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HOKTICULTURE 



March 25, 1911 



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JAPAN LILY BULBS, PLANTS 

 and BAMBOO STAKES 



Stone and Bronze Lanterns and Garden Ornaments. 



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YOKOHAMA NURSERY COMPANY 



Yokohama, Japan and 31 Barclay St., New York. 



WHOLESALE ONLY. 



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EASTER FLA] 



^ Visitors to the Rational Flower Show are cordially invited 

 to visit our greenhouses, also our exhibit at Mechanics Hall, 

 Boston, and inspect our superb stock of Lilies, yJzaleas, 

 Acacias and other Spring T^lants and faster U^ovelties. 



W. EDGAR CO. 



EASTER NOTES FROM CRAIG'S. 



"Rhododendrons will be among the 

 best Easter plants this year," says 

 Robert Craig, "because Easter is late 

 this year and as soon as the plant is 

 out of bloom it can be transferred to 

 the garden and form a permanent 

 ornament. Besides, a shapely, well- 

 furnished rhododendron shows up bet- 

 ter than an azalea costing twice as 

 much." 



Hydrangeas should also be good 

 Easter plants this year as they will 

 come in nicely for porch use by the 

 time Easter is over. They are finely 

 finished, clean, shapely plants, well 

 set with buds. 



Nephrolepis Smithi is another of the 

 many sports, having very finely-divided 

 fronds and unique in some ways. Mr. 

 Craig gave it as his opinion that it is 

 the best of all for 4-inch pots and a 

 perfect gem for transferring to jar- 

 dinieres, fern dishes or mixed baskets. 

 It came from the Botanic Gardens at 

 Washington, and is named after the 

 superintendent, W. R. Smith. In his 

 humorous way Mr. Craig began to ex- 

 pound on the wonderful way the old 

 Boston fern has developed. "For a 

 hundred years or more this staid, old 

 Puritan," said he, "behaved itself ac- 

 cording to the rules. Then all at once 

 it went on a tear, and shot the town 

 up. Had a regular orgy. Met all com- 

 ers, and gave them surprise after sur- 

 prise. No one could tell what it would 

 do next, and timid housewives took 



their babies indoors when they heard 

 a noise. The stillness of the solemn 

 midnight was filled with Bedlam. 

 Golden dawn, brilliant noon and dewy 

 eve alike beheld its capers. Mankind 

 stood aside in little groups and looked 

 with bated breath in awe and wonder. 

 And no one can tell where this is go- 

 ing to stop. It may, like Tennyson's 

 brook, go on forever. At all events 

 it's the real and only original true blue 

 Sport of the plant kingdom." 



We all thought when that cyclamen 

 expert of Craig's — "Old man" Winship 

 — was gathered to his fathers some 

 years ago, that his place could never 

 be filled. But we are agreeably sur- 

 prised to find that it has. Ernest 

 Thomas is the man. He is a protege 

 of Edwin Lonsdale and is said to be 

 one of the best cyclamen growers in 

 the country. The cyclamen is more of 

 a Christmas than an. Easter plant, of 

 course, but there are still a few batch- 

 es of well developed plants to be seen. 

 One of the good new forms is a fringed 

 variety called fimbriala carminea mar- 

 ginata, one of the butterfly section, but 

 more symmetrical and when fully de- 

 veloped, has none of the objectionable 

 raggedness of form. The color is white 

 and blush, fringed with bright car- 

 mine. 



We commented on the trained Ram- 

 bler roses in a previous issue, so it is 

 needless to say more now; but one in- 

 teresting remark of Mr. Craig's may 

 be noted. Pointing out a lot of Ameri- 

 can Pillar, he said, "That's the one 

 that sent London crazy, and sent tlie 

 Englishmen over here to clean up the 

 country. That's the reason there has 

 been no stock of it here to speak of 



since." It is lovely as to color, bears 

 a big truss like a bunch of grapes, and 

 is a wonderful keeper — the flowers 

 hanging on longer than on any other 

 rose. 



There is a new sport here of the 

 Lorraine begonia — unnamed as yet. It 

 came from the Lonsdale "dark pink" 

 Lorraine, is much more brilliant than 

 its parent and even more floriferous, 

 and is a tremendous keeper — the flow- 

 ers hanging on in attractive form for 

 months. If Lorraine be the best Christ- 

 mas plant, and it is, then this variety 

 is the best of all the Lorraines, and in 

 a class by itself. 



We were also shown the great new 

 summer bedder — Begonia luminosa — 

 the most brilliant of its class. At auc- 

 tion last year in New York it was 

 eagerly snapped up at 25 cents a plant. 

 G. C. WATSON. 



THE BOSKOOP EXPOSITION. 



The buildings for the exhibition of 

 forced shrubs and perennials, which 

 will be held at Boskoop (Holland), in 

 April of this year, are almost finished. 

 They will be heated free of charge by 

 the Dutch Central Heating Company 

 of Amsterdam, and in the evening illu- 

 minated by electric light. In the exhi- 

 bition grounds there will be a post 

 and telegraph office, and every hour 

 there will be a passenger boat be- 

 tween Boskoop and Gouda, the near- 

 est railway station. The honorary 

 committee consists of 40 members. 

 The number of exhibits promised 

 amounts to five hundred, the number 

 of novelties to more than a hundred 

 and that of little known plants sixty 

 or more. 



