February 27, 1915 



HORTICULTUKE 



273 



A CARNATION TRIO 



S. J. GODDARD. 



A visit to Goddaid's range in Fra- 

 mingham is really a visit to a carna- 

 tion show, for the blooms to be seen 

 there are at all times of high grade. 

 A varied stock is grown, consisting 

 chiefly of carnations, and including pot 

 plants, callas, freesias, sweet peas, 

 fuchias, etc., which are needed to sup- 

 ply a large local retail trade. 



Mr. Goddard likes his latest house, 

 of King construction, and in his opin- 

 ion it is one of the best houses on the 

 range. His carnations are all grown 

 on benches. Pink Delight is one of his 

 favorite varieties and White Perfec- 

 tion does better with him than any 

 other white carnation. Sweet peas are 

 grown on the posts and ivy covers the 

 soil beneath the benches, so but little 

 space is wasted here. We noted some 

 ten promising seedlings, all in shades 

 of red, which Mr. Goddard is confident 

 will produce results in the near future. 

 These are all from Domer's seedling 

 No. 5908. The .best one seemed to be 

 No. 16. a maroon, prolific, large blooms, 

 good color, etc., which will be tested 

 for a few years yet before putting it 

 on the market. 



To every bunch of carnations that 

 goes to the market a label is attached. 

 on which is printed the name of the 

 firm, the number of blooms and the 

 name of the variety. This is indeed a 

 step in the right direction, making his 

 product different from the rest and 

 sought for because of the high quality 

 that the tag guarantees. 



W. R. NICHOLSON. 



"A chip of the old block" is Wm. R. 

 Nicholson of Framingham. What his 

 father did by way of the carnation, 

 Nicholson Junior is doing and more. 

 There are ten houses, covering about 

 50,000 sq. ft., three of them big LorJ 

 & Burnhani structures. One was the 

 first L. & B. house built in this vicin- 

 ity. The first houses built by the elder 

 Mr. Nicholson in 1890 were up-to-date 

 and big for that time, but as they stand 

 today, 20x100 feet, they are rather 

 puny edifices in comparison. 



White Wonder, Beacon, Matchless, 

 Benora and Pink Delight are the best 

 commercial varieties in W. R. Nichol- 

 son's opinion. These are grown in 

 wood benches, although he stated that 

 beds, if made well, were just as good. 

 These benches are of cypress, about 

 17 years old and still solid. In his 

 opinion the only advantage to concrete 

 is that it looks better. 



Mignonette and freesias are also 

 grown here in large quantities. Spen- 

 cer sweet peas are grown on the posts. 

 The mignonette is of a particularly 

 good strain. Yellow marguerites, 

 callas and gypsophila make up the rest 

 of the stock, all of which is disposed 

 of at wholesale. 



The storage house is an interesting 

 place. The walls are partitioned off, 

 so that all around the room there is an 

 air space which connects with a venti- 

 lator from the outside. The air in the 

 room is thus kept fresh and cool all 

 the time. 



The propagating house is being 



widened and instead of running the 

 benches lengthwise, they are to be 

 built across the width of the house, 

 making small benches which can be in- 

 dividually regulated as to temperature, 

 etc. Mr. Nicholson also contemplates 

 building a large house in place of two 

 small ones that now stand. 



J. A. NELSON. 



J. A. Nelson of Framingham, Mass., 

 started into business about eleven 

 years ago with one little house. Today 

 there are eight houses, in which a va- 

 riety of stock is grown. The principal 

 crop is carnations. His product was 

 exhibited for the first time at Buffalo 

 last month and for a first attempt Mr. 

 Nelson was quite successful. About 

 15,000 blooms are cut each week, ship- 

 ping to Boston daily. Three small 

 houses are devoted to single violets. 



We noted locust posts on the sides 

 of one house. These were quite irreg- 

 ular and seemed out of place in a mod- 

 ern greenhouse, but Mr. Nelson states 

 that locust posts are just as endurable 

 as cypress, in fact, more so. The glass 

 in this house was laid the long way 

 across, making a very light house. All 

 the houses were put up locally, only 

 U\e materials being secured from the 

 big construction firms. 



White Enchantress is the best white 

 and Harry Fenn the best crimson grown 

 here. The latter made a particularly 

 fine showing. All the newest varieties 

 are to be seen blooming in profusion. 

 Mr. Nelson states that Alice Coombs 

 was the best of the new carnations 

 shown at Buffalo. S. L. F. 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 

 Items of Interest. 

 After 34 years valuable service on 

 the Fruit and Vegetable Committee of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 George Bunyard, of Maidstone, a well 

 known fruit expert, has resigned. His 

 colleagues have shown their apprecia- 

 tion of his services by presenting him 

 with an illuminated address and gold 

 scarf pin. — The Royal Horticultural 

 Society's spring flower show has been 

 fixed to take place at Chelsea on May 

 18, 19 and 20. The summer show will 

 be held at Holland House, Kensington, 

 on July 6, 7 and 8. — "The Sweet Pea 

 Annual," issued by the National Sweet 

 Pea Society, has recently been pub- 

 lished. It is crammed with informa- 

 tive articles as to this increasingly 

 popular flower from the pens of the 

 leading experts. It is pointed out that 

 the official trials have not yet revealed 

 any reliable cure for the dreaded 

 streak disease. Not one of the prepa- 

 rations tested had any value in pre- 

 venting or chocking the discaso. — At 

 the annual meeting of the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society, the report 

 presented showed that although the 

 Society's operations were interfered 

 with last year owing to the war. all 

 the liabilities had been met out of the 

 current revenue. The following oflfi- 

 cers were elected: President. Sir Al- 

 bert Kaye RoUit; chairman. T. Bevan; 



vice-chairman, E. F. Hawes; treasurer, 

 John Green; foreign secretary, C. Har- 

 man Payne; auditors, A. H. Stevens 

 and W. Wallis; secretary, R. A. Witty. 

 — N. N. Sherwood, head of the firm of 

 Hurst & Sons, wholesale seed mer- 

 chants, has been appointed a magis- 

 trate for Essex — a famous seed grow- 

 ing country, W. H. Adsett. 



FEAST OF REASON AT PHILADEL- 

 PHIA. 



A Farmers' Institute meeting of The 

 State Board of Agriculture of Pennsyl- 

 vania, under the auspices of the Penn- 

 sylvania Horticultural Society and The 

 Florists' Club of Philadelphia, will be 

 held in Horticultural Hall, Philadel- 

 phia, on Friday, March 5th and Satur- 

 day, March 6th, 1915. Afternoon ses- 

 sions 2 to 5 P. M.; evening sessions. 

 7.30 P. M. 



The bill of fare for this event is 

 "some entertainment" — and all free! 

 Don't miss it. George W. Kerr. James 

 Boyd, Robert Pyle, Dr. Huey, and 

 others are to add liveliness and varie- 

 ty to the splendid catering of the pro- 

 fessors from the state department. 

 This is a revival of our dear old friend 

 Edwin Lonsdale's pet hobby, and the 

 first that Philadelphia has had in about 

 eight years. There will be lantern 

 views Friday evening. Take in those 

 movies— and bring the family. Don't 

 forget the date. Friday and Saturday, 

 March 5th and 6th. 



HAY FEVER AND GOLDEN ROD. 



Editor of HORTICULTUKE : 



Dear Sir: — Anent your fling at the 

 hay-fever victims, who believe that the 

 golden rod, the oxeye daisy, and other 

 fall flowers of the composite type are 

 responsible for their discomforts: — If 

 you ever get the hay-fever, you'll not 

 believe any such thing, — you'll know 

 it, and there'll not anybody have to 

 tell you about it, either. There prob- 

 ably is also a predisposing cause resi- 

 dent in the patient himself; but that 

 predisposing cause will not produce 

 the hay-fever except in the sphere of 

 influence of those flowers, nor will the 

 afiiiction persist, even in the height of 

 the season, more than two days after 

 the patient passes beyond that sphere 

 of influence. 



I do not blame you, however, for 

 your attitude toward the proposed leg- 

 islation. I spent a season, years ago, 

 opposite a daisy patch of surpassing 

 beauty on the top of the old Aiidover 

 hill, and I have feelings about those 

 flowers myself. My attitude toward 

 the legislation would be: if a majority, 

 or a near majority, of the people have 

 bay-fever, destroy the flowers; it only 

 an occasional sufferer, let the state 

 furnish him a sea voyage, or a trip to 

 the Berkshire Hills, or to the Maine 

 woods. The hay-fever is awful: I 

 know, for I am a victim. 

 Very respectfully 



H. ( . .Al IKN. 



