July 2, 1910 



horticulture: 



11 



Mr. Burpee's assistants, among whom 

 were Howard Earl, W. E. Bougy, C. L. 

 Atlee, David McClellan, Samuel Tatem, 

 Edward Hastings, James Crossett, Ed- 

 win Hambright, Ed. Wodock, Harry 

 Buckman, Stephen Bishlng and G. W. 

 Kerr. 



A list of the convention party was 

 published in this paper last week. 

 Among the guests who had not been 

 in attendance upon the American Seed 

 Trade Convention but were welcomed 

 to Pordhook by Mr. Burpee were the 

 following: 



Samuel Y. Heebner, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Thos. J. Martindale, Robert Buist, Mr. 

 and Mrs. W. W. Harper, J. L. Stewart, 

 Mr. and Mrs. James Johnston, P. B. 

 Broomfield, William J. Stewart. J. K. 

 M. L. Farquhar, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. 

 CoUingwood. Louis Boss. Wm. F 

 Rolph. Wilmer Atkinson, Dr. J. H. 

 Washburn. Prof. C. C. McCue and Prof. 

 Grantham, Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Croxton, 

 Dr. Darlington, Wm. F. Pell, Henry 

 Clay, Prof. M. G. Kains, T. W. Barlow, 

 George W. South. Prof. Ward Beam, 

 Montgomery H. Wright, E. Wesley 

 Keeler, Prof. Carman Ross, Rev. Dr. 

 Joseph Krauskopf and lady, E. B. 

 Southwick, Hon. Mahlon H. Stout, E. 

 E. Bruggerhof, Mr. and Mrs. Duffiold 

 Ashmead, Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Curtis, 

 S. H. Voorhees and wife, R. M. Ward, 

 Mr. and Mrs. G. Stewart Simmons, J. 

 Appel, Ralph Blum. 



The farms comprise about 200 acres. 

 The trial beds proper occupy about 14 

 acres laid out in beds, each 200 yards 

 long and from 15 to 20 ft. wide, the 

 rows from 15 in. to 2 ft. apart. Each 

 row is numbered, and the beds are also 

 separately numbered, so that a full and 

 comprehensive record can be kept of 

 the contents of each. For the present 

 year the trial beds contain some 6,000 

 samples, of which over 400 are in the 

 sweet peas alone. Nothing like extra 

 cultivation or stimulation is ever given 

 to any bed, the object being to have 

 every variety grow under uniform nor- 

 mal conditions, in order to secure a 

 reliable comparative estimate of what 

 each variety is worth. Especial 

 pains had been taken by Mr. Bur- 

 pee in anticipation of this meeting, re- 

 membering that when the convention 

 last came to Atlantic City and Pordhook 

 he was disappointed in that they were 

 not so well advanced as he would wish, 

 and consequently he resorted to fall 

 planting in 1909, and the result was 

 most gratifying to his visitors and also 

 incidentally an illustration of the ad- 

 vantages of the method employed. 



Mr. Kerr, who has had charge oE 

 the trial grounds and made all the 

 notations since 1908, has been remark- 

 ably successful and particularly with 

 the sweet peas which appear to re- 

 spond gratefully to his persistent fol- 

 lowing up of sub-soiling. The soil 

 here is stiff and requires loosening up 

 and with deep trenching the pea roots 

 get down 18 inches instead of half that 

 distance so that the plants are able to 

 withstand hot weather. Three sow- 

 ings are made — one in fall, one in pots 

 for setting out in early spring and one 

 regular spring sowing. The seasons 

 vary. This year the plants from pots 

 have done the best. 



The Spencer type of pea is rather 

 less enduring than the old style flower, 

 and with its added beauty and refine- 

 ment of form seems to have lost some 

 of the vigor of the grandiflora and it 

 is a question as to how long it will 



LORD & BURNHAM HEATING SYSTEM INSTALLED AT CORNELL. 



At just this lime when there is so 

 much merited f.gitation to stimulate 

 the legislature for an appropriation of 

 $50,000 for the extension of the green- 

 houses at the New York State College 

 of Agriculture, Cornell University, Ith- 

 aca, N. Y., this view of the temporary 

 heating plant of the present houses is 

 of interest. 



The boilers are the mammoth 36-inch 

 grate, 10 sections size, "Burnham" 

 steamers, and heat seven greenhouses, 

 consisting of ten separate compart- 

 ments in all, or about 15.000 square 

 feet of glass. These boilers also heat 

 the spacious two-story-and-basement 

 head houses, which consist of the class 

 rooms allotted the different depart- 

 ments, etc. 



take to bring it back to original 

 strength. We noted that the strain 

 of extra early Blanche Ferry was de- 

 cidedly the best thing in the pink and 

 white flowering types.. Among the 

 blues Dobbie's Mid-blue shone out im- 

 pressively. St. George is a fine orange- 

 scarlet and George Stark is a beautiful 

 pure scarlet, much more satisfactory, 

 we should say. than King Edward in 

 every respect and particular in that it 

 does not burn under our hot suns. 

 Coccinea, for instance, which is also a 

 great favorite in England, is very 

 prone to burn here. Helen Lewis im- 

 pressed us as one of the best in pink, 

 and among the lavenders Asta Ohn 

 stands sturdily out as a strong grow- 

 ing beauty. E. J. Castle, rose-pink, is 

 very free flowering and Aurora Spencer 

 is an orange-pink of great beauty. 



We should like to add much more 

 here of what we observed in our 

 saunter through the plantations, but 

 space will not permit. The unvarying 

 verdict of all the visitors was that 

 Pordhook is one of the best conducted 

 and carefully managed trial grounds in 

 the world, not excepting those of Vil- 

 morin, of vhich Mr. Burpee had spokfn 

 so flatteringly in the convention. 



Among the features of general in- 

 terest tc the company were the dog 

 kennels, where at present there are 

 some forty collies of the purest breed: 

 the chicken yard, containing some 

 eight hundred thoroughbred fowls: the 

 animal hospital, where sick dogs and 

 other animals are looked after, and on 

 the top of the hill crops of all descrip- 

 tion: the principal vegetable crop be- 

 ing tomatoes, of which some seventy- 

 five acres are in cultivation. While 

 the men were thus engaged, farm wag- 



ons conveyed the ladies through shady 

 lanes and around the outskirts. 



The ideal weather, the pure air, the 

 tramping and the riding, all contrib- 

 uted to make it a very jolly if some- 

 what tired party that repaired to the 

 lawn around the farmhouse and under 

 the trees, when the farm bell rang, and 

 everyone was ready for luncheon. The 

 usual princely hospitality characteris- 

 tic of Mr. Burpee was here dispensed 

 with a lavish hand and without for- 

 mality. 



Shortly before the time drew near 

 when the company must take their 

 special train for home, and after all 

 had paid their respects to their host 

 and hostess and personally expressed 

 their gratification and appreciation of 

 the entertainment of the day, the visi- 

 tors gathered about the veranda and 

 ex-President Robinson, addressing Mr. 

 Burpee, said: 



"Mr. and Mrs. Burpee, Ladies and 

 Gentlemen, friends all. we can hardly 

 allow this occasion to pass without ex- 

 tending to Mr. and Mrs. Burpee our 

 eincere appreciation of this very en- 

 joyable occasion. We are reminded of 

 the pleasant time we spent here on a 

 similar occasion seven years ago when 

 we held our convention in Atlantic 

 City. 1, for one. can say that that has 

 always remained a bright spot in my 

 memory. I want to assure you that 

 we thoroughly appreciate our being 

 here and the very great hospitality 

 that you have extended to us. We 

 hop^ that you may live to repeat this 

 many, many times." (Applause.) 



Mr. Burpee replied: 

 "Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentle- 

 men of the A. S. T. A.: 



"I have only one criticism to make 



