HORTICULTURE 



Vol. XXX 



OCTOBER 4, 1919 



No. 14 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



Talking with Herman Bartsch, I was 

 interested to get his views regarding 

 Euphorbia Jacquiniaeflora. He calls 

 it one of the best of plants for Christ- 

 mas flowering, and as he has been 

 very successful in handling this plant, 

 it may be interesting to know his cul- 

 tural methods, which he gives as fol- 

 lows: 



Plant any time from August to 

 October in solid beds in a temperature 

 of 58 to 65 degrees and they will make 

 splendid cuttings for Christmas and 

 New Year's business. Do not disturb 

 them after cutting the crop but keep 

 somewhat on the dry side until spring. 

 Commence propagating the early part 

 of June into August. Cuttings taken 

 in July are best for pot plants. Put 

 several of them together in pans or 

 pots and they give splendid results 

 and find a ready sale. The carried 

 over stock is best for root cutting pur- 

 poses, but for cut ' sprays and new 

 stock for pans the young stock gives 

 the best results. 



A grower who has had exceptionally 

 good results from the Godfrey Calla 

 says in addition to what was stated in 

 the Sept. 27th issue of Horticulture 

 regarding this plant that small plants 

 started as late as October will give 

 good results next spring; in fact, if 

 handled right they may be brought 

 into flower by the turn of the year, and 

 while the blooms will be smaller, they 

 will produce freely. 



Some of the retail florists are ex- 

 pressing the belief that Fardell's col- 

 ored freesias are bound to become pop- 

 ular and sell very well indeed. There 

 is every reason to believe that this 

 will be true, for these flowers are cer- 

 tain to appeal to buyers, because of 

 their wide range of colors. Moreover, 

 they are good keepers and compare 

 favorably with the Purity strain for 

 size and texture. Of course these new 

 freesias are not being grown very 

 widely as yet, but several growers are 

 stocking up. At least I judge that this 

 is so, for not long ago I saw an excel- 

 lent lot at Frank Edgar's place in 

 Waltham, Mass. 



I note that John Lewis Childs is fea- 

 turing Coleus Trailing Queen in his re- 

 tail catalogue. He has a good colored 

 illustration which ought to bring 

 many orders. As a matter of fact, 

 this is an excellent plant for the trade 

 and is being sold to a considerable ex- 

 tent for florists' use. It is particular- 

 ly useful in filling out hampers and 

 baskets and will fill in the empty space 

 under crotons and even poinsettias. 

 The color is warm and pleasing, and 

 harmonizes well with other things. 

 For giving a touch of warmth and life, 

 this coleus is decidedly worth while. 



To the trade Mr. Childs is now 

 offering a white gladiolus, a seedling 

 of America, but whether it will achieve 

 the popularity which he evidently ex- 

 pects is a question. Truth to tell, 

 white glads do not seem to find great 

 favor with the buying public. Color 

 is expected and desired apparently in 

 glads. In olden days only white 

 flowers were considered suitable for 

 funeral work, but now colored flowers 

 are just as acceptable and many warm 

 hued gladioli are used for that pur- 

 pose. Perhaps a fine big, pure white 

 glad might make a hit, but most of 

 those offered are not snow white by 

 any means, and judging from what I 

 have heard this is true of Mr. Childs' 

 subject. It actually carries a blotch 

 of color. Still, it is a very promising 

 plant and quite possibly may score a 

 great success. Nobody can safely 

 make a prediction in such matters. 

 Thk Traveling Salesman. 



GOOD MARKET CONDITIONS 

 Market conditions all over the coun- 

 try are picking up. Also stocks are 

 being nicely cleaned up. In Boston 

 the market closed strong last Satur- 

 day and started in with equal strength 

 on Monday morning, something which 

 does not always happen. Asters are 

 practically out of the market all over 

 the country. Some are coming in to 

 be sure, but are so poor as to hardly 

 be worth mentioning. Glads, are be- 

 coming short and have more than 

 doubled in price. Roses are in good 

 demand and it is worth stating that 

 they are wonderfully good in quality, 

 considering all things. 



ROBBERY OF RARE PLANTS. 



A Dastardly Act Committed at the 



Arnold Arboretum. 



A few nights ago a considerable 

 number of exceedingly rare plants 

 were stolen from Azalea Path on the 

 side of Bussey Hill in the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum. It was one of the boldest 

 thefts of the kind ever committed and 

 created so much comment that the 

 Boston papers printed more or less 

 sensational stories about the matter 

 on Wednesday morning. 



The loss of the plants was discov- 

 ered by E. H. Wilson, the assistant 

 director. While walking through the 

 grounds he saw that several plants of 

 azaleas and enkianthus had disap- 

 peared from the beds along the path, 

 but supposed they had been moved. 

 When he mentioned the subject to 

 Prof. Sargent and to Supt. Van der 

 Voet, however, both disclaimed any 

 knowledge of the matter. Further in- 

 vestigation then revealed the robbery. 



It was evident that the work had 

 been done by men thoroughly familiar 

 with the Arboretum and with the plant 

 collections. They had made no mis- 

 take, but in each case had picked out 

 very rare and valuable specimens. In 

 all probability they saw the plants in 

 bloom in the Spring and planned the 

 robbery then. And they must have 

 been expert enough to recognize the 

 rarity and value of the plants. Among 

 the plants removed were several 

 azaleas, including a specimen of the 

 new Hunnewell azalea originated by 

 Mr. Hatfield at the Hunnewell place 

 in Wellesley. Among the other plants 

 were several species of Enkianthus, 

 including E. campanulatus, which 

 bloomed this season for the first time 

 in this country. Plants of E. deflexus 

 and E. cernnus rubens were also 

 taken. 



This is not the first time this year 

 that plants have been stolen from the 

 Arboretum, several rare plants having 

 been taken from the beds along Azalea 

 Path in the Spring. Only recently, 

 too, all the seeds were stripped from 

 the fine specimen of Rosa Hugonis in 

 the shrub garden and from a plant of 

 Symplocos paniculata on Lilac Drive. 

 Here, too, the work must have been 

 done by men familiar with the plants, 

 or the particular subjects would not 

 have been selected. A reward of $200 

 has been offered for the detection of 

 the thieves. 



