708 



horticulture: 



May 13, 1911 



mind that the progressive florist of 

 the United States would gladly pay 

 50 per cent more for Lilium Harrisii 

 bulbs than the present price If the 

 stock could be improved still further. 

 I think that the Bermuda methods 

 of selling lily bulbs have been entirely 

 wrong or perhaps I should say the 

 methods of the American bulb dealer 

 in buying them. Under conditions as 

 they have been, the man that grew 

 good lily bulbs in Bermuda and looked 

 after them carefully got no more for 

 his product than the grower that was 

 careless. I often think that the sell- 

 ing of lily bulbs should be a good deal 

 like the cigar business. It is pretty 

 hard to tell what a cigar is until you 

 smoke it and for that reason the cigar 

 manufacturer sells his goods under a 

 brand. He takes every care that no 

 cigars go into a box bearing his brand 

 unless he can be proud of them and 

 they will uphold the reputation of the 

 brand he spent his money to establish. 

 This same condition should apply to 

 lily bulbs and the man that grows the 

 extra fine article should be suitably 

 recompensed for the trouble and care 

 he has gone to. There are some stocks 

 of lily bulbs on the Island of Bermuda 

 which are very cheap at the price 

 they are sold for and there are other 

 stocks which are dear at any price, 

 but the bulbs when they come to New 

 York next July and August will all 

 look about the same. I have spoken 

 only of the good fields which I saw. 

 I saw many small patches which were 

 looking badly, but on the whole both 

 Lilium Harrisii and Lilium Jamesli 

 are showing much improvement in 

 spite of a rather cold, dry and unfavor- 

 able growing season. I think that any 

 florist that buys Bermuda bulbs from 

 dealers that are earnestly trying to 

 encourage the Bermudians by paying 

 him liberally for well-grown stock will 

 get his money's worth this season. 

 As regards the shipping of lily flow- 

 ers, this pernicious practice was go- 

 ing on to a limited extent and was 

 being carried on mainly by people 

 who do not grow bulbs. Quite a floral 

 business is being done in Hamilton 

 now in sweet peas, iris flowers, roses, 

 etc., and, last but not least, cut lilies. 

 The large hotels were entirely filled 

 up most of the winter with American 

 visitors and we cannot blame the Ber- 

 muda florist for taking advantage of 

 the situation, so long as he does not 

 cut flowers from bulbs which he after- 

 wards intends to ship up to his Ameri- 

 can brother florist to grow. To me, 

 Lilium Harrisii is the grandest and 

 noblest of the Easter lilies. Further- 

 more, a well-grown plant of 5-7 inch 

 Lilium Harrisii will produce about as 

 many flowers as a 7-9 inch Japanese 

 Giganteum and for this reason I con- 

 tend that Lilium Harrisii are not any 

 more expensive. I hope within the 

 next few years to see Lilium Harrisii 

 come back and take its rightful place 

 among the commercial lilies grown by 

 the florists of the United States. This, 

 however, can only be accomplished by 

 the greatest care on the part of the 

 Bermuda growers and by the estab- 

 lishing of brands fo that when a florist 

 in the United States buys a case of 

 bulbs of a brand with a high reputa- 

 tion he can depend on getting nine 

 hundred good plants out of a thousand 

 bulbs with proper care and attention 

 on his part. 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES 



NEWPORT HORTICULTURAL SO- 

 CIETY. 



Quite a few members of this society 

 faced the moist weather Tuesday even- 

 ing, May 9th, to attend the regular 

 meeting and hear the reading of a 

 paper on "Grape Culture Under Glass," 

 by William Mackay, who is known to 

 be a successful grower. Among the 

 many details given by Mr. Mackay as 

 being necessary for best results in this 

 work, he said that vines should be 

 planted five feet apart and this was 

 the principal question discussed at the 

 close of the lecture. Some of ths 

 speakers favoring planting three to 

 four feet apart, but Mr. Mackay, al- 

 though admitting that a larger quanti- 

 ty may be produced from close plant- 

 ing, he said that when first quality is 

 the object five feet is none too much 

 space to allow. The paper as a whole 

 was favorably commented on and the 

 maximum number of points voted un- 

 der the annual competition rule. 



On the exhibition table was a spray 

 of a nearly white cattelya of unknown 

 variety on which decision of award 

 was reserved till name is furnished. 

 Oscar Schultz was the exhibitor. A 

 handsome lot of mushrooms of the 

 Pure Culture variety was also shown 

 by William Grey, who was awarded 

 honorable mention for same. The 

 regular business was chiefly in connec- 

 tion with the September show 

 schedule, which promises to be even 

 more attractive than ever. 



NEW YORK FLORISTS' CLUB. 



The monthly meeting on Monday 

 evening. May 8, was a very interesting 

 and instructive one and thoroughly 

 enjoyed by a fair-sized number of 

 members in attendance. Among the 

 various reports handed in that of C. 

 H. Totty stating that $20,000 had 

 been granted for the erection of a 

 range of greenhouses at the New Jer- 

 sey Experiment Station at New 

 Brunswick was particularly gratifying. 

 The outing committee reported on 

 price of tickets for that notable occa- 

 sion — .$4,00 for gentleman, $2.50 for 

 lady, $6.00 for lady and gentleman. R. 

 M. Schultz showed some grand Rich- 

 mond roses for which the awards 

 committee recommended a cultural 

 certificate. Then came the reading of 

 papers — Messrs. J. McHutchison on 

 his recent trip to South America, A. 

 T. Boddington on Bermuda, W. B. Du 

 Rie on School Gardening, A. Kakuda 

 on Japan and M. C. Ebel on Insects.. 



It was announced by the Essay 

 Committee that Messrs. J. K. M. L. 

 Farquhar of Boston and J. Otto Tri- 

 low of Philadelphia had been secured 

 to present stereopticon lectures next 

 fall. 



AMERICAN GLADIOLUS SOCIETY, 



The American Gladiolus Society is 

 now preparing for a magnificent ex- 

 hibit of gladiolus blooms at the S. A. 

 P. Convention in Baltimore, August 

 15-18. The schedule of prizes will 

 soon be ready, and copies can be had 

 by applying to L. Merton Gage, Secre- 

 tary, Orange, Mass. 



L. MERTON GAGE, 



Cor. Sec'y. 



NATIONAL SWEET PEA SOCIETY 

 OF AMERICA. 



At an Executive Meeting held iu 

 New York Friday, May 5th, President 

 Burpee presiding, the following addi- 

 tional special prizes were received, 

 also the Executive Committee appro- 

 priated $170.00 for prizes to be known 

 as the National Sweet Pea Society's 

 prizes. Owing to the extremely back- 

 ward season, it was considered advis- 

 able to change the date from a week 

 to two weeks later than that pre- 

 viously published, that is, June 23rd 

 and 24th, but the matter will be finally 

 decided early in June and an exact 

 date set at that time. 



The following judges were appointed 

 for the summer exhibition: Samuel 

 L. Hamilton, Huntington, Pa.; William 

 Sim, Cliftondale, Mass.; Edwin Jen- 

 kins, Lenox, Mass.; William Duckham, 

 Madison, N. J.; Walter Angus, Chapin- 

 ville. Conn. 



Class 11, The Heurj A. Dreer prizes for 

 vase of Queen Alexandra Spencer Sweet 

 Pecs: 1st prize, $5.00; second, $3.00. 



Class 12. The Henry A. Dreer prizes for 

 vase of Ruby .Spencer: 1st, $3.00; 2nd, 

 $2.00. 



Class 13. The Henry A. Dreer prizes for 

 vase of Mrs. Routzahn Spencer: 1st, $3.00; 

 2iid, $2,00. 



Class 14. The Jerome B. Rice Seed Co.'s 

 riizes tor vase of White Spencer: 1st, 

 $5.00; 2nd, $3.00; 3d, |2.00. 



Class 15. The Anton C. Zvolanek prize 

 for vase of 50 Orange Spencer or Unwin : 

 1st, $3.00; 2Dd, $2.00; 3rd, $1.00. 



Class 16. The Anton C. Zvolanek prize 

 for vase of 50 Pink or Rose, Spencer or 

 Unwin type: 1st, $3.00; 2nd, .$2,00; 3rd, 

 $1.00. 



Class 17. The 'William Sim prize for 5 

 vases of sweet peas, commercial varieties: 

 1st, $10,00; 2nd, $5.00; 3rd, $3.00, 



Class 18. The Philadelphia North Ameri- 

 can's prize: A Silver cup for the best 

 vase of Sweet Peas never before exhibited. 



The National Sweet Pea Society's prizes. 

 Spencer or Unwin varieties: 



Classes 19 to 29 inclusive, 'Vase of white, 

 light pink, deep pink, lavender, salmon c 

 orange, crimson or scarlet, primrose, pico- 

 tee edged, bicolor, striped or mottled, anv 

 other color: First, second and third prizes, 

 $5 00, $3,00, $2,00 for each class respec- 

 tively. 



Grandiflora varieties: 



Classes 30 to 33 inclusive. Vase of white, 

 pink, lavender or blue, scarlet or crimson, 

 striped or bicolor, any other color: First, 

 second and third prizes. $.1.00, $3.00, $2,00 

 for each cla.ss respectively. 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF 

 PARK SUPERINTENDENTS 



At the meeting of the executive 

 committee of the American Associa- 

 tion of Park Superintendents at New 

 York, on April 22, August 8th-10th 

 was selected as the date for the ap- 

 proaching convention at Kansas City, 

 Mo. The provisional program is as 

 follows: 



Tuesday, August 8th— 30 A. M, Meet at 

 City Hall for address of welcome and gen- 

 eral business, 2 P. M. Meeting for reading 

 of papers. G P. M. Entertained at dinner, 

 followed by automo'oile trip through boule- 

 vards by gas light. 



Wednesday, August 9th— 9..S0 A. M. Meet- 

 ing for reading of papers. 2 P. M, Auto- 

 mciblle tour of parks, ending with dinner at 

 Swope Park. 8 P. M. Meeting for reading 

 of papers. 



Thursday. August 10th— Visits to some of 

 the following places, selection to be made 

 later: Play grounds and bath houses; 

 parks of Kansas City, Kan,; or a trolley 

 trip to Lansing. Kan,, near which are the 

 State Penitentiary, the Soldiers' Home and 

 Fort Leavenworth, one of the most impor- 

 tant forts maintained by the Government. 



Papers on the following topics are ex- 

 pected: Park Statistics, by a government 



