104 



HORTICULTURE 



July 24, 1909 



horticulture: 



TOL. X 



JULY 24, 1909 



NO. 4 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO- 

 11 Hamilton Place* Boston, Mass* 



Telephone, Oxford Jgs 

 WM. J STEWART, Editor and Manager 



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Entered as secand-class matter December 8, 1904, at the Post Office at Boston, Mass 

 under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS Page 



COVER ILLUSTRATION— AVater Garden. 

 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COOKSON FORMULA— Duel- 

 lev M. Pray 101 



SOME POINTS IN PEONY GROWING— C. S. Harrison. 101 

 WATER SCENERY IN THE GARDEN— Frederick 



Moore 102 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE— W. H. Adsett 102 



NOTES FROM THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM— Alfred 



Rehder 103 



TWO NEW CLIMBING ROSES— Illustrated 105 



OBITUARY— John Thorpe, Portrait— C. W. Smith— Her- 

 bert Heller— Otto C. Lenz 106 



NEWS OF THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES: 



Mias.saohusetts Horticultural Society — Society of 

 American Florists — Minnesota State Florists' Asso- 

 ciation — Nassau County Horticultural Society — Joint 



Meeting at New Orleans 107 



Royal Horticultural Society, Frederick Moore 108 



American Association of Ifailroad Gardeners — Buffalo 



Floris: s' Club— Club and Society Notes 122 



SEED TRADE: 

 The National Organization of Seed Analysts, E. H. 



Jenkins 109 



About Danish Root Seed 110 



Notes r 122 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



The Use and Abuse of a Great Convenience — Steamer 



Departures 112 



A Nuisance Condemned — Flowers by Telegraph — New 



Retail Flower Stores 113 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 

 Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Wash- 

 ington 115 



New York 117 



DURING RECESS— Gardeners' and Florists' Club of 



Boston 122 



LAWN DECORATION— Edwin Lonsdale 124 



MISCELLANEOUS- 



Washington Notes 105 



News Notes 105-106 



Chicago Notes 113 



Business Changes 113 



Personal 117 



Incorporated 122 



Richmond (Ind.) Notes 122 



Lenox (Mass.) Notes 122 



Philadelphia Notes 123 



Publication Received 124 



Massachusetts Agricultural College 125 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 126 



Patents Granted 126 



.Idlin Thorjii — ''Uncle Jolin"' as many 



John Thorpe afEcctionately called him — has joined 



as we knew him the great majority. Nevermore shall 



we see his well-known figure in the 

 flower exhibition halls or listen to his shrewd counsel 

 and sanguine forecast of the future triumphs of his 

 favorites. Flower shows were John Thorpe's centre of 

 gravity and when one was within his reach he fairly 

 haunted it from beginning to close with an idolizing 



devotion wliich knew neither hunger nor fatigue. Con- 

 trary to the rule with most men when past the meridian 

 of life, retrospect and reminiscence had very little part 

 in John Thorpe's make-up. He was forever looking to 

 the future rather than to the past and no adverse con- 

 ditions or discouragement could down this optimistic 

 trait which enabled him to view with imperturbable 

 serenity emergencies and consequences which would ut- 

 terly disconcert an ordinary man. 



Who could help loving John Thorpe? In forming a 

 just estimate of the man the scale of points applicable in 

 judging the rest of humanity is almost valueless. In 

 things small or great he was original and inimitable al- 

 ways. In matters horticultural he was an enthtisiast 

 and a genius. In his contact with his fellowman a rare 

 magnetic influence was his and all who came under its 

 radiance, whatever tlieir social or intellectual position in 

 life, became oblivious to all those external marks by 

 which we are all too ready to measure one another and, 

 greedily drinking in the inspiration of his buoyant en- 

 thusiasm and captivated by the intensity of his love for 

 everything connected with plants and flowers, perceived 

 onlv thet lustre of his great mind, the sway of his choice 

 and master spirit which no privation could conquer. 



"Were I so tall to reach the pole, 



Or grasp the ocean with my span, 

 I must be measured by my soul: 



The mind's the standard of the man." 



Rest in peace, dear old John Thorpe ! In American 

 horticulture your memory will be forever green. 



The Rural New Yorker's "set to" with 



The "wizard" Luther Burbank over the identity of 



at bay Jiig ''Wouderberry" will be watched with 



keen interest by the horticultural world. 

 The horticultural trade as a whole glories in the achieve- 

 ments of its geniuses and always has done so. It re- 

 spects and honors the man who gives us a Seckel pear, 

 a Concord grape, an Early Rose potato, a Maryland rose, 

 or an Enchantress carnation. ■ It has a right to resent 

 and unhesitatingly condemn anything that savors of 

 faking or deception, or in any way tends to bring dis- 

 honor and humiliation to the profession. For a quarter 

 of a century the Society of American Florists has raised 

 its voice repeatedly in favor of the highest standard of 

 ethics and morality in such matters, and today the trade 

 insists upon and the public demand a clean bill with 

 whatever is pushed forward as a sensational novelty. On 

 Saturday, July 17, 1909, "Luther Burbank's Wonder- 

 berry," in plant form and fruit, was displayed upon the 

 exhibition tables of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, marked "WoiihUss," and this fact was duly 

 proclaimed in the Boston dailies, together with a state- 

 ment of the poisoning of two Italians who had eaten of 

 the frtiit. The public have been so industriously drilled 

 into the idea of the wizard's marvelous powers that in 

 the popular frame of mind up to date it will buy any- 

 thing bearing Burbank's name, so it is desirable that 

 the true character of such introductions, untested ex- 

 cept possibly for a short time in California, should be 

 ascertained and given the widest publicity. Horticul- 

 TUUE has no bias in the present instance, our only desire 

 being to see Truth jirevail and now that the bout is 

 started we hope the light will be fully turned on and the 

 matter thoroughly sifted until facts either vindicating 

 Mr. Burbank or justifying the Rural New Yorker are 

 conclusively shown. From what we know of Editor 

 Collingwood's ways we have no doubt he'll hang on all 

 right and there's plenty of fun ahead, if we are not 

 ffrcatlv mistaken. 



