80 



horticulture: 



July 28, I'JOG 



HORTICULTURE 



AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL 



DEVOTED TO THE 



FLORIST, PLANTSMAN, LANDSCAPE 



GARDENER AND KINDRED 



INTERESTS 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



II HAMILTON PLACE, BOSTON. MASS. 



Telephon*, Oifotd 292 



VtU. J. ST£IVART, Editor and Manager. 



Our brief account of the sum- 

 Ornamental horticulture mer meeting of the Nebraska 

 in the West State Horticultural Society, 



held at Omaha, as given in this 

 issue, shows that ornamental horticulture and it« ben- 

 eficent influences are well appreciated in the great west- 

 ern country, which we have been disposed hitherto to 

 regard as devoted almost exclusively to agriculture and 

 pomology. The Nebraska society is to be congratulated 

 on its activity in this field. It is a good sign of any com- 

 munity in our busy land when the people find time and 

 dispositon to gratify the aesthetic sentiment by tl;e cul- 

 tivation of the beau'tif\il in nature and the adornment of 

 their homes with flowers. 



Our columns this week contain an- 



The gardener other contribution to the discus- 



and landscape art gion on the gardeners' status in 



relation to landscape art. It is 

 difficult to conceive of a successful landscape artist who 

 does not come to his work with inborn talent. All the 

 technical education, all the garden training in the 

 world, will not make up for the lack of this one indis- 

 pensable attribute. But it is reasonable to presume that 

 the gift is much more likely to be found in the man who 

 is successful as a gardener — successful because imbued 

 with an instinctive love for gardening art and plant 

 life — without which the work of the landscape architect 

 is soulless and unsatisfying. Assuredly, the higher 

 class of gardeners offer the best material from wh^ch to 

 develop the true landscape artist. 



It is pleasant to be able to record a 

 Relief from brown- crreat diminution of bro\\n-tail 

 tail moths moths in the worst infected dis- 



trict — the Middlesex Fells territory 

 to the north of Boston. It was discovered early in the 

 spring that great numbers of the hibernating caterpillars 

 were dead in the nests, and the higli death rate was pre- 

 sumed to be due to the warm weather in .Tannary and 



the subsequent low temperature. The English sparrows 

 are credited with having destroyed many of the eater- 

 pillars during the spring. They did not eat tlie insects 

 entire, but were seen to bite them almost in halves, 

 either for amusement or to obtain some prized tidbit in 

 the body — probably the latter, as they have not been 

 known to molest the gypsy caterpillars. The suffering 

 from brown-tail poisoning has consequently been very 

 little this season, and we are duly grateful for the unex- 

 pected relief. 



Those who read what our British 

 Working for a correspondent has to say in this issue 

 trustworthy upon the important subject of relia- 

 nomenciature bie nomenclature will find tlierein 

 material for thoughtful consideration. 

 The work of constantly following up, inspecting, com- 

 paring, and recording the distinguishing characteristics 

 of ('ommercial varieties and giving full publicity in un- 

 biased manner to the results of their investigations is 

 one of the principal missions of our special societies. 

 To accomplish much of real value, constant familiarity 

 with their subject is a first requisite for those engaged 

 in such work. The maintenance of trial grounds, the 

 visiting and inspecting of stocks planted elsewhere and 

 the compiling of lists means arduous work and much 

 expense continued uninterruptedly for years on the part 

 of those who from constant association have become 

 proficient in recognizing types and keen to detect points 

 of variation in sweet peas, peonies, roses or whatever 

 may be their chosen specialty. We believe that as fast 

 as positive results have been reached in this department 

 of the special societies' work they should bo tabulated 

 and filed with some central custodian, through whose 

 agency a general and systematic dissemination of the 

 knowledge thus accumulated should be made, and 

 whose authority, although suggestive rather than co- 

 ercive, would soon come to be recognized by general eon- 

 sent. How willing those engaged in the introduction 

 of a novelty are to accept such guidance even wlien it 

 entails more or less embarrassment and disappointment 

 to them, is well shown in a number of instances in con- 

 nection with the S. A. F. plant registration department. 

 One of these occurred recently, where a gentleman after 

 having publicly exhibited a handsome new seedling rose 

 as Columbia cheerfully sub.stituted another name when 

 shown that another firm had made a prior application 

 for the use of the name Columbia, although he had not 

 previously even been a member of the national society. 



The Single Purpose 



in the reading columns of this journal is to give 

 intelligent readers the kind of matter which will be of 

 interest and benefit to them. This has been our policy 

 from the start and explains why a new paper has so 

 quickly won a reputation for good advertising results. 

 Every concern has its own way of doing business. 



Our Way 



is to aim constantly to catch the eye and tlie considera- 

 tion of the best men in the trade — those who are buyers 

 of first-class material and who can pay for what they 

 buy. If you have goods to offer to that class of buyers 

 then advertise the fact in HoRTTruLTURE and 



You'll Get There 



