538 



HORTICULTURE 



October 16, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



TOL. X 



OCTOBER 16, 1909 



NO. 16 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 11 Hamilton Place, Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Oxford 192 

 WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager 



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Entered as second-class matter December 8, 1904, at the Post Office at Bostoa, Mass 

 under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879, 



CONTENTS Page 



Page 

 COVER ILLISTRATION— Milium auratura. 

 NOTES FROM THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM— Alfred 



Rehder 5>5^ 



THREE GOOD GARDEN ROSES 537 



CATTLEYA CITRIN A— Illustrated 539 



EUROPEAN HORTICULTURE— Frederick Moore 539 



NEWS OF THE CLUBS AND SOCIETIES: 



Pittsburgh Florists' and Gardeners' Club — New 

 York Horticultural Importers' Protective Associa- 

 tion — New "iork Florists' Club — Society ot Ameri- 

 can B'lorists— Connecticut Horticultural Society — 



Detroit Florist Club 540 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society— Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club of Boston— Chrysanthemum So- 

 ciety of America— Illinois State Fair^Trophies at 

 the Portola Flower and Fruit Show, Illustration.. 541 

 Royal Horticultural Society, Frederick Moore— 



Amerncau Carnation Society 542 



NARCISSUS J. B. M. Camm— Illustrated 542 



MISSOURI VALLEY FAIR AND EXPOSITION 543 



LEVAVASEUR'S 190'J ROSE NOVELTIES 543 



SEED TRADE: 



The Burpee Purchase — Crop News — Notes 544-546 



LILIUM AURATUM 546 



OF INI EREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



New Flower Stores 548 



A Novel Decoration Scheme, P. Danzer— Flowers 



by Telegraph 549 



FLO'WER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit 551 



Indianapolis, New York, Philadelphia 553 



DURING RECESS: 



Astoria Florists' Bowling Club 558 



OBITUARY: 



John S. Zschorna — Fred Zappe 55>> 



SOME WORK OF THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AG- 

 RICULTURE AS AFFECTING FLORICULTURE— 



Prof. B. T. Galkiv.ay 559 



MISCELLANEOUS- 



Incorporated 542 



The War of the Dahlias. 543 



Personal '. 543 



Chicago Notes 549 



Prospective Exhibitions 558 



Catalogues Received b58 



News Notes 55S-562 



Philadelphia Note? 561 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 562 



The questiou of gardener?" wages in 

 The gardeners' public and private grounds, brought 

 J predicament tip for discussion in th'e last meet- 

 ing of the Xew York Florists' Club, 

 acquires added importance Ihrougli the news that the 

 accomplished gardener of Elizabeth Park, Hartford, 

 Conn., has resigned to go into commercial horti- 



culture because of the inadequate remuneration in 

 the park department. There seems a lack of 

 discrimination between the ordinary type of work- 

 man and the well-trained, well-read and profi- 

 cient all-around gardener in most places and it is 

 notorious that the services of tlie latter class are, in 

 many instances, shamefully underestimated and under- 

 paid. When such men switch ofE into commercial lines, 

 commercial floriculture is the gainer, sometimes more 

 than the individual, who, if he has not had the benefit 

 of a commercial training earlier in life, is liable to en- 

 counter many unforeseen discouragements and bitter 

 e.xperienees as he progresses. 



Referring to the carnation fam- 



vicissitudes ine existing at the time of writ- 



of the flower trade jng^ our correspondent in Detroit, 



in last week's notes, remarked 

 that it seemed odd no remedy for the shortage had been 

 found. Our reports from various markets this week 

 indicate that the remedy was not long in making its 

 appearance, and, like the North Pole finding, there was 

 entirely too nmch of it. Following directly upon the 

 discomfiture of the garden crops, the carnation girded 

 itself for action and for a few days it certainly "made 

 good," but the reverse came as suddenly as the uplift 

 and, in some markets at least, it didn't take twenty-four 

 hours to cut the prices one-half and load up the whole- 

 saler's storage boxes with carnations of high and low 

 degree. We are sorry. These acute fluctuations are 

 bad for everybody. Xow enters the chrysanthemum 

 and all thought of famine for the next few weeks may 

 be promptly dismissed. It will require a big allotment 

 of tliat promised prosperity to absorb the flower crop — 

 roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, violets, orchids — 

 which is now in sight. 



We have received a communication 



The "sleepy" from a correspondent who is engaged 



carnation in the wholesale cut flower business 



calling attention to the numerous com- 

 plaints received concerning the non-keeping qualities 

 of carnations shipped out by him. His care to procure 

 and ship only absolutely fresh stock counts for nothing 

 with the customer, who will accept no other explanation 

 than that the flowers were old. He has tried every im- 

 aginable device in handling and caring for the stock and 

 is almost in despair over the repeated failure to find 

 any process that can be depended upon to obviate the 

 trouble. We have reminded our correspondent that the 

 difficulty complained of is an old one which has taxed 

 the ingenuity of the most advanced carnation growers 

 and exhibitors to explain. All sorts of theories have 

 been advanced in discussions of the subject of "'sleepi- 

 ness," as it is called, in carnations, at the meetings of 

 the American Carnation Society and elsewhere but the 

 stubborn ghost still walks and the reproach of having 

 sent mtt worthless goods, on which he cannot enforce 

 payment, is the charge which the carnation shipper must 

 continue to face. C. W. Ward says in his book, "Tlie 

 American Carnation," that "the chief value of any 

 fiower consists in its being placed in the hands of the 

 consumer in a fresh, lasting condition," and dwells upon 

 the necessity of proper handling of the blooms from 

 the time they are cut, factors in which are — picking in 

 early morning, when the blooms have not reached full 

 maturity, avoidance of changes in temperature and im- 

 pure air, etc., all of which, together with much other 

 information essential for the full success of anyone 

 growing or dealing in the divine flower is fully covered 

 in the book above mentioned. 



