August 18, 1906 



HORTICUl^TURi; 



155 



Random Reflections and Reminiscenes 



BY UNCLE JOHN THORPE. 



The Society of American Florists has broadened out, 

 not as rapidly as its sj^onsors thought and hoped for, 

 but it has and is broadening .Tlie Horticultural So- 

 ciety of America is the title it ought to bear, but at the 

 time of its birth it was feared by some that it might die 

 under the burden of such a name. It was intended to 

 make it so in fact, if not in name, and I hope in a few 

 years it will be so thoroughly developed in every 

 branch that the Horticultural Society of America will 

 be no misnomer. 



The one great disappointment is that we are yet 

 waiting for a permanent home where an experimental 

 garden shall be maintained, where everything practical 

 for the best interest of the society can be developed. It 

 is a burning question as much as it was in 1885. Let 

 the matter be rekindled. I feel it in my bone^^ that 

 with the brilliant members the society has in Wathing- 

 ton city that the time has come when they will insist 

 on having a home there. Since 1885 the mother has 

 brought forth several children, the Chrysanthemum, 

 the Carnation, the Eose, and the Peony societies, all of 

 which are healthy and doing well, and have materially 

 strengthened the parent instead of weakening it, as a 

 few have imagined. Wliether there are to be any more 

 children remains to be seen. I believe a Phlox society 

 would be one that would become extremely populat and 

 self-supporting. There is no more beautiful summer 

 flowering plant — coming as it does at convention time. 

 More remains to be said on this subject. Four children 

 is a pretty good-sized family. In fact there is proof 

 that there is no race suicide in the S. A. F. family. 



In 1885 there were no trade papers, no Forists' Clubs 

 or Gardeners' Associations and only a few Horticul- 

 tural Societies. Today nearly every city has a live and 

 progressive Florists' Club, and there are many Garden- 

 ers' Associations, composed of men who care for and do 

 fill the whole gamut of horticulture. There are no 

 fruits, flowers, or vegetables but what they are capable 

 of turning out in perfection, — and they do it. At the 

 present time nearly all our thorough gardeners have 

 received their education in Europe. 



The making of gardeners is one of the most problem- 

 atical questions which we have to face today, and I be- 

 lieve, the Society should take cognizance of it. They 

 must be had and probabl}' they may be had, but where 

 are they to come from, except from European sources? 

 I mean gardeners capable of caring for everything that 

 belongs to a garden — whether indoors or out; grrden- 

 ers who can properly grow fruit, flowers and vegeta- 

 bles ; gardeners who can construct and improve grounds 

 as they should be. These men are not to be found 

 among the manipulators who week in and week out pot 

 ten tJiousand a day of carnations, geraniums or coleuses 

 — an accomplishment which, however, reflects to their 

 ability: but they are not gardeners. I cannot leave 



this subject without referring to the quickly-made 

 (wliether by mail or by the office route via elevator to 

 the 13th floor) of the so-called landscape artists and 

 horticultural engineers. I see many trotting around 

 with a roll of blue prints or other color plans under 

 their arms and on whose faces there is yet scarcely a 

 sign of tile necessity of eitlier scissors or razor. A 

 goodly number of these talk grades, curves, filling, 

 Berl)eris Tliuuborgii, hardy hydrangea, Carolina pop- 

 lar, with the ease of a megaphone. May be scoa they 

 will fade away. When one reads a course of landscape 

 engineering complete by mail in three months it's no 

 wonder the crop is !)ig! What next and what next? 



The trade papers have supported and have in turn 

 been equally well supported in their efforts to conserve 

 the l^est interests of all concerned. They are becoming 

 each year of greater importance and in style moie dig- 

 nified. The time has passed when we need be told that 

 somebody's pigeon in flying over the greenhouse had 

 smudged the glass. For the amateur such able papers 

 as Country Life and others are doing good work in their 

 broad paths. We still lack and need an every week 

 artisans' pajjer that shall reach the city and inter- 

 urban amateur. The lay press has also done much for 

 the development of the business in every line, more 

 especially such papers as the Chicago Tribune, that has 

 special articles written for its clientele. Specially pre- 

 pared articles for each locality serve a much better 

 purpose than pre-digested ones from a central bureau, 

 and everybody should become sufficiently interested in 

 his own newspaper to send seasonable articles for the 

 benefit of its garden-loving readers. 



In greenhouse construction how decided the change 

 is since Dayton, 1885, can only be realized by thosP who 

 were at the prow then and fortunately and happily are 

 yet with us. ^^^len greenhouses were built IS feet, then 

 21 feet, then 24 feet wide and over 100 feet in length — 

 why, that was thought nearly perfection. Then the 

 heating had to be reinforced in the center of the house 

 by extra parallel lengths of pipe so as to insure \ com- 

 paratively even temperature. Then houses 150 feet in 

 length were ventured, afterwards 200 feet, and today 

 700 feet is not considered the limit. In 1885 the cor- 

 rect house for roses was long roof to the south, with a 

 short one to the north; now, equal spans of 40 feet in 

 width and even wider are in existence, with correspond- 

 ingly high ridge poles, besides the short span> with 

 their iron gaitters, supported on slight columns with the 

 least possible obstruction to light. Some of these short- 

 span houses are 100 feet or more wide and the length is 

 determined only by the space which is available. 



In 1881, in the old Republican Hall at 33rd street 

 and Broadway, New York, when the business of winter 

 forcing was entering into rapid development, T said 

 "Light, light, light" was the most necessary attribute 



