March 12, 1910 



horticulturje: 



373 



ton, which lias the record of having been the first flower 

 shipping centre of any importance, still maintains 

 quite a heavy business of that character throughout 

 practically the entire year. Why this is so might be 

 worth inquiring into, for nothing can be more healthy 

 and stimulating to a local trade than a competing out- 

 side outlet. It would be equally worth while to ascer- 

 tain, if possible, the causes which have operated and 

 are still operating to deprive some other large distrib- 

 uting centres of the advantage formerly enjoyed througli 

 an out-of-town demand for their service. It is hardly 

 creditable to a business of rapidly growing importance 

 and magnitude that conditions approaching famine in 

 the one case and ruinous overstock in the other should 

 appear to exist simultaneously in markets but a few- 

 hours apart and in intermediate points, with a differ- 

 ence in wholesale values of staple goods of frequently 

 fifty per cent, or even more. That the question "Why" 

 has not been more frequently and seriously taken up 

 by those most vitally concerned and the agitation car- 

 ried to a conclusion is indeed one of the incomprehen- 

 sible anomalies of the flower business. Can anyone 

 point to another industry of equal importance so apa- 

 thetic concerning broad tendencies which so vitally af- 

 fect its welfare? 



Politics and 

 Horticulture 

 in the Hub 



In the art or science of Horticulture, 

 Boston has been traditionally progres- 

 sive. The famous Faneuil garden of 

 two centuries ago, occupied seven 

 acres on the slope of Beacon Hill, cov- 

 ering part of the site of the present State House under 

 the gilded dome of which the laws of the State of Massa- 

 chusetts are now enacted, the site of the present Court 

 House in which the Courts of Suffolk County now ad- 

 minister justice, and extended down to the present 

 Tremont Street, including also the site of one of Bos- 

 ton's busiest department stores. This garden was famil- 

 iarly known as "Faneuil's Seven-Acre Eden" because of 

 the wealth of its horticultural collections, which in- 

 cluded over forty varieties of hot-house grapes and the 

 finest assortment of fruits, vegetables and flowers that 

 in those by-gone colonial days could be imported from 

 Europe ; at a time when, for the demands of luxury or 

 the desire for delicacies for the sick, it was necessary 

 for the well-to-do to produce such things for them- 

 selves, as the markets did not afford them as they do 

 now. 



Boston has been traditionally a horticultural city— 

 the names of Peter Faneuil, Daniel Webster, General 

 Dearborn, Marshall P. Wilder, Charles M. Hovey, John 

 Galvin, H. H. Hunnewell and E. M. Wood are stars in 

 the roll of honor of the art of gardening in the United 

 States, and the silver cord runs on, for did not the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, during the pres- 

 ent year, bestow the flrst award of the new White gold 

 medal to Professor Charles Sprague Sargent, director 



of the Arnold Arboretum, as the greatest living' horti- 

 culturist in the United States? The far-sightedness 

 and philanthropy of Benjamin Franklin made possible 

 in Boston the finest system of parks in the world, second 

 to which is that of Berlin and third that of Tokio in 

 Japan. The love of the garden has similarly led Pro- 

 fessor Sargent to devote liis life and a large share of 

 his fortune to giving Boston the finest collection of 

 trees and shrubs in the world, and to send collectors to 

 the most remote and heretofore unexplored parts of the 

 globe to find and bring back new material. Then too, 

 the recent munificent bequest of nearly six millions of 

 dollars by George F. Parkman for the further improve- 

 ment and maintenance of the Common, Public Garden 

 and the Parks of Boston still further attest the spirit 

 of aesthetic culture which seems perennial in the City 

 of Massachusetts Bay. 'Wliat possibilities ! What may 

 not be accomplished for Boston if the means and oppor- 

 tunities are wisely employed? 



Under Boston's new charter, the officials in charge of 

 these great interests must qualify before a Civil Service 

 Commission appointed by the Governor of Massachu- 

 setts. The immediate appointments are made by the 

 Mayor of the City. Therefore, Mayor Fitzgerald has in 

 his disposal the stewardship of interests most vital to 

 the present and future development and character of the 

 city. We believe that he will appreciate the magnitude 

 of this responsibility and that he will act advisedly in 

 his appointments. It is a matter of regret that none of 

 the members of the present board of Park Commission- 

 ers possess any knowledge of horticulture. Had they 

 possessed such knowledge, it would not have been neces- 

 sary for the Gardeners' and Florists' Club of Boston at 

 its February meeting to pass a unanimous vote, protest- 

 ing to these Park Commissioners against their removing 

 the elm trees planted six years ago in two rows on Com- 

 monwealth Avenue and replanting them in four rows in 

 a space only one hundred feet wide, against the public- 

 ly expressed opinions of such men as the late F. L. Olm- 

 sted, Professor C. S. Sargent, Samuel Parsons, C. C. 

 Laney, Desmond Fitzgerald and other eminent 

 authorities in landscape architecture and arbori- 

 culture. Let us hope that Mayor Fitzgerald will 

 make his appointments in accordance with the spirit 

 of the new charter — that the men appointed 

 shall have special qualifications for their work, 

 especially since he is now permitted to go even outside 

 of the city to find them. The Park Commissioners of 

 the City of Boston, upon whom such great responsibility 

 rests, should include among their number men of com- 

 prehensive horticultural, arboricultural and structural 

 landscape knowledge, as well as of general executive 

 ability, and they may be found within the Hub. 



In Mr. Thatchers communication on Standard Lilacs 

 in last week's issue, please read, "evolve new sorts" in 

 place of "solve new sorts" in sixth line. 



