October 2, 1909 



HORTICULTURE. 



469^ 



ABOUT CONVENTION RATES. 



Editor HORTICULTURE: 



Dear Sir,— My attention has been 

 called to an editorial in your paper re- 

 garding reduced rates for tlie conven- 

 tion and criticising by implication th.e 

 undersigned for failure to get conces- 

 sions for the S. A. F. convention, in 

 view of the fact that the National Nut 

 Growers' Association, which meets, I 

 assume, in the territory of the South- 

 eastern Passenger Association, was 

 able to get special concessions. 



It may not be known to all of your 

 readers that the United States is di- 

 vided up, one may say, into districts, 

 so far as the railroad passenger traffic 

 is concerned, each one presided over 

 by a special association. Both Cincin- 

 nati and Niagara Falls are in the ter- 

 ritory of the Central Passenger Asso- 

 ciation; Poulan, Ga., is in one of the 

 Southern associations. 



The method of obtaining a reduced 

 rate is to first apply to the association 

 controlling the territory in which the 

 meeting is held and then to apply to 

 all other traffic associations. The as- 

 sociation in whose territory the meet- 

 ing is held acts first and the other as- 

 sociations generally follow the lead of 

 the one controlling the special terri- 

 tory affected. The Central Passenger 

 Association refused, both last year and 

 this year, to grant any concessions ex- 

 cept on a requirement of an attendance 

 of one thousand, and this year the 

 other associations refused to make any 

 rate for that reason. It is evident 

 that the Southern Association in the 

 case of the Nut Growers' meeting made 

 a rate and the other two associations 

 made the same rate, although it does 

 not appear from the article in your 

 paper that the Central Association has 

 joined in the agreement or made any 

 special rates. 



It your article is meant as a criti- 

 cism of the arbitrary actions o£ the 

 various passenger associations, the 

 writer has nothing but approval to ex- 

 press. If, however, it is intended as a 

 criticism of the present officers of the 

 S. A. P., the writer must most em- 

 phatically protest. Yours truly, 



W. N. RUDD, Secretary. 



The editorial in question was not in- 

 spired by a desire to criticise the offi- 

 cers of the S. A. F. but was written in 

 the hope that it might help towards 

 creating an agitation which might cul- 

 minate in a sentiment among the 

 S. A. F. members, aggressive enough 

 to follow up the "arbitrary actions of 

 the various passenger associations" 

 and to insist that the S. A. F. gets at 

 least as much consideration as any 

 other organization of equal size and 

 importance. The facts of the division 

 of territoiy among the various passen- 

 ger associations are as stated by Sec- 

 retary Rudd and, we think, are gen- 

 erally understood, as they have been 

 published annually in S. A. F. pro- 

 grams and in the trade papers for 

 many years. The experience of the 

 writer does not conform to Mr. Rudd's 

 assertion that "the other associations 

 generally follow the lead of the one 

 controlling the special territory af- 

 fected." On the contrary, they very 

 often refuse and the further removed 

 they are from the convention location 

 the more reluctant they are to co- 

 operate with the initial passenger 



committee which, for obvious reasons, 

 is the one most likely to be liberally 

 disposed. Our understanding of the sit- 

 uation in the case of the Nut Growers is 

 that the Central Passenger Association 

 has agxeed to a fare of one and three- 

 fifths on the certificate plan in its ter- 

 ritory for the round trip for those 

 wishing to attend the Georgia meeting 

 fiom points within its jurisdiction. If 

 we are correct — and we have the 

 printed statement of the secretary of 

 the Nut Growers' Association to this 

 ettect — then it does seem that the dis- 

 crimination in the case of the S. A. F. 

 needs some other explanation than the 

 one accepted by our Secretary Rudd. 

 Not that any explanation is of any 

 value now except possibly as a guide 

 and basis on which to begin the cam- 

 paign for a favorable rate next year. 

 The experience of the writer in dealing 

 with the chairmen of the various pas- 

 senger committees for many yeai's has 

 shown these gentlemen to have very 

 thick hides, due no doubt to the con- 

 stant appeals from organizations of 

 every stripe which they have to with- 

 stand, so it is well to begin early and 

 watch every trick. 



POLYGONUM LANIGERUM. 



Plants having fine, large, grey foli- 

 age are rarities in the garden; at the 

 same time they have their uses, con- 

 trasting as they do with the green and 

 colored foliage of numerous decorative 

 plants, sub-troplca.1 and others; as for 

 example with wigandlas, cann-as, mus- 

 as, aralias, etc., and with such flower- 

 ing plants as Dahlia imperialis and 

 the florists' varieties, both single and 

 double flowered, and several other 

 species employed in sub-tropical 

 groups. 



The plant is not particular as to 

 soil, but it needs a hot and sheltered 

 position, and much moisture in warm 

 weather; and the tall stems to be 

 securely fastened to sufficiently strong 

 stakes, in order to prevent wind wav- 

 ing, and these should be so arranged 

 as to be concealed under the leaves. 

 The pretty, tailed and waved leaves 

 are narrow and run to a fine point, 

 reaching a length of nearly two feet 

 by a breadth of three-quarters inches. 

 The flowers are terminal on the shoots, 

 are pale pink, and only visible at close 

 quarters. The plant should be left to 

 its fate at the end of the summer and 

 a fresh stock raised from seeds in 

 early spring. F. M. 



SCARCITY OF AZALEAS 

 PALMS. 



AND 



We learn fiom several sources that 

 the cold wet summer in Belgium has 

 prevented azaleas from making their 

 usual growth and for that reason plants 

 will not be so liberal in size or so well 

 budded as in former seasons. Deliver- 

 ies now arriving bear out these state- 

 ments. 



Palms are as scarce as ever, princi- 

 pally owing to the large demand from 

 Germany, Russia, England and France. 

 Azaleas are up in price and will be 

 higher by next fall. Dresden growers 

 have taken over 500,000 more plants 

 than usual from Ghent this fall. Arau- 

 carias are plentiful. 



BY "WIRELESS" FROM "THE 

 HEART OF THE COMMON- 

 WEALTH." 

 H. F. A. Lange, of Worcester, Mass., 

 who has been in rather poor health, 

 for some time past, is feeling much bet- 

 ter of late, which will be pleasing news 

 to a host of friends throughout New 

 England and elsewhere. Mr. Lange 

 has carried on the florist business In 

 Worcester for 41 years and at his 

 greenhouses may be found, now as al- 

 ways heretofore, everything worth try- 

 ing among the new introductions in 

 florists' material. Mr. Lange's two 

 sons, Albert H. and Carl C, are in 

 charge of the greenhouses and the 

 store, respectively. It is especially 

 gratifying to find La Detroit among 

 the roses most highly prized here. Carl 

 Lange pronounces it the best of all 

 the summer roses, being a splendid 

 bloomer with long stems, a good keeper 

 in the warm weather and always popu- 

 lar. Suburban and country florists who 

 do business all the year roimd should 

 give Detroit a good space in their rose 

 houses. Another rose that is prized 

 here is Mrs. Jardine. the blooms of 

 which are now beginning to come full 

 and bright and the delicious fragraffce 

 of this rose wins for it every time. 

 President Carnot and Kaiserin are in- 

 dispensable for the summer trade. 

 Chrysanthemum October Frost is now 

 coming in with excellent flowers and 

 both this variety and Golden Glow are 

 in short supply for the daily demand. 



Albert B. Knowlton, of North Graf- 

 ton, is exclusively a carnation grower 

 and has a range of considerable extent. 

 It is a question if there is another 

 place of equal size in which not a sin- 

 gle vacancy or dead or sickly plant 

 can be found. We heard a carnation 

 grower of high repute recently refer- 

 ring with much pride to the fact that 

 he had not lost an average of over half 

 a dozen plants per house this season. 

 Whatever may be the reason, it will 

 be agreed that Mr. Knowlton's experi- 

 ence is very unusual. The varieties 

 most largely grown are Fair Maid, Bos- 

 ton Market, Winsor, Beacon, Lawson 

 and White Perfection. North Grafton 

 is a suburb of Worcester, six miles out> 

 and is in a very fertile region. 



William Gardner, whose son has been 

 caring for his place at Westboro, Mass., 

 while he was running for the mort- 

 gagee the establishment formerly be- 

 longing to Coolidge Bros, at South 

 Sudbury, has given up the latter and 

 will give all his time to the Westboro^ 

 place when he has erected an ad- 

 ditional carnation house this fall. 



Some of the aster growers in Central 

 Massachusetts have adopted the plan 

 of growing asters under cloth. This 

 protects them against bad weather and 

 at the present time when rain and fog 

 have practically ruined the exposed as- 

 ter crop these growers are able to mar- 

 ket perfect blooms which, in the scarc- 

 ity of salable flowers, bring a good 

 price. Why shouldn't this method b© 

 more generally followed? 



