694 



H R T I C U L T TJ E E 



November 27, 1915 



HORTIC ULTURIL 



VOL. XXII NOVEMBER 27, 1915 NO. 22 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 14'7 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Oxford 292. 

 WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager. 



Entered as second-class matter December 8, 1914, at the Post Office 

 at Boston, Mass., under the A ct of Congresg of March 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS P^e 



COVER ILLUSTRATION— Aquatic Pool and Fountain 



NOTES ON CULTURE OF FLORISTS' STOCK— Be- 

 gonia Gloire de Lorraine — Cliristmas Trade Sugges- 

 tions — Cyclamen — Poinsettlas — Sowing Fern Spores 

 — Propagating Vlncas — Jofm J. M. Farrell 693 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS— Fungine— Gladioli 

 Among Roses — Earlj' Propagation — Selection of 

 Wood — Arthur C. Ruzicka 695 



NEPHROLEPIS EXALTATA BOSTONIENSIS— i?. G. 

 Benedict 696 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club of Boston — Meetings Next Week — Lancaster 

 County Florists' Club — Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America — Park Institute of New England — St. Louis 

 Florist Club— Club and Society Notes 697-698-699 



THE EXHIBITION S— Cleveland Show— Illustra- 

 tions — Hartford— Providence, R. 1 697-698-699 



ARDISIA— C. E. Wildon 700 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE— W. H. Adsett 700 



SOME CHOICE GARDEN SUBJECTS 700 



SEED TRADE— Beans Kiting— Vine Seed Shortages— 

 The Sweet Corn Situation — Canners' Convention.... 702 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



New Flower Stores — Flowers by Telegraph 704-705 



DURING RECESS— Boston Florists' Bowling Club 704 



NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERYWHERE: 



Chicago, Washington 706 



Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco 707 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS — Boston, Buffalo, 



Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh 709 



San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington 711 



OBITUARY— John Sharkey— Robert Aull— Carl Wal- 

 decker — Augustus E. Scott 717 



MISCELLANEOUS— Ode to the Dahlia 696 



Visitors' Register 699 



An Aquatic Pool — Mildew on Outdoor Roses 700 



Catalogues Received — New Corporations 702 



News Notes 704-718 



A Prosperous Clevelanl Establishment 716 



Personal — At It Again 716 



Publications Received 717 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 718 



Tlie .subject of the origin of the so- 

 Origin called "Bo.?ton fern" recently opened 



of the Boston ^p by HoiiTicuLTUKE in questioning 

 ^ern some of the evidence feathered for the 



records of the Brooklyn Botanic Gar- 

 den, has been taken up in the columns of one of our con- 

 temijoraries. So far as we know there is no proof that 

 the Boston fern was the first "variation from type," if in- 

 deed, any authentic type has ever been located. At the 

 time of the agitation twenty years ago which resulted 

 in the general adoption of the name "Bostoniensis" for 

 the graceful form of Nephrolepis e.xaltata generally 

 grown about Boston for many years previous, we ob- 

 tained permission to examine the specimens in the her- 

 barium of the late Asa Gray at Harvard Botanic Gai- 

 den. Very many variant forms — arching, stiff, wide, 

 narrow, etc., gathered from various sources, were there 

 found simply under the name of Nephrolepis exaltata. 

 The inference we drew at that time was that the "Bos- 

 ton variety" was but one of the many forms in which 

 this widely distributed fern had been found in nature 

 and we have seen no reason since to change our opinion. 

 As to which one of the various forms collected was the 

 original "type" and which are the "sports", perhaps 

 something reliable mav vet be uncovered but "I hae my 

 doots." 



We learn from the Consular and 

 Commercial Trade Eeports issued by the Depart- 

 unpreparedness ment of Commerce that American 

 glass manufacturers, who have hith- 

 erto felt the necessity of depending upon foreign clays, 

 will be able hereafter to assert their independence of 

 foreign material, as a result of experiments that have 

 been conducted in the Pittsburgh laboratory of the U. 

 S. Bureau of Standards, where it has now been proven 

 . that American clays are superior to German plastic 

 clays for the preparation of glass refractories. The 

 opinion of those in charge of the experiments is that 

 from now on no foreign clays will be needed in this 

 branch of manufacture and the benefit to American in- 

 dustry will be consequently veiy great. We are further 

 advised that Americans have at last succeeded in solv- 

 ing the secret of an extremely fine quality of steel, for 

 a supply of which our manufacturers have been forced 

 hitherto to depend on the Krupp works in Europe. It has 

 been truly said that"Hunger is the teacher of the arts and 

 the bestower of invention" and this proverb holds partic- 

 ularly true now in many lines of industry, more or less 

 deranged by the gigantic convulsion which has over- 

 whelmed their accustomed foreign sources of supply. 

 It is hardly becoming that so many of our industrial 

 activities are thus almost prostrated from unprepared- 

 ness, our "captains of industry" having waited until 

 forced by hunger before they would bestir themselves to 

 look about for and bring to the front our home re- 

 sources. We have in mind also the potash problem, an 

 attempt at solution of which has been actually forced 

 upon us, and which, we doubt not, will yet be success- 

 ful, should the present famine continue. 



As is well known, plant products came very 



Looking near sharing the fate of the potash and the 



ahead day and there was much jubilation among 



the plant and flower trade when it was 

 learned that azaleas and other floricultural products 

 would be received from Europe this fall as usual and 

 that our growers would not be compelled to devise ways 

 and means for supplying the Christmas and Easter de- 

 mand with the products of home industry exclusively. 

 Yet, it is not at all certain that it would not have been 

 a "blessing in disguise" had the threatened famine be- 

 come a fact and our commercial horticulturists obliged 

 to sharpen up their inventive wits accordingly. We 

 should like to see the question of the possibilities of suc- 

 cessful competition with foreign-grown plants and bulbs 

 given a real test. Why not incorporate in the advance 

 schedules of our big public exhibitions a set of substan- 

 tial prizes for home-grown plants, and flowers from 

 home-grown bulbs of varieties not hitherto produced 

 commercially in this couuntry? The Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, we understand, has in contempla- 

 tion a plan for issuing its prize schedules two or three 

 years in advance and it is probable that the promoters 

 of important shows elsewhere will yet find it desirable to 

 adopt similar methods in order to keep up with the ad- 

 vancing standards of quality. A period of three years 

 for preparation and an adequate prize in sight should 

 be a sufficient inducement to systematic effort, and in 

 the hands of a competent advertising expert would prove 

 a most effective publicity asset for any large flower show. 

 President Welch brought this timely subject before the 

 Society of American Florists in a very practical manner 

 in his address before that body at San Francisco last 

 August and we hope that the committee appointed as a 

 result of the Society's approval will act promptly and 

 decisively. The active cooperation of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry with this committee should not be diflS- 

 cult to secure. There will never be a more propitious 

 time than the present for making a beginning. 



