December 22, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



70i» 



ROSE HOUSE WISDOM. 



In my previous notes I mentioned 

 the retarding of roses. A senlleman 

 called me up today and asked me what 

 I meant. I thought I wrote the article 

 plain enough so that anyone could un- 

 derstand it. I will give a case in 

 point. Some years ago 1 was invited 

 by a friend to go and see a house of 

 roses. It was, I think, about the mid- 

 dle of December, the thermometer out- 

 side registering zero or under. The 

 roses in question were one-year-old. 

 grafted stock. When I went into the 

 house the temperature (about midday) 

 was 45 degrees with about three inches 

 of ventilation on, and the wind com- 

 ing through the ventilators gently 

 swaying the big stems: such roses, 

 such stems, and what magnificent 

 foliage! I never have in all my ex- 

 perience seen such a sight except per- 

 haps in a house of strong growing hy- 

 brids; not a spot of mildew, and on 

 the beds was about three inches thick 

 of fresh cow manure. I was at a loss 

 to understand or come to any reason- 

 ing as to how this thing should be; 

 under such conditions any ordinary 

 plants would have been either covered 

 with mildew or dead. I came away 

 feeling that all the care and petting 

 we were giving those here were of no 

 avail and that I knew nothing aljout 

 the business. The crop came in at 

 Christmas as expected but after that 

 they took a rest and went to pieces. 

 I heard afterward that nothing was 

 got from them until late the follow- 

 ing spring. The Manetti naturally 

 rests in autumn and when gi-own in- 

 side has to be kept hustling; any 

 check it may get during those months 

 may be detrimental through the best 

 paying months of the year. This isn't 

 meant for the experts but for some of 

 the innocent lambs. 



I would wager that very few grow- 

 ers who read the article on the carna- 

 tion diet of Dec. 8 issue, knew what it 

 meant. Some of our writers give fig- 

 ures and terms that very few of us 

 poor growers know anything about, 

 and I think the practical grower says 

 what he has to say in terms that any 

 one can understand {I hope Watson 

 will not plunge in here). We are told 

 that figures don't lie, but figures can 

 be made and terms used that only 

 those trained in chemistry can un- 

 derstand, and very few of our florists 

 today are up in that science. Chem- 

 ists tell us that the strawberry is aO 

 per cent, water, but we would much 

 rather eat the former than drink the 

 latter if the choice were to be given 

 us; then again we are told that human 

 beings are largely composed of water. 

 Then man thinks he must have a 

 variety, steak, potatoes, pie (lots of 

 that) with probably breakfast foods 

 thrown in. 



"Pom- devil I see bim unre liis tr&sli 

 As ferklpss as a witbei M rash 

 His spindle shank a suid whip-lash 



His neivc a nit; 

 Thro' bloody flood or flpid to dash. 



O how iMilit! 



"But mark the rustic, haggis-fed. 

 The (reml)linK earth resounds Its tri-nd. 

 Clap in his walie riove a blade. 



He'll mak it whissle; 

 An' legs, an' arms, an' heads Vi-.. .-1 



Like taps o' thrissle." 



A spade is a spade even if the 

 handles are sometimes different. 



previous issue of your paper by George 

 Watson : 



"O. how that name Insjiires my style! 

 The words eonie skelpin' rank and tile 

 Amalst before 1 ken!" 



Everyone l;nows George Watson and 

 he in turn knows everyone. Genial, 

 witty, a friend to all mankind, and a 

 polished after-dinner speaker, but to 

 get at one he tries Jim Corbett's 

 style, does a lot of side-stepping and 

 finally lands a gentle tap. George, 



■■I'm ) hrt'r times doubly o'er your debtor. 

 I-'or your auld-farreut frleu'ly letter, 

 Tbo' I maun say"I. I tloubt ye Hatter. 

 Ye speak sae fair." 



I don't like to cross words with 

 George; it would be like a mosquito 

 against the Pyramids ot Egyi)t and I 

 would be the tornu r. 



1 lutve no desire to enter into the 

 lontroversy over Hurbank, but it is a 

 good thing we cannot alt see tlirough 

 the same glasses. I am ir.fornied that 

 .\ndrew Carnegie gave Burbanlv 

 .JlOO.omi to be paid in yearly payments 

 of $10,(1(1(1 and he gave it without a 

 siring iittaclied. Andy never did such 

 a thing before. A man who can get, 

 that out of a Scotchman must be even 

 more than a geniu?:'. I would respect- 

 fully ask friend Watson to read the 

 2d and 3d verses of Burn's Address to 

 the I'nco Guid, and Mr. O'Mara the 

 1st, 7tli and Xlh of the same. Merry 

 Christmas. 



R. T. McGORUM. 



I see I am called to account in a 



CALIFORNIA NOTES. 



The Pajaro Valley Orchardists' Asso- 

 ciation has by unanimous vote decided 

 to ask the supervisors of Monterey and 

 Santa Cruz counties to appoint jointly 

 W. H. Voick to act as entomologist for 

 the two counties and that they ap- 

 propriate $1000 each annually to pay 

 his salary and maintain a laboratory. 

 In taking this step the Orchardists' 

 Association will have the sanction and 

 aid of the Pajaro Valley Board of 

 Trade and a great many of the tax- 

 payers, who realize how vital to this 

 great industry is the control of the 

 codling moth. Heretofore the super- 

 visors have been very liberal in ap- 

 propriations for the fostering of the 

 apple business. The number of car- 

 loads of apples shipped this year 

 from this important fruit raising sec- 

 tion is fully 500 short of the number 

 sent forward up to the corresponding 

 date last year. 



N. E. Hansen, explorer for the De- 

 partment of Agrii^ulture at Washington 

 has arrived at San Francisco from a 

 tour of the world in search of plants 

 and trees that would be of economic 

 value to the peoi)le of the United 

 Slates, In an interview he said; "My 

 trip was eminently successful, but I 

 must first make my official report to 

 Secretary Wilson before talking of it 

 to correspondents. However, it may 

 not be too much for me to say that on 

 leaving Washington July 17th last I 

 went direct to England, and thence to 

 Lapland, Norway and Sweden. Finland 

 and across Russia and Siberia to 

 Vladivostock. and from there to Japan 

 and to San Francisco. I found many 

 rare plants, and some that are entirely 

 new to the United States. Some of 

 them will be of particular value to 

 plant and trie grov.'ers in the north- 

 west. Oi;c great trouble in the west 

 has been to grow plants in what used 

 to be known as the desert sections, and 

 some of the plants which I found will. 



I believe, thrive there, thus decreasing 

 the area, of the desert, and at the same 

 lime afford food for livestock, upon 

 which man depends in large measure 

 for his success in that portion of the 

 country." A species ot cherry that is 

 expected to thrive well In the most 

 northerly latitudes is one of the Amis 

 Hansen brings back to this country. 



The Watsonville (Cal.) Register 

 says- "The Horticultural Commis- 

 sion is about to make a departure in 

 the method of fighting the pear blight. 

 They have sent to Professor 0)mpere 

 of the Horticultural Department of the 

 State University, now on an entomolo- 

 gical investigation tour in China, for 

 seeds of the wild pear that thrives in 

 that country. When the seeds arrive 

 they will be grown and the local fruit 

 grafted on the stock. It is thought 

 that the hardy nature of the China 

 pear will resist the Inroads of the 

 blight. It Is hoped that these experi- 

 ments will prove successful in keep- 

 ing the blight from getting a hold on 

 the roots of the tree. Where the 

 blight has infested the upper branches 

 it can be fought, but after it reaches 

 the roots there is no hope for the 

 tree." 



Within the week the schooner Acad- 

 emy hearing a party of scientists 

 which has spent seventeen months on 

 the Galapagos Islands, sent thither by 

 the California Academy of Sciences, 

 returned. Among the 75.000 rare 

 specimens collected by the party, 

 which will, in a measure, replace the 

 one destroyed by fire on April 18. 

 there are ten thousand specimens of 

 plants collected by the botanists and 

 herbitologists of the party. During the 

 homeward trip the classification of 

 these sundry specimens was com- 

 menced and will be finished directly. 



It would require space sufficient to 

 Tiiention each one of the several scores 

 of growers on both sides of San Fran- 

 cisco bay were I to here record the 

 names of all who this week met with 

 losses, severe and medium, by an un- 

 precedented storm of wind and rain 

 whose severity caused an estimated 

 million dollar loss in San Francisco's 

 center of temixjrarily built shacks. The 

 roof-lifting storm. ' ot tornado-like 

 fierceness, burst suddenly upon the 

 city in the early evening of December 

 !» and continued throughout the entire 

 succeeding day. and all along the 

 peninsular trees and buildings were 

 blown over. And. as indicated, the 

 trade was not overlooked by the wild 

 flight of the hundred-miles-an-hour 

 storm, as many n'lrsery trees were up- 

 rooted, many greenhouses dismantled, 

 and a very great deal of glass broken. 



At the wedding of Miss Edna Wick- 

 son, daughter of Prof. Wickson of the 

 University of California, at her home 

 in Berkeley, the decorations were by 

 Fred Seulberger of Oakland. 



FLORISTS'WAGONSFORSALE 



Three florists' open waRons, 

 three florists' top wagons and 

 three set-s of harnesses. Can be 

 seen at 1 West 28 St.. New York. 



EDWARD HICCINS. 



Look through the Buyers' Directory 

 and Ready Reference Guide. You 

 will find some good offers there also. 



