Julv 26, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



79 



A View at Sunny brook Golf Club, Chestnut Hill, I'a. Grounds Sown Extensively with Michell's Grass 



Seeds 



Michell's Recleaned Grass Seeds 



For Putting Greens. Fairways, Bunkers and Teeing Grounds, and in fact for every purpose, are 



immediately recognized by authorities to be of a superior quality. 



Many varieties of grass seeds are short in supply — better cover your wants now. 



August. September and early October are the right times to sow grass seeds. 



Write for illustrated large catalog and list of satisfied golf club clients. 



MICHELL'S SEED HOUSE, 



518 MARKET STREET 

 PHILADELPHIA 



drops of water at the edges of leaves. 

 Its message is that the atmospheric 

 temperature is not steady, and that it 

 is generally too low, while the earth 

 temperature is at least high enough. 

 The condition is quite different from 

 that responsible for dew, which is 

 simple condensation. 



At the other end there is the condi- 

 tion of yellowing, a condition of chlo- 

 rosis, a premature ripening because of 

 a lack of root work, due often enough 

 to a scanty water supply, but in gar- 

 dening oftener to bad soil conditions 

 of a temporary character. The para- 

 sites standing by in this case are red 

 spider and thrips. 



If plants had a nervous system as 

 delicate as our own so that they could 

 speak or make gestures their cultiva- 

 tion would be simple indeed, and be- 

 cause not we resort to many unwork- 

 manlike makeshifts, quarantines and 

 pest fighting being easy, at least, 

 among these. In line with other forms 

 of industry, however, horticulture 

 must have a more practical outlook; 

 it must be better understood; much 

 of the old guessing way of doing 

 things must give place to accurate 

 knowledge, and if our schools are not 

 adequate, or do not progress, we 



should feel it necessary to throw much 

 of the old mustiness which clogs out 

 of them. There must be teachers 

 which can do something more than 

 pass along those things discovered so 

 long ago. 



If one searches the shelves of a 

 good library for work lately accom- 

 plished in pathology or entomology in 

 connection with vegetation, he will 

 find that it is revamped material not 

 less than fifty years old, but often 

 skillfully modernized. Does anyone 

 think a few abnormally capable inves- 

 tigateurs who worked in the middle 

 of the last century, and before, ex- 

 hausted all the possibilities in this 

 field? Contrast this condition with 

 that in other branches of physics. The 

 plain worker in horticultural pursuits 

 is not behind the times; he has con- 

 stantly improved his routine, his facili- 

 ties, and consequently his product. 

 But his progress was slow, and he 

 many times has had to feel in the 

 dark, and he has looked in vain for 

 those brilliant discoveries which in 

 other industries have been the means 

 of advancement at a bound. 



The policy of our governmental de- 

 partment is not blameless for this con- 

 dition. Its appropriations have not been 



miserly at all in many years. Results 

 have been quite disappointing, and the 

 work often has consisted of a crude 

 attempt to systematize some generali- 

 ties, rather than a straight attack up- 

 on vital subjects. A typical govern- 

 ment bulletin will tell you several 

 beautiful ways to kill earth worms, to 

 snuff the life out of ticks, and to 

 smother ants; but now, after telling 

 us these elementary things in elemen- 

 tary fashion so many years, there is 

 still no word or hint why any of these 

 things are found so abundantly where 

 we do not want them. Similarly, for 

 more than twenty years the well- 

 worked out scheme of heredity 

 glimpsed by Mendel has been avail- 

 able, but we are still waiting as prac- 

 tical men to be told how the good 

 qualities of a peach or apple may be 

 transmitted by its seed, anxious be- 

 cause knowing so well that any plant 

 on its own roots is worth a thousand 

 that have been grafted on another's. 

 Possibly, as the happenings in the 

 world in the past few years appear to 

 have quickened mentality very gen- 

 erally, some results may flow in our 

 .direction and to our benefit. 

 Yours truly, 



Sidney Hockrhxie. 



