May 10. 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



441 



COAL TO BE CHEAPER 



There is a very different coal situation than that 

 which existed last year at this time, particularly as con- 

 cerns soft coal. There seems to be an abundance of 

 coal and at satisfactory prices. Dealers are offering 

 good grades of soft coal from $2.75 to $3.10 at the 

 mines. This, however, is for net tons of 2,000 pounds. 

 The coal was formerly sold by the long ton of 2,240, but 

 the short ton is now used altogether to figure on. The 

 prices quoted are for immediate delivery or for coal con- 

 tracted for under an agreement to take one-third of the 

 total supply in the months of May and June. 



The situation is one to please greenhouse men who 

 have extensive ranges and use large amounts of soft coal. 

 The freight rates are higher than they were last season 

 and yet the cost of the coal delivered in Boston will be 

 less by one-half than a year ago. 



The evident anxiety of the dealers to make contracts 

 leads to the belief that no advance will be made in the 

 price this summer and that there may possibly be a 

 further cut. There would seem to be no reason why 

 florists or the growers of vegetables under glass should 



go farther a.t this time than to make prudenl pun h 

 It is difficult to see win they should tie tip a large 

 amount of capital by buying and paying for the whole 

 year's supply of fuel. They can use the money to as 

 good advantage as the coal men. With all other com- 

 modities coining down in cost and ample supplies of 

 most materials on hand, HORTICTTLTUIUE fails to see any 

 tangible reason for price advances or even for the main- 

 taining of present prices as regards soft coal. 



It is harder to make predictions as to hard coal, 

 which is used largely by the smaller greenhouse men 

 and on private places where a night fireman is not em- 

 ployed. The coal dealers are sitting tight, with hints 

 of higher prices to come. Moreover, they are taking 

 orders only on condition that the price paid shall be 

 that which prevails when delivery is made. It is quite 

 probable that the difference in price will persuade some 

 growers to change over their heating plants to allow 

 the use of soft coal. And there seems to be a disposition 

 on the part of estate owners not to open up their houses 

 except in a limited way until conditions are such that 

 both coal and labor can be obtained for less monev. 



ARBORETUM AIDING NURSERYMEN 



.Nurserymen will be interested in some suggestions 

 as to the propagation of Japanese cherry trees made 

 by Prof. Charles S. Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum. 

 After a brief introduction to the subject in the current 

 bulletin, he goes on to say : 



l'r units serrulata and its varieties have produced a 

 number of forms with double flowers, and these are the 

 hardiest and most valuable of the double-flowered Jap- 

 anese Cherries which can be grown successfully in this 

 climate. There are fourteen double-flowered named. 

 varieties of the Sargent Cherry in the Arboretum Col- 

 lection, but only two or three of them are large enough 

 to have flowered here. These double-flowered Cherries 

 bloom two or three weeks later than the single-flowered 

 trees, and from these may be expected some of the hand- 

 somest flowering trees which are hardy in the north. 

 Although double-flowered Japanese Cherry-trees have 

 been cultivated in the United States and Europe for 

 fully sixty years, they have never grown to a large size 

 or given much satisfaction in western gardens. The 

 trouble has been in the stock on which these double- 

 flowered plants have been grafted. The proper stock 

 for them is naturally the single-flowered species of 

 which they are varieties, and if such stock is used there 

 can be little doubt that larger and healthier trees will 

 be secured than have been obtained when other species 

 have been used as stock in Japanese and in American 

 and European nurseries. It is fortunate that the plants 

 of the Sargent Cherry produce every year good crops of 

 seeds in the Arboretum ; these seeds are carefully gath- 

 ered and widely distributed so that there is reason to 

 hope that in a few years this tree will adorn many Amer- 

 ican parks and gardens and supply stock on which the 

 handsomest of the double-flowered Cherries can be suc- 

 cessfully grafted. 



Prunus snbhirtella is the Spring Cherry of the Jap- 

 anese, which one traveler has described as the most de- 

 lightful and floriferons of all Japanese Cherries. It is 



a large shrub rather than a tree, and few plants can 

 produce more flowers than the two large specimens in 

 the Arboretum where they have been growing for twen- 

 ty-five years. The flowers are drooping, pale pink be- 

 coming nearly white as they begin to fade. Those of 

 no other single-flowered Cherry which has been grown in 

 the gardens of western Japan although rare in those of 

 Tokyo. Unfortunately it does not reproduce itself from 

 seed, for the seedlings are those of a tall slender tree 

 common in the forests of central Japan to which the 

 name of Prunus subhirtella var. ascend-ens has been 

 given. This is still a rare tree in cultivation and its 

 value in this climate is not yet established. A form of 

 the variety ascendens or Prunus subliirtella has pendu- 

 lous branches and is the well known Japanese Weep- 

 ing Cherry-tree (var. pendula) now common in Ameri- 

 can gardens. 



Prunus subhirtella can be slowly propagated by soft 

 wood cuttings, but the best way to increase it is by graft- 

 ing or budding it on its own seedlings. Seeds are pro- 

 duced in quantity on the Arboretum plants and will 

 be distributed to nurserymen anxious to obtain stock on 

 which to work the true P. subhirtella. When the stocks 

 are ready the Arboretum will supply a moderate number 

 of grafts, and the nurseryman who will make it his busi- 

 ness to produce a supply of this beautiful Cherry for 

 American gardens will do a good thing for this country 

 and incidentally for himself. 



Primus yedoensis is the Cherry-tree which has been 

 planted in great numbers in the squares, parks and 

 temple grounds of Tokyo. It is a fast-growing short- 

 lived tree rarely fifty feet high, with a short trunk not 

 more than a foot in diameter and wide-spreading or 

 erect branches. The flowers are white and slightly 

 fragrant, and are followed by abundant small black 

 fruit. This Cherry reproduces itself from seed and 

 there is therefore no reason why it should not be com- 

 mon in American gardens. 



