846 



HORTICULTURE 



December 25, 1915 



HORTICULTURE. 



VOL XXII DECEMBER 25, 191S NO. 26 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Oxford 29a. 

 WM. J. STEWART, Editor and Manager. 



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

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



CONTENTS Page 



COVER ILLUSTRATION— Victoria Regia Tank 



NOTES ON CULTURE OP FLORISTS' STOCK— Cin- 

 erarias — Cyclamen — Chrysantliemum Stock Plants — 

 Lilies for Easter — Violets — Verbenas — Clematis 

 Jackmanii — Poinsettias Wilting 843 



A SUBSTITUTE FOR POTASSIUM SYANIDE— C. E. 

 Wildon 844 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS— Work after Christ- 

 mas — Marking Poor Plants — Making Cuttings — Ar- 

 thur C. Ruziclta 845 



BRASSAVOLA NODOSA— Illustrated 847 



PHLOX SYLPHIDE— Illustrated 848 



OBITUARY— Leonard G. Townsend— Alfred C. Smith- 

 Henry Blume — Christian Muno 848 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES— American Sweet Pea Socie- 

 ty — Meetings Next Week — National Association of 

 Gardeners — American Carnation Society — American 



Rose Society 849 



Lancaster County Florists' Club — American Associa- 

 tion of Nurserymen — Pacific Coast Horticultural So- 

 ciety — Gardeners' and Florists' Club of Boston, James 

 Methven, portrait — Westchester and Fairfield Horti- 

 cultural Society — Society of American Florists. . .850-851 

 Club and Society Notes , 848 



SEED TRADE}— "Honest Dealers"- G. C. Watson- 

 White Clover Seed— Notes 851 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



New Flower Stores — Flowers by Telegraph 852-853 



NEWS ITEMS PROM EVERYWHERE: 



New York, Washington, Pittsburgh, Boston, Chi- 

 cago 854-855 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York 857 



Pittsburgh, San Francisco, St. Louis 859 



Washington 863 



BOILER RATINGS AND CAPACITIES— Fred J. Elder 864 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



Christmas Glory at Rutherford 847 



News Notes 847 



Free Lectures on Horticulture 848 



Catalogues Received 851 



Visitors' Register 859 



Greenhouses Building or Contempated. . . .' 866 



■ So far as we have lieen privileged to learn. 



Optimism a genuine revival of prosperity is now 

 eoufidently looked for by the entire florist 

 tmde of the country, who find cheering promise and 

 assurance in tiie volume and quality of the advance holi- 

 day business. M'e realize that there will be no»kime to 

 spare for the reading of this week's trade papers until 

 Christmas has passed into history and its results, for 

 better or for worse, all known beyond any speculation, 

 consequently, expectations and forecasts have no useful 

 place in these lines. All we can say is that we most 

 eagerly hope. that the optimism which is unmistakably 

 evident on all sides at the time of this writing may prove 

 to have been fully justified. 



We are pleased to see that the landscajjc 

 A golden gardening classes for this season, con- 

 opportunity (lueted by the Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club of Boston, are nicely filled uj) with 



young men desirous of perfecting themselves in this very 

 important branch of horticultural art. Earlier in the 

 season the success of the coitrse seemed somewhat ^in 

 doubt. Its abandonment, on account of waning interest, 

 would be a great pity and far from creditable to the 

 aspirations of the large proportion of young gardeners 

 whieh goes to make up the nearly five hundred members 

 of the Boston club. In opportunity for honors and 

 emolument, landscape gardening in America stands to- 

 day far ahead of all other branches of liorticulture, and 

 there need be no fear of overcrowding. 



It was stated by one of the speakers at 

 Seems im- the recent convention of gardeners in 

 probable Boston that the rather small attendance 

 of members from jjlaces outside of the 

 immediate environments of Boston was due to the fail- 

 ure to incorporate more recreation, such as bowling, etc., 

 in the regular program. This does not seem a valid ex- 

 planation. There are a number of other reasons that 

 might be offered, as being more likely and at the same 

 time more to the credit of the gentlemen who make up 

 the membership of the association. Tliat any gardener 

 worthy of the name would absent himself from a gather- 

 ing 'of his fellows in such a centre of progressive horti- 

 culture as Boston is acknowledged to be, for no other 

 reason than that no bowling had been promised, seems 

 quite preposterous and we should be sorry to have to 

 believe it tnie. 



Comment has been heard in gardener 



To enlist circles upon the comparatively greater 



all Interests prominence of the commerical floricul- 



tural element in the leading flower 

 shows, of late. The fact that the trade firms are thus 

 in the ascendant is used as an incentive to spur the 

 private gardeners on to a greater interest and activity 

 in this direction. While we have never found ourselves 

 quite in sympathy with any movement tending to array 

 the private gardening people against the commercial 

 section, yet there can be no harm ]>ut much good to come 

 from an amicably emulation lictween these two classes 

 on the exhibition tables and if a further segregation of 

 the prizes offered in the schedules will help to strengthen 

 any exhibition, let this be done. It was not so long ago 

 that frequent complaints were being made by the trade 

 people that it was unfair to expect them to compete 

 against private exhibitors with unlimited time and 

 money at their dispo.sal, but now the situation appears 

 to be reversed, as it is the private gardener who asks 

 protection in the majority of cases. We believe that the 

 best interests of horticulture might be better served by 

 giving as far as possible, distinct departments to each 

 of the two classes of exhibitors than by simply duplicat- 

 ing the premiums as -has been done in some instances 

 recently. The private gardener has exceptional facili- 

 ties for acquiring and testing out new things. In fact, 

 quite a few of our finest commercial plant and cut flower 

 favorites had their first exploitation in the country at 

 the hands of some clever private gardener. A bigger 

 inducement to activity by the jjrivate gardeners in this 

 particular sphere would be vastly more useful as a rule 

 than, for instance, offering them a set of premiums for 

 established commercial varieties of roses and carnations 

 which are sure to be well taken care of by the trade ex- 

 hibitors. The opportunities in floriculture are still ex- 

 liaustless. Improvement and demonstration on new 

 lines are essentials which should never be lost sight of 

 in our exhibition promotion and in this direction there 

 is room enough for all — private gardeners especially. 



