16-3 



HORTI (• r LTU HE 



August 17, 1918 



PURITY FREESIA— IMPROVED 



While it is doubtful whether Paper Whites or Dutch Hulbs will airive this season, The American Bulb 

 Company has provided for an extra quantity of PURITY FREESIA BULBS. 



Florists must have white flowers of sweet fragrance for funeral work, for baskets, and for general flower 

 bouquets. FREESIA PURITY can be used and will easily take the place of Paper White Xarcissus for the 

 various occasions. 



Last year, FREESIA PURITY FLOWERS were used by the exclusive retail stores for the making of 

 brides' bouquets. Our foremost cartoonist, Mr. John T. McCutcheon. of the Chicago Tribune, received favor- 

 able comment liy tlie leading Chicago Society Women for his exclusive taste in having his bride's bouquet 

 of FREESIA FLOWERS. 



The FREESIA BULBS The American Bulb Company offers here were grown in the open by the finest 

 grower in California. • 



Start right: avoid buying bulbs that were forced in greenhouses or grown m lath houses. 

 Prices for well cured bulbs, F. O. B. Chicago are as follows (no charge for packing): 



Up to V2-inch $6.00 per 1OO0 



Up to %-inch 9,50 per 1000 



Large Jumbo Bulbs 18,00 per 1000 



.Mammoth Bulbs, over % to %-inch 15,00 per 1000 



American Bulb Company 



172 North Wabash Avenue Phone Randolph 3316 CHICAGO 



I 



Linnean House, in front of which are 

 located pools of the large-leaved 

 Victoria regia lilies. 



Formal Garden. — This garden is 

 situated in a quadrangle formed by 

 the palm house, the cycad house, the 

 succulent house, and the pergola. Dur^ 

 ing the spring the grounds are devoted 

 to a bulbous or a pansy display, which 

 is later displaced by pattern bedding 

 of tropical foliage plants. 



The Knou.s. — A large tract infor- 

 mally arranged and planted with a 

 varied collection of trees, shrubs, her- 

 baceous perennials, and annuals. A 

 series of pools abound with numerous 

 water-loving plants. 



Economic Garden. — As the name im- 

 plies, this garden is devoted to a dis- 

 play of economic plants. Upon the 

 southernmost terrace are grown farm 

 crops, savory herbs, bee plants, and 

 lawn and ornamental grasses. An- 

 other terrace is occupied by four back- 

 yard gardens. "Various hedges and 

 fruits are included in the third ter- 

 race, while the nortUernniost one con- 

 tains the medicinal garden. Along 

 the main walk are trained fruit trees, 

 with numerous vines and a flower 

 border at the sides. 



North American Tract. — A large 

 area devoted to trees and shrubs in- 

 digenous to North America and hardy 

 in St. Louis. 



The Arboretum. — A natural wood- 

 land containing native trees. 



DR. W. VAN FLEET 

 It is with much pleasure that we 

 present the picture of the latest re- 

 cipient of the Robert White Medal. 

 The award of this high honor for the 

 year 1918 to Dr. Van Fleet has just 

 been announced. Dr. A'an Fleet's 

 work in plant hybridization has a 

 world-wide fame and he undoubtedly 

 now stands as the foremost hybridist 

 in America. 



His first attempts at methodical 

 hybridization were made with gladi- 



Dk. AV. Van Fleet. 



oli, from instructions which he found 

 in translations from a French garden- 

 ing journal when but 12 years old. 

 Later, when living in central Penn- 

 sylvania, he began cross-breeding 

 gladioli on a considerable scale, as 

 hundreds of varieties and species of 

 this genus could be grown in a small 

 back-yard garden. Probably a quarter 

 million hand-pollinated varieties were 

 grown in the succeeding twenty 

 years, only five of which have ever 

 been named and introduced to gen- 

 eral cultivation, the others being dis- 

 posed of to the trade as mixtures, 

 thus laying the foundation of many 

 successful modern strains. 



Becoming greatly interested in 

 breeding the more difficult plants Dr. 

 Van Fleet gave up the profession of 



medicine in 1892 and land for experi- 

 mental purposes was purchased at 

 Little Silver, N. J., where a great va- 

 riety of crop and ornamental plants, 

 including most garden vegetables, 

 cereals, orchard and small fruits and 

 nut trees, were bred by the hybridi- 

 zation and careful selection of seed- 

 lings of all procurable species and va- 

 rieties, he serving as horticultural edi- 

 tor of the Rural New Yorker during 

 the greater part of the ensuing fifteen 

 years. In 1909 he was appointed 

 Physiologist of the Department of Ag- 

 riculture at Washington, D. C, in 

 which position he still continues. 



His principal horticultural intro- 

 ductions have been Canna Flamingo, 

 1894, Sugar Corn, Sheffield and Toma- 

 to Combination, 1897, Pepper, Upright 

 Salad, 1902, Gladiolus Princeps, 1906. 

 Roses Silver Moon, W. Van Fleet and 

 .\nierican Pillar, 1910-12, Lonicera 

 Hendersoni, 1906, and a considerable 

 number of successful hardy roses, 

 strawberries and gooseberries. 



Since entering the Department of 

 Agriculture his breeding work is 

 mostly confined to the development of 

 disease-resistant varieties of nut 

 trees, particularly the chestnut, or- 

 chard and small fruits, hardy roses 

 and other home-yard ornamentals, 

 using principally the new plant intro- 

 ductions of the Department of Agri- 

 culture and of successful Asiatic ex- 

 plorers, especially those discovered 

 by E. H. Wilson of the Arnold Arbo- 

 retum. This work is perhaps being 

 done on a more thorough scale than 

 has been before attempted, and it is 

 likely that a number of meritorious 

 new hybrids will soon be dissemi- 

 nated by the Department as a result. 



Stratfield, Tenn. — Private John G. 

 Reck, son of Julius Reck, joined the 

 army last May and was sent to Camp 

 Upton. He has been assigned to a 

 transportation unit at Camp Johnston. 

 Jacksonville, Fla., and writes home 

 that he is awaiting the opportunity to 

 be with the army when it marches on 

 to Berlin. 



