January 27, 1917- 



HORTICULTURE 



lOp 



THE DIVINE FLOWER AND THE 

 QUEEN OF FLOWERS. 



Editor Horticulture: 



In your columns ot Jan. 20, Mr. God- 

 dard wrote a remarkable letter. Sam 

 concluded that some one in a western 

 paper had libelled the carnation. He 

 ought to have given the western paper 

 a chance to explain. We all know the 

 West is noted for its wind, Sam got 

 "het up." threw down his castor, dipped 

 his pen in blood, and with his back to 

 a rock said like the warrior of old 

 "Come on MacDuft," bowed gracefully 

 to the Queen of Flowers, dragged off 

 her crown and mantle, then sailed in to 

 slaughter the poor innocent creature, 

 "all for what?" Because of the west- 

 ern breezes! It is not the first time 

 Carnation's champions have tried to 

 kill or maim the poor Queen but have 

 gloriously failed. Why Sam should 

 assail her for so little provocation, I 

 don't know. About the keeping quali- 

 ties of roses last March I shipped by 

 parcel post to a friend of mine in 

 Minnesota a box ot roses. After they 

 had traveled that distance and been 

 in his home a week he wrote saying 

 they were in perfectly fresh condition 

 then and they were enjoying them. 

 The only real difference was they were 

 grown right, packed right, and arrived 

 in perfect shape after the long jour- 

 ney. 



The FYamingham carnations and the 

 Natick roses I know, and it is not fair 

 to take the Framingham carnations 

 and put them up against a half grown 

 rose even if it has the required length 

 of stem to put it in the $4 class. Good 

 judgment, good tact and less knocking 

 one another's staples would bring 

 more harmony and closer associations 

 into the daily lives of the craft, and 

 raise the plane of better brotherhood 

 and contented craftsmen than the 

 present cut-throat ideas that seem to 

 muddle our paths and prevent better 

 imderstanding than at present occurs. 



Xatick. Mass. R. T. McGoruii. 



THE "WHY" OF THE CARNATION. 



Editor Hortici'i.tuke; 



Mr. Goddard was right in his commu- 

 nication in Horticulture last week. 

 Too many poor carnation blooms are 

 put out; they cheapen the carnation in 

 the eyes of the public. New England 

 florist stores depend more upon the 

 carnation than upon any other flower. 

 The market price of carnations is en- 

 tirely too low for the cost of produc- 

 tion. Selling prices are so low as 

 to even make them lose prestige in the 

 buyer's mind sometimes. Other flow- 

 ers are pushed in the stores because 

 of bigger profits. Out-of-date sorts are 

 still grown, and in many stores the 

 salesmen are not acquainted with va- 

 rieties. They simply think white, yel- 

 low or pink without regard to name. 



Biddeford, Me. C. S. Strout. 



A CORRECTION. 



Secretary J. G. Esler of the Florists' 

 Hail Association calls my attention to 

 a typographical error, which appears 

 in the suggestions to State Vice-Presi- 

 dents sent out from this office a few 

 days ago. The paragraph reads that 

 the Florists' Hail Association now 

 underwrites risks on 4,000,000 square 

 feet of glass. This should read 44,000,- 

 000 square feet of glass. 



John Young, Sec. 



Obituary 



George Schneider. 



On the above date at his residence 

 at Barnes, London, End., died George 

 Schneider, president of the French 

 Horticultural Society of London. The 

 deceased was for many years in the 

 employment of Messrs. J. Veitch & 

 Sons of Chelsea. He was a member of 

 many Continental Horticultural Socie- 

 ties and a member of the jury in the 

 great Horticultural Exhibitions. He 

 fought in the FVanco-German war ot 

 1.S70-71. He was 68 years of age. 



C. Harm.vx P.vyne. 



C. O. Fischer. 

 Carl Otto Fischer passed away on 

 .lanuary 19 at Hartford. Conn., and 

 was laid to rest in Woodlawn Ceme- 

 tery, New York, on January 23. Mr. 

 Fischer was for twenty-two years gar- 

 dener for the Cheney brothers at 

 South Manchester, Conn., and was 

 highly esteemed by his employers and 

 all who knew him. He retired from 

 activity seven years ago. His age was 

 65 years. The funeral services were 

 attended by many of the prominent 

 residents of South Manchester. 



Samuel Batchelor. 

 Word was received in Philadelphia 

 on January 22nd of the death ot Sam- 

 uel Batchelor. He has of late been 

 located near New York but is better 

 known as a prize winning exhibitor 

 around Philadelphia during the past 

 dozen years. He was the grower for 

 the Newbold estate near Jenkintown, 

 and made some fine contributions for 

 the advancement of horticulture. He 

 was a nephew ot William Plumb and 

 had his early training in England. 

 Interment at the Odd Fellows' ceme- 

 tery, near Jenkintown. 



Swain Nelson. 



Chicago has just lost one of her cit- 

 izens whose work has given pleasure 

 to millions of ])eople and will con- 

 tinue to do so as long as the city shall 

 exist. Swain Nelson, designer of 

 many parks, passed away at the home 

 of his son in Glen 'View, 111.. Jan. 18th, 

 at the age ot 89 years. He was born 

 and reared in Sweden, coming to Chi- 

 cago just in time to be active in the 

 development of her parks, and his 

 plans for Lincoln Park — the people's 

 park as it is commonly called — were 

 adopted by the Chicago council in 

 1865. He assisted in carrying out 

 these plans and also in designing Gar- 

 field, Douglas, Union and Humboldt 

 Parks, besides Graceland Cemetery. 

 After this work was nearly completed 

 he moved from Chicago to Glen View 

 where he could enjoy nature's beauty 

 more fully and established his well 

 known nurseries, with a city office and 

 with city greenhouses. For several 

 years the business has been managed 

 by the sons, Seymour G. and Alvin E. 

 Nelson. There are three daughters. 

 Mrs. A. L. Gyllenhall and the Misses 

 Emelia and Adah, who are also con- 

 nected with the business. The funeral 

 was held Jan. 21st in the Immanuel 

 Church of New Jerusalem, Glen View, 

 which he helped to found. 



FEDERAL HORTICULTURAL 



BOARD ASKS FOR ENLARGED 



POWERS 



A number ot seed and nurserymen 

 last week visited Washington and 

 with William P. Gude, representative 

 ot the S. A. F. & 0. H., held confer- 

 ences with officials of the Senate Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture and Forestry 

 and members of the Federal Horticul- 

 tural Board, on the question of the 

 quarantine of nursery stock. The Fed- 

 eral Horticultural Board, for some 

 time past, has been endeavoring to se- 

 cure the enlargement of their powers, 

 whereby they could declare a quaran- 

 tine on nursery and other stock in a 

 broader way. The board seeks to se- 

 cure for the Secretary ot Agriculture 

 the right to determine "that such 

 quarantine is necessary to prevent the 

 spread of" a dangerous plant disease 

 or insect infestation and to quaran- 

 tine in addition to these things now- 

 mentioned in Section 8 ot the plant 

 quarantine law "any class ot stone or 

 quarry products, or any other article 

 of any character whatsoever, capable 

 of carrying any dangerous plant dis- 

 ease or insect infestation." It would 

 be the duty of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture to promulgate rules and regu- 

 lations permitting and governing the 

 inspection, disinfection, and method 

 and manner of delivery and shipment, 

 of such commodities specified in the 

 quarantine order, "when the public 

 interests will permit." In each case 

 the quoted words are those which the 

 Board wishes to have incorporated in 

 the present law. 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL 

 COLLEGE. 



Last week end Professor A. H. Nehr- 

 ling made a business trip to Indiana- 

 polis, Indiana. 



Professor F. A. Waugh, head ot the 

 Division of Horticulture is to lecture 

 on "Gardens" at Ames, Iowa, Jan- 

 uary 31st. 



Next Thursday evening Aubrey But- 

 ler ot Northampton will address the 

 club on the subject of "Retail Store 

 Management." 



Last Thursday evening E. J. Can- 

 ning of Northampton addressed the 

 M. A. C. Florists' and Gardeners' Club 

 on the subject "The Nursery Business 

 and its Relation to Floriculture." 



The Annual Boston Inspection Trip 

 of the students in Floriculture will 

 take place February 15, 16 and 17. It 

 is planned to visit as many as possi- 

 ble of the larger retail establishments 

 and greenhouse ranges of Greater 

 Boston. 



The American Society of Landscape 

 Architects announces the election of 

 Charles William Eliot, president emer- 

 itus of Harvard University, to honor- 

 ary membership. The election comes 

 as a show of appreciation for what 

 President Eliot has done for the pro- 

 fession of landscape architecture. 



