270 



H 1! T 1 C U L T U R E 



March 3, 1917 



HORTICULTURE. 



VOL. XXV MARCH 3, 1917 Na 9 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Beach ZdZ. 

 WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager 



Entered as second-class matter December 8, 1904, at the Post Office 

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS Page 



COVER ILLUSTRATION— Chrysanthemum maximum 

 King Edward Vtl. 



NOTES ON CULTURE OP FLORISTS' STOCK— Com- 

 post — Habrothamnus (Oestrum) — Lilies Tor Easter — 

 Making Hot Beds — Orchids — Reminders — John J. M. 

 t'arrell 267 



CARNATIONS— C/ia;7es S. Strout 268 



CHRYSANTHEMUM MAXIMUM— Ricftard Rothe 268 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS— The Easter Crop- 

 Cafe for tlie Greens — The Flower Shows — Manure for 

 the Late Mulches — Arthur C. Ruzicka 269 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— Chicago Florists' Club— 

 Horticultural Society of Western Pennsylvania — 

 Meetings Next Week — New York Florists' Club — 

 Connecticut Horticultural Society — Connecticut Nur- 

 serymen's Association 271 



New York Getting Ready ' 272 



The Big Shows for 1917 280 



DURING RECESS— Detroit to Wallop Cleveland— Flor- 

 ists' Club of Hartford. Conn 274 



OBITUARY— A. A. Reed— David AV. Duncan, portrait.. 274 



SEED TRADE- One Week's Imports— Bermuda Onions 

 in Texas — Chicago Notes — Notes 276 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



New Flower Stores 278 



Flowers by Telegraph 279 



NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERYWHERE: 

 Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh (Illustrated), 

 Washington, Rochester. N. Y., Boston 280-281 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Y'ork, 



Philadelphia 283 



Pittsburgh, Rochester, St. Louis, Washington 285 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



Giant Sweet Peas — Anthon Petersen — Illustrated... 272 



A Specialist in Minnesota 272 



Catalogues Received 274 



Visitors' Register 275 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 275 



Patents Granted 275 



News Notes 278 



Personal 281 



Our eaniatioji iricuds will liiid tlio 

 A treat series of timely uotes by C. S. Strout 



for the carna- ,,f Biddcrord, Mo., wliieh appear in our 

 tlonists ((diiiniis rioui time to time, very 



timely, interesting and suggestive. 

 .Mi-. Strout is widely known among tlie carnationists of 

 the entire country as standing in the front rank of the 

 succe.ssful New England earnation growers and in 

 tlie market his product commancls the top figures 

 always. Add to all this the literary excellence, individ- 

 uality and lucid stylo of his wi-itings and we think our 

 announcement at this time that Mr. Strout will con- 

 tinue these article-; in Horticulture all tlirough the 

 .sea.son will come as most welcome news to the carna- 

 tiiiti world. 



We were surprised, and also rather 

 Courting sliockcd, to read in one of the cultural 

 retribution ((dumns of the latest issue of The Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle of London, "As the 

 liuds begin to swell keep a sharp look-out for birds and 

 eitlier trap or shoot tiiem." We cannot imagine any crop 

 of flowers or fruit, oi- even any economic conditions, that 

 tvould justify gi\ing or Hdlowing .ciuch tmconditional and 



drastic counsel for the disturbing of Nature's balance, 

 liongh-hcwn as we may be in this young country as 

 conij>ared with the older civilizations, yet there are now 

 hut few of our states in which such ruthless slaughter 

 as suggested in the above cpiotation would not incur a 

 heavy penalty. When such cold-blooded and ignorant 

 advice finds currency and is admitted without qualifica- 

 tion" to the columns of a horticultural journal long 

 recognized as a leader, is it surp.rising that insecticides 

 are becoming more and more of a necessity and that the 

 loss from insect devastation mounts ingher each year? 

 "And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges." 



An 



alluring 

 field 



A canvas oi' the fiower growers in all suctions 

 of this country would show that quite a per- 

 centage of those .so engaged had previously 

 followed truck growing or vegetable forcing 

 and had abandoned it for what appeared to 

 lie — 01- was at the time — a more lucrative business — the 

 growing of flowers. Present conditions in the food mar- 

 ket will, no doubt, induce some of tliese converts — and 

 maybe some of those who have been exclusively flower- 

 growers hitherto — to turn envious eyes on "The life of 

 the husbandman — a life fed by the bounty of earth and 

 sweetened by the airs of heaven" (and a record price for 

 the product) , thinking as to whether vegetable growing, 

 both outdoors,_and under glass, might not be the better 

 branch of the business for a while at least. The H. 0. 

 L. prolilem is not agoing to be settled in a day and there 

 a]iiieais nothing in the situation that indicates a likely 

 return to former market values for food products for 

 some time to come, if ever. Growers will reflect that the 

 same situation which would make food products soar 

 would be apt to have an adverse effect on the fortunes of 

 the flower trade and we may expect to see some of them 

 act accordingly, with the result that flower sur])luses 

 may yet be largely a memory. 



What cares he now for frost or fog 

 Back Since in his glorious catalogue 



to the soil The glad suburbanite can see 

 ^^ The garden that is going to be? 



— Boston Traveler. 



'f'hc paper from which the foregoing inspiring 

 stanza was cli])ped is giving several columns daily to 

 home garden topices and in doing so is but one of 

 hundreds of papers all over the country that are devoting 

 liberal space to this timely work. The public and the 

 press are just coming to a realization of the gold-mine 

 that lies under tlieir feet and around them needing only 

 to be w^orked. "Thrift Gai'dens' they call them in St. 

 Louis. Tile utilization of backyards, vacant lots and 

 waste gioiiiids IS urged as a remedy far the H. C. L., a 

 \\liiilcsumc and profitable exercise of mind and body and 

 an education in preparedness and economy. Boston 

 cxjierts estimate that there are from 6000 to 8000 acres 

 of tillable land in that city which could be developed 

 into vegetable gardens, to offset in a measure the high 

 cost of living, as well as to teach school children the 

 priiuiples of gardening. Too much caiuiot be said in 

 favor of tlie movement. It carries with it the eager sup- 

 |ioi't of the daily newspapers and the magazines and 

 many well-meant ]ilaiis are laid out for the instruction 

 of the ma.'^ses in the knowledge of gardening. But they 

 should more fully realize that a better manual for ele- 

 mentary or advance garden practice than the seedsmen's 

 catalogues — the majority of them, at least^would lie 

 hard to find, and the newspaper horticulturists are some- 

 times a little "off" in their suggestions. The much de- 

 rided sul)urbanite has now the opportunity of his life to 

 cbucldc and turn the tables on the scoffer. "He laughs 

 best who laughs last."' 



