December 29, 1906 



horticulture: 



719 



of properly trained gardeners available for these posi- 

 tions is comparatively few, everybody knows, and it is 

 plain that commercial ostulilishments undertaking to 

 produce the variety and quality of material needed for 

 stocking new private establishments find the supply of 

 comiDetent men equally inadequate. The most obvious 

 duty of our florist's clubs is to awake to a realization 

 of the truth that, however pleasant and desirable social 

 diversions may be. yet their first and most important 

 function is to uplift their profession and educate their 

 members on every line which makes for their material 

 welfare. The future will pay liberally for the product. 



Calanthes at Whitinsvilk; Mass. 



The ealanthe as a Christmas decorative plant is un- 

 surpassed and it is surprising how few grow them ; the 

 w-riter is charmed so much by them that he makes a 

 trip annually to the greenliouscs of Mr. Geo. M. Whitin 

 of Whitinsville, Mass., about a week before Ciiristmas, 

 for at this season the accomplished gardener there — 

 George McWilliam — makes it a point to have them in 

 full bloom. On this day (Dec. 23) I saw over twenty 

 thousand blooms of this splendid, brilliant orchid, ar- 

 tistically displayed so as to bring different gradations of 

 pink to blend and harmonize with the white varieties, 

 the whole having backgrounds of choice palms or ferns. 

 Eight varieties are now in bloom ranging in color from 

 white, through different shades and tones of pink, to a 

 deep. rich tint of carmine red. the flowers on arching 

 stems, some of wdiich are four feet six inches long and 

 bearing thirty-six full ojien flowers, with more buds to 

 open out. Mr. McWilliam arranges them in the green- 

 house at this season for exhibition, cutting from them 

 as they are required for house decorations. 



Two exceptionally fine seedlings are now in bloom ; 

 one is pure white, except a small tinge of lemon yel- 

 low in the tliroat: it is unnamed as yet but will un- 

 doubtedly make a record for among the many thousands 

 of bloom on view this hybrid stands out pre-eminent ; 

 compact in form, large in size, of thick substantial tex- 

 ture which seems to make it a purer white than any of 

 its predecessors. It has never been exhibited publicly. 



Providence. , E. I. 



A Great Meeting 



THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MINNESOTA HOK- 

 TICULTURAI. SOCIETY 



This is the largest if not the best in the land. Over 

 2,000 members now, and they expect 2,500 before 1907 

 closes. It is great, because it has a splendid secretary. 

 Mr. Latham is an organizer. He attends to every detail 

 and is always quietly pushing things and they always 

 go. The president. Clarence Wedge, one of the leading 

 horticulturists of the West, was moderator, and he pre- 

 sented an excellent address. He was followed by the 

 writer Avho spoke of our "unused capital." His lecture 

 was illustrated with tree? and plants showing the possi- 

 bilities of farm and home improvement. He said the 

 trip of the farmer over his land was often a tramp over 

 an unknown land. His advice was. "Get acquainted 

 with your farm." 



The first session was enlivened by tlie presence of 

 several hundred students from the Agricultural college. 



The advance made in that north land is something 



wonderful. In '57 the writer began life for himself on 

 (lie frontiers of the state, and we no more thought of 

 raising apples than oranges. This year the exhibition 

 of apples was equal to anytiiing any state could pro- 

 duce. All along it has been a liglit with Old Boreas. 

 At first eastern fruit trees were planted — all died. Next 

 ironclads were used, but the undor[)iuning was knocked 

 out. The roots were not liardy. Now they use iron- 

 clad roots and scions, and have moved tlie fruit belt into 

 Manitoba. 



Wednesday afternoon was given to the ladies'- aux- 

 iliary, and they made it lively. Thursday afternoon 

 was given to the State Forestry Society and they had a 

 very interesting meeting. 'J'lie professors of the state 

 college aided. Many leading horticulturists from other 

 states were present. Thursday night was memorable 

 for the great banquet where no wine flowed, but plenty 

 of wit and wisdom. The writer was called on for the 

 closing to draw pictures and incidents from the halls 

 of memory. Altogether it was a memorable meeting 

 and marks an epoch in the advance of horticulture 

 along all lines. More attention than usual was paid 

 to farm ornamentation and making home pleasant. 



York, Neh. 



(^{JU^ 



-vlWi 



A Remarkable Sport and Its 

 Possible Origin 



I send you today l)y uiail two llowers of a sport from 

 rose Souvenir of Wootton. The flowers just now are 

 much darker than they are in the summer, or fall. The 

 sport originated with a workman who took some Woot- 

 ton plants along, as they were thrown out from the 

 bench and planted them in his garden, and one of them 

 produced a shoot that produced this flower. It appar- 

 ently proves hardy as the plant has been in the open 

 ground for two or three years and has retained its ever- 

 blooming qualities. The color is exactly like Louise 

 \an Houtlf! through the summer and in the fall, but 

 in winter it is darker. As Louise Van Houtte was the 

 l)ollen bearer of the Souvenir of Wootten this rose has 

 sported back to the one the pollen was taken from 

 seventeen years ago. 



I also send you tw^o pink sports from the Enchantress 

 carnation, and most beautiful they are. 



In regard to the white JIaman Cochet ; on a single 

 branch of the Pink Cochet appeared one, producing 

 white flowers. In order to find out if every cutting of 

 this branch produced white flowers, I numbered each 

 cutting. Between the second and third cutting I 

 found an incision made in the stem very likely by an 

 insect, which apiiarenlly erupted the cells. The two 

 cuttings above this incision produced wliite roses while 

 the lower cuttings still produced the original pink. At 

 the time of making the cuttings I didn't think anything 

 about this incision, but about a year afterwards I read 

 an article from a German professor, and amongst other 

 things he said that "sports are sometimes produced by 

 insects making incision in the stem," which I am in- 

 clined to believe is so. 



Baltimoii , Md. 



