December 2, 1905 



HORTICULTURE 



AFTER ADJOURNMENT. 



We are pleased to learn that the 

 water famine in California is averted. 

 From end to end of the State a copious 

 rainfall has come this week, and hor- 

 ticulturists and all others are well 

 pleased that the 195 days of rainless 

 weather are ended. 



We read in a contemporary a state- 

 ment made in California by a man from 

 New York, to the effect that he could 

 accomplish something really worth 

 while in New York if he only had 

 some of the California climate. Fortu- 

 nately for New York, she has had no 

 lack of men who managed to do things, 

 on the climate which nature provided, 

 and it is not likely that any New 

 Yorker will lose much sleep over the 

 above-quoted twaddle. 



The Boston Transcript has discov- 

 ered a man at Addison, Vt., who tried 

 a novel way of raising potatoes this 

 year and met with success. "He placed 

 a bushel of potatoes on the ground in 

 the spring, covered them over with 

 two feet of hay and left them alone. 

 This fall he removed the hay and 

 gathered twelve bushels of big pota- 

 toes." We are not in the least sur- 

 prised at this man, but we are just a 

 little surprised at the Transcript. 



STILL UNDER TRIAL. 



Editor of HORTICULTURE; 



Dear Sir: — Will you kindly correct 

 an inaccuracy in your issue of Oct. 28, 

 where I am quoted as saying: "Of 

 recent introductions, none are more 

 satisfactory to date than John B. 

 Haines, which proves to be a great 

 bloomer and a fine scarlet?" The 

 writer evidently misunderstood my re- 

 marks on this occasion. 



What I stated at that time was that, 

 "At the last spring exhibition of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 the John C. Haines carnation made a 

 very fine showing and, as seen there, 

 it certainly seemed a promising va- 

 riety." 



Again, this variety had not then 

 been "introduced." Mr. Haines had 

 kindly sent me a batch for trial last 

 spring. Owing to the very dry and 

 unfavorable season, all our carnations 

 suffered severely in the field, the 

 "Haines" among the other .sorts, and 

 although housed early in July, they 

 had not as yet come up to our expecta- 

 tions, but hoped they might do so 

 later. 



This does not by any means cast 

 any reflection on the merits of Mr. 

 Haines' carnation, any more than on 

 Fiancee and others that suffered in 

 like manner. I only regret that cir- 

 cumstances beyond my control have 

 placed me in a position where I can- 

 not at this time give an indorsement 

 that would have been a pleasure, in- 

 deed. PETER FISHER. 



Ellis, Mass., Nov. 27, 1905. 



The new rose, the Miss Kate Moul- 

 ton, grown by John Monson, of the 

 Minneapolis Floral Co., which attract- 

 ed considerable attention at the Chi- 

 cago Flower Show, is the observed of 

 observers in the Twin Cities. Its 

 parentage is the La France and the 

 Madame Testout; it is a pale pink 

 with the petals rolling gracefully 

 away from the centre. The rose grows 

 to a good size, and the foliage being a 

 strong and perfect green. 



PERSONAL. 



Joseph Mendoza has resigned the 

 position of gardener on the Mott Es- 

 tate, New London, Conn., where he has 

 been for 18 years. 



Mr. Frank H. Robinson of Chelsea, 

 Mass., and Miss Gladys White were 

 married on November 15th, and start- 

 ed on a trip to New York and Mon- 

 treal. 



Prof. Sargent of the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum and his son sailed for Chili 

 November 25 for a trip of several 

 months. They will make a study of 

 the trees of that country. 



William S. Grassie, head gardener 

 for F. S. Moseley, Newburyport, Mass., 

 was made happy last week by the ar- 

 rival of Miss Edith Johnson from 

 Greenlaw, Scotland, who, it is said, 

 came to this country to become his 

 wife. 



Percy F. Williams has just gone into 

 the employ of the Metropolitan Park 

 Commission, and is on the reservation 

 at Revere. Mr. Williams is a graduate 

 of the landscape gardening course at 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural College 

 at Amherst. 



Among the most seriously injured 

 victims of the railroad wreck at Lin- 

 coln, Mass., last Sunday evening were 

 Mr. and Mrs. Albert Batley of May- 

 nard and Mrs. Joseph Fuller of 

 Leominster. Mrs. Fuller and her 

 daughter had been spending the day 

 at W. W. Edgar's in Waverley. The 

 daughter went home by trolley car 

 and Mrs. FiUler chose the ill-fated 

 train. 



NEWS NOTES. 



Treasurer C. B. Richardson of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 will act as custodian and receiver of 

 a fund for the purpose of erecting a 

 monument to the memory of Ephraim 

 Bull, the originator and introducer of 

 the Concord grape. 



Among the prize winners at the 

 flower show in Shreveport, La., which 

 was held last week, we notice the 

 names of C. W. Eichling, whose artis- 

 tic arrangement of yellow chrysanthe- 

 mums and maiden-hair fern won first 

 for table decoration, Charles Bbele and 

 J. A. Newsham. 



Prof. E. J. Wickson, dean of the 

 college of agriculture of the University 

 of California, returned this week with 

 his fellow workers from a tour of 

 South California. They examined 

 various sites that have been offered 

 for a State pathological laboratory. 

 Th3 legislature has appropriated $30,- 

 000 for this building, with the provi- 

 sion that it must be located in 

 Southern California, where studies 

 will bo made of citrus fruit diseases 

 and of fruit pests. 



Mayor James I^. Baxter of Portland, 

 Me., has recently issued a pamphlet of 

 sixteen pages in regard to the park 

 system of that city. He suggests con- 

 necting the Eastern and Western 

 promenades by a boulevard 100 feet 

 wide, passing through the beautiful 

 park known as Deering's Oaks. Plans 

 embodying this scheme have already 

 been drawn up by Olmsted Bros, of 

 Brookline. Mass., and as the greater 

 part of the land is already available, 

 it would seem to be only a question of 

 time when the plan should be con- 

 summated. 



OUT OF THE BEAN POD. 



It is very gratifying to see the same 

 ofl"icers of the Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club of Boston, elected to their pres- 

 ent positions. It shows clearly that 

 the members place implicit confidence 

 in them, and have given honor where 

 honor is due. The membership of this 

 club has increased wonderfully, and 

 since the present officers have taken 

 command there has been a regular 

 rush for membership. These gentle- 

 men have indeed raised the club from 

 one of the weakest to what promises 

 to be the strongest in this country. 

 Hats off, gentlemen, to Captain Wheel- 

 er and his mates, who have guided us 

 over the rocky places, and hope that 

 the next voyage will he as pleasant 

 and fruitful as the one just nearing 

 the end. Banquets, I hear, are to be 

 the order of things shortly. I hope 

 the gentlemen in charge will see to it 

 that there are to be no high priced 

 ones. I attended a dinner of the 

 Florists' Club some sixteen years ago. 

 The price was three dollars per plate. 

 It is all right for the man with a roll 

 to go to such gatherings, but what 

 about the members who cannot afford 

 to pay for such a supper? The above 

 price means, to many members, about 

 two days' pay. Don't have -the price 

 prohibitive; make it so that every one- 

 will have a chance to go and enjoy 

 himself without having to forgo many 

 things necessary for himself and 

 family. Cut out as much of the wines 

 as possible, and lower the price so as 

 to give your workmen a chance to 

 enjny the banquet or dinner as well 

 as yourself. There will be clearer 

 brains the next morning, and a larger 

 assemblage to enjoy the good things 

 and hear the orators of the evening. 

 ROBERT T. McGORUM. 



BEGONIA PROPAGATION. 



J, A. Peterson who has been for a 

 number of years one of the largest 

 and most successful growers of B;gonia 

 Glorie de Lorraine prefers leaf propa- 

 gation to cuttings and follows that 

 method exclusively. The plants thus 

 produced start off with a number of 

 strong shoots, which is a great advan- 

 tage. Specimens one year old from the 

 leaf are now in six-inch pots, over a 

 foot through, and a foot above the pot 

 and weighted down with bloom. A 

 new one which Mr. Peterson is trying 

 is Veitch's Agathea. It much resembles 

 Lorraine and would pass for it, prob- 

 ably, with most people. The petals in 

 this novelty are rather narrower and 

 more pointed than in Lorraine and 

 the foliage is also more pointed and 

 regular in outline. 



Mr. Peterson is following the old 

 method used in Begonia Rex propaga- 

 tion, in increasing the stock of the 

 new Triumph del 'Est, that is, cutting 

 the leaf into sections with a piece of 

 rib in each and finds this the most 

 satisfactory plan thus far. 



W. R. Smith was in Philadelphia 

 this week and his visit furnished an 

 opportunity to John Shellem to name 

 his new American seedling rose 

 "William R. Smith." in honor of this 

 veteran ornamental horticulturist. It 

 is a cross between Isabella Sprunt and 

 Maman Cochet. 



