October 11. 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



313 



George Watson f s 

 Corner 



"You in jour small corner and me 

 in mine." 



A certificate of merit was awarded 

 two years ago to a new dahlia, Jean 

 Kerr, by the American Dahlia Society. 

 Since then this high estimate has 

 been fully borne out as any one can 

 verify by visiting the raiser George 

 W. Kerr at Doylestown, Pa. where he 

 liulds sway as the Sweet Pea mogul of 

 the Burpee Farms. The Jean Kerr is 

 today considered by experts the finest 

 pure white for commercial cut flower 

 work in the whole dahlia field. Even 

 in a bad dahlia season, when blooms 

 hi all other varieties are conspicuous 

 by their absence Jean Kerr never 

 fails to produce her quota of perfect 

 llowers, and those on long stiff stems 

 which with disbudding may average 

 two to three feet in height. Another 

 feature is that unlike other white and 

 light varieties the beetle pest does not 

 botber this one. Better make a note 

 of Jean Kerr. 



Caspar Pennock of Lansdowne has 

 the reputation of sending the best 

 double white Killarney that are com- 

 ing to Philadelphia and a recent visit 

 to his big range of glass confirms this. 

 He certainly does this variety to the 

 queen's taste and they are worth 

 going to see. Another good old timer, 

 Jonkheer Mock, also does fine here 

 and Mr. Pennock is a great believer in 

 it, although some of our growers do 

 not seem to hold it in high esteem. 

 The reason for that is probably the 



dollar reason as Jonkheer does not 

 carry well without bruising in out of 

 town shipments and that fact affects 

 monthly returns but it is nothing 

 against this most lovely variety for 

 home consumption. It is a glorified 

 La France and it's a pity it got 

 tangled up with such an uncouth 

 name. 



If one wants to see cannas at their 

 best, he can have his heart's desire 

 by taking a day off and going up to 

 Riverton. The Dreer people take a 

 pride in keeping up-to-date on the 

 "World's Best Cannas." The collec- 

 tion covers an area of some twenty 

 acres along the railroad, and is a sight 

 for all beholders from June to late 

 fall. A visit here during the flower- 

 ing season is especially valuable to a 

 florist who wishes to keep up with the 

 procession. He will quickly learn by 

 comparing one variety with another 

 that one cannot take orders for, say 

 our old standby Florence Vaughan, if 

 there be any of Favorite around, or if 

 he sees Wintzer's Colossal and the 

 President he will quickly realize that 

 Charles Henderson of bygone fame is 

 now among the has-beens. 



Among the bronze leaved cannas 

 about the first to attract attention is 

 the wonderful bronzed leaved trio: 

 Wyoming, with flowers almost yellow: 

 Dr. E. Ackerknecht, the color of 

 whose immense trusses is a clear 

 rosy carmine like the Proserpine tulip 

 and King Humbert — the last probably 

 the most popular of all cannas at the 

 present time. Mr. Michel is particu- 

 larly pleased this year with some new 

 additions to the bedding sorts. Among 

 these worthy of special mention are: 

 Dazzler, a brilliant orange scarlet; 

 Carmine Beauty, a deep carmine; 

 Cheerfulness, orange; Orange Bed- 

 der, bright orange; Eureka, white; 

 The Gem, cream with carmine dots. 

 All these are wonderfully brilliant 

 and peculiarly adapted for bedding. 



having the qualities in color and habit 

 which make for the greatest effective- 

 ness. 



My personal opinion about bill 

 board advertising which is now 

 agitating the rank and file rather 

 leans to the side of those who think 

 the florists should not go in for that, 

 way of saying it. There is a strong 

 civic public feeling all over the 

 country against it and the business 

 of the florist being to beautify 

 nature he should not countenance 

 even by implication anything that de- 

 faces nature. As long as the florist 

 can tell his story in equally effective 

 and less objectionable ways he ought 

 to let the bill board idea alone. I do 

 not go so far as some and call it a 

 crime but it is as a rule not in good 

 taste. No doubt I have used this 

 method myself like other seedsmen in 

 the past so I am as guilty as others 

 and own up but years add wisdom 

 sometimes and I do not think I would 

 do it today. Public sentiment is too 

 strong against and it seems to me it 

 would rather drive away business 

 than bring it. And we should never 

 forget that our object in life is to help 

 the public onward to higher things in 

 the advancement of horticulture. We, 

 hi all people are the last to set thern 

 a bad example. 



FLORIST SLEPT TOO SOUNDLY. 



Richard Nause, the well known 

 Woodrow road florist, while crossing 

 iln' lay on the midnight boat Sunday. 

 fell asleep in the smoking room, and 

 during his slumber his pocket was 

 i licked of $250 in bills and checks. 

 He knew nothing of the occurrence 

 until reaching St. George, where he 

 missed his property while walking 

 from the boat to the train. He re- 

 ported the loss to the police, but he 

 could identify only one person who 

 was near him before he went to 

 sleep, a sailor in uniform. — Totten- 

 ville. X. Y. Transcript. 



