February 8, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



127 



GARDENING AFTER THE WAR. 



'^Gardening After the War" was the 

 subject of the lecture delivered last 

 Saturday afternoon at Horticultural 

 Hall, Boston, under the auspices of 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety by Leonard Barron of Garden 

 City, N. Y., editor of the Garden Mag- 

 azine. Mr. Barron foresees a contin- 

 uance of the interest developed in 

 gardening by war-time conditions. The 

 Increased participation of women in 

 gardening, the work done by the chil- 

 dren, the knowledge the returned sol- 

 dier has gained of the love of flowers 

 and trees in foreign lands, will con- 

 tribute to the renaissance which has 

 come with the war in the art of gar- 

 dening. The planting of trees as 

 memorials to soldiers impresses Mr. 

 Barron as a movement of far-reaching 

 beneficent possibilities. Finally he sees 

 in these new conditions great oppor- 

 tunity for the horticultural trades. 



Something More Than Vegetables- 



In the course of his address Mr. 

 Barron said that the time had come 

 when thousands of the gardeners were 

 ready to go a step beyond the mere 

 cultivation of vegetables. They will 

 turn to the growing of fruits, flowers 

 and ornamental shrubs. The price of 

 nursery stock will be higher and for 

 some time to come commercial plant- 

 ing of orchards will be on a reduced 

 scale. This is the opportunity for the 

 home gardeners and for the nursery- 

 men catering to them. Having found 

 that the growing of plants is not such 

 a difficult affair as they had supposed, 

 the gardeners will be inclined to set 

 out berry' plants and bush fruits, and, 

 ultimately, orchard trees. Here the 

 nurseryman must be a missionary 

 serving his customer to the best of 

 his ability and teaching him that mar- 

 ket varieties are not the best available 

 for the home garden. 



"Here In this state," said Mr. 

 Barron, "under the auspices of this 

 very organization, that, in the past, 

 has rendered such valued service in in- 

 troducing the fanciest fruits to the gar- 

 dens of New England, it seems fitting 

 at this time to again direct attention 

 to the home standard of qualities in 

 fruits. Have we not lost something in 

 recent years? Is there to be a renais- 

 sance in this? 



Soldiers With Visions of Beauty. 

 "Is the returning soldier to be a fac- 

 tor in our renaissance? Surely ther>' 

 have been much 'coming and going on 

 the face of the earth, vast inter- 

 changes of ideas and experiences 

 among the nations of men.' Already, 

 indeed, we have some evidence that 

 those who are returning, despite the 



appalling scenes of horror and devas- 

 tation are coming back with visions of 

 the beauty of the European home gar- 

 den. They have seen thousands of 

 them, hundreds of thousands of them, 

 scenes of roadside and rural beauty, 

 that have been as bywords to the 

 initiated horticulturist, but who has 

 largely failed hitherto to find a respon- 

 sive market. 



"Not in vain have the poppies on 

 Flanders' fields bloomed before the 

 eyes of our men, for they have seen 

 with their own eyes what the growth 

 of flowers may do to redeem tragedy 

 and horror. They have also seen 

 flowers waving a welcome of color and 

 delight away from the battlefield. 



Welcomed With Garlands. 



"We have been told how the people 

 of France and England welcomed the 

 troops with garlands and bouquets of 

 flowers. When our troops paraded in 

 Paris on the fourth day of July the 

 civilians along the line of march ran 

 out and handed flowers to the fighting 

 men. I have seen it, you have seen it. 

 in the motion picture films. The peo- 

 ple with one accord in giving expres- 

 sion to their joy wanted to 'say it with 

 flowers.' 



"Flowers have carried their mes- 

 sages of consolation into the hospitals. 

 There will be a different response 

 when the men again meet flowers 

 around their own homes. If they are 

 not met with flowers don't you think 

 they will be missing something; these 

 hundreds of thousands. They will look 

 for them; can we afford to let their 

 homecoming discover us down at the 

 heels?" 



The Horticulturist's Opportunity. 

 The lecture included a discussion of 

 the opportunity afforded the horticul- 

 turist and some of the things he 

 should do in order to take advantage 

 of it. The horticulturist should culti- 

 vate his market better than he has in 

 the past. In that connection, it was 

 pointed out that the florists have set a 

 good example with their insistence 

 upon the phrase, "Say it with flowers." 

 In the judgment of the lecturer, the 

 dealer in horticultural products has 

 not learned to put himself in his cus- 

 tomer's shoes. The average catalogue 

 does not help the prospective customer 

 as it should. But the nursery indus- 

 try is growing. It has been suggested 

 that the growing of seeds offers a, 

 field for the soldier who has been in- 

 jured in such manner as to interfere 

 with his undertaking severe manual 

 labor. 



The Proposed Embargo Discussed. 

 Mr. Barron stated at some length 

 the reason for the opposition to the 



order of the Federal Horticultural 

 Board placing an embargo upon the 

 importations of many varieties of 

 plants. 



FLORICULTURE AT CORNELL 



DURING FARMERS' WEEK. 



N. Y. Fed. of Hort. Societies and 



Floral Clubs. 

 The New York Federation of Hor- 

 ticultural Societies and Floral Clubs 

 will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 

 Ithaca, N. Y. The following program 

 has been arranged: 



9 a. in. I'misual Plants fur Commercial 

 Purposes — Prof. David Lunisden. 



10 a. m. The Florieultural Outlook for 

 1319 (in minute talks) : 



(a) Growing of Cut Flowers— F. R. Pier- 



son, Tarrytown, N. Y. 



(b) Growing of Potted Plants — Anton 



Schultheis, College Point, N. Y. 



(c) The Wholesale Trade — S. S. Pennock, 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



(d) The General Retail Trade — F. A. Dan- 



ker, Albany, N. Y. 



11 a. m. Garden Roses — Robert Pyle, 

 West Grove, Pa. 



12 Noon. Reconstruction of Wounded 

 Soldiers— Capt. F. A. Waugh, U. S. A., Base 

 Hospital No. in. New Haven, Conn. 



1 p. in. Luncheon, followed by liusiness 

 meeting of the Federation, President F. R. 

 Pierson presiding. 



Farmers' week will last from Feb. 

 10 to 15. Each day some member of 

 the staff will be at the greenhouses to 

 show visitors around and answer ques- 

 tions, and there will be interesting 

 talks on various phases of floriculture 

 by members of the department of 

 floriculture of the college. 



A BRITISH VIEW 



President Wilson was with us for a 

 few days, and there was a good deal of 

 hero-worshipping and exchange of com- 

 pliments. We have either heard or 

 read of all the fine spirit of brother- 

 hood that is to be cultivated between 

 the citizens of America and ourselves, 

 and I am just wondering what the 

 President would have had to say if a 

 deputation of British nurserymen had 

 waited on him with a cutting of the 

 Restriction of Plants Importation 

 Order which appeared in the last issue 

 of the H. T. J. and had asked him 

 to interpret this as an earnest of 

 America's desire to forge the bonds 

 of brotherhood. 



It does not look any more kindly to- 

 ward our Belgian and French Allies, 

 and one feels that there must have 

 been a regrettable omission of a few- 

 words in the order, for surely the at- 

 titude is one that should have ob- 

 tained toward the enemy countries of 

 Europe rather than ourselves. 



Horticultural Trade Journal. 



Baltimore, Md.— Richard Vincent, 

 Jr., has called a meeting of the mem- 

 bers of the trade in this vicinity and 

 several Congressmen at the Baltimore 

 Club on the evening of Monday, Feb. 

 10, for the purpose of entering protest 

 against the plant quarantine action of 

 the Federal Horticultural Board, 



