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HORTICULTURE 



May 31, 1919 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



There is evidence which leads to 

 the belief that the forestry associa- 

 tions of the country have been quietly 

 working in favor of the quarantine No. 

 37. This probably means that the in- 

 fluence of wealthy men who are large- 

 ly backing these associations has 

 been quietly exerted to stiffen the 

 backbone of the Federal Horticultural 

 Board. The secretary of the Massa- 

 chusetts Forestry Association makes 

 no secret of the efforts which he has 

 made to have this quarantine estab- 

 lished and retained. These men are 

 looking at the matter from a one sided 

 viewpoint. They talk grimly about 

 the ravages to forest lands done by 

 gypsy moths, brown tail moths and 

 similar pests, and express the belief 

 that the new ruling will protect the 

 country from anything of that sort in 

 the future. How futile such reasoning 

 is was well indicated by Mr. E. H. Wil- 

 son's comments in Horticulture a few 

 weeks ago. 



Truth to tell there are many people 

 in the country who are wondering at 

 some of the activities of leading mem- 

 bers of the Forestry Association. Par- 

 ticular reference is made to Mr. 

 Charles Lathrop Pack, president of the 

 American Forestry Association, and 

 also at the head of the amateur gar- 

 den propaganda which has been car- 

 ried on the last two years on an un- 

 precedented scale. Never before has 

 so much money been spent in a move- 

 ment of this kind. Much of this money 

 has been squandered, for a tremen- 

 dous flood of literature has been sent 

 broadcast throughout the country, two 

 or three duplicates having often come 

 to my desk. At the very time when 

 the country was faced with a serious 

 shortage in paper, pamphlets and cir- 

 culars were being distributed in the 

 most prodigal way. Now there is no 

 doubt that the efforts of Mr. Pack and 

 his associates had a tremendous in- 

 fluence in bringing about the making 

 of amateur gardens. Probably they 

 are safe in saying that what they did 

 added immensely to the country's food 

 products. It is a serious reflection, 

 too, on the agricultural department at 

 Washington, that an outside organi- 

 zation was able to step in and monop- 

 olize this work. It should have been 

 done through the regularly consti- 

 tuted channels, and when it was too 

 late the department tried to break into 

 the game. The result was wasteful 



competition, reports and leaflets cov- 

 ering the same ground being sent out 

 by both Mr. Pack's association and the 

 National Government. All this leads 

 to the question as to what Mr. Pack 

 is seeking. He claims that his motives 

 are purely philanthropic and he may 

 be honest in this. If that is so, he 

 has broken all records in the use of 

 money for building up an enthusiasm 

 for gardening. 



As 1 travel about I find but little im- 

 provement in the labor situation as 

 it applies to estates. Only a few of 

 the large places have opened all their 

 greenhouses, or have brought their 

 grounds back to the condition which 

 existed before the war. Labor can be 

 obtained, but the wages asked are so 

 high that estate owners refuse to pay 

 them. Naturally new men cannot be 

 taken on at a higher wage than those 

 already on the place. In some cases 

 the amounts asked would give a second 

 man more money than the superintend- 

 ent. It can hardly be expected that 

 the situation will be fully adjusted un- 

 til there comes a change in industrial 

 conditions. Gradually the lure of the 

 shop and the factory will pass. The 

 men with whom a love of gardening Is 

 inborn will be getting back to the land. 

 It is reasonable to believe, though, 

 that the new wage level will be higher 

 than the old. 



As was stated at a recent gardeners' 

 meeting, there is a feeling among the 

 better class of gardeners that the 

 craft in this country should cut loose 

 entirely from old world traditions. 

 Americanization of garden work has 

 not yet been wholly completed. Many 

 gardeners are too dependent upon 

 their employers for full freedom of 

 thought or action. There should be a 

 system in America by which the estate 

 superintendent or head gardener Is 

 paid enough money so that he can foot 

 his own bills and not be dependent 

 upon the man who hires him when he 

 wants to take a pleasure trip or use 

 funds in any other way in which a man 

 in other trades might expect to defray 

 his own expenses. 



are very handsome, but it is a notice- 

 able fact that they often lack the fra- 

 grance of the older kinds. Amateurs 

 find this a distinct disadvantage, for 

 the perfume of the lilac is to them one 

 of its chief charms. Unfortunately, 

 the greater the extent to which any 

 plant is refined, the less likely is it to 

 retain its perfume. This is demon- 

 strated with the various forms of the 

 Philadelphus. The scent of the old 

 fashioned mock orange hangs heavy 

 throughout the garden on a warm day 

 but some of the handsomest of the 

 new large flowered varieties have al- 

 most no perfume at all. It is coming 

 to be a question in choosing such 

 shrubs as to whether we desire to 

 please the eyes exclusively or to ap- 

 peal to the sense of smell as well. 



After viewing and smelling the 

 honeysuckle known as Lonicera syrin- 

 gantha, both in the Arnold Arboretum, 

 where there are large specimens and 

 in my own garden where there is a 

 small plant, I am led to wonder why 

 this shrub is not grown more exten- 

 sively. It is not a new thing, in the 

 sense of being recently introduced. 

 It has had a place in the Arboretum 

 for many years. Like most of the 

 honeysuckles, it makes an attractive 

 plant all summer, and while its flowers 

 which come at this season, are by no 

 means showy, they are neat and pretty 

 and the odor is a delight. Its charac- 

 ter may be judged by the name which 

 the plant bears. It might be interest- 

 ing to work out a list of shrubs which 

 will carry a strong perfume right 

 through the season. Doubtless it 

 should be headed by Viburnum Car- 

 Iesii and Lonicera syringantha should 

 have second place. 



The lilacs have been the great at- 

 traction in the Arnold Arboretum In 

 Boston and many of the public parks, 

 especially Highland park at Roches- 

 ter, N. Y., where one of the finest 

 collections in the world has been as- 

 sembled. Many of the newer varieties 



PEONY GROWERS PROTEST. 



At their last meeting the members 

 of the American Peony Society adopt- 

 ed a protest against Quarantine Reg- 

 ulation No. 37. The protest now ap- 

 pears in published form and is being 

 distributed. The following paragraph 

 is particularly interesting: 



A careful reading of the regulations 

 and the literature that has grown up 

 around it, reveals the fact that the 

 board has lacked a sound and general 

 idea from which to proceed. It ap- 

 pears that at the time of the public 

 hearing in May, 1918, it was intended 

 only, or mainly, to exclude plants 

 shipped with earth on their roots. The 

 underlying theory then apparently was 

 that it was in the earth that insects 

 and other pests were most likely to 

 be brought to the country. The board 

 should at that time have been clear 

 as to weather the danger lay chiefly 



