Juno 2'J. i918 



HORTICULTURE 



G20 



season our annual exhibition would 

 have to be abandoned. In mentioning 

 the subject te Mr. David Burpee he 

 surprised me by offering to provide 

 the prize money in sections B and C if 

 I could arrange for a hall. Therefore 

 the very apparent fact that we are 

 meeting here today is due to the lib- 

 erality of Messrs. Wanamaker and 

 Burpee. 



Much has been said and written 

 during the past few months reganliu 

 the growing of flowers and holding 

 exhibitions of same during these war 

 times. We are all alive to the neces- 

 sity of growing food stuffs — the gar- 

 dener giving first consideration to the 

 necessai->- vegetable crops — but sure- 

 ly that is no reason why we should 

 put aside all thought of flowers. The 

 more serious our troubles may be. the 

 greater our need of flowers to cheer 

 us. Therefore, we should all deter- 

 mine to do our utmost to keep our 

 borders blooming. Great Britain, 

 after almost four years of war still 

 continues a number of her flower 

 shows, though many of the largest 

 events of the season have been 

 dropped for the time being. Sweet 

 Pea specialists there are still devel- 

 oping new varieties, some of which 

 are to be seen on exhibition here. 

 Since the beginning of the war a 

 most flourishing Sweet Pea Society has 

 l.ieen set agoing in Australia, where 

 this beautiful flower is a prime favor- 

 its, therefore with the example set 

 us by these countries which have suf- 

 fered so much during the past four 

 years, we surely do not require an ex- 

 cuse for meeting here today. 



When we look back on the varieties 

 of Sweet Peas exhibited at our first 

 exhibition, which was held in New 

 York, we are immediately impressed 

 with the great development which 

 has taken place in this lovely annual. 

 At our opening show there were very 

 few Spencer varieties exhibited, at 

 least ninety-five per cent being of the 

 grandiflora type. Today all the vases 

 are filled with Spencers. Then we 

 have the evolution in new colors — 

 practically all shades but yellow. 

 Shall we ever get a yellow Sweet 

 Pea? Time alone will tell. However, 

 until it does come we can get along 

 very nicely without it. 



During the past few years the new 

 early flowering type of Spencers have 

 been evolved, and this is the type 

 which is grown — almost to the ex- 

 clusion of the regular Spencers — in 

 Australia. This new early type lias 

 been blooming in the open at Ford- 

 hook since last April, and I feel sure 

 that they are destined to occupy an 

 important place in all establishments 

 where early outdoor flowers are de- 

 sired. 



It must therefore be admitted that 

 our Sweet Pea specialists have not 

 been asleep. We are getting some- 

 thing new all the time, the best of 

 yesterday are being ecli] sed by the 

 new today, and these again may have 

 to take second place to those of to- 

 morrow. As far as I can see there 

 need be no end to the improvement 

 in our Sweet Peas, therefore the en- 



thusiastic can always look forward to 

 accomplishing something better than 

 the present day best. 



It is with deep regret and sorrow 

 that I refer to the loss of one of our 

 most energetic officers; namely, John 

 Harrison Dick. A gentleman in every 

 sense of the word. A keen and en- 

 thusiastic horticulturist. A sympa- 

 thetic and true friend, he is greatly 

 missed. I first met Mr. Dick in Scot- 

 land some sixteen or seventeen years 

 ago, and following that first meeting, 

 quite frequently at the London and 

 larger provincial Hower shows until 

 I came to the States. It was with 

 mutual pleasure that we renewed our 

 friendship here. Although Mr. Dick 

 had only been in America for a com- 

 paratively few years, in that time he 

 made many friends and was a well- 

 known figure at all exhibitions and 



The Hutchins Memorial Cup. 



conventions pertaining to horticul- 

 ture. The sympathy of all our mem- 

 bers has, I know, already been ex- 

 tended to his widow and little girl. 

 Yet it is well that an appropriate 

 resolution be drawn up and embodied 

 in our minutes. 



I have to thank our secretary, Wm. 

 Cray, and members of the executive 

 committee for their unfailing assist- 

 ance during the past season. 



All the ofTicers of the Sweet Pea 

 Society were re-elected. There was a 

 vacancy on the executive committee 

 caused by the demise of J. Harrison 

 Dick and this was filled by the elec- 

 tion of David Don of Weeber & Don. 

 N. Y. Cily. .Next meeting place to be 

 selected by that committee. Several 

 entries of sweel peas from Lenox and 

 Pittsfield, iMass., failed to materialize. 

 No explanation was forthcoming but 

 the cold is supposed to have damaged 

 the crop in those parts. 



THE HUTCHINS MEMORIAL CUP. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 the Hutchins Memorial Cup, awarded 

 at the exhibition of the American 

 Sweet Pea Society, held last week in 

 Philad Iphia, for the finest twelve 

 varieties, twenty sprays to a vase, 

 conectly named. The winner is to 

 1 (il(! the cup for one year only. 



The Sweet Pea Bulletin and Sched- 

 ule says of the inception of the plan 

 to |)rovide this memorial that, "Rec- 

 ognizing the great influence the 

 writings of the late W. T. Hutchins 

 exercised in popularizing the sweet 

 pea in America, it is appropriate that 

 his memory should be kept green. 

 This thought was first suggested at 

 our convention in Boston in 1917 by 

 the late J. Harrison Dick, and on 

 approaching sweet pea lovers for sub- 

 scriptions towards a memorial cup the 

 response was quickly forthcoming. 

 The result of the free offerings has 

 made it possible to obtain a hand- 

 some solid silver cup. Mr. Hutchins 

 w^as the first of the modern writers 

 on the sweet pea, his book "All 

 About Sweet Peas," being the first 

 book devoted to this flower. Then 

 his celebrated simile of the sweet 

 pea with which he closed his address 

 at the Sweet Pea Bicentenary in 

 London in 1900, is freely quoted by 

 writers all over the world and is 

 known to us all by heart." 



The cup is solid .silver. 24 inches 

 high and cost $2.50. 



The subscribers to the fund were 

 the following; 



;>lrs. Svkes ?25.00 



W. Atlee Burpee Co 25.00 



Hciuv A. Mioliell 5.00 



Waller Seeit Co.. U D 5.00 



IVter Heuderson Co 25.00 



D^iviil Burpee 7.50 



Fottler, B'iske, Rawson Co tO.OO 



F. G Cutlihertson 3.0P 



Stiimpp & Walter 10.00 



Florist's Exchange 5.00 



Srecher Lith. Co., Rochester i'l.oO 



.lolm H. Stalford 10.00 



Hiiiiv A. Preer 10.00 



WaUlo Kohnert 5.00 



Nurthruii, Kins & Co 15.00 



Hi.wanl M. Earl 5.00 



(ii'.i. W. Kerr 5.(K) 



C. C. Morse it Co 25.(KI 



John Bodirer & Son Co 5.00 



KimhiTlin Seed Co 5.00 



Will. X. ('raid 2..50 



Weelier & Don 5.00 



.\rthiir K. Thatcher 5.01) 



The lesser bulb fly (Eumerus siri- 

 (/(itus), together with the narcissus 

 fly (Merodon. eqvestris) , was collected 

 in considerable numbers in narcissus 

 liullis. from Holland, at Washington, 

 1). ('. The lesser liulb fly was also 

 sent in for identification by one of the 

 large seed firms of Philadelphia, taken 

 in Holland-grown narcissus bulbs. It 

 is now known to be established in the 

 States of California, Washington, Col- 

 orado and Maine. Although the eco- 

 nomic status of the lesser l)ulb fly is 

 in dispute, Verrall in British Flies, 

 volume VIII (1901), says "The Euro- 

 pean E. strigalus has been lired from 

 bulbs of the common onion [AUiun 

 crim ) . of which they sometimes destroy 

 a whole crop." 



