January 5, 1097 



HORTICULTURE. 



ROSE HOUSE WISDOM. 



Christmas has again gone. Many 

 lessons have been learned, and many 

 more might have been. The rose 

 '"Salter" was again in evidence, but in 

 limited number, as business in that 

 line has not for some years been very 

 remunevative, neither was it any bet- 

 ter this year, as some of them had 

 their bewhiskered roses left on their 

 hands and were compelled to unload 

 at a loss. In my previous notes I said 

 it was a bad thing for the wholesaler 

 to have a quantity of aged stuff sud- 

 denly dumped in for him to try to sell. 

 It is a pernicious habit and usually 

 disastrous but this doesn't prevent its 

 being tried again another year. The 

 man who does this is a disgi'ace to the 

 specialty he represents, and I think it 

 makes him a criminal in the eyes of 

 his fellows. No wonder some of the 

 public have an aversion to roses; they 

 find roses do not keep, and the result 

 is they buy some other flowers. This 

 is a direct loss to the rosegrower. 

 Some years ago the editor of a mag- 

 azine advised his readers to spend 

 their money in candy or any other 

 thing except flowers at Christmas. 

 Probably he had good reason for those 

 remarks. 



Another thing the wholesaler has to 

 contend with is the propensity of some 

 dealers at holiday time to solicit stock 

 direct from growers, offering to pay 

 a higher rate or throwing out the bait 

 that he (the grower) will save com- 

 mission thereby. I always have turned 

 such offers down with a flat refusal 

 and advised the applicant to go to the 

 wholesale dealer. It is rather amus- 

 ing to hear some growers rail at the 

 wholesaler when trade is good and 

 then when there is a glut to see the 

 change in mein. The golden rule is a 

 good thing to keep in memory at all 

 times. The world would be better for 

 it, the greed of some would be les- 

 sened and a better spirit would pre- 

 vail. 



Another year has come to a close, 

 and we look forward just as eagerly to 

 the New Year as we have done to those 

 in the past. Death has removed many 

 from our profession but their places 

 have been again filled, showing that 

 the world moves along and that our 

 leaving it cannot stop its progress. 

 Many obstacles have been thrown in 

 our way in the past, and the future 

 perhaps holds just as hard or harder 

 than those we have conquered, but 

 llope, that great solace of mankind, 

 leads ys on unmindful of the trials 

 which we have passed through. Much 

 progress has been made in our calling. 

 Here in Boston we note the culmina- 

 tion of many years persistent upward 

 worlv from a small beginning, in the 

 new headquarters of Welch Bros. 

 These gentlemen have shown wisdom 

 and courage, and have fairly won their 

 exalted place in the flower trade, 



I was much' interested in what Mr. 

 Asmus wrote in your issue of Decem- 

 ber 8th, on the "sportsman spirit" at 

 the exhibition. The writer is on a 

 pretty good track. I may later touch 

 on that subject, as I have done before. 

 There are various phases of si-orts, 

 sporting and sportsmen. I atti nded 



the Boston Club sports last summer, 

 and enjoyed every minute of it. Some 

 of us Scotchmen entered the races but 

 it was mostly Englishmen who won. 

 History again repeated itself, for the 

 English always beat the Scotch at run- 

 ning. And some disgruntled Scotch- 

 men stayed at home that day for rea- 

 sons unknown to themselves. "Un- 

 sportsmanlike," just the same as we 

 see at the flower shows amongst all 

 races of people. 



I am sure HORTICULTURE joins 

 me in wishing the readers A Happy 

 New Year. R. T. McGORUM. 



WHOLESOME CHESTNUTS. 



"A guid new year tae ane an' a' and 

 mony may ye see." Look back to the 

 year that has passed, not with regret 

 even though failures were many and 

 successes few, but rather to acquire 

 from recollections of those same fail- 

 ures inspiration for renewed endeavor 

 for mauA' future successes and few 

 failures. 



Be not envious of what you may call 

 the luck of your neighbor because if 

 conditions within you and surround- 

 ing you had been of as hospitable a 

 nature as those within and surround- 

 ing him luck would have given you an 

 equal share of its companionship. 

 Every man of our craft as well as of 

 every other craft can if he examines 

 himself critically find some void or in- 

 capacity entirely responsible for what 

 fate or ill fortune or luck or all three 

 are blamed for. It matters not 

 whether successful or unsuccessful, be 

 up and doing, bright and early in the 

 new year and "work while it is yet 

 day, for night cometh when no man 

 can work." Inactivity hastens the ap- 

 proach of night and when it comes to 

 those who labored not by the light of 

 the day, they are usually groping 

 around in the darkness of their night 

 in a vain endeavor to capture lost op- 

 portunities. 



If you are an employee keep in mind 

 every day of the year that it depends 

 greatly upon yourself whether or not 

 your situation is pleasant. If some 



little thing occurs to ruffle your tem- 

 per think of something that will 

 smooth it instead of resolving rashly 

 to make a change remembering that 

 "a rolling stone gathers no moss" and 

 that it may be better "to put up with 

 the evils we have than flee to others 

 we know not of." Although this age 

 is one of intense realism, still long and 

 faithful service and duty well done 

 seldom go unrewarded. 



There are many gardeners and 

 florists who many a time, when it was 

 too late, have regretted that they had 

 not sown some seed of this or struck 

 some cuttings of that. Now it is 

 always well to think of these things 

 early in the year, and, after thinking, 

 to act. It is much better to be a lit- 

 tle ahead of time than hopelessly be- 

 hind. Then, granting that, consider 

 not only what you managed to pull 

 through with last year but try to 

 think up something that will be likely 

 to be still more profitable or pleasure 

 giving. However small a place a man 

 may have he should make it a point 

 to appropriate a favorable location for 

 starting seeds early in the year. 



There is no better time in the whole 

 year for the propagation of a great 

 number of indispensable plants than 

 now when, without sacrifice or in- 

 convenience, the necessary conditions 

 exist. 



Don't rush hard-wooded plants at 

 once into heat; better bring them 

 along gradually and without undue 

 excitement. 



If you have pansies crowding each 

 other it will pay to thin them out and 

 put those lifted into flats in good soil. 



Give everything in frames out-doors 

 as much light as possible and admit 

 air when the weather is at all favor- 

 able. 



Don't leave geraniums any longer 

 in the cutting bench and if those in 

 small pots are well rooted shift them. 

 Pinch all the lanky ones; you may 

 get some cuttings when pinching them, 

 if you are in need of more stock; put 

 them somewhere to root; they will 

 make nice little plants by spring. 



Entrance to Azalea House 



See Frontispiece. 



