312 



HORTICULTURE 



September 22, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL 

 DEVOTED TO THE 



FLORIST, PLANTSMAN, LANDSCAPE 



GARDENER AND KINDRED 



INTERESTS 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 



II HAMILTON PLACE, BOSTON, MASS. 



T«r«ph«n«, Oxford 292 



WM. J. STEWART. Editor and Manager. 



The use of bay trees, box liushes, 

 The demand anr] little conifers, for tlie winter 

 for hardy winter adornment of the porches, halls 

 greenery and dining rooms of hotel? and 



club houses is making great head- 

 way of late and undoubtedly a large business will be 

 done in such material the coming winter by those 

 dealers who are far-sighted enough to provide them- 

 selves with the goods. Delicate palms and fern? reared 

 under glass are not fitted for the rigors of such u?e, and 

 the artificially luade-up affairs which many managers 

 of places of public resort have been constrained to use 

 are an abomination which the florist trade can and 

 should drive into obscurity by providing live material 

 which shall satisfy the universal longing for fresh 

 greenery in the wintry days and have the necessary 

 toughness to resist the trying exposure. HonTtcui,- 

 tdee's advertisers can supply the right goods. 



The outcome of a recent investigation 



Soil and analysis to determine the virtues of 



adaptability {\iq ingredients of special rose soils, as 



mentioned in this week's notes on Brit- 

 ish Horticulture, will impress rose growers here and 

 will, no doubt, be endorsed by most practical growers 

 who have made a study of this interesting suliject. We 

 recall some rather sensational experiments along this 

 line, made somewhere about twenty years ago in which 

 certain ambitious growers of roses for the Xew York 

 market figured, quantities of soil being secured for 

 test from Nyack where the notable success in the grow- 

 ing of La France roses was attributed to some subtle 

 properties of the soil ingredients. However, as with 

 some other experiments elsewhere of a similar nature, 

 but on a smaller scale, the net results forced the same 

 conclusions as our British friends seem to have reached, 

 i. e., that the mechanical condition of the soil is as 

 important a factor as its chemical ingredients and that 

 thoroiigh cultivation counts for as much as anvthins 



else, and the i^yack growers who had been somewhat 

 apprehensive that their supremacy might be wrested 

 from them, soon regained their peace of mind. 



Within the past few weeks many of 

 Why are the (1,^ daily papers have contained ref- 

 seedsmen ereuces to the publication by the 

 singled out? Department of Agriculture of the 

 names of seedsmen selling impure 

 grass seeds. One might easily infer from their remarks 

 that grass seeds constituted the seed business. This 

 suggests the query : Why should grass seeds alone be 

 under the law? There is impure wheat, oats, barley, 

 rye, to say nothing of the great variety of garden seeds. 

 But why does the law apply to seeds alone? How 

 about impure or adulterated food products? Is what 

 the people eat. what affects their health and lives, 

 less important than a few weeds in seeds? If the 

 Government would get samples of all food products, 

 analyze them and publish the names of all who sell 

 impure or adulterated goods, it would appear con- 

 sistent. It has been remarked that this anxiety to pro- 

 tect the farmers smacks more of politics than honest 

 regard for his interests and it seems to be a fairly cor- 

 rect diagnosis of the case. There is no desire to excuse 

 or palliate the offense of selling impure seeds, but the 

 seedsmen have too long been treated by Congres- as a 

 political footljall, while they are entitled to the same 

 consideration as other business men. 



We find ourselves in full accord with 



The use ti,e sentiment expressed by a corre- 



of flowers spondent of HORTICULTURE recently, 



at funerals that floral tributes sent to a house where 



death has entered are or should be 

 intended to help ligiiten the sufferings of those who are 

 bereaved and not for the purpose of making things look 

 more funeral-like. We realize that anyone who assails 

 the long-establislied custom of sending floral tokens to 

 funerals treads on dangerous ground, for this end of 

 the flower business is the principal support of many a 

 worthy small florist in every section of the country and 

 the interests of such should be jealously guarded. But 

 we cannot overlook the fact that many people of sensi- 

 tive temperament, who would otherwise be liberal flower 

 buyers, have acquired a deep-seated aversion for cer- 

 tain florists' flowers, especially those that are fragrant, 

 through having come into frequent contact with them on 

 funeral occasions. Knowing this, it is a question 

 whether if flowers were entirely disassociated from these 

 sad and depressing events their more general use for 

 other purposes might not be increased to an extent that 

 would more than offset the shrinkage. This is, of 

 course, an impossibility, but we may consider whether 

 it is not possible to so reform the custom that the floral 

 tribute may be looked upon more as a message of cheer 

 to the living than a memorial to the dead. A first step 

 in this direction would be to eliminate the flora) clock 

 with hands pointing to the fatal hour, and any and all 

 other forms of the "gone but not forgotten" type and 

 endeavor to educate the public to the idea of .sending 

 flowers to bereaved homes just as they are sent on 

 occasions of joy — as an evidence of tender fellow-feel- 

 ing and affection rather than as emblems of lamen- 

 tation. 



