January 5, 1097 



HORTICULTURE 



NASSAU COUNTY HORTICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIETY. 



The regular monthly meeting of this 

 society was held on the afternoon of 

 December 12, closing the second year 

 of this society's existence. The roll 

 of active members now musters 76. 

 Starting with a chartered membership 

 of fourteen, this society has steadily 

 progressed both in the keen interest 

 manifested by its members and in its 

 financial strength. As an organiza- 

 tion it has brought together the gar- 

 dening fraternity of quite an extended 

 area, having always the elevation of 

 the profession as its chief aim. 



In the point competition H. F. Meyer 

 scored 83 1-3 with poinsettias, toma- 

 toes and cucumbers; S. J. Trepess, 80 

 points with tomatoes and cauliflower. 

 The prize for 25 carnations arranged 

 for effect was awarded H. F. Meyer. 

 For the best flowering plant A. Mac- 

 kenzie was first, with a beautifully 

 grown specimen of Begonia Gloire de 

 Lorraine, in a 4 in. pot; S. J. Trepess, 

 second, with a well-grown cyclamen. 



The annual dinner of the society 

 was voted to be held on Wednesday, 

 Jan. 23. The treasurer's report showed 

 a substantial balance in the treasury 

 after meeting all expenses. 



The following officers were elected 

 for the ensuing year: President, 

 Alexander Mackenzie; vice-president, 

 H. F. Meyer; secretary, John F. John- 

 ston; treasurer, E. J. Brown; corre- 

 sponding secretary, J. W. Everett. 



On behalf of the members of the so- 

 ciety and in a brief and appropriate 

 speech J. W. Everett presented the re- 

 tiring president, Thos. Harrison, with 

 a handsome gold scarf pin as an ex- 

 pression of the society's appreciation 

 for the valuable services rendered by 

 him during his two years of office. 

 Pres. Harrison suitably replied, thank- 

 ing the members for their support. 



SEED TRADE. 



CLUB AND SOCIETY NOTES. 



J. K. M. L. Farquhar will deliver 

 an illustrated lecture on Gardening in 

 Italy at Horticultural Hall, Boston, on 

 February 23. 



The Morris County Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Society will hold their 

 eleventh annual smoker at Madison, N. 

 J., on January 9th, at S o'clock P. M. 



The Tri-City Florists' Club met at 

 the greenhouse of Harry Bills, Daven- 

 port, la., on December 13, and dis- 

 cussed the advisability of organizing 

 a horticultural society, which should 

 be open to laymen or non-profession- 

 als, and the idea was regarded favor- 

 ably. The program committee re- 

 ported the topics to be taken up during 

 1907. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Bulletin of the New York Botanical 

 Garden, Vol. 5, No. 16, has been issued. 

 It is a descriptive guide to the grounds, 

 buildings and collections, including a 

 map and a number of excellent half- 

 tones of the conservatories, planta- 

 tions, and museum buildings. 



In ordering goods please add "I saw 

 It In HORTICULTURE." 



One effect of the lithographers' strike 

 is a great reduction in the annual crop 

 of calendars. It is said that the great 

 insurance companies will not issue any 

 this year, or if so, they will be modest 

 "stock" affairs, and not the elaborate 

 special designs heretofore sent out by 

 the leading companies. A number of 

 seedsmen are in the same canoe as the 

 insurance companies, and among these 

 may be mentioned the Jerome B. Rice 

 Seed Co. This firm has for several 

 years issued a large and handsome 

 calendar, which has always been in 

 great demand, but they are left at the 

 post this year. However they an- 

 nounce that they will send out a 

 calendar, but it will not be the hand- 

 some special design they had con- 

 templated. 



Are the California seed growers con- 

 ducting a gum shoe canvass of the 

 seed trade this year? At any rate it 

 is certain that the brass-band accom- 

 paniment so identified with the visits 

 of some of them in the past, is con- 

 spicuously lacking this time. Mr. 

 Rentzahn has made a hurried and quiet 

 visit to a few of his principal cus- 

 tomers and returned home, but his 

 name has not been mentioned in con- 

 nection with the rumored combine. 

 Whether there is any foundation for 

 this rumor cannot be stated with cer- 

 tainty now, but like Banquo's ghost, 

 it will not down, and the further re- 

 port that all. or nearly all of the raw 

 material had been cornered by the 

 combine, makes it a topic of interest- 

 ing discussion to the trade generally. 

 The results of the early canvass 

 among market gardeners confirms the 

 prediction made in these columns some 

 months ago, that the demand for beans 

 would be light. Following a succes- 

 sion of short crops, the bean crop this 

 year has been a bumper one. and 

 market gardeners as well as seedsmen 

 and growers are "loaded." Probably 

 there are enough beans to meet the 

 requirements of the trade next year, 

 if not a bushel of new stock is grown, 

 with the exception of the Limas and a 

 few specialties which are never pro- 

 duced but in limited quantities. In 

 view of these facts it is scarcely nec- 

 essary to say that beans are having 

 a sinking spell, and the bottom has 

 not yet been reached. However, con- 

 ditions are not so bad as they were a 

 few years ago and if handled wisely 

 and conservatively by the growers, 

 need not reach the state of demorali- 

 zation which marked the situation at 

 that time. 



While new beans, and particularly 

 colored ones, may look better than 

 those carried one year, yet if carefully 

 kept from the attacks of the weevil, 

 and from the light, they will not de- 

 teriorate sufficiently to be noticeable 

 in germination, and though faded, will 

 not be a had sample. Now if growers 

 will resist the demand tor new beans, 

 and plant only enough to cover actual 

 contracts, the situation can be prettv 

 well cleaned up by another year. As 

 this is quite as important to the seed 

 merchant as to the growers, the 

 hearty co-operation of the former 

 should be assured. 



While admitting the .lustice of these 

 suggestions many will want to be the 

 exception. "Give us new stock, and 

 let the other fellow have the old". If 



the grower says he can't do this, then 

 he is informed that his competitors 

 are willing to accept the conditions, 

 and here is where the conservative 

 grower is likely to fall— he does not 

 want to lose business, and is quite 

 apt to surrender; yet it he would but 

 stand firm for one year, he would win 

 over his weak-kneed competitors. 

 "Here's stiffness to his backbone." 



Christmas Day brought to the view 

 of the E. J. Bowen Seed Company of 

 San Francisco, an unhappy state of 

 affairs. Their confidential man and 

 head bookkeeper of long standing, 

 Frederick Cleaves, was away from the 

 San FVancisco office on leave, osten- 

 sibly to pass Christmas with friends in 

 another part of the state. The spirit 

 moved the management to peer into 

 the accounts kept by the confidential 

 man, the findings being forgeries to 

 the detriment of the company amount- 

 ing to between |6000 and $7000. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



California Nursery Co., Niles, Cal. 

 Catalogue of fruit and ornamental 

 trees, palms, roses, etc. 



Iowa Seed Co., Des Moines, la. 

 37th annual catalogue of flowers and 

 vegetables seeds. Two colored plates. 



W. E. Marshall Co., New York City. 

 Spring catalogue of bulbs, plants and 

 garden requisites for 1907. Includes 

 a good list of novelties. 



W. W. Rawson & Co., Boston. 

 Wholesale price list of florists' seeds, 

 bulbs and plants; also special price 

 list for market gardeners. 



Farquhar's Garden Annual; R. & J. 

 Farquhar & Co., Boston. Full of illus- 

 trations of the finest developments in 

 fancy flower and vegetable seeds. 

 Colored plates of Incarvillea Delavayi 

 and foxgloves adorn the cover pages. 



TO ABOLISH "GRAFT." 



Ou Aug-ust 4 last, the British Par- 

 liament enacted a stringent law for 

 the punishment of corrupt transac- 

 tions with agents. The new law, en- 

 titled Prevention of Corruption Act, 

 which went into operation on Janu- 

 ary 1, 1907, is expected to eliminate 

 or materially reduce this form of 

 "graft" in trade. Briefly, the act pro- 

 vides that any person who corruptly 

 offers to an agent, or any agent who 

 corruptly accepts, a secret commission 

 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and 

 liable on conviction to imprisonment 

 for a term not exceeding two years, 

 or to a fine not exceeding £500 ($2,- 

 433.25), or to both fine and imprison- 

 ment. We learn from the Horticul- 

 tural Trade Journal that a represen- 

 tative meeting of Scottish nursery 

 and seedsmen was held in the Royal 

 British Hotel, Edinburgh, on Dec. 12, 

 with between forty and fifty present, 

 representing thirty-seven Scotch firms. 

 A full and friendly discussion took 

 place and the meeting unanimously 

 decided to adopt a resolution on the 

 same lines as that adopted at a re- 

 cent trade meeting in London, to car- 

 ry out the new law in its entirety as 

 applicable to gardeners' gratuities, 

 commissions, etc. An agreement was 

 signed on behalf of nearly all the 

 firms represented, binding themselves 

 to carry out the resolution. 



