry, Ilex verticillata, 

 Avhich holds its bright red fruit well 

 into the winter, and Ilex glabra, which 

 bears black fruit, but holds its leaves 

 bright and green throughout the win- 

 ter. If the red fruit of the one could 

 be as abundantly produced among the 

 green foliage of the other as it nor- 

 mally is in the leafless species, we 

 should have a most pleasing orna- 

 mental shrub. A number of attempts 

 have been made to cross the two 

 species, but in every case without re- 

 sult. Mention is made of some of 

 these attempts in the annual report for 

 1903. As a practical means of secur- 

 ing much the same effect the two 

 species may be planted together in such 

 close contact that the red berries are 

 intermingled with the green leaves and 

 an excellent result obtained.— P. W. 

 Card in Report of R. I. Agri. Exp. 

 Station. 



SOME WISE ADVICE. 



Don't sell your goods on longer time thau 

 you buy them. 



An advertisement without a price is like 

 a story without a climax. 



A small territory well worked Is more 

 profitable than a large farm poorly cared 

 for. 



The demand Is insatiable and constantly 

 growing for modern and Improved 'Imple- 

 ments. 



Girls and business are very much alike. 

 The more coy they are the more sedulously 

 we must court them. 



Is it true that your business Is transacted 

 in an illogical and unbusinesslike manner? 

 If so a change is desirable. 



Newspaper space should be fertilized 

 with brains, planted -with desirable goods, 

 cultivated with attractive prices, and it will 

 yield a rich harvest of profitable sales. — 

 Implement Age. 



"Enclosed you will find check In set- 

 tlement of your bill to date and we 

 will ask that you kindly discontinue 

 ad. in Buyer's Directory as we have 

 about sold all tuberoses." 



T. V. RIVENBARK. 

 .Wallace, N. C. 



