September 15, 1917 



HORTICULTURE 



303 



A NEW HARDY DWARF HEDGE 

 PLANT. 



Were you to ask the gardener, flor- 

 ist, nurseryman, landscape architect, 

 park superintendent, or the well 

 versed amateur, what was the most 

 needed hardy plant for northern gar- 

 dens today, the general answer would 

 be to the effect that it was a dwarf 

 hardy shrub suitable for low edge or 

 hedge purposes — a shrub that would 

 acceptably take the place of the bor- 

 der-box and fill an even v.-ider field of 

 usefulness. Attempts to keep them 

 down to the required size for low for- 

 mal effects, various privets, euonymus, 

 barberry, etc., have been only partial- 

 ly satisfactory, owing largely to the 

 peculiar limitations of the plants them- 

 selves. 



Happenings in horticulture are often 

 of great importance. Nature no doubt 

 ^uts before our eyes now and then 

 rare natural variations from the com- 

 moner types that go unnoticed, which 

 if duly appreciated would materially 

 advance our horticulture. It is the 

 discernment of the occasional sensitive 

 mind that has brought to light and to 

 wide usefulness many of the standard 

 plants of today. It is the garden 

 lover's privilege to be ever on the 

 watch for something new that may be 

 better than present forms. 



When, some fifteen years ago, among 

 a bed of many thousand Japan Bar- 

 berry seedlings, a tin^ plant appeared 

 which, as the first season advanced, 

 looked so different from its comrades 

 as to attract the nurseryman's atten- 

 tion by its tiny, dainty, dark green 

 leaves and its very short internodes. 

 It would demand a stretch of the 

 imagination to have grasped the fact 

 that in the birth of that little plant, 

 as years went on, horticultural limita- 

 tions would be widened and that 

 through the skill of the propagator 

 and the realized vision of the garden 

 builder, the time would soon come 

 when the name of this once tiny plant 

 would become familiar and its useful- 

 ness availed of over a large part of 

 the world's temperate zone. 



This, in brief, is the history and the 

 prophecy of the new Box Barberry, 

 stock of which is for the first time 

 offered for propagating purposes in 

 this issue of Horticultube. In the 

 spring of 1919 it will be introduced to 

 the general public. Plants ono year 

 old from either hard or soft wood cut- 

 tings can be produced which arc amply 

 sizeable for edge purposes. It Is 

 probable that plants should be grown 

 one year in nursery rows, however, to 

 produce the class of plants which will 

 he most in demand for low hcilgo pur- 

 poses. 



An old nurseryman propagator of na- 

 tional reputation says of this novelty : 



AZALEAS AT EUREKA, CAL. 



A bench of Azalea Mme. Petrick on own ro ots, American grown. 25,000 plants on the 



bench. 



A recent importation of Azalea coccinea for growing grafted stock. 



"No one plant has made its appear- 

 ance in years which bids fair to be 

 more universally useful than this Box 

 Barberry." Another: "The whole 

 country has been a long time waiting 

 for this very plant." Still another: 

 "Had we been able to furnish this 

 plant for the many demands for a gar- 

 den edge or a low hedge this last 

 spring, it would have been a God-send 

 to us." 



SOLANUM "CLEVELAND." 



This new dwarf Jerusalem Cherry, 

 raised by Carl Hagenburger and now 

 offered to the trade for the first time, 

 will prove a very acceptable Christ- 

 mas berried plant that can be easily 

 grown and sold at a moderate price. 

 As shown in the picture accompany- 

 ing the advertisement Cleveland is 

 prolific in fruit and makes a neat and 

 very compact pot plant. It received 

 a certificate of merit at Cleveland 

 last fall. 



NARCISSUS NATURALIZED IN THE 

 GRASS. 

 Our cover illustration shows how ef- 

 fectively the yellow trumpet narcissus 

 adapts itself to a wild condition, thriv- 

 ing under oaks and among the spruces 

 and hemlocks. The picture was taken 

 on the Bayard Thayer estate at South 

 Lancaster, Mass., where this lovely 

 view is repeated annually every spring. 



A RECORD PEONY SALE. 



The largest peony sale yet heard 

 from has just been made by J. F. 

 Rosenfield, who has sold his peony 

 garden of twenty-five acres for $40,- 

 000. I wrote to ask him whether he 

 was now going to take to the rock- 

 ing chair or keep on, and here is his 

 answer: 



Omaha, Neb., August 25, 1917. 

 Dear Mr. Harrison. 



Yes. I have sold out my peony farm here, 

 but have reserved 15,000 peony plants for 

 my future use. Part of these will be sold 

 here this fall as I stay on the place and do 

 business until November 1st. Will sell 

 only at retail prices. I may start up a 

 aniiiller place somewhere and sell fancy 

 varieties but will not carry on a wholesale 

 business any more. The new owner will 

 carry on a cut llower business and will alBO 

 put on the place $30,000 worth of green- 

 houses. , 



Now my dear friend, I am not going 

 to "take to the rocking chair." I consider 

 myself young yet; only 62. You just watch 

 me In the future. I cannot get peonies out 

 of my mind. 



Yours respectfully, 



J. F. ROSENFIELD. 



When T. C. Thurlow sold his col- 

 lection for $7,000 we all wondered, 

 but it was a small affair compared 

 with $40,000. 



C. S. Harrison. 



The New York Sun of Sunday, Sep- 

 tember 2, devoted the best part of a 

 page to the history and merits of the 

 peony as a garden flower with some 

 excellent illustrations. 



