674 



HORTICULTUEE 



November 15, 1913 



The Potato Prospect 



It is pretty widely understood that 

 tlie potato crop in the country outside 

 o£ Maine is considerably short of last, 

 year's by some millions of bushels. On 

 the other hand it was known that 

 Maine had raised the largest and finest 

 crop ever produced in that State. As 

 dealers in seed potatoes generally de- 

 pend upon Maine for their supplies tor 

 the middle, eastern and southern 

 states for early market, they felt con- 

 fident of securing their usual quanti- 

 ties at reasonable figures. All this 

 seems to have been changed, if in- 

 formation we have received is reliable. 

 A long spell of wet weather, extending 

 over several weeks, converted the 

 fields into quagmires, and this was 

 followed by a hard freeze, ruining a 

 very large percentage of the crop 

 which had not already been dug. Some 

 estimates place the loss to the State 

 as high as $500,000, but the full ex- 

 tent of the damage has not as yet de- 

 veloped, and it will doubtless be some 

 -weeks before the exact conditions are 

 definitely known. This undoubtedly, 

 will mean an unusually high figure for 

 selected seed stock, and those who 

 have not already covered their require- 

 ments, should hasten to do so, but they 

 would be wise in stipulating that the 

 tubers should be free from rot. 



Seed Beans. 

 Growers are beginning to make their 

 final estimate of what they will deliv- 

 er in the way of seed beans, and deal- 

 ers generally will be keenly disap- 

 pointed when actual deliveries are 

 made. Weeks ago we predicted that 

 the majority of both growers and deal- 

 ers did not appreciate the extent of 

 the shortage in beans, and such in- 

 formation as has reached us very re- 

 cently, confirms this opinion. So far 

 as we can ascertain, the only varieties 

 that are now offered are the Red Val- 

 entines, Early Refugee and the Giant 

 Stringless Green Pod. and nearly all 

 of these are of the 1912 crop, afl no 

 grower is in a position to offer new 

 beans of any variety. The greatest 

 shortages will be felt on the wax- 

 podded sorts and the Black Valentine, 

 Late Refugee and Burpee's Stringless 

 Green Pod. It is extremely difficult to 

 secure offerings of any of these vari- 

 eties at the present time, and as there 

 la likely to be a keen demand from 

 market gardeners and other users of 

 seed beans, retailers will not be in a 

 position to quote many of them at 

 wholesale. 



Canners' Convention. 



We assume that most of the seeds- 

 men and seed growers, who contem- 

 plate attending the Canners' Conven- 

 tion in Baltimore, February next, have 

 made reservations for such rooms as 

 they will require. If they have not, 

 they should lose no time in doing so, 

 as rooms will surely be at a premium 

 before convention time. We are re- 

 liably informed that practically all of 

 the leading hotels are now booked to 

 capacity, the only exception being the 

 Hotel Rennert. which still has a few 

 rooms not taken. We are advised that 



the Baltimore canners are making 

 great efforts to have this the banner 

 convention up to this time, and it will 

 probably be several years hence be- 

 fore it is eclipsed. The local organiz- 

 ation has appointed committees to 

 look after various phases of the con- 

 vention, and an extended program of 

 entertainments has been prepared, 

 particular attention being given to en- 

 tertaining the ladies. 



A meeting of the Executive Commit- 

 tee of the National Canners' Associa- 

 tion, and the Board of Directors of the 

 Canning Machinery and Supplies Asso- 

 ciation, was held in Chicago on the 

 12th. The business discussed related 

 to the forthcoming canners' convention 

 at Baltimore. It promises to be a 

 hummer. 



"Future" Peas. 



We have information to the effect 

 that prices on future peas, both for 

 canners and seedsmen will be some- 

 what lower than those of a year ago, 

 although there will be no very sharp 

 decline as conditions do not justify 

 such action. The cost of producing 

 seed peas now is very greatly in ex- 

 cess of what it was a few years ago. 

 In fact it costs more to produce the 

 seed now than it was sold for some 

 five or six years back. While it is 

 quite possible that prices may recede 

 even further than those which will be 

 asked for the coming season's crop, 

 there is no possibility of their ever ap- 

 proaching the old level of even five 

 years ago. There appears to be an 

 abundance of seed stocks in the hands 

 of growers, so far as peas are con- 

 cerned, but seed stocks of beans are 

 short, and dealers would do well, so 

 we are advised, to get in their orders 

 early. Incidentally we may add that our 

 information is that prices on seed beans 

 will show a marked advance over 

 those of last year, as the farmers 

 are the deciding factor today in prac- 

 tically all products of the soil, and 

 they will not continue to grow beans 

 at old prices. We have heard no fig- 

 ures mentioned, but merely that there 

 will be a considerable advance. 



Notes. 



Petaluma, Cal. — W. J. Hickey has 

 purchased the seed and flower busi- 

 ness of M. Vonson. 



Chicago, Ml. — At the seed stores 

 work is slacking up and the coming 

 week will practically see the close of 

 the season. It is reported as a fairly 

 satisfactory season and with the usual 

 push, plans are already being outlined 

 for another year. 



Cincinnati, Ohio — The Rahe Seed 

 Company, 113 East Court street, has 

 reorganized with the following ofB- 

 cers; President and secretary, Harry 

 H. Peters; vice-president, Albert H. 

 Peters; treasurer, William L. Miller. 

 William J. Rahe has retired from the 

 company. 



The St. Louis County Florists' Club 

 made up of growers only, held a large 

 and interesting meeting on Wednes- 

 day night, Nov. 5th, at Nieman's Hall. 

 President Vennemann presided over 

 the meeting. R. Marshall lectured on 

 "Economy in Greenhouse Heating" 

 which proved to be a very interesting 

 talk and discussion. 



MICHELL'S FLOWER SEED 



AND BULBS 

 Asparagus Hatcheri Seed 



NK« CKOP JIST RECEIVED 



100 Seeds ?1.00 



500 Seeds 3.25 



1000 Seeds 6.00 



Special prices on larger quantities. 



STOCK SEED 



EARLY-FLO\VEKI.\(; NICE 



Tr. pkt. Oz. 



Beauty of Nice, delicate pink. $6.50 $2.00 



Victoria, wbite 50 2.00 



Queen .Alexandra, lavender. . .50 2.00 



Crimson King 50 2.00 



.AI)»ndance. carmine rose 50 3.00 



>Inie. Rivoire, pure white... .50 3.00 



FORGING GLADIOLUS 



FINE i'Ll -Ml' RULHS. RKADY NOW. 



100 1000 



Bride, pure white 10.65 $5.25 



Send for our Wholesale Catalogue of 

 Bulbs and Seeds, if yon haven't re- 

 ceived a copy. 



HENRY F. MICHELL CO. 



Flower Seed Specialists 

 518 Market Street, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Mention HORTICULTURE wljen writing 



GIANT r ANSI ES- Sow Now 



Special Florists' Mixture. $4.1X1 per OB., 

 60c. tr. pkt. Trtmardeau Selections, mixed, 

 $4.00 per oz.. 50c. tr. pkt. Trlmardeau, flne 

 mixed varieties, $1.50 per oz., 25c. tr. pkt. 

 Cassler's Giants Improved, splendid mix- 

 ture, $5.00 per oz., 50c. tr. pkt. Trlmardeon 

 Sorts as: Bronze Colors, Golden Pure Yel- 

 low, Lord Beaconsfleld, Purple, Pure White, 

 Tellow with Eye, White with Eye, each 

 variety separate, $2.00 per oz., 30c. tr. pkt. 

 My cataloifue has also other varletiei. 



0. V. ZAHBEW, StedsmaH, Hofaolun, II. J. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Sluis & Groot, EInkhuisen, Holland. 

 — Advance Price List of Vegetable, 

 Flower and Agricultural Seeds. 



Henk Dirken Floral & Nursery Co., 

 Inc., Houston, Tex. — General cata- 

 logue of bulbs, plants, trees, shrubs, 

 etc., for season of 1913-14. Cover 

 daintily adorned In colors. 



J. J. Wilson Seed Co., 79 Orange 

 street, Newark, N. J. — Bulbs, Hardy 

 Herbaceous Perennial Plants, etc. A 

 neat, illustrated catalogue, very credi- 

 table to this new seed and bulb house. 



Charles Emmel & Rose Co., Boston, 

 — .\rtistic Garden Accessories. A 

 series of fine plates of vases, tables, 

 pedestals, fountains, sun dials and 

 other formal garden furniture of con- 

 crete. 



Pape & Bergmann, Quedlinburg, 

 Germany — Catalogue of plant novel- 

 ties for 1913. Begonia hybrida flore 

 pleno pendula forms a beautiful 

 basket plant as shown in the illus- 

 tration and looks like a winner. 



Watkins & Simpson, London, Eng- 

 land. — Special Offer of Flower Seeds, 

 Season 1914, Wholesale. Also Special 

 Offer of Vegetable Seeds and a sepa- 

 rate list of Novelties and Specialtiee 

 with sheet of illustrations in colors. 



Head's Bergenfield Nurseries, Ber- 

 genfleld, N. J.— Catalogue and Price 

 List of Dahlias for 1914. This Is a 

 thoroughly good and dependable selec- 

 tion of the best from the great mass 

 of varieties catalogued today. All 

 classes are included. 



