418 



HOBTICULTURE 



September 19, 1914 



A Chance for Home Industries 



In our last week's issue attention was called editorially 

 to the possibility of the production in this country of 

 various staples which the horticultural trade of America 

 have been accustomed to purchase in Europe, particu- 

 larly such material as lily of the valley pips, azaleas, rose 

 stocks, etc., which are produced mainly in the countries 

 now at war. Quite a number of interesting comments 

 have been received from firms prominent in the Ameri- 

 can trade, all expressing hope and confidence that in the 

 near future we might be relieved of our present de- 

 pendence upon imported plant material. The following 

 extract from a communication from the house of H. A. 

 Dreer of Philadelphia will, we believe be read with 

 much interest by the plant growers of this country. 



Mr. William J. Stewart, Care Hobticulture. Boston, Mass.: 



"Dear Mr. Stewart — To the best of our knowledge no 

 one in this part of the country has been propogating ma- 

 netti stocks for budding or grafting purposes, but we think 

 some of the growers in the vicinity of Los Angeles, during 

 the past two years, have been offering manetti stocks in a 

 commercial way and were prepared to enter into contracts 

 for the production of this stock in competition with Euro- 

 pean imports. Quite a few seedlings are grown, particu- 

 larly in part of New Jersey of the Japanese multiflora rose, 

 which is gaining favor as a stock for budding for outdoor 

 planting. We. ourselves, have been experimenting along 

 these lines and have at the present moment a number of 

 thousands of seedlings growing for this purpose. We be- 

 lieve that manetti can be grown here more profitably than 

 considerable of the nursery stock which is now propagated 



here. As far as we know, no one in this country has been 

 propagating azaleas extensively, but, we have been con- 

 vinced, for the past twenty years that this can be done 

 here. If someone were to adopt the Belgian method of 

 growing these plants and locate in some section of New 

 Jersey where peat and water were plentiful, we are posi- 

 tive that an article can be produced superior to the foreign 

 stocks and at a price which will give a working profit on 

 same." 



L. A. Berckmans of Augusta, Ga., says : 

 "For many years we have grown Indian azaleas in 

 large quantities, but we do not train the plants to heads 

 like those imported from Europe. Our plants are grown 

 from cuttings. As soon as they are properly rooted they 

 are potted in azalea soil, and as soon as all danger of 

 spring frost has passed, the plants are placed in lath-cov- 

 ered frames in open ground. During the summer the 

 plants are pinched whenever necessary, so as to make them 

 bushy. In October, before frost, the plants are lifted from 

 the frames, potted and placed in the cold house. Sometimes 

 these young azaleas can be left in the beds in open ground 

 tlie entire winter, but as we usually shove them during the 

 summer they grow very late during the fall, and sometimes 

 an early freeze in November is apt to injure the young 

 growth; hence we take the precaution of lifting the plants 

 and placing them in the cold house. We grow very few 

 of the double azaleas, the demand being mostly for the 

 large-flowering single varieties, sucli as Indica Alba, Marie 

 Louise, Crysterian, Perfection, Coccinea Major, Vervaeneana 

 Due De Rohan and about fifty other good sorts. We have 

 never grown this plant for the floral trade, and they are 

 usually sold to nurserymen, parks and private parties In 

 the south for open ground planting . 



Owing to the European war we are having considerable 

 demand for these azaleas for forcing purposes, but the 

 plants will hardly have sufficient bloom buds on them for 

 forcing. 



A Convention Garden Suggestion 



Editor HoifTicuLTi'Ki;. 



Dear Sir: — I am picascil with your editorial on page 

 388 of the IIORTiccLTi'iiK under "Convention Garden 

 Possibilities." As this pet scheme of mine has finally, 

 after twenty years, come to realization I would beg to 

 suggest the following: 



To fully justify the remarks and complinieuts that 

 are thrown at us by the heads of the visiting munici- 

 pality that by our presence there the interest for horti- 

 culture and floriculture in the community would receive 

 a lasting impression, a better and more permanent mon- 

 , ument to our visit in any city in this great country 

 would be if we could leave behind us an American Flor- 

 ist Convention Garden, a garden designed and planted 

 with stock which would be left after the close of the 

 convention and in fact grow to its full maturity and 

 beauty in years to come. This, as wisely stated in your 

 editorial, it would take at least t\vo years to accomplish, 

 so that the right spot to make an entirely new Conven- 

 tion Garden or a section of a public park or land to be 



devoted to Convention Garden purposes could be selected 

 and planted a year or a year and a half in advance of 

 the convention. If this had been done twenty-four 

 years ago at the first convention in Boston what a grand 

 monument would have been placed to the credit of 

 American florists and how proudly we could have pointed 

 to it this year as what we did twenty-four years ago ! 



Of course to accomplish this the sanction of the city 

 authorities or park departments would have to be gotten 

 first. The space allotted for it to be free of charge and 

 mostly such material planted as would be permanent for 

 which the exhibitor would receive at least part remunera- 

 tion to cover freight and express charges, planting, care 

 and perhaps a fraction of the value of the stock. 



This is a simple suggestion which I trust will have a 

 full discussion in your paper and receive the attention of 

 the ofiicers who are now guiding the destiny of our 

 society. 



South Orange, N. J. 



BOOM YOUR BUSINESS 



hy advertising your goods in the 



Horticmltare 



Publicity among the kind of readers reached 

 by this paper is THE SORT OF PUBLI- 

 CITY THAT PAYS. 



