June IG, 1917 



HORTICULTUKE 



759 



The genial June weather has at last 

 brought the roses and peonies out in 

 their glory, and advantage of this fine 

 opportunity was taken by Howard M. 

 Earl, George W. Kerr, Douglas Earl 

 and the writer, on the 12th inst.. the 

 little party being carried in Mr. Earl's 

 car, efficiently propelled by his son 

 Douglas, with the aid of a little gaso- 

 line, to Riverton and Buzzards Glory. 

 Mr. J. D. Eisele was as ever the pink 

 of courtesy and discoursed most in- 

 terestingly on the merits of the new 

 and old varieties in the testing 

 grounds. 



The rose trial beds are located at 

 Riverton and comprise over five hun- 

 dred of the new and standard varie- 

 ties for testing and comparison. No 

 new rose is listed until it has been 

 tried out and found worthy for our 

 climate, and no old variety is dropped 

 until superseded by a better in its 

 class. We mention here only a few 

 of the most striking among the newer 

 varieties that arrested attention in 

 our brief run through. 



Mme. Edmond Rostand — A large 

 globular flower of great beauty, deep 

 reddish orange in the center with 

 light salmon outer petals. This is a 

 Pernet-Ducher and, Mr. Eisele said, 

 one of his greatest favorites. 



Mme. Chas. Cliamhard — A fine 

 white, one of Bernaix's introductions. 



Daily Mail — This one created much 

 attention in England some years ago 

 and while it is a very odd color the 

 flowers are not very lasting in our 



climate. 



Admiral Ward — This splendid new 

 crimson, named by Pernet-Ducher in 

 honor of our own rose-loving Admiral, 

 is showing up better than ever this 

 year and promises to become very 

 popular — perhaps in the same standard 

 class as the now renowned little yel- 

 low, Mrs. Aaron Ward, introduced by 

 the same raiser some ten years ago, 

 and now a standard cut flower sort 

 in the commercial market. 



General McArthur—B. G. Hill has 

 given us many fine things but we 

 doubt if he has gained more plaudits 

 for anything since he gave us this 

 fine rose. One of the greatest of out- 

 door roses and while not a good forcer, 

 crosses from it have made records in 

 that direction. Remarkably good here 

 this year. One-third more flowers than 

 usual. 



Mrs. Wakefield Christie-Miller— This 

 well known standby still holds its 

 own among the ideal roses for mass- 

 ing. Its bright pink flowers are very 

 lasting and the plant remains a mass 

 of bloom practically the whole season 

 through. While this one has been 

 with us now some seven or eight years 



it is so good that we must still take 

 our hats off to it in passing. One of 

 the best things McGredy has given us. 

 Mrs. Weijmss Quin — This beautiful 

 new yellow, one of Alexander Dickson 

 & Sons 191.5 introductions, shows up 

 well and bids fair to justify here the 

 gold medal awarded to it in Paris last 

 summer. Splendid form and color and 

 deliciously fragrant. 



Mme. Sef/ond Weliei — Another of 

 the older ones, but still unsurpassed 

 in its clas.s — the salmon pinks. 



Los Angeles — Not extra fine on the 

 occasion of our visit but Mr. Eisele 

 has not al3ated a whit of his enthu- 

 siasm for this newcomer from the 

 Pacific Coast. The recent severe rain- 

 storms had hurt its showing for the 

 time being. That one we started this 

 story with (Mme. Edmond Rostand) 

 beats it for the present in its class 

 and color, but "wait a minute sez he." 

 Mrs. MacEellar — A beautiful lemon 

 yellow, shading lighter in warm 

 weather, large well formed flowers, 

 vigorous growth — resembling in the 

 latter connection the well known 

 Caroline Testout. While only intro- 

 duced a year ago it has been under 

 test here for five years and shows up 

 this year as fine as ever. Very free. 

 Flowers all summer. This is one of the 

 1916 Dickson & Sons. 



Ecarlate — We all delight in a pure 

 brilliant color and this variety stands 

 out strong in that respect. Not large 

 but very free blooming and a dazzling 

 scarlet. Raised by Boytard, 1907. 



Mme. Jennii Gillemot — Another old 

 one but so delicious in form, color and 

 every other desirable quality that de- 

 lighted salutes are in order in passing. 

 William. Robertson Smith — Beauti- 

 ful as ever, and helping to keep his 

 memory green and fragrant among us 

 as the years roll by. 



Unnamed No. ll'i Howard d- Smith — 

 A blush self, very large and fine. 

 Looks like a comer. 



Mme. Leon Pain — Another bright 

 old lady, ever young. You simply can- 

 not pass her by without making your 

 very nicest obeisance. 



We were just starting in at this 

 point to enjoy the Penzance and other 

 climbers when the auto horn sounded 

 for on to the peony farm some six 

 miles distant. Arriving there we were 

 taken in charge 'by the peony expert 

 of the firm Harry Sim. He showed us 

 over some sixteen acres of all the re- 

 liable up-to-date varieties for commer- 

 cial use explaining the good points of 

 those that could be appreciated by the 

 casual visitor. He was apologetic, 

 however, on the general conditions 

 as the plants had suffered badly from 

 the drouth last summer. There are 

 some eighty thousand plants in the 

 collection. G. C. W.\tsox. 



PEONIES CHARLEMAGNE AND 



ORNEMENT DES MASSIFS. 

 In (he catalogues of dealers these 

 two varieties are said to be the same. 

 I wrote some years ago to my corre- 

 spondent, .Monsieur Dessert, that in my 

 garden they were not alike, that 

 Charlemagne was superior. I have ob- 

 tained stock from France, Germany 

 and America, all of which with the ex- 

 ception of tlie roots from one grower, 

 were Ornement des massifs, a poor 

 variety with dull pink color, in which 

 the buds open badly. I was therefore 

 glad to read Monsieur Lemoin^s letter 

 in the last number of Hoktuti.tihk, as 

 it confirmed my experience. I object 

 however to his use of the adjective 

 "good" as applied to Charlemagne, as 

 inadequate. Charlemagne is one of 

 the aristocrats of the paeony world. It 

 is more like a glorified blush rose in 

 color, form, and perfume, than any 

 other. It always opens well and comes 

 so late as to be very welcome. It 

 ranks nearly as high as Sara Bern- 

 hardt, Lemoine, and Lady Duff. 



William Rollins. 



ROCK GARDEN PLANTS. 



Editor, Horticilture: 



CiMilil an.v fit ycmr ri'aders give me .1 list 

 111' lihiiits siiirahli' fur a rock garden (to 

 \iv raised from seed) for planting next 

 aiiring'.' E. M. 



The season is rather far advanced 

 for the sowing of hardy perennial rock- 

 garden plants. The list, therefore, is 

 shorter than it would have been had 

 the question been asked in January or 

 February. By sowing in cold frames 

 now the following plants may be 

 raised for planting next spring; 



Alyssum saxatile compactum: Aqui- 

 legia varieties; Arabis alpina: Arme- 

 ria in varieties; Asters alpinus and 

 subcceruleus; Campanula carpatica; 

 Cerastium tomentosum; Dianthu.-;. 

 dwarf y mountain varieties; Gypsophi- 

 la cerastioides and G. repens; Helian- 

 theraum hybrids; Iberis sempervi- 

 rens; Iris pumila in variety; Linum 

 perenne; Lychnis alpina; Potentilla 

 in variety; Primulas, hardy vernal va- 

 rieties; Silene alpestris and S. Schaf- 

 ta; Tunica Saxifraga; Veronicas in- 

 cana. repens and rupestris; Aubrietias 

 in varieties; Viola cornuta in variety. 

 Ruhakd Rothk. 



Glenside, Pa. 



State Horticulturist Dudley has con- 

 demned a carload of diseased nursery 

 stock being sold in Augusta, Me. Mr. 

 Dudley stated the roots of the trees 

 were covered witli hairy root and 

 crown gall. 



PEONY SHOW AT PHILADELPHIA. 

 The Fourteenth Annual Exhibition 

 of the American Peony Society opened 

 at Philadelphia on the 13th inst. in 

 Horticultural Hall. Up to mail closing 

 time only eleven of the thirty-two 

 classes had been judged so a detailed 

 report will have to be deferred until 

 next week. Messrs. Farr. Boyd, 

 Wister and Newbold were the princi- 

 pal winners in the first nine classes. 

 In classes ten and eleven there were 

 thirty-six and twenty-three entries, re- 

 spectively. To that the judges had 

 quite a job awarding the two small 

 prizes in each. .^U the other classes 

 were ^vell contested for and, all things 

 considered, the show reflects credit on 

 its sponsors. 



