74 



HORTICULTURE 



January 21, 1911 



only a generation ago. Just think of 

 it— twenty years ago, Boston supplied 

 Chicago with cut flowers. Need I tell 

 you that Chicago no longer depends 

 upon the Hub for her supply of cut 

 flowers? Our progress in a commercial 

 way has indeed been phenomenal, and 

 while we have ample reason to con- 

 gratulate ourselves upon the success 

 achieved, we must at the same time 

 not overlook the fact that our business 

 growth, unless we increase our means 

 ,and efficiency, cannot possibly con- 

 tinue along successful lines. 



Take the labor problem for example. 

 Scan through any of our trade papers, 

 and you will readily see that on an 

 average there are three good positions 

 ' open to every competent man. I 

 think I am safe in making the asser- 

 tion that the man who can manage a 

 greenhouse and can produce the stock 

 possesses an asset far greater than 

 that of the boss who invests his money 

 in the greenhouses, and worries about 

 the weekly pay-roll besides. I will 

 go farther and say that no profession 

 (granted that we are ornamental hor- 

 ticulturists, and not mere tradesmen) 

 Is as much in need of professionals 

 as the florist profession is. Good and 

 competent men, men who know HOW 

 to do things, are wanted everywhere. 

 Such men are scarce. 



But to come to the point. Since we 

 have reached the stage in our com- 

 mercial development beyond which we 

 cannot go unless we increase our 

 means and improve our efficiency, is it 

 not high time that we make the effort 

 to have well-equipped horticultural 

 schools where young men, our luture 

 ornamental horticulturists, may take 

 a course of training, and, like the 

 wide-awake farmer, learn to know the 

 details of their business moir 

 thoroughly than their predecessors? 

 It seems to me that horticulture in 

 general is of sufficient importance to 

 assert its rights, like manual training 

 or any profession taught in our special 

 schools, colleges and universities. 



A horticultural school, under the 

 leadership of a competent head, and a 

 staff of well-trained instructors, would 

 not only teach the young man some- 

 thing about the elements of soil, phos- 

 phates, hydrogen, the proper use and 

 application of fertilizers, the nature of 

 pests, fungus, and the right way of 

 fighting and overcoming these evils, 

 but it would also teach him system 

 and method, two most potent factors 

 In the success of any business. 



We all know only too well the differ- 

 ence between intelligent, systematic 

 work, and that of the sloven who, like 

 the proverbial bee, keeps continually 

 at it but, unlike tbe industrious in- 

 sect, accomplishes but poor results. 

 System and method are indisputably 

 the means that were in a great meas- 

 ure responsible for the success of 

 many of our prominent growers of to- 

 day. Peter Henderson represented a 

 striking example of what system could 

 accomplish in a business way, and no 

 less an authority than the great 

 English peer, Gladstone, himself, tells 

 , us that "the man with a method and 

 system accomplishes more in a week 

 than the sloven will in a month." 



Our business demands that we de- 

 vise means and ways of conducting it 

 in a business way. We can no longer 

 remain passive to our own interests, 

 nor dare we ignore the methods which 

 the progressive and wide-awake farm- 



er sees fit to employ in order to adapt 

 himself to the exacting business con- 

 ditions that confront him to-day. The 

 cry is already heard that the "big fel- 

 lows" are swallowing up the little 

 ones. Translated into other words, it 

 simply means that the progressive 

 horticulturist is forging ahead, while 

 the one who cannot see beyond the 

 limit of his own shadow, is dropping 

 by the roadside. It is merely a ques- 

 tion of the survival of the fittest. 



In a recent announcement in the 

 "Outlook," the editors promise for the 

 near future a timely article on "The 

 new science of business." "There ia 

 a new thing in the world of industry," 

 they tell us. "It is the efficient appli- 

 cation of exact scientific principles to 

 present business methods. It has been 

 applied in machine shops and foun- 

 dries, in cotton mills and paper mills, 

 in bleacheries and dye works, in print- 

 ing and lithographing establishments, 

 and in other businesses. The science ot 

 management can be applied to every 

 department of eviry business." 



There certainly cannot be any ques- 

 tion about it, nor can any one doubt 

 the urgent need ot horticultural 

 schools everywhere, if the scientific 

 principles are to be applied in our 

 greenhouses, as well as in the machine 

 shops. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICUL- 

 TURAL SOCIETY. 

 Lecture by J. Otto Thilow. 



The lecture season for 1911 at Hor- 

 ticultural Hall, Boston, had a most 

 brilliant opening on Saturday, January 

 14. It was the initial meeting under 

 the new 2 o'clock plan. For nearly 

 forty years the custom has prevailed 

 of holding these meetings for lectu es 

 and discussions at 11 a. m., and the 

 wisdom of the new rule was at once 

 demonstrated, for the audience was in 

 quality one of the finest ever assem- 

 bled in Horticultural Hall and in num- 

 bers and enthusiasm it outranked any 

 similar occasion on record. Of courss, 

 all of the enthusiasm and a goodly 

 part of the attendance were due to 

 the ability of the lecturer and the 

 popularity of the subject of his ad- 

 dress, "Gardening for and by tl.e Ama- 

 teur." Mr. Thilow gave most hearty 

 testimony repeatedly throughout his 

 paper to the great influence ot women 

 in the development of horticulture in 

 recent years. On this subject he said: 



Our strongest and most iiifluenti.il ex- 

 ponents of gardening and tUe care of 

 flowers are women who lin\e been cn- 

 tliuslastic, and liave applied tUeir skill with 

 sufli profitable and gratifying response 

 tliat tliey have given tlieir experience 

 through the pen and have enthused many 

 anxious and willing students in tlie same 

 direction, and while it might appear to 

 some to be only a si>oit in a certain fad, 

 the commercial horticulturist c;ui testify 

 that it has been an uplift to his business 

 and is constantly increasing." 



Referring to the recent trend tow- 

 ard gardening with color schemes the 

 lecturer said: 



"This can be accomplished only when 

 space will permit, as quantity is necessary 

 to secure the color, and space to have the 

 variation arri efl'i'ct. and ui less one is 

 fairly familiar with the blooming period, 

 the "effect is spoiled by a p irtion of the 

 plantings either not in bloom or beyond 

 that point, destroying the liarmouy of 

 bloom at a period when most needed. 

 The best way trf overcoming these troubles 

 is to have a sp.ace in a well-cultivated 

 garden large ennngh to h-ltl a few speci- 

 mens of each of the varieties in different 

 colors, ancl the different classes — noting 

 tie blooming peril d of the varieties, and 

 the variation of same. 



With all this close attention and study, 

 the period of perfection is short and the 

 spots taken up by one variety and color 

 shows to greater disadvantage than were 

 the spaces filled with plants of different 

 species of the same color. 



Those experienced in the use of seeds 

 of annuals can do much better, and get a 

 much longer ]>looming period when these 

 annuals are used in coiinectiiiu with pe- 

 rennials. For example, in yellow. To be- 

 gin with the opening of the season: Doro- 

 niciiin and Pansies would be the first; 

 Wallflower and Escholtzia the second; 

 Tridlins, Aqnilegla, Coreopsis and Calen- 

 dula the third; Hemerocallis. Glaillohis, 

 Helenium and Hollyhock would be the 

 fourth: Marigold. Hardy Sunflower, Zin- 

 nias and rjaillardia, the fifth. 



You will at once peri-eive that this can 

 only be done where space is large enough 

 to contain from three to five distinct 

 classes, and planted In such a way that 

 with one variety blooming, to produce the 

 whole effect in yellow — and th's effect to 

 continue from the beginning of the Doro- 

 nicnm to the Hardy Sunflower and Zinniaa 

 — which really runs into the fr ist season, 

 making the period from frost to frost. 

 The same effect can be had with other 

 varieties in pink, white, red and blue. It 

 must also be observed that the color block 

 will not maintain the same height through- 

 out the season, viz. : If the first period 

 is to be yellow with Pans>es. it will be 

 dwarf, and if with Doronicum it will be 

 from eighteen to twenty-four inihes liigh. 

 The same would be true of other colors, 

 but a choice can be made from a complete 

 list of plants or seeds, divided up in color 

 and lieight." 



Mr. Thilow gave a number of valua- 

 ble lists of combinations for contrast- 

 ing and harmonious effect in planta- 

 tions of annuals in association with 

 perennial border plants, arrangrd ac- 

 cording to succession of bloom. Copies 

 of these lists may be procured on ap- 

 plication ;o the secretnrv, W. P. Rich, 

 Horticultural Hall. Boston. In the 

 course of his talk Mr. Thilow re- 

 marked: 



".Snfflce it to say that none but a 

 thoroughly experieuced horticulturist can 

 keep pace witli and give the reipiired in- 

 formation that is demanded by the average 

 amateurs, men and women." 



Before he had got through with his 

 audience he had abundant reason to 

 thank his stars that he was "a thor- 

 oughly experienced horticulturist," for 

 Ihe questions were fiied at him in veri- 

 table volleys for over an hour and a 

 half after he had finished the lecture 

 proper. Whether on fertilizers, in- 

 sects, fungous diseases, botany, culture 

 or any other related question of farm, 

 orchard, garden or greenhouse prac- 

 tice, Mr. Thilow proved to be invul- 

 nerable, and it was remarked on all 

 sides that he was the best informed 

 and besJt prepared lecturer who had 

 ever faced a Boston horticultural au- 

 dience and the rare honor of a rising 

 vote of thanks from an audience of 

 four or five hundred people was en- 

 thusiastically accorded him. 



At the meeting of January 7, 1911, 

 gratuities were awarded for exhibits 

 as follows: 



Mrs. J. L. Gar.lner for Cattleya Triauae, 

 Erantliemuiu pnlclie'him. and cactus-flow- 

 ered cineraria, li^tl.tio; Welii (Jarden. gard. 

 n. Einlayson. sujerior culture of calanthes, 

 a silve. medal; for Cymliiilinm X Holtordl- 

 anuni ((.". cbnrneum X V, grandi.lornm), a 

 first class certificate; K. I;. Dane, gard. 

 D. McKenzie, for Cypripedium X Merlin 

 Maguificum, a silver medal; for C insigue 

 Sandorae X Leeauum, and C. insigue no- 

 bile ni;;rnm. first i lass certiBcate. The 

 calanthes in Mr. Finlayson's group includ- 

 ed McWilliamii, Sandhurstiana, Vcit' hii 

 and V. compacta. More of these beautiful 

 orchids should be grown fin- commercial 

 use. 



The annual dinner of the Nassau 

 Countv Horticultural Society will be 

 held at the Schleicher's Hall, Glen 

 Cove, Jan. 25th, inst. 



