754 



H n T I C U L T U R E 



June 3, 1916 



horticulture: 



¥OL XXIII 



JUNE 3. 1916 



NO. 23 



l-l III.I-ltKI) WKCRI.T IIT 



HORTICULTUR.E PUBLISHING CO. 

 147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



TrIriiliiiDX, Olford t*t. 

 Wm. i. STF.WAKT, Killlor >od M«na(«r. 



ADVEKTIitlNU IL.\TE8: 



P»r Inch. SO Inrhrii to paicr %IM 



DtucounlM on (i>nlriir(« fur rontir<'iiti%'r InHrrllonn, as fnllotrdl 



Our iiiiinth <4 tliiim), A prr rrnt.: Ihrr«> niiinllia 113 tlfnm). !• 

 ^•r rrtil.: mIx riioiilliii {'H\ tliiir*), 20 prr rrnt.; one jpmr {t'i times), 

 •• prr rrnt. 



racr «n<l linlr psRe iipare, Rprrlal ratra on application. 



fcHii i1 ■• •r<x>n(l'rlii>« uiallrr Drrrnilipr S, 1914, il tlir I'oal Ofllc* 

 »t BuatoD, Mau., aoder Itia Act of CoDgreaa of March S, ItflV. 



CONTENTS Page 



COVER I L L U S T K A T I O N— Fors\ thia intermedia 

 spectabilis. 



NOTES ON CULTUKE OF FLORISTS' STOCK— 

 Bouvardias — Care of Young Primulas — Ericas — 

 Feeding Orchids — Hydrangeas for Next Year — Start 

 Cultivation — John J. M. Farrcll 753 



THE TRUTH REGARDING CALIFORNIA— (7. S. 

 Harrison 755 



ASTER VI.MINEUS STAR SHOWER— Illustrated 755 



F0RS\TH1.\ INTERMEDI.A. SPECTABILIS 755 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— Connecticut Horticultural 

 Society — Nassau County Horticultural Society — 

 Nurserymen's Convention — Meetings and Exhibitions 

 — Missouri State Florists' Association — St. Louis 

 Club and Society Meetings— Club and Society Notes 756 

 Illinois State Florists' Association; Report of Patho- 

 logist 776 



STREET VIEW OF CONVENTION CITY— Illustrated 758 



OBITUARY— Michael J. Tobin— Wm. F. Jones- 

 Herbert J. Palmer — Mrs. A. J. Simmons 758 



HOW MUCH INSURANCE MONEY IS WASTED ?— 

 Elton J. Buckley 760 



SEED TRADE— Better Seed, Will W. Tracy— One 

 Week's Imports — "Titanic" Wheat — The Wind and 

 the Seed— Notes 762 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



New Flower Stores 764 



Flowers by Telegraph 765 



NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERYWHERE: 



Boston. Chicago, New York, Philadelphia 766 



THE RIGHT TO CHARGE AN ADVANCED PRICE 

 WITHOUT PREVIOUS NOTICE — Elton J. Buckley 767 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia 769 

 Pittsburgh. St. Louis 771 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



Visitors' Register 756 



New Corporations 758 



Business Troubles 764 



Xe'-s Not PS 756-7fi4 



In the Spring, poetry 766 



Catalogi'cs Rereived 766 



Publication Received 777 



Freakish Facts and Factless Freaks 777 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 778 



As in several previous issues, we pres- 

 Our duty ent on another page in tliis number 



towards ;i .street view in the city of Houston, 



Houston Texas, and shall have other character- 



istic scenes frequently from now on 

 until convention time next August. There are many 

 excellent arguments in favor of this S. A. F. meeting 

 in what is, to the great majority of S. A. F. members, 

 a far-flistant southern city. \^Tiatever reasons anyone 

 may have had to doubt the wisdom of going so far away 

 from the centre of membership and horticultural ac- 

 tivity in two consecutive years?, that is now a dead is- 

 sue. The one duty now for everj-body interested in 



horticultural , -, - and in the organization which is 

 its foremost exponent, is to do nil tliat is possible to- 

 wards assuring the success of llic Houston Convention. 

 This is what IIouticiiltl'ri:, as the paper most remote 

 fniiii the convention city, will endeavor to do and our 

 I'ohinms are open for any and all matter conducive to 

 thai end during tlic coming weeks. 



Houston's op])ortunity and the So- 



Wi** ciety's obligation, in this important 



Houston has ..mj fur-reaching event is to open 



a right to expect „p (1,^ prospect and inspire the 



people of the great Southland with 

 an a(lc(|uafo realization of their horticulluial ad\aut- 

 ages and possibilities. In the present chaotic state of 

 alTair.s in those European countries from which so much 

 of our horticultural material has hitherto been pro- 

 cured, Texas with her vast area and great variety of 

 soil and climate has within her reacli an opportunity 

 in the realm of ornamental horticulture fullv eipial to 

 that in the way of fruit and vegetable production to 

 which her pcojjle have already begun to iiwalcen. This, 

 it seems to us, is the direction in which the florists of 

 the Southwest, who will undoubtedly form the majority 

 of the attendance, can make the best use of this great 

 convention privilege which comes but rarely to any city. 

 It would be a pity to use up the time and energy of an 

 occasion so fortuitous in debates on matters more con- 

 nected Avith the politics of the Society than with the 

 vital horticultural welfare of the great community 

 which has tlic right to expect so much from this visit of 

 tlie national Society. On the other hand it would be 

 equally a mistake, from the standpoint of the Society, 

 to rush tlirough without serious discussion the various 

 proposed constitutional changes slated by the Executive 

 Board for action this year. If all these matters relat- 

 ing solely to the internal functions of the organization 

 could only be tabled until some future occasion so that 

 the Society's avowed mission to the South might have 

 full right of way. it would, in our humble opinion, be 

 for the good of all concerned. 



Seed 



purity and 



philanthrophy 



As we read the communication from 

 W. W. Tracy which appears in another 

 column of tbis paper we are impressed 

 by the fact that no business in this 

 country is more investigated, inquired 

 into and held uji than the seed business. The average 

 seed buyer today wants the seedsman to be a philan- 

 thropist. He must make all sorts of sacrifices for years 

 to get his seed to his customers 100 per cent, germina- 

 tion, 100 per cent, purity of type — this he is expected 

 to do regardless of season, unfavorable harvests and 

 other conditions entirely beyond his control, and yet to 

 sell his wares which he turns once a year on a margin 

 iif profit as narrow as that made by the grocer who 

 turns over his stock and capital in each one of the fifty- 

 two weeks of the year. Mr. Tracy mentions that plant- 

 ers for the market demand that at least 90 per cent, 

 of the plants from seed of a specified variety shall pro- 

 duce true to type, but there arc plenty of buyers who 

 will kick up a protest if they find 1 per cent, of inferior 

 mixture. Unquestionably varietal purity is a quality of 

 far greater importance than high germination percent- 

 age, but the market gardener is not willing to pay the 

 price but expects to buy the refined article at a figure 

 away below what it costs to produce it, and in the case 

 of corn, for instance, below tlie wholesale price which 

 the seedsman is obliged to pay for such carefully grown 

 seed. 



