342 



HORTICULTURE 



April 12, 1919 



horticulture: 



VOL. XXIX 



APRIL 12, 1919 



NO. 15 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 147 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Beach 292 



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Entered as second-class matter December 8. 1904, at th« Post Offlc« 

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1S79. 



CONTENTS 



Page 



THE GARDENER AND HIS WIDE FIELD OF EN- 

 DEAVOR— William Falconer 341 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS: 

 The 1919 Convention — Life Membership — National 

 Publicity Campaign — Bowling Tournament at De- 

 troit 343-344 



"SHIPS' BALLAST NOT AN IMPORTANT SOURCE 

 OF INTRODUCING PLANT ENEMIES?—.!/. C. Ebel 344 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES: 



The American Rose Society 345 



Commercial Flower Growers of Chicago 346 



GREENHOUSE FERNS— B. C. Tillett 346 



OBITUARY— Henry Hansen 349 



SEED TRADE: 



Catalogue Sizes 349 



Observations on European Seed Conditions 350 



LOCAI AND GENERAL NEWS: 



Boston, Cincinnati 349 



Chicago, St. Louis. Rochester 352 



Philadelphia 354 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS. 



A Good System 348 



Flowers by Telegraph 356 



New Flower Stores 357 



FLOWER HARK] T REPORTS: 



Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati 359 



Philadelphia, Rochester 361 



St. Louis 362 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



The Blue Linums 344 



i v.': h FT wers" Poetry— Hunh Balfour 344 



P"«— n-'rs" Tulins — Illustrated 345 



A Progressive Step by a Progressive Concern 348 



New Corporations 348 



Visitors' Register 349 



Greenhouses Building or Contemplated 362 



Patents Granted 362 



High prices for Easter material are 

 Easter plants certain. The late date at which it 

 and flowers falls this year has helped the situa- 

 tion greatly, yet prices will rule far 

 ahove the average. This is. of course, as it should be 

 considering the higher cost of coal, labor and other pro- 

 duction expenses. Lilies are in short, supply and will 

 show greater advance than other flowers. Cut flowers 

 from Bermuda are coming but these will have small 



influence on the market. Growers will realize hand- 

 somely this Easter and the} are entitled to So so. 



Horticulture is having its attention 

 Bad packing called to the bad condition of packing 



of Boskoop and other Holland nursery 

 stock now arriving in this country. Cases are being 

 charged for generally at a price of six dollar- or over 

 apiece which must be approximately three times the 

 cost td build them in Holland. Then we are told this 

 year that they are insufficiently filled, the plants becom- 

 ing loose in the cases in transit and consequently badly 

 smashed up. Not only are more cases used up in the 

 packing unwarrantably but because of their additional 

 bulk the importer is mulcted with vastly greater freight 

 charges because of the unnecessarily increased torn 

 Evidently there is a wist profit in cases although they 

 are ostensibly charged for at cost and the temptation to 

 use them in excess of actual requirements is too great 

 for the avaricious Holland nurseryman to forego. This 

 appears to be his last chance and he is bent on making 

 the most of it. 



There are quite a number of 

 Holland bulb salesmen ur annual visitors from the 

 hit by quarantine Holland Bulb district now- 

 here and others due to arrive. 

 The growers trading in this country have formed a com- 

 bination with uniform fixed prices on the leading va- 

 rieties of hyacinths, tulips and narcissi for the American 

 trade. It is not at all likely that like prices have been 

 made for other countries since most of them, in former 

 years, enjoyed lower prices from the bulb men than we 

 did. A comparison of the catalogues of almost any of 

 the larger growers printed in English with that printed 

 in German in the same year disclosed the fact that the 

 Germans had a decided advantage in the prices made to 

 them. Notwithstanding greatly advanced prices this 

 year to American purchasers the aggregate of the sales 

 of the Dutch salesmen will he much less than even 

 that of last year. There is a limit to the prices that the 

 grower here may justifiably pay for bulbs and the 

 present is no time to take long chances. Carnations 

 and roses are our staples of the flower market and in- 

 volve small risk. Then by Quarantine 37 Spanish and 

 Hutch irises are cut off — there is no valid reason why 

 these bulbs, smooth and innocent as tulips, should he 

 barred yet they are — and this will lessen the sales by 

 thousands of dollars. Then there are other bulbs such 

 a> snowdrops, scillas, chionodoxas, gladioli, etc. having 

 clean smooth surfaces shut out for no quarantine rea- 

 son whatsoever for they are absolutely innocent of con- 

 veying infestation — which will further reduce the vol- 

 ume of the Hollander's sale-. Of course he is not the 

 only party to suffer — our people will be deprived of these 

 beautiful flowers and the "Spring Bluets" of our front 

 lawns will not appear. Horticulture fully believe- 

 that the five scientists who are responsible for this priva- 

 tion to the people have successfully used or misused the 

 n e given them, to hang themselves officially. 



