December 1, i90G 



HORTICULTURE 



581 



Grouping of Plants at Exhibitions 



The picture which appeared in your last issue of the 

 first prize group of foliage and flowering plants at 

 Lenox, Mass., was very pleasing. Mr. Heeremans is an 

 artist in his own special way, and deserves praise for his 

 artistic arrangement of this group. Most of us have 

 the habit of putting up groups too flat, and crowded. 

 How beautiful the tall and graceful palms are in the 

 background. If they were set down at the back, level 

 with the other plants, as is so often done when staging 

 groups, the effect would be lost. Most of the plants in 

 this group are shown off to advantage. Just notice 

 hov/ nicely the crotons, pandanuses, etc., look when they 

 are raised up; they show off their individuality. 



Prizes are offered for groups of plants to fill a given 

 space by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. At 

 the exhibitions of this society one would get the im- 

 pression that some of the exhibitors think that the 

 more plants he can get into the given space the better 

 chance he has of winning the prize. This is not the 

 case. He who has the courage to get away from the 

 old way -of building up his group like a wall and will 

 show off his plants to advantage has by far the best 

 chance of securing the prize. 



Tall growing palms and tree ferns and, in fact, any 

 plant with long graceful leaves or fronds ought to 



stand out distinctly above the lower growing plants and 

 show off their beautiful waving leaves. In groups, the 

 finish is always important and if possible the outline 

 should never be straight. We lack originality and ar- 

 tistic ability in our staging and grouping of plants. 



When writing on this subject a word about the table 

 decorations at the last chrysanthemum show in Boston, 

 I hope, will not be out of place. In some ways the 

 table decorations were disappointing. The fine prizes 

 that were offered did not bring out the exhibits that 

 were expected. There was too much sameness about 

 the tables. One would think that the exhibitors, with ' 

 the exception of one, were all taught in the same school. 

 Another impression that one was liable to get was that 

 fine table decorations could not be made without 

 orchids. This is a great mistake; a person with good 

 taste and artistic ability can, with the commonest 

 flowers, make a beautiful table decoration. 



I hope that in another year prizes will be offered for 

 much larger tables and this will give a chance for 

 originality and something quite different from what 

 we saw this vear. 



^{ct/yhc^ZTt^t*^ — 



Fresh Tomatoes for Christmas 



Ripe tomatoes grown under glass, ready for Christ- 

 mas trade or perhaps sooner, is one of the possibilities 

 of a Grand Eapids grower of farm products. This city 

 is far-famed for the acres and acres occupied by growers 

 of flowers, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, etc., 

 under glass, but not until now has any one ever at- 

 tempted or expected to produce ripe tomatoes for trade 

 so early. It is turning a new leaf in local history and 

 well may the venture be watched with deep interest. 

 But there are 5,000 plants already showing prominence, 

 and a continuation of rapid growth. In some of the 

 more advanced plants the tomatoes are the size of an 

 •egg now. The one great difficulty of this early forcing 

 has been to secure pollination in the absence of insects. 

 Bees are used when they can be secured in large enough 

 numbers, but are reserved for cucumbers for it has 

 been found they will not work on tomatoes. With the 

 cukes all that is necessary is to open the house and the 

 busy carriers of pollen get to work from blossom to 

 blossom. 



In order to make the fruit set it was found necessary 

 to go through the houses from flower to flower armed 

 with a camel's hair brush for the purpose of pollinizing 



the stigmas. At first this looked like an impossibility 

 but the job has been conquered and found not so 

 troublesome after all. 



It has also been found necessary to sow seed early 

 and so June and July was selected — the variety chosen 

 for this the first experiment being the Globe. Wlien 

 the plants were two inches high they were reset in rows 

 in the big houses, two feet apart, and are watered freely. 

 They are kept pruned to a single stem, no lateral 

 branches allowed to grow. A net work of wire or cord 

 was soon found necessary to support them. It is now 

 found that much care is necessary as the fruit begins to 

 weigh down on the branches. 



Strong heat is also found necessary and carefully reg- 

 ulated. The night temperature must not fall much 

 below 60 degrees, and this necessitates all-night fires. 



.^s to flavor and quality there is much speculation, 

 yet no one expects a failure. The greenhouse products 

 here have always been fine. 



The first tomatoes heretofore ripened under glass 

 have been in early summer. They brought 20c. a lb. 

 and never went for less than $5 to $7 a bushel. They 

 figure that each plant should return $1.00. The new 

 industry promises to develop rapidly. S. 



