752 



HORTICULTURE, 



June 6, 1908 



horticulture: 



VOL. VII 



JUNE 6, 1908 



NO. 23 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 II Hamilton Place, Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Oxford 292 

 WM. ]. STEWART, Editor aod Manager 



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

 under the Act of Congress of March 3, i87<). 



CONTENTS 



Page 



COVER ILLUSTRATION— White Cattlejia Mossiae. 



NOTKS FROM THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM— Alfred 

 Rehder ''*^ 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE- W. H. Adsett i49 



WOOD PRESERVATION FOR HORTICULTURISTS.. 750 



THE MISUSE OF FERTILIZERS AND MANURES IN 

 GREENHOUSES— Dr. Geo. E. Stone 751 



AFTER ADJOURNMENT ^53 



AN INTERESTING ANNUTtlRSARY- Portrait. C. L. 

 Allen "53 



NEWS OF THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES: 



Tari\-town Horticultural Society— Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club of Boston- American Carnation So- 

 ciety — St. Louis Horticultural Society — Rhododen- 

 dron Exhibition at Boston— Meetings Next Week— 

 Salem Cherry- Fair— Pennsylvania Horticultural 

 Society ^5'' 



CO-OPERATION BETWEEN WHOLESALER AND 

 RETAILER--Arthur A. Niessen 753 



OBITUARY— George F. Chandler, portrait 756 



DURING RECESS: 



New York and New .Tersey Association of Plant 

 Growers,- Florists' Club of Philadelphia 756 



LIBRARY NOTES— C. Harman Payne 757 



A CHEMICAL ST(TDY OF SOME GREENHOUSE 

 SOILS— Henri D. Haskins 758 



SEED TRADE fGl 



OP INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



Detroit — Steamer Departures 7C2 



New Retail Flower Stores: , . . 763 



FLOWEK MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Indianapolis. New York, 

 Philadelphia "^60 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



Mildew on Killarney— G. C. Watson ; . . . 7o3 



"Glory Be! "— G. C. W "53 



News Notes 7.'>C-7o7-763 



incorporated ' "* ' 



Ffinglcides, Insecticides and Spraying 7Ci 



Catalogues Received y}} 



Business Changes 1'^f 



Personal '^'^ 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 773 



List of Patents 773 



During the . past few weeks annoitnce- 

 Fioriciiiture ments of expected arrival of large con- 

 enriched signments of orchids from tropical 

 regions have been given wide publicity 

 through the niedittm of the trade press. Not many 

 years "since, any dealer who would have undertaken any 

 enterprise of the character and magnitude represented in 

 any one of these shipments would have been simply 

 foolish. The change in the relationship of these noble 

 ilowers to commercial floriculture which has come about 

 in so short a time is most remarknble. A new and 

 lucrative specialty business has been developed and the 

 variety of material at the disposal of the flower lover or 

 floral decorator has in consequence, been marvelously 

 enriched. As we have before remarked, the erroneous 



ciiiiception formerly prcxalenl as to the difficulties at- 

 iciiding the cultivation of this class of plants are now 

 lM-('tty well dissipated and it is generally understood that 

 anv grower intelligent enough to master the cultivation 

 of any one of the other leading flower staples can 

 achieve equal success in orchid growing. 



Memorial Day business this year seems 

 An experience \n fiave met with sonie hard jolts, 

 and its lesson |,i-ought about mainly by the unprece- 

 dented supply of garden and green- 

 Jiousc product in many sections of the country. Never 

 since the holiday was instituted has there been such an 

 overwhelming profusion of shrub and herbaceous 

 bloom, all concentrated at one time, and we can hardly 

 look foi- a repetition of the experience for many years to 

 come. There seems to have been no trouble with the 

 populai' demand and the various reports as received 

 indicate the distribution of a vastly larger quantity of 

 flowers than ever before on any similar occasion, but 

 so enormous was the crop that clearing out was an im- 

 possible task. Thus it was unavoidable that large 

 stocks should go to waste under the circumstances. On 

 reading that there were some exceptions to the general 

 condition of overstock the question naturally presents 

 itself as to why these needy people were not promptly 

 supplied from the overburdened markets elsewhere. 

 "And echo answers, why!" That such varying condi- 

 tions should exist in these days of telephones and rapid 

 transit seems to point to the urgent necessity of a better 

 understanding and a greater facility of distribution as 

 well as a closer heed to obvious market conditions and 

 requirements by those who so ruthlessly spend their time 

 in cutting and their money in shipping to wholesale 

 centres material for which there is no outlet. 



The paper on co-operation between 

 Merchandising the different interests in the plant 

 methods and flower trade, by Mr. Niessen, 



which we publish in this issue treats 

 on the same theme covered by Mr. Palmer's recent dis- 

 sertation, under the more comprehensive text of "The 

 Art of Selling, '■'■ before the Gardeners' and Florists' Club 

 of Boston, but from the opposite standpoint. Our edi- 

 torial on salesmanship in issue of May 23, following 

 upon Mr. Palmer's address, has elicited a number of 

 comments from various sources, all agreeing that the 

 subject is a very live one but none presenting any seri- 

 ous argument or purporting to suggest any remedy for 

 the unsatisfactory phases which the flower trade has 

 assumed in certain large distributing centres. While 

 it is undoubtedly true that the general business depres- 

 sion, supplemented hy the very unusual behavior of 

 weather and crops, has been largely responsible for the 

 predicament in which many growers and dealers have 

 found themselves this spring, yet we are convinced that 

 the time has now come for a remodeling of business 

 methods which were good enough for the florist trade of 

 a generation ago but antiquated and entirely unsuited 

 to the needs of today. No business man can afford to 

 icmain oblivious to the improvement in merchandising 

 methods continuously going on all around him. This 

 Inuches directly upon what is the weakest feature in the 

 whole structure of commercial floriculture. That it is 

 tiie most disturbing element is evident to every one. 

 The matter is not one to be passed upon lightly or dis- 

 posed of ofF-hand by dogmatic assertion and we venttire 

 to affirm that there is no question that can be taken up 

 by the florists' clubs and societies and dispassionately 

 discussed, which more directly concerns the welfare of 

 their members than this great problem — the disposal of 

 the product. 



