674 



HOETICULTUKE 



May 26, 1917 



HORTICULTURE 



VOL. XXV 



MAY 19, 1917 



NO. 20 



PUBUSHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Beach ZSi 

 WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager 



ADVERTISING RATES: 



Per inch, 30 inches to page $1.00 



l>t80ount on Contracts for consecative insertions, as foUo\rs: 



One month (4 times), 5 per cent.; three months (13 times), 10 

 per cent.; sLx months (26 times), 20 per cent.; one year (52 times), 

 30 per cent. 



Page and half page space, special rates on application. 



Hntered 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— A Conservatory Annex to 

 a City Flower Store 



NOTES ON CULTURE OF FLORISTS' STOCK— 

 Alocasias — Dracaenas — Forcing Lily of the Valley — 

 Hardy Perennials — Primulas — Reminders — John J. M. 

 FarreU 673 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— American Rose Society- 

 Lancaster County Florists' Association — Meetings 

 Next Week — Morris County (N. J.) Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Society — Westchester and Fairfield Horti- 

 cultural Society — Club and Society Notes 675 



Chicago Florists' Club 677 



OBITUARY— David L. Saunders — Thomas L. Lowden.. 676 



SEED TRADE— American Seed Trade Association- 

 California Onion Seed in Bermuda — Narcissus Bulb 

 Crop at Amoy — Call for Buckwheat Seed — New Sweet 

 Peas of Merit 679 



LAST WINTER'S HOLLAND SHIPMENTS 680 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



A Conservatory Annex — New Flower Stores — Peun 



Logic 682 



Flowers by Telegraph 683 



NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERYWHERE: 



Boston — J. K. M. L. Farquhar, portrait 684 



Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington 685 



Chicago, St. Louis 693 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York 687 



Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester, St. Louis, Wash- 

 ington 689 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



For the Youthful Gardeners 675 



Protecting the Peonies 676 



Dogs and the Home Garden 676 



New Rose Lillian Moore, Illustrated 676 



Memorial Day, poetry 676 



Visitors' Register 677 



St. Louis Native Flora in Danger 677 



To Eradicate June Bugs 678 



Planting Before Fertilizing 678 



Catalogues Received 680 



News Notes 682-693 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 694 



Patents Granted 694 



The appointment of J. K. M. L. 

 Boston's Farqtihar to the important position of 

 new park park commissioner of the city of Bos- 



commissioner ton brings to the Park Department a 

 man of proven business qualification, 

 one with a rare practical knowledge of gardening in all 

 its phases such as is possessed by but few, having also 

 good executive ability and abundant forcefulness and 

 courage to back up what he believes to be right. It is 

 a recognition worthily bestowed and Mayor Curley 

 merits commendation for the excellent judgment shown 

 in this appointment. Boston will be well served by 

 John Farquhar. 



Once again we welcome the coming of the 



Memorial most expressive floral holiday of the year; 



Day a day especially dedicated to the memory 



of those who fought and bled that the 



nation might live but with its beautiful sentiment am- 



jjlified until the floral observance of the day now appro- 



]iriately extends to thus honoring the memory of all 



kindred and friends, young or old, who have fought 



their battle of life and passed on. 



Memorial Day, this year, however, assumes a new sig- 

 nificance and added impressiveness, for our country has 

 come to a great crisis and faces a task stupendous in 

 .'iize and import. Responding again to the spirit which 

 ;inimated the nation in times of trial in the past, the 

 ]ieople will feel anew the thrill of patriotic feiTor as 

 they reverently place their floral offerings on the last 

 resting place of vanished heroes. 



Memorial Day is essentially a floral day. In spirit 

 and purpose it is the florists' perpetunl inheritance. Is 

 he making the most of the opiiortiuiity jind ]irivilogi' 

 which are so peculiarly his? 



The experience of Messrs. Roelker in the 

 A one-sided matter of Holland import orders last 

 bargain winter as set forth in the communica- 

 tions which appear on ]>age 680 of this 

 issue will prove very interesting reading, no doubt, for 

 some of Mr. Roelker's companions in misfortune who 

 have had to pay dearly for their education in the tactics 

 of the Dutch traders and of the Holland-America Line 

 in dealing with their consignees on this side of the 

 water. About a year ago we took o]iportunit>' in our 

 editorial notes to advise American importers that, foi- 

 their own protection in the existing turmoil, they should 

 insist upon contracts based upon delivery f. o. b. at des- 

 tination. In the light of recent developments, those 

 ^vho did so can chuckle now. The Holland nurserymen 

 take no chances. It is against their principles to take 

 chances if the other fellow can be impressed into a.ssum- 

 ing all the risks, on the basis of ''Heads I win. tails you 

 lose." It will be observed that the freight charges to 

 Xew York must be paid by the consigiiee although the 

 goods never left Holland ! As an examjjle of a one-sided 

 bargain that certainly "takes the cake." 



Mothers' Day reports from leading florists 

 Summing in several of the larger cities received at 

 it up this office too late for use in our last week's 

 Horticulture, all show more or less of an 

 undercurrent of apprehension over the probable detri- 

 mental final effect on public opinion of the arbitrary 

 advance in prices demanded on that day for such flow- 

 ers as are especially called for, particularly white carna- 

 tions. It seems that the notion that carnations have 

 some peculiar significance and are the most ap- 

 propriate flowers for the occasion still prevaii-^ to a 

 considerable extent, unfortunately. The amount of 

 business done in that particular flower appears to have 

 been limited by the number available, whereas the rose 

 market was but slightlv affected as a rule although the 

 general flower sales were in a majority of cases reported 

 as having been larger than they would have been had no 

 special import attached to the day. The smallness of 

 the orders received for local or telegraph delivery is un- 

 favorably commented upon by some as making the busi- 

 ness trifling and unremunerative. The most satisfac- 

 tory results appear to have been had in the middle west. 

 The practice of "picklin.e" flowers seems to have been 

 indulged in to a considerable extent and is vicrorously 

 condemned by the retail dealers. 



