786 



HOBTICULTURE 



June 23, 1917 



horticul ture: 



■ 



VOL. XXV JUNE 23. 1917 fWX 25 



PUBLISHED W££K1,T BT 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 147 Stimtner Street, Boston, Mass. 



■ntered as secoad-class matter December 8, 1904, at the Pott Offlca 

 at Boston, Man., UDder tbe Act of Conereas of March 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS Page 



COVER ILLUSTRATION— Boston Outdoor June Show 



NOTES ON CULTURE OF FLORISTS' STOCK— An- 

 tirrhinums for Next Winter— Cyclamen— Mignonette 

 — Miltonias— Seasonable Repairs— Adiantum Farley- 

 ense — Reminders — John J. M. Farrell 785 



THE WEATRER AND SWEET PEAS— Wiiitam Gray 786 



NATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 788 



THE EXHIBITIONS— The Philadelphia Peony Show- 

 Boston Outdoor June Show— The Philadelphia Way. . 787 



Flower Show at Chester, Pa 788 



Rose and Strawberry Show Postponed 788 



The Newport Way 801 



Irises at New Haven 805 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— American Association ' of 

 Nurserymen— Meetings Next Week— Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club of Boston — Society of American Flor- 

 ists — American Rose Society 789 



SEED TRADE— American Seed Trade Association- 

 President's Address— Kirby B. White, portrait 790 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



New Flower Stores 794 



Flowers by Telegraph 795 



NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERYWHERE: 



Boston, Rochester, N. Y., Washington, Chicago, St. 

 Louis, Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore 796-797 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh 799 

 Rochester, N. Y., St. Louis, Washington 801 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



Commercial Azaleas, Illustrated 787 



Visitors' Register '\ 8O5 



A Friendly Greeting— Georjre G. Watson 792 



Catalogues Received — New Corporations 792 



Chicago Florist Invents— News Notes 794 



"Cheap" Fruit Trees — A Correction 797 



Massachusetts Agricultural College ] 797 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 806 



Patent Granted 806 



The president of the Americ-mi Seed Trade 

 A timely Association in his address at the annual 

 warning convention of that organization sounds a 

 timely note of warning, when he refers to 

 the probable scarcity and higher cost of seeds next 

 season. In the case of peas and beans, leading growers 

 have recently found it necessary to ask their customers 

 to permit a slight increase in the prices at which they 

 had accepted contracts earlier in the season. This, they 

 explained was necessary because of the unusual diffi- 

 culty they liad experienced in placing these crop,s with 

 farmers this year. Fann labor is scarce and the farmer 

 can more easily raise wheat or other cereal which now 

 pays well and requires no hoeing— sowing and harvest- 

 ing only. There is therefore no immediate prospect of 

 lower prices for these crops. It is indeed a calamity 

 that in the )iast we Imve depended so much upon Eu- 

 rojie, particularly France and Gemianv for so many 

 kinds of fann and garden seeds. Tlie sujjplies of 

 France are seriously reduced and the enemv now de- 

 votes his energy to producing food — not seeds. The 

 outlook is anything but encouraging and high prices, 

 we predict, will prevail for several years. 



It is urged by correspondents of our 



Decoration Canadian contemporai7 that May 24 



Day in Canada he established as Decoration Day for 



the Dominion, to be observed on the 



same order as our own Decoration or Memorial Day 

 which is celebrated on May 30. Just for what reason 

 the earlier date is ])referred by our northern neighbors 

 does not appear. There can be no valid reason why the 

 observance should not be on identical dates on both 

 sides of the boundary line so far as we can imagine. 

 We in this section of the country not infrequently find 

 May 30 none too late for the successful carrying out of 

 the sentiments of the occasion and Canada's spring sea- 

 son opens, on the average, considerably later than does 

 ours. Perhaps one motive may be to throw the busi- 

 ness of providing the required flowers for the occasion 

 entirely into the hands of the florists, a plan which 

 might promise well for the commercial interests but 

 wliieh would, on the other hand, put something of a 

 damper on the spontaneity of the public in adopting 

 the beautiful custom which with an abundance of out- 

 door spring blossoms would be encouraged and in the 

 long run develop to the more permanent advantage of 

 the florist as has been the case in this country. 



As time passes and opinions and 



Retrenchment comments come to us from various 



approved sources on the wisdom of the action 



of the N'ew York Florists' Club in 

 deciding to abandon all its plans for wholesale enter- 

 tainment of the visitors at the August convention the 

 universal sentiment of the S. A. F. members and 

 others who have given expression to their views seems 

 to be one of unqualified approval. No fear is expressed 

 by anyone that in consequence of this change of pro- 

 gram the convention attendance will be any smaller than 

 it would liave been had the elaborate entertainmept as 

 originally proposed been fully arranged for. This, we 

 believe, will prove to be the case. It is quite probable, 

 too, that as much money will be spent in New York in 

 an individual capacity by the visitors and by the local 

 l^eople as had been contemplated under organized 

 auspices and, as a rule, with much better results and 

 more general satisfaction. Horticulture would have 

 little sympathy witli any movement at the present time 

 which would tend to the stagnation of business and 

 interrupt that brisk circulation of money which is an 

 essential to general prosperity but there is such a thing 

 as sane and wholesome economy, the exercise of which 

 in the present instance, shows good judgment. 



The feather and tke Sweet Pea 



Editor of Horticulture: 



Dear Sir : — I note with interest the editorial on the 

 Sweet Pea situation appearing in last week's issue, and 

 must say it is a wise provision to include the phrase, 

 •'should weather conditions continue favorable." An edi- 

 torial ap]>earing in a .July issue of last year exploited a 

 speaker's opinion as expressed at a banquet in Bar 

 Harbor that weathe.r conditions had nothing to do with 

 the successful cultivation of tlie Sweet Pea. and his re- 

 marks would give the impression that tlie skillful grower 

 could overcome any condition that might prevail. Since 

 Saturday, the 10th inst., Newport has experienced one 

 of the mo.st unfavorable spells of weather for the Sweet 

 Pea that could possibly be. The whole week has been 

 one of rain and fog and not one sunny day has inter- 

 vened to save the situation. As I write it is still raiiiiny 

 hard with no sign of clearing up. May I ask the skillful 

 man what he would do under such conditions? 



//jc/Zea*^ y^. 



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