11) 



HORTICULTURE 



July 5, 1919 



,•'■ 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



Maurice Fuld has departed from the 

 beaten track in his little magazines, 

 "Flower Lore" and "Vegetable Lore," 

 each of which is gotten out once a 

 month and contains no advertising. It 

 is evident that Mr. Fuld personally 

 writes practically all of the material. 

 It would be impossible to mistake his 

 peculiar style. Much which he says is 

 probably of much interest to amateurs, 

 but occasionally he is led astray. In 

 the June number, for example, he 

 quotes a subscriber as saying: 



"I have a cure for rose bugs. I dis- 

 covered that the chickens running in 

 a garden where roses bloom entirely 

 exterminate the bugs, even jumping 

 for them when the roses were high. 

 Now if you trim a rose bed according 

 to directions in "Flower Lore" and let 

 the chickens in where the roses are, 

 you will soon get rid of the bu;;s. The 

 plan would also save feeding the chick- 

 ens beef scraps." In commenting upon 

 this suggestion Mr. Fuld remarks: 

 "If this should be found effective, 

 every rose grower will hail with de- 

 light this discovery, and it would pay 

 even if we have to borrow the neigh- 

 bor's chickens to do it." 



Probably the trouble with Mr. Fuld 

 is that he is out of his element when 

 talking about chickens. Every poultry 

 grower who has had any experience in 

 this line knows that when chickens 

 feed heavily on rose bugs the result 

 is usually fatal. A report which has 

 just come from the experiment station 

 at Storrs says that within twenty-four 

 hours after a week-old chick has eaten 

 fifteen or twenty rose bugs, death will 

 result. More bugs will kill older chick- 

 ens, and it is not until the birds are 

 nine or ten weeks old that the rose 

 bug diet will be found safe. It is 

 claimed that death is due to a poison 

 in the bodies of the rose bug, and not 

 because their scaly legs scratch and 

 irritate the chick's crop, as people 

 sometimes suppose. 



It is an interesting announcement in 

 the English papers that a regular 

 guide is to be employed at Kew gar- 

 dens. This guide will escort visitors 

 about the grounds, pointing out to 

 them the features of special interest 

 and answering questions. This is in 

 line with the growing appreciation 



shown by the public of plants and 

 shrubs to be found in public gardens. 

 Something of that kind is needed at 

 the Arnold Arboretum, in Boston, and 

 elsewhere throughout the country. 

 Visitors, especially amateurs, are like- 

 ly to miss much that is valuable and 

 important if they are obliged to de- 

 pend wholly upon labels. All too often 

 these labels contain only the botanical 

 names, which mean nothing to the lay- 

 man. Where a guide is out of the 

 question, a carefully arranged guide 

 book, sold at a nominal price, would 

 perhaps prove an acceptable substitute. 



The new campanula Minna Gehring 

 is now blooming in my garden. It is 

 a very distinctive plant and profuse 

 with its flowers. Its one fault is the 

 habit which its blooms have of hiding 

 their charm by hanging pendant. If 

 they stood out straighter they would 

 show off much better but they make a 

 good display as it is. This campanula 

 is a natural hybrid which was origin- 

 ally found in the garden of Dr. 

 Gehring in Maine. 



NEW YORK FLORISTS' SPECIAL. 



The party which will take the New 

 York Florists' special to Detroit, via 

 Buffalo, witli a side trip to Niagara 

 Falls, and boat trip across Lake Erie 

 to Detroit, for the Convention, Aug. 

 19-21, is assuming good proportions, 

 and bids fair to be the largest delega- 

 tion attending any of the conventions. 

 The following have already made reser- 

 vations: 



President and Mrs. Kessler. 



Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Traendly. 



Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Miller. 



Mr. and Mrs. John Canning. 



Mr. and Mrs. Curt Thimm. 



Mr. and Mrs. John Miesem. 



Mr. and Mrs. R. Wittman. 



Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Totty and Miss 

 Totty. 



Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Herr and Irving 

 Herr. 



Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Manda and friend. 



Mr. and Mrs. Richard Vincent, Jr., 

 and friend. 



Messrs. John G. Esler, A. M. Hen- 

 shaw, J. H. Fiesser, John Scheepers, 

 Peter Gerlaird, C. W. Scott, Roman J. 

 Irwin, P. W. Popp, A. T. DelaMare, (2) 

 J. H. Pepper and Lord & Burnham 

 Company ( 2 i . 



Many others have expressed inten- 

 tions to join the party, but it is highly 

 important that early reservations of 

 berths be made as the list must close 

 ten days ahead of departure. 



A New I ;iti .ainihl 



