104 



HORTICULTURE 



February 1, 1919 



from the members present. Mr. Moon 

 of Morrisville, Pa., said that the move- 

 ment had been financed in a very 

 limited way but that an appeal was go- 

 ing out within a very few days. He 

 felt that subscribers to this movement 

 should guarantee their stocks true to 

 name, free from disease, and delivered 

 in good condition. He also said that 

 they were trying to make the results 

 of this campaign come back many fold 

 to those who are financing it. Mr. 

 -Pyle, of West Grove, Pa., felt that the 

 subject was of national importance, 

 and that the general public should be 

 educated to the use of nursery stock — 

 how to handle it when they received it 

 and how to care for it to make it grow. 



YUCCA. 



The Dinner. 

 The annual dinner was held in the 

 Venetian Room, and President Robin- 

 son acted as toastmaster. The princi- 

 pal speaker of the evening was Mr. 

 Koster, who gave a very interesting 

 address on conditions in Holland and 

 Belgium during the war. After the 

 dinner the members and friends 

 listened to a very fine address, "How 

 can we make New England more fruit- 

 ful and more beautiful?'' by J. Horace 

 McFarland. The lecture was illus- 

 trated with stereopticon views, which 

 included a large number taken in the 

 Arnold Arboretum. 



Wednesday's Session. 



E. J. Canning, of Northampton, 

 Mass., read a very interesting paper 

 on "Are we growing enough high 

 grade ornamentals?" He felt that in 

 spite of the fact that in New England 

 there are 90 per cent, ornamentals 

 grown against 10 per cent, fruit trees, 

 we could use more. A discussion fol- 

 lowed. 



W. H. Judd told of the merits of the 

 best ornamentals in the Arnold Arbo- 

 retum, beginning with the Hamamelis 

 which flowered in January, and contin- 

 uing with those in bloom until the 

 fall. His paper will appear in full 

 in a later issue of Horticulture. 



E. P. Coe, of New Haven, agreed 

 that there should be more specialists, 

 and by co-operating in a business way, 

 growers should find out the material 

 that is wanted. A discussion also fol- 

 lowed his remarks. 



W. H. Wyman, chairman of the com- 

 mittee on resolutions on quarantine 

 regulations, recommended that the as- 

 sociation go on record as being op- 

 posed to the ruling to be effective 

 .Tune 1st, and that a copy of the reso- 

 lutions be forwarded to the Hon. Da- 

 vid I. Houston, Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, and to the senators and representa- 

 tives in Congress from the New Eng- 



YCCCA FILAMENTOSA. 



To be at the service of home ground 

 owners in matters pertaining to flower 

 gardens is an occupation rich in 

 problems of a frequently very differ- 

 ent nature. There is, for instance a 

 border facing south or southwest fully 

 exposed to the sun all day. A high 

 privet hedge runs along the back side 

 of it, while the front along a gravel 

 walk is lined by a low kept hedge of 

 Ligustrum ovalifolium aureum. Noth- 

 ing in the order of hardy perennials 

 or annuals ever did well in this bor- 

 der, so your correspondent, one day, 

 was confronted by the question: What 

 would you advise me to plant on this 

 border sure to thrive and look well? 

 It was self evident that previous fail' 

 ures were due to the soil of the whole 

 border being thoroughly invested by 

 privet roots. At the exposure given 

 above a few hot waves during mid- 

 summer were apt to speed the destruc- 

 tion of average border plants. Think- 

 ing the matter over I became con- 

 vinced that without the Adam's Needle. 

 Yucca filamentosa, the case was well 

 nigh hopeless. Indigenous throughout 

 the barren districts of our Southwest 

 as to the disastrous effects of exces- 

 sive heat and prolonged drought, yuc- 

 cas are immune. That strong speci- 

 mens by means of a deep rambling 

 fleshy root system are able to retain 



their normal vigorous growth in a bed 

 thickly invested by privet roots is 

 plainly shown by our illustration. 

 Under normal conditions, however, 

 for the reason of the stiff appearance, 

 of the swordlike evergreen foliage we 

 do not plant hardy yuccas very often 

 on mixed herbaceous borders. Em- 

 ployed as single specimens on the 

 lawn, or mixed in along the outskirts 

 of flowering shrub plantations seems 

 to be more appropriate for full display 

 of their stateliness and ornamentality 

 when in bloom. The narrow leaved 

 species, Yucca angustifolia," is well 

 adapted for the rockgarden, while the 

 variegated form of Yucca filamentosa, 

 distinguished by creamy white mar- 

 ginal foliage, not coming true from 

 seed, for the immediate future at 

 least, is bound to remain a beautiful 

 but rather rare acquisition appealing 

 principally to the collector of plants. 

 One of the best points of Adam's 

 Needles is their remarkable longevity 

 when left undisturbed. Large speci- 

 mens are very difficult to move and 

 seedlings usually don't bloom until 

 they are from four to five years old. 

 In the Middle Atlantic States yuccas 

 survive the winters without protection 

 while further north they need more or 

 less covering. 



RlCHABD ROTHE. 



Glenside. Pa. 



land states. Messrs. Frost, Farquhar, 

 Koster, Wyman and Craig gave their 

 views on the subject at this time. It 

 was voted unanimously to pass the 

 resolution. 



Wm. W. Colton, City Forester of 

 Newton, read a paper on "Living 



Monuments for our Soldiers," recom- 

 mending the planting of trees by 

 everybody, and felt that national me- 

 morial parks and forests should be 

 established, also states and cities 

 and individuals should do likewise 

 on a smaller scale. "For every star a 



