528 



HORTICULTURE. 



April 18, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



VOL. VII 



APRIL 18, 1908 



NO. 16 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 11 Hamilton Place. Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Oxford 292 

 WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager 



SUBSCRIPTION PRICE 

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ADVERTISING RATES 



Par Inch, 30 inches to page $1.00. 



Diacounis 00 Contracts for consecutive insertions, as follows; 



One month (4 times) 5 per cent.; three months (13 times) 10 percent.; 

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Page and half page spaces, special rates on application. 



Bniered as second-class matter December 8, 1904, at the Post Office at Boston, Mass . 

 under the Act of Congress 01 March 3, 1S79. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

 FRONTISPIECE — Primula sinensis. 



PRIMULA SINENSIS— H. J. Moore— Illustrated 52,5 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE— W. H. Adsett 526 



BARK EFFECT AND PUSSY WILLOWS— John 



Thorpe 526 



A FERN FED WITH SOLUBLE FERTILIZERS— Dud- 

 ley M. Pray— Illustrated 527 



"IRON-CLAD" RHODODENDRONS— Hans ,T. Koehler. 527 

 GARDE.NFRS" AND FLORISTS' CLUB OF BOSTON— 



Illustrated 529 



NEWS OF THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES; 



Pittsburg Florists' and Gardeners' Club — Pasa- 

 dena Gardeners' Association — Society of American 



Florists 530 



Horticultural Society of New York 531 



New York Plorists' Club — Morris County Garden- 

 ers' and Florists' Society 532 



St. Louis Florist Club— Connecticut Horticultural 



Society — Club and Society Notes 53.'5 



SEED TRADE 534 



PLANT NOTES 536 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS 53S 



Detroit — New Retail Flower Stores 538 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Indianapolis, Neiw York, 

 Philadelphia, Twin Cities 541 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



P^ntire Satisfaction 529 



Publication Received 529 



A Testimonial 529 



Martial Bremoud — Portrait 532 



Catalogues Received 534 



Plant Imports 536 



Movements of Gardeners 536 



Fire Record 536 



Missouri Botanical Garden 536 



During Recess 536 



Obituary 536 



Business Changes 536 



Killarney's Chicago Home 536 



New s Notes 539 



Detroit's Good Example 539 



Exhibition at Buffalo 541 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 549 



List of Patents 549 



We give especial prominence to the Chi- 

 The Chinese nese primrose in this issue. The devel- 

 primrose opment in this useful little plant within 

 a few j'ears, up to the superb standard 

 shown in our frontispiece, is the result of patient, assid- 

 uous work on the part of the hybridist and seed grower. 

 In color the advance has been little short of marvellous. 

 Lately, crossing with tlie stellata and obconica sections 



has been going on and some good results are already in 

 evidence and from the viewpoint of the plantsman this 

 would seem to be tlie most promising direction in which 

 special effort might now be made. To combine in one 

 type the massive, brilliant colored flowers of the Chinese 

 with the loose habit and graceful poise of the stellata 

 is an object well worth looking forward to although 

 quite a simple proposition as compared with some of 

 the mergers for which the ambitious primula hybrid- 

 izer has for years been straining every nerve. 



We understand that the Pekin Gazette 

 The fate of ]ias suspended and the reason given is 

 the sluggard that it "fell behind the times." Its 

 age is given as 4000 years ! We recall 

 not a few florist, nursery and seed establishments that 

 have fallen by the wayside for the same reason and there 

 are others languishing along which are doomed to a 

 like fate, to all intents and purposes as antiquated in 

 their ways as the unfortunate Chinese newspaper. It is 

 a bad sign of any business institution when younger 

 rivals having little or no assets except their push and 

 courage outdistance it in the race. It is then full time 

 for the laggard to look about and see wherein he lacks ; 

 to adopt a more wide-awake policy; to investigate and 

 get into direct touch with up-tO:date goods and modern 

 ways. What was good enough for the customers of a 

 dozen years ago is not good enough today; take that 

 fact to heart and instead of wasting time and temper 

 in pj-edicting disaster for your hustling young compet- 

 itor, "get a move on" yourself before it is too late. 



The time when American dealers and 

 A superfluous florists are accustomed to hand over to 

 commodity (he importunate Dutchman their or- 

 ders for bulbs for next season's use is 

 DOW at hand. We do not think our friends from across 

 the Atlantic are likely to go home this year in any very 

 jubilant frame of mind over their American orders. 

 The bulb forcer is pretty sure to hold fresh in his 

 memory the experience of the past season which has 

 proclaimed in unmistakable terms the decadence of this 

 once flourishing and profitable industry, and the retail 

 seed houses will not care to stock up heavily on bulbs 

 wliich, as last year, are likely to be left on their hands, at 

 the top-notch prices they are now asked to pay. Apart 

 from the mere whims of fashion there are good practical 

 reasons for tlie American flower buyers' neglect of the 

 forced Dutch bulb. One reason is the great advance 

 made by the American florist in the production of 

 superb winter roses and carnations and the enterprise 

 displayed in the growing of a wide variety of sweet and 

 charming flowers for the winter trade which a few years 

 ago were not thought of for this purpose. We are glad 

 it is so. The rose, the carnation, violet, sweet pea, or 

 other flowers of like character are of home production 

 from root to tip and to those who grow them in such 

 perfection as we now find them in the flower markets 

 should the money go instead of into freight and duties 

 and the pockets of foreign growers who have for a third 

 of a century been getting rich on American business and 

 liave at every opportunity advanced prices on anything 

 that developed popularity in our markets. We advise 

 our bulb buyers to take their time about placing import 

 orders this season. As soon as our visiting travelers 

 come to realize that the bulb flower has lost its prestige 

 with the American trade the imperial foreign authority 

 which dictates the minimum price at which any Dutch 

 bulb may be sold is destined to hear something "drop. 



