June 10, 1911 



HO RTl CU LT U » E 



843 



A BEAUTIFUL MASSACHUSETTS 

 ESTATE. 



The committee on gardens of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 made its first visit of the season last 

 week to the estate o£ George E. Bar- 

 nard at Ipswich, Mass., to inspect his 

 recently constructed rock garden and 

 also his gardens of spring-flowering 

 plants. 



Although the season had been very 

 unfavorable thus far on account of 

 the unusual lack of rain during the 

 past two months, the numerous gar- 

 dens on the estate proved well worthy 

 a visit. The most noticeable change 

 made in the grounds since the com- 

 mittee's inspection of the previous 

 year was the extension of the rock 

 garden. This has been carried up on 

 the adjoining hillside and a structure 

 erected composed of large rocks, mak- 

 ing it the most conspicuous feature 

 of the estate. 



A miniature rocky ravine, thickly 

 bordered with Osmunda ferns nearby, 

 through which a stream of water fliws 

 from the height above makes another 

 attractive feature, and when the pres- 

 ent plantings of hardy perennial 

 shrubs and herbaceous flowering 

 plants cover the rocky mass it will 

 be a model rock garden. On the up- 

 per slope of the hill forming'a suit- 

 able background for the rockery, is a 

 row of spruces, and the lower slopes 

 are filled in with a collection of rho- 

 dodendrons and azaleas now in fine 

 flower. 



Although lacking as yet the finish 

 which will be added when the rocky 

 bank is covered with flowers and foli- 

 age, the whole scheme is effective and 

 promises to make this estate a notable 

 one on the North Shore. To the head 

 gardener, John S. Critchley, credit is 

 due for the skill and taste displayed 

 in bringing to a completion this nota- 

 ble undertaking. 



Conspicuous among the masses of 

 flowering plants in the various gar- 

 dens were marigolds, pansies, zinnias, 

 geraniums, irisis, lupins, yellow alys- 

 sum, columbines in blue, white and 

 yellow; Lychnis viscaria, Hesperus 

 matronalis in white and purple, Ker- 

 ria japonica, Deutzia Lemoinei, Silene 

 an'1 Azalea mollis. 



The visiting committee consisted of 

 President Charles W. Parker, chair- 

 man of the garden committee, and 

 Messrs. Charles Sander, J. B. Shurt- 

 leff, Jr., William Nicholson, Arthur F. 

 Barney and Wm. P. Rich. 



The Boskoop Show 



Rhododendrons, Lilacs and Azaleas. 



ROSE MELODY. 



Your correspondent, in the course of 

 an interview recently with B. J. Fan- 

 court, of the S. S. Pennock-Meehan 

 Co., received an interesting report 

 from him on the behavior of the new 

 yellow rose "Melody." 



"You may state," he said, "to the 

 readers of HORTICULTURE, that 

 when we introduced Melody the early 

 part cf the season, we referred to 

 same as being a winter bloomer and 

 we now wish to state for the benefit 

 of those who have purchased stock 

 of this variety, that much to our sur- 

 prise it has proven to be an excellent 

 warm weather rose and all during the 

 extremely hot spell we have had for 

 the last two or three weeks and up 

 to the present time, we have had an 

 immense cut and the stock has been 

 fine and the color has held up well. 



"In fact. Melody today will average 

 a better quality of flower for this late 

 season than any other variety we are 

 getting in (we refer to such varieties 

 as the two Killarneys, My Maryland, 

 Richmond, etc.). We might also add 

 that we have found a big demand for 

 the flowers of Melody during May and 

 right up to the present time." 



This will be pleasing news to all 

 those who have been enterprising 

 enough to invest in this new rose. 



PHILOSOPHY, REAL AND SPURI- 

 OUS. 



Editor HORTICULTURE: 



The criticism by Geo. F. Stewart of 

 a passage in the articles on "Mendel's 

 Law," lately published in HORTICUL- 

 TURE, is to the point and the trans- 

 lator of the articles is willing to 

 shoulder the blame for not having 

 given In the translation the true 

 meaning of the author's sentence. 



The author of the article on Men- 

 del's Law really means to say, "ex- 

 cluding philosophizing and precon- 

 ceived opinions," and does so express 

 himself in his work, meaning that any 

 superficial and light sort of philoso- 

 phy, the kind which many people take 

 for the true article, not knowing any 

 better, is to be excluded in the search 

 for further knowledge. 



The whole of Mendel's Law is based 

 upon true philosophical data and only 

 because all these do harmonize with 

 every other science, has Mendel's dis- 

 covery been acknowledged as a law 

 by philosophers. 



Mr. Stewart's point is well taken 

 and I trust he will see now that the 

 error lies wholly with the translator 

 in not giving the proper definition to 

 the author's sentence. There is cer- 

 tainly a great difference between phil- 

 osophy proper and "philosophizing," 

 as is sometimes done in a hurry and 

 often by people who could not define 

 the meaning of philosophy if they 

 tried. Against such does the author 

 send out his warning. 



I trust that the above explanation 

 will meet with Mr. Stewart's approval 

 and thank him for having noted the 

 error. 



GUSTAVE THOMMEN. 



Billerica, Mass. 



The Boskoop Show 



Rliododendrons Pink Pearl and White Pearl. 



THE SHAW BANQUET. 



The twenty-second annual banquet 

 to gardeners, fiorists and nurserymen, 

 provided for in the will of Henry 

 Shaw, will be given at the Southern 

 Hotel, St. Louis, on June 15th. at 7 

 p. m. HORTICULTURE acknowledges 

 with due appreciation the kind invita- 

 tion of Professor Trelease to be pres- 

 ent on that occasion. 



