December 13, 1913 



HOETICULTUEE 



811 



is R. B. Burge, which is a flower of 

 the purest possible white with a bright 

 yellow center — a magnificent contrast. 

 The flower reminds one of a white 

 Japanese anemone or water lily. 



The early flowering varieties were 

 wonderfully fine this year in all sec- 

 tions of the country, and these illus- 

 trated are very good, though one could 

 illustrate fifty kinds or more that 

 would be just as good. Petite Louis, 

 which was certificated at three or four 

 club meetings during the month of Oc- 

 tober, will, if disbudded, produce a 

 flower equally as large as a mid-season 

 variety grown under glass. The color 

 is a lovely shade of pink. 



The Cranford varieties, in pink, 

 white and yellow, while not. strictly 

 speaking, new, have never really come 

 into their own before. Grown out in 

 the open ground they have, this year, 

 made more money for us than any 

 other variety we had on the place. 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 

 A New Fertilizer. 

 In horticultural circles a keen inter- 

 est has been aroused in a new process 

 of soil fertilization discovered by Pro- 

 fessor Bottomley, a well-known Lon- 

 don scientist. The new process con- 

 sists of peat which has been sterilized 

 and then inoculated with nitrogen-fix- 

 ing organisms. At Eton plots dressed 

 with this prepafed peat at the rate of 

 one and one-fifth of a ton per acre, 

 compared with plots which had re- 

 ceived farm-yard manure at the rate 

 of 80 tons per acre, showed an in- 

 crease in lettuce of 27 per cent, and 

 potatoes 41 per cent. At Chelsea the 

 increase in radishes amounted to 54 

 per cent. Some interesting details of 

 the experiments made at Kew and 

 elsewhere were recently given by Pro- 

 fessor Bottomley at a meeting of the 

 Horticultural Club in London. 



Experiments on Sterilizing Soil. 



For some time some instructive ex- 

 periments in the sterilizing of soil 

 have been in progress in some market 

 nurseries in the Lea Valley, near Lon- 

 don. The soil is subjected to a steam- 

 ing process; when this is efficiently 

 done it has proved to be a success. 

 Three partial failures have been traced 

 to the growers using too small a box 

 and too high a steam pressure. An- 

 other mistake made has been in ster- 

 ilizing the tomato soils too deeply. The 

 ideal depth is stated to be from six to 

 eight inches. It has been demonstrat- 

 ed that a sterilized soil liberates plant 

 food, and by cleaning the soil a more 

 robust root system is developed. 



W. H. ADSETT. 



One of the most beautiful supple- 

 ment plates ever sent out by The Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle, accompanied a re- 

 cent issue of that journal— a picture 

 in natural colors of Berberis Wilsonae, 

 one of the newer barberries from 

 China, discovered by E. H. Wilson and 

 chosen by him from among many as 

 worthy to *be named after his wife. 

 The short-peduncled fruit crowds the 

 young twigs in close clusters in great 

 profusion, after the manner of Ilex 

 verticillata. the branches arching 

 gracefully under their weight of scar- 

 let berries. It is a beautiful shrub and 

 entirely hardy. 



THE LATE WYMAN ELLIOT. 



C. S. Harrison's Tribute. 



The poet says: 



"If a star were quenched on bigU 

 For ages, would tile light. 

 Still traveling from the sky, 

 Shine on our mortal sight. 

 So when a good man dies 

 For years beyond our ken 

 The light lie leaves behind him lies 

 Along the paths of men." 



Goodness, nobility and sacrifice nev- 

 er die. They are woven into the woof 

 of humanity to beautify and strength- 

 en. They are the leaven which stirs 

 our inertia and gives life to the 

 masses. 



Floriculture and horticulture have a 

 marvelous transforming power. With 

 the progress of the age these two call- 

 ings lead the advance. A hundred 

 years ago but little attention was paid 

 to flowers. Now you see acres of 

 greenhouses and thousands of dollars' 

 worth of flowers at a single funeral. 

 The beauty of the Lord enters in and 

 transforms the souls of men. It has 

 been my pleasure to meet some of the 

 world's nobles. I visited Thomas 

 Meehan, then an old man waiting by 

 the river. He was a gentleman in the 

 highest sense. Gentleness and light 

 seemed to illumine his soul. 



I spent a night with Samuel Parsons, 

 author of the book on the rose. He 

 was a friend of Whittier. He com- 

 pelled me to go from the hotel at 

 Flushing, L. I., to his beautiful home. 

 What a visit we had. He picked out 

 the gems of Whittier and read a new 

 meaning into them. The influence of 

 the flowers he loved radiated from his 

 soul. 



Another was T. C. Thurlow. How he 

 loved his flowers. Their sweetness 

 and fragrance illuminated his very 

 life. We first got acquainted through 

 correspondence. When I went east he 

 insisted that I should make his house 

 my home. We were of the same age. 

 His home was in a field elysian. His 

 children were brought up in a garden 

 of delight. He was the father of the 

 peony business in America and wrote 

 the first article calling the attention of 

 the public to those giorious flowers. 

 No man had a greater Influence on my 

 life. He opened new vistas before me 

 and showed possibilities I never 

 dreamed of. He led me to the margin 

 of a vast empire in which I have wan- 

 dered ever since. 



And here is brother Elliot. His be- 

 loved state never can forget him. How 

 faithful he was to this society (Minne- 

 sota Horticultural Society) and its in- 

 terests. We mourn, not simply the 

 loss of a friend but a father. He was 

 one of the charter members of this so- 

 ciety. No man could do more for it. 

 At the state fair and other exhibits he 

 went far beyond his strength. We 

 saw him wearied and worn and won- 

 dered how long he could sustain this 

 strain. Doubtless it shortened his life. 

 We honor him as a soldier of peace — 

 not of war. He left no track of ruin 

 behind him. The path along which he 

 went is bordered with fruit trees bend- 

 ing with their luscious burdens. It is 

 margined with bloom. A peaceful sky 



is over all. He died among his flowers. 

 He was saved a long and lingering ill- 

 ness, too often the heritage of old age. 

 He was speedily translated from his 

 own charming grounds to the land 

 where "Everlasting spring abides, and 

 never-withering flowers." 



How glad we are that he lived and 

 that his life has been a benediction to 

 his state and to this society. We have 

 all been greatly honored in our mem- 

 bership. The world never has seen a 

 finer exhibition of supreme devotion to 

 the highest ideals. 



Of our departed brother I can but 

 say: 



"And I am glad that he has lived thus long. 



And glad that he has gone to liis reward ; 



Nor deem that kindly nature did him wrong, 



Soflly to disengage the vital cord. 

 When his weak hand grew palsied and his 



eye. 

 Dark with the mists of age. it was his 

 time to die." 



BOSTON HORTICULTURAL HALL 

 NOTES. 



On Saturday, December 6, William 

 Thatcher, gardener to Mrs. Jdhn L. 

 Gardner, Brookline, made a special ex- 

 hibit at Horticultural Hall, of Apbel- 

 andra aurantiaca Roezlii, a plant sel- 

 dom seen hereabouts. It was awarded 

 honorable mention. He also showed a 

 number of orchids in fine flower, 

 among them Cattleya Percivaliana and 

 Dendrobium superbiens which were 

 awarded first class certificates. 



The money awards for prizes and 

 gratuities for the year, amounting to 

 $6,700, are now being paid. 



A white sport of the Dr. Enguehard 

 chrysanthemum from W. A. Weeks of 

 Baker, Oregon, was sent in this week 

 for examination by the Plant and Flow- 

 er Committee and was favorably con- 

 sidered. A suitable recognition will be 

 made pending further information re- 

 garding it. 



The landscape gardening class at 

 the hall on Monday evenings, under 

 the management of the Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club, is very successful this 

 year. The interest in it suggests that 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 

 ety might well undertake some educa- 

 tional work of a practical nature In 

 other lines of horticulture. 



A FABRICATION. 



A rather sensational account has 

 been going the rounds of the daily 

 newspapers concerning the object and 

 the results of Mr. Farquhar's recent 

 visit to Europe. The facts were sim- 

 ply as stated in the last issue of Hor- 

 ticulture. The sum mentioned in the 

 papers as having been paid for the 

 Veitch lilacs was a preposterous exag- 

 geration of which Mr. Farquhar de- 

 clares he had no knowledge until he 

 saw it in print and for which together 

 with other unfounded statements the 

 newspaper correspondent seems to 

 have been alone responsible. 



On Dec. 1 the florists of the Twin 

 Cities attended a banquet to Mr. and 

 Mrs. Theo. Wirth on his fiftieth birth- 

 day and presented him with a large 

 hall clock as an appreciation for his 

 work for and during the convention. 

 It was attended by about 140 florists 

 and their wives and was an enjoyable 

 affair. 



