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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) 

 Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 



■ Vol. XXVll 



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May, 1923 



No. 5 



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Things and Thoughts of the Garden "^^'^''yoHK 



^ ^ B<»TA*,lCAt. 



WILLIAM N. CRAIG gaudew 



THE coniin^y; of Dayliyht Saving or "Summer Time, " 

 as it is commonly termed in Great liritain. should be 

 welcomed enthusiastically bv every true garden 

 lover. The only argument of much weight which I have 

 heard advanced by gardeners or commercial flower grow- 

 ers against this measure is, that it is necessary to keep a 

 man on duty at the greenhouses an hour longer to attend 

 to the necessary watering and ventilation. This should l>e 

 easily arranged on private estates, much more readilv than 

 the .Sunday "duty."' (Jf course, there are to be found ob- 

 jectors to this and every other man-made scheme by those 

 who swear by what they piously term "God's Time" which 

 was itself changed long before the introduction of Day- 

 light Saving. Massachusetts, a great industrial state. 

 holds fast to it and the opposition of agricultural interests 

 has dwindled with the change from a seven to a five month 

 Daylight .Saving period. There is everv reason why gar- 

 deners, and all garden owners and garden lovers should 

 welcome the change : the long, pleasant evenings which 

 can lie spent in the garden, and the extra hour when 

 many amateurs can till the soil in their little gardens 

 should many times outweigh the need of keeping someone 

 at the greenhouses a little longer. The old, familiar argu- 

 ment trotted out each sea.son that men cannot be put to 

 work because there is dew on the plants is all but obso- 

 lete. The gardener, or farmer, unable to find work for 

 his assistants when vegetation is damp should get into 

 another business. 1 have always considered Daylight 

 Saving a great horticultural asset — many millions in 

 .\merica are enjoying it annually and some da\' I hope the 

 op>p)osition from agricultural interests will pass and that 

 all of our citizens may enjoy it as they did during the 

 war period. 



* * * 



.\t this season when the country is verv beautiful, fields 

 verdant, woodlands a perfect joy with the multiplicity of 

 green hues on trees and shrubs, gardens and orchards rich 

 with bloom, and song birds musical on everv side, how 

 saddening it is to notice so much of the- beautv, peace, and 

 repose of a landscape disfigured if not destroyed by these 

 abominable billboards. .\t one time thev were mainlv 

 along our railroads, but the advent of the automobile has 

 changed all this. It is true that some legislatures have 

 l^assed laws to deal with these commercial monstrosities, 

 but these laws are as usual well punctured with loop- 

 holes and do not amount to ven,' much. The National 

 -Association of Gardeners has on several occasions placed 

 itself squarely on record against the repulsive, glaring bill- 



boards Haunting along our highways and numl>ers of civic 

 bodies are striving to free their "respective communities 

 from these nuisances, for surely billboards can scarce be 

 classed as necessities. The levying of a heavv tax would 

 no doubt reduce this crying evil. The billboards both dis- 

 figure and depreciate the value of property, for whatever 

 violates the laws of harmony and beauty damages prop- 

 erty vahies, and is a reflection on the good taste of the 

 community. It is an excellent plan not to patronize firms 

 which ofifend our eyes. OlTenses to the ear and nose are 

 restricted and often punishable, why not sights which of- 

 fend our eyes ? 



^ ■',' '-:'• 



Tulips are amongst the most popular flowers at present. 

 The la.st few years have seen a steady decline in the 

 pojjularity of the early blooming section, and a tremen- 

 dously increased interest in the Darwins. Rembrandts, and 

 ^lay flowering varieties. These latter varieties are much 

 more satisfactory for the amateur than the earlv type : 

 they in nearly all cases grow taller and have a more state- 

 ly appearance than the earlier, and while thev flower some- 

 what later prove much more persi.stent and in numerous 

 cases are very much better the second and third years if 

 undisturbed. They do especially well in herbaceous bor- 

 ders, planted in clumps. It seems strange that in our 

 parks, and public .gardens hitherto so little use has been 

 made of them. The general excuse advanced against their 

 increased use is that as they bloom rather late, it delavs 

 the setting out of the regular Summer bedding. I am 

 .glad to note that many private estates now use this class 

 of tulips entirely, both in mixed borders and in special 

 beds, and I feel sure the .general public would be willing 

 to wait a few days longer for the more or less stereotv'ped 

 arran.gements of coleus. alternantheras, santolinas, acaly- 

 I>has, geraniums, cannas, and even scarlet salvias, which 

 adorn most of our public grounds, and too many private . 

 gardens today. 



Of the May flowering tulips out of a large numljer of 

 varieties the follov,in,g. which are all of very moderate 

 price, have with me proven most satisfactor\- : the Fawn, 

 rosy fawn in color, shaded blush, ver\' graceful and of an 

 unusual color: (iolden' Grown, yellow edged with red: 

 Mrs. Moon, very tteep yellow, with reflexed pointed 

 i:)etals: Picotee, a good old variety: Inglescombe Yellow, 

 often called the "■yellow Darwin" with large globular 

 flowers : Gesneriana major, rich deep scarlet with a 

 bluish black centre, a popular ^Memorial Day tulip in some 

 iif our more northerly states : Gesneriana lutea, a splendid 



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