626 



HORTICULTURE, 



May 11, 1907 



same thing repeated year after year, at 

 an enormous expense and a mighty 

 poor result as seen in the public gar- 

 den of Boston and nearly every other 

 city. To most people a pretty plant in 

 a free state is more attractive than 

 any garden denizen. It is taking care 

 of itself and moreover it is usually 

 surrounded by things consistent with 

 its wild state. Among the many rea- 

 sons for advocating this system are 

 the following: 1st 'because hundreds 

 of hardy flowers will thrive much bet- 

 ter in a wild rugged place than they 

 ever did in the old fashioned border." 



2nd. "They will look infinitely bet- 

 ter than they ever did in the border 

 owing to the more varied and inter- 

 esting surroundings and contrasts." 



3rd. "No disagreeable effects result 

 from decay for as soon as one plant is 

 out of bloom it merely passes out of 

 notice among the other shrubs and is 

 succeeded by other blossoms." 



4th. "Because it enables us to grow 

 plants that have no place in the trim 

 garden, but growing in large masses 

 in a field would be very beautiful." 



5th. "The early spring can be made 

 alive with blossoms." 



6th. "The great merit of perma- 

 nence belongs to tuis delightful phase 

 of gardening. If a place is planted 

 with good taste and judgment in the 

 first place time will only add to its 

 beauty." The borders of shrubbery, 

 which usually make a hard monoton- 

 ous line, could be planted with ir- 

 regular groups of these hardy plants 

 and make better connections and a 

 source of no care or trouble. Let the 

 grass grow and wave with the wind 

 and let the blossoms fill it with spots 

 of color. Wild and semiwild places 

 are suitable for the wild garden and 

 almost any part of a public park not 

 used for a playground can be made 

 much more interesting than they 

 usually are by adding more color and 

 variety. Great care must be taken 

 to plant these flowers In natural 



New Paeony Dahlias 



BIG CHIEF, The largest of all. 

 GOVERNOR STOKES. The only 

 pure canary yellow. The^-e represent the 

 highest development m this new class. 

 PEACOCK'S GIANT HYBRIDS 

 A new race of giant art Dahlias. Send 

 for descriptive list. 



For 22 years we have been 



Headquarters for New and Fare 

 Dablias 



We have originated and intro- 

 duced more Dab lias of merit 

 than all other American gio^r* 

 er«. Now is (he time to plant. Send for 

 catalogues of best new and standard 

 varieties. 



PEACOCK DAHLIA FARMS 



ATCO, NEW JERSEY 

 W. L. Peacock, Prcs. 

 L. K.. PEACf>CK, Sec'y and Gen'! Manager. 



WILLIAM F. TURNER 



DAHLIA ORGWER 



Cactus and Decorative Dahlias 



A SPECIALTY 

 Address, 661 County Street 



Send for Catalogue New Bedford, Mass. 



groups and the only way to learn that 

 is to observe if possible the way these 

 same flowers locate and arrange them- 

 selves in the wild state. After they 

 are once rightly established they will 

 arrange themselves in ways that will 

 leave nothing to be desired. "People 

 seldom remember that 'the art itself 

 is nature' and foolish old laws laid 

 down by landscape gardeners are yet 

 fertile in perpetuating the notion that 

 a garden is a work of art and there- 

 fore we must not attempt in it to 

 imitate nature." The digging of shrub- 

 bery borders gives a very ugly appear- 

 ance to a garden or park. It is per- 

 haps necessary for a year or two in 

 order to give the shrubs a good start, 

 but after that they should be planted 

 to flowers that will best grow in such a 

 place and then let them alone. Of course 

 all the labor required to produce this 

 miserable effect of dug up borders is 

 worse than thrown away as the shrubs 

 would be better if left alone and by 

 utilizing the power thus wasted, we 

 might highly beautify the places that 

 are now so ugly. Don't rip out the 

 leaves. They decay and help to nour- 

 ish the plants and trees. Of course in 

 a public park there is a likelihood or 

 fires being started among the leaves, 

 but in a private estate where tres- 

 passers are not allowed there is no 

 need of raking up the leaves. They 

 protect the grass and when the snow 

 is off they make the winter appear- 

 ance of the grounds less monotonous. 

 In the immediate vicinity of the 

 house where they are apt to be trodden 

 into rubbish it may be necessary to 

 rake them up. It is my opinion that 

 the fault is more with the planting 

 than with the leaves if they look at 

 all incongruous, for in a oeautiful, 

 paintable, natural place the fallen 

 leaves are beautifiers of the ground. 

 "It is now generally conceded that 

 shrubs thrive better in beds where 

 the surface is never disturbed than 

 where it is annually loosened by dig- 

 ging." The kind of knowledge one 

 needs in order to form a beautiful 

 garden or park is very uncommon. 

 No man can do so with few materials. 

 It is necessary to have some knowl- 

 edge of the enormous wealth of 

 beauty which the world contains 

 for the adornment of gardens. He 

 must know his materials as a painter 

 knows his pallet and use it as freely 

 to arrange things of beauty and life. 

 An old name for a garden is a pleas- 

 ance, a paradise, a place of delight, 

 and as in the days of Bacon, so to-day 

 gardening remains to us the purest of 

 human pleasures. The garden worthy 

 of its name is ever beautiful, of fruits 

 tor service and of flowers for sacri- 

 fice. In the morning it is all fresh- 

 ness and perfume; at noon it is bril- 

 liant with color; while at eve it be- 

 comes a temple for meditation and for 

 rest. The richest fruits and the fair- 

 est flowers are born there and crowned 

 heads, wearied with luxury, have 

 found peaceful rest among shady 

 trees and simple flow. If we wish to 

 describe a fertile land we say it is 

 like a garden; and the gardener's art 

 is almost magical, since it can make 

 the bare rock or a sandy desert even, 

 to blossom as the rose. A good garden 

 is a continual delight, a paradise of 

 fruits from many lands. Every shady 

 tree is a tabernacle wherein matins 

 and vespers are sung by birds while 

 the Incense from many flowers is 

 borne on every breeze. 



Seed Trade 



The quality of weather remains as 

 bad as during the past three or four 

 weeks, though there was a fair rain- 

 fall the early part of the week, which 

 was much needed. The grass is be- 

 coming green rapidly and the promise 

 of spring is not, after all, a joke, as 

 was recently remarked. FYom all re- 

 ports gentle spring is exceedingly coy 

 in the West, but the season is still 

 young, and there is time for good 

 crops, if there are no setbacks after 

 planting. 



The latest estimate of damage to the 

 prospective onion seed crop in Califor- 

 nia places the number of acres totally 

 destroyed at something over one thou- 

 sand, and a crop of from thirty to fifty 

 per cent, from what is left. It is said 

 that one of the principal growers ex- 

 pects some surplus of the yellow varie- 

 ties but as he had booked no "futures" 

 according to reports, if he has any 

 seed at all, it would be surplus. A 

 letter from another grower, and a con- 

 servative one, states that in his opin- 

 ion onion seed will be worth from 

 $2.00 to $3.00 per lb. next fall. In a 

 few weeks we shall be able to give a 

 reasonably accurate statement of the 

 real conditions. 



Notwithstanding reports of serious 

 damage to early vegetables in the 

 South, the demand for seed for re- 

 planting has not been heavy, indicat- 

 ing either that damage reports are ex- 

 aggerated or else it is considered too 

 late to replant such crops as are in- 

 tended for shipments to northern mar- 

 kets; possibly a combination of both. 



Weather from the latitude of New 

 York City north has been too cold for 

 the planting of tender vegetables, or 

 if planted, germination will be slow 

 or very unsatisfactory, and of course 

 in many instances the seeds will be 

 at fault. Such seasons as this always 

 add to the seedsmen's woes, but it is 

 the portion of the trade to endure 

 this as an inevitable part of the busi- 

 ness. 



Reports from Washington state that 

 B. F. Brown has lost the contract for 

 putting up the seeds for the next gov- 

 ernment distribution. Possibly the 

 experience of the Department of Agri- 

 culture when it awarded the contract 

 to an irresponsible bidder from Dun- 

 kirk, N. v., two or three years ago, 

 has been forgotten. It has been fully 

 demonstrated that the work cannot be 

 (lone by hand within the time required. 

 Even if a hand machine is used for 

 filling the packets, the pasting must 

 all be done by hand. However, there 

 is no wish to prejudge the case, and 

 seedsmen can view any delay in get- 

 ting out the seeds with perfect equa- 

 nimity. 



Pea-packing companies of Manito- 

 woc, Wis., have opened the season, 

 and the Landreth Company started 

 planting with a crew of one hundred 

 teams and several hundred employees. 

 The season has been delayed at least 

 three weeks, and the industry will 

 probably suffer considerable loss as a 

 result, though there is now a good 

 prospect for a successful season. 

 There are in and about Manitowoc 



