HORTICULTURE 



October 21, 1905 



horticulture: 



AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE 



FLORIST, PLANTSMAN, LANDSCAPE 



GARDENER AND KINDRED 



INTERESTS 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



II HAMILTON PLACE, BOSTON, MASS. 



Telephone. Oxford 292, 



WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager. 



however, with the superb varieties tliat are coming for- 

 ward, it seems to us that growers might with profit 

 take a few lessons from the tobacco growers of Con- 

 necticut and adopt something on the same lines as are 

 followed in protecting the tobacco crops in that section. 



How bist to protect the trees along the 

 Protect ywyaI i-a<lside and secure for the public 

 the trees ^vli.,11,-. t liese highways the grateful shade 

 and Cdiiil'urt which Nature has provided, 

 is a problem worthy of the best consideration of all citi- 

 zens, whether in a public or private capacity. Indiffer- 

 ence to these objects which so enhance the beauty of 

 their homes, as well as a large degree of selfishness, is 

 all too prevalent among the people of the rural com- 

 munities. Persistent agitation has brought about a 

 wonderful improvement in the roads. Let us hope that 

 a similar process may in the near future accomplish as 

 much for the trees. 



Sometimes we listen to expressions of 

 A good surprise at the large number of whole- 

 combination sale florists advertising and the amount 

 of money they expend in this direction, 

 coupled with wonder as to how so many of them exist. 

 But are they not among the keenest and most alert men 

 in the flower business today ? You cannot beat the com- 

 bination of business instinct and liberal advertising. To 

 get along without either of these requisites nowadays is 

 not easy. 



Good chrysanthemums sold in the Boston 



A market last Saturday at four dollars a 



comparison hiindred. Good dahlias brought the 



same price. We do not need to more 



than refer to flie wide difference in the cost of producing 



these two flowers and are not likely to be accused of a 



misstatement in asserting that the sale in one case rei>- 



resented a loss and in the other a profit. 



We have heard it remarked, not infre- 



Counting quently, that a great many growers of cut 



the cost flowers are unable to tell whether they are 



making or losing on the prices at which 



they sell their product. Under present conditions 



which, by the way, are pretty sure to continue, with 



sharp competition in production and its resultant 



depression in values, the haphazard policy of the past 



becomes much too risky. The time has come when 



every grower must think and make careful calculations, 



and comparisons such as we have called attention to in 



the above paragraph are worth making a note of. 



In the Philadelphia cut flower markets 

 Saving the tlie dahlia has worked rapidly up to a 

 dahlia crop position of unheard-of prominence. This 



is of course due largely to the commend- 

 able work of the Atco farms in specializing and improv- 

 ing the dahlia. But Philadelphia has a certain advan- 

 tage over the markets north of her in the immunity from 

 severe frosts during the height of the dahlia season — 

 September and October. Last year all tender material 

 in the neighborhood of Boston was cut off on September 

 20 and our recollection is that the same freeze finished 

 all the dahlias in the vicinity of New York, and this is 

 liable to happen any year. Unless some means of 

 protection can be devised against such a contingency we 

 can hardly expect tlie northern grower to become very 

 enthusiastic on tlie subject of dahlias as a staple in 

 tlie cut flower market. .\-t the iirices now obtainable. 



Stems, stems, stems, are still the 

 An overestimated great ambition, aim, and pride of 

 qualification tjie rose grower and there are 

 strong symptoms of the same mal- 

 ady in tlie carnation grower. Stem is but one of several 

 qualifications of a good specimen. It does not make up 

 for lack of other good qualities and when overdone 

 becomes a defect. We think that the grower is, in many 

 instances, disposed to overestimate the value which the 

 buying public sets upon this point. It is probable that 

 in a majority of cases where very long-stemmed roses 

 are delivered the receiver will promptly cut ofif and 

 throw away a good section thereof. Stem is the only 

 quality of a first grade flower that can be reduced 

 without detracting from its intrinsic worth. Weaken 

 the color in. the least degi-ee, shorten the petal or tear it 

 off, deaden the fragrance, tamper with either bloom or 

 foliage in any way and the damage is absolute. Were 

 some of the growers as solicitous for perfection in these 

 qualifications as they are about the length of stems we 

 should see fewer bruised and torn petals, fewer faded 

 buds in the boxes that come to the wholesalers and the 

 figures on the return slips would in many cases be 

 larger than they are. 



With the departure of out-door 



A word for verdure comes the time when the 



the house plant plant grower and his product again 



find a place in the public mind and 

 the work of preparation for the anticipated demand is 

 well under way. We all realize that the pot plant indus- 

 try is as yet only in its infancy in this country and 

 tliat the grower who plans systematically to devote his 

 energies to this particular field takes no risk if he works 

 with an intelligent idea of what the public wants and a 

 purpose to supply it accordingly. Unquestionaldy the 

 future prosperity of the plant business depends upon the 

 conditions under which the goods are grown and sold. 

 The temptation is to push them along rapidly at the 

 expense of sturdiness and resistant power, and to sell 

 them before they have become thoroughly established in 

 their pots. Eventually the loss far overbalances the 

 advantage gained by this policy. How many good buy- 

 ers have been disappointed and prejudiced against house 

 plants because of tlie short-lived specimens delivered 

 to tliem, strength all exhausted by high-pressure culture. 

 The hardening-off and preparing a plant for the severe 

 test of its future existence under unavoidably trying 

 conditions comes ne.xt in importance to the work of 

 ero\nnff them. 



