G20 



HOIITICULTURK 



May 8. l»15 



horticulture: 



VOL XXI 



MAY 8. 1915 



NO. 19 



ri Itl.I.miKI) WKKKI.V IIV 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



Trlrplionr, Uxfortl tui. 

 \VM. J. STEWART, Kdltor and Umamgar. 



.m'BHCKlrTION RATES: 



Oor Irar, In atlxanrr, fl.OO: To Forelsn CoDntrlea, It.OO; To 



( >nu<la, $IJW. 



ADVKKTISINO RATES: 



Vtt Inch, 30 lfM'h^a to itaur 91.00 



DIsroonlB on ('ontrnrtn fur ronsrcutUr Inrtrrtlonn, tk# folluwn: 



<ftno month <4 tinifw), 5 prr cent.; tlirr« nionttis (IS tlmefi), 10 

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■t liosion, M.'iss., under tbe Act of Congress of Harcb 3, 187B. 



CONTENTS Page 



COVEK ILHSTU.\TK).N- Liliuni ni.vrio|iliylliiiii 

 WINTER DAMAGE TO EVERGREENS— An Eccentric 

 Season, ^y. X. Cniifj — Rhododendrons at Wellesley, 



.Mass.,— 7". D. Hatfii'N 617 



What Rhododendrons Need— Cha«. G. Curtis 618 



NOTES ON CCLTIRE OF FLORISTS' STOCK— Chry- 

 santhemums — Planting Gladioli— Planting Out Carna- 

 tions — Peonies — Stocks for Winter Flowering — Start- 

 ing Cultivation— Joftn J. M. FarrcU 619 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE— W. H. Adsctt 621 



FRIENDS OF THE TRADE 621 



THE FUTURE OF THE IRIS— C. 8. Harrison 621 



HERBACEOUS CALCEOLARIAS 621 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— Gardeners' Union of Lewis- 

 ton and Auburn. Me. — Horticultural Society of New 

 York — Oyster Bay, N. Y., Horticultural Society- 

 Club and Society Notes — Coming Events 622 



OBITUARY— Mrs. Maggie Rhedicen— Prof. Henry S. 



Van Denian — John Zech — Prof. J. F. Cowell, portrait 624 



SEED TRADE 626 



DURING RECESS— A Bowling Trophy for the 1915, 



S. A. F., Convention, Illustrated — New York Bowling 626 

 NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERYWHERE: 



Pittsburgh — Washington 628 



Boston — San Francisco 630 



Chicago 631 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



Flowers by Telegraph — New Flower Stores 629 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York .... 633 



Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington 635 

 MISCELLANEOUS: 



A Tulip Garden, Poetry 621 



Some Arboretum Favorites 623 



Closed Wild Flower Season 624 



Missouri Botanical Garden 625 



Publication Received 626 



Mail Shipments to Canada Refused 626 



Catalogues Received 626 



Visitors' Register 635 



Business Troubles 635 



Personal 641 



News Notes — New Corporations 641 



Patents Granted 641 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated •i42 



The E-xhibition Committee of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Horticultural Society has 

 acted with wise liberality in the arrange- 

 ment of the dates for the impoiiant e.x- 

 hibitions of that society for the year 1916. Wishing 

 to see the National Flower Show in Philadelphia next 

 March a pronounced success and desiring to avoid doing 



A courteous 

 act 



anylliing that iiiijiht divert in tiie least from such suc- 

 cfiiH, the usiml Maicli Spring Exhibition will l)e made 

 n minor alTnir for that year and a big show will be 

 sclu'duled for May iii-xleuil. 'I'liii^ tliougbtful courtesy 

 on tile pari of the leading borticiiltiiral stx-iety of tliis 

 country will no douiit be deeply appntiated by the Na- 

 tional Flower Show Comniittce and their co-workers in 

 I'liiladolpbia. 



\\i lire lather in sympathy with the 

 To save idea.s exjires.sed in the Boston Herald 



the mountain rditnrial which we copy ill thi.s is.«uc, 

 laurel eont'erniiig the proposition to prot-ct 



the inoiintaiii laiin-ls, trailing arbutu- 

 and other coveted wild ll(>werK by declaring a "closed 

 dowel ng sea.son." lint as to the mountain laurel a 

 clo.sed .-iea.son for the llowering |)eriod only would l)c but 

 a trifling protection for that plant and utterly insufli- 

 cient if its practical extermination is to Ix- prevented. 

 By far the larger jvart of the laurel devastation i;; not 

 done for the sake of its bloom but for green wreatli.- 

 and "roping," so-called. The amount of the destruction 

 of liii.>; .<liiiib for the festooning of stores and buildings 

 generally for the holidays and other occasions through- 

 out tlie winter is something beyond belief and yet, after 

 all, no purjiose of ta«te or beauty has been sen'eil. If 

 real protection i.s to be given the mountain laurel it 

 must needs cover 365 days of eaoh year. With the vast 

 and varied amount of greenery which the floristB and 

 nur.servmen are pro]iared to supply nowadays it will br 

 no hardslii)^ for the people if this wholesale despoiling 

 of our finest native shrub should be legally stoppefl. 



Requirements 



of the 

 rhododendron 



The several communications from gen- 

 tlemen of large practical experience in 

 rhodcKlendron culture, which api>ear on 

 tile following pages, as well as the 

 many comments which have come to us 

 verbally, indicate the widespread interest awakened by 

 the notes in our previous issues on the last season's 

 effect upon the evergreen rhododendrons. Since writ- 

 ing our editorial notes last week we iiave seen the rhodo- 

 dendron plantations at the Arnold Arboretum and the 

 havoc there wrought is tndy pitiable. These rhododen- 

 drons are not new and untried varieties, but old estab- 

 lished plants of which many have been growing and 

 thriving for nearly a quarter century and in all respects 

 their location, soil, exposure and care have been ideal 

 according to all accepted axioms as to a rhododendron's 

 requirements. Not all are dead or even blemished and 

 alongside of the worst sufferers may be seen specimens 

 that have come through -without a flaw. Again, one 

 half of a plant may be totally gone while the other half 

 is unscathed. At certain other places in this vicinity 

 where the rhododendrons lack the seeming advantages 

 enjoyed by those in the Ai'nold Arboretum and in the 

 gardens of Professor Sargent, Walter Hunnewell and 

 Bayard Thayer — all of which have suffered severely — 

 the plants have all come through in excellent condition, 

 and one is forced to agree with Mr. Hatfield's frank 

 acknowledgment that there may be something in the 

 contention that our established notion? as to what is 

 essential to the rhododendron's welfare are "a delusion 

 and a snare." We know that the readers of Horticul- 

 ture would be glad to learn more on this perplexing 

 subject which .so vitally concern? every admirer of the 

 broad-leaved evergreens. We .should like to hear from 

 others whose experiences and observations may tend to 

 throw some further light on the causes underlying the 

 jihenomena of thi? abnormal season. 



