June 14, 1919 



H ORTTCULTURE 



559 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



Peony and iris shows have been 

 well patronized this year, and the ex- 

 hibitions have been particularly fine, 

 although the hot sun of last week 

 caused the more delicately shaded 

 peonies to fade to a marked degree. 

 Exhibition peonies cut in the bud and 

 allowed to unfold indoors have been 

 very highly colored this season. It 

 may be that the time will come when 

 the recommendations of William Rol- 

 lins will be generally observed. Mr. 

 Rollins believes and urges that peo- 

 nies for exhibition be grown in pots 

 in the same way as chrysanthemums, 

 claiming that in no other way can 

 perfect blooms be obtained for the 

 show room. He says this even after 

 making elaborate experiments with 

 cloth shelters in his peony gardens. 

 Yet this does not mean that the shel- 

 ters have not been beneficial. The 

 fact is that they have proved of great 

 value and have justified the expense 

 put into them. 



There is one point which is being 

 emphasized by this season's shows, 

 and that is the superfluity of varieties. 

 There are scores of peonies which 

 might just as well be discarded, and 

 this statement holds true, although 

 perhaps in a lesser degree, of the 

 irises. At some of the iris shows this 

 season many seedling varieties have 

 been exhibited, and it has been a 

 question if most of them were any 

 improvement over varieties already in 

 commerce. 



It is a pretty well accepted fact 

 among peony growers, however, that 

 there are too many varieties, and that 

 a weeding out process ought to be un- 

 dertaken on a national scale. This is 

 not a new argument to present. While 

 the late Mr. Stewart was alive, he 

 used his trenchant pen to urge a re- 

 form which would mean doing away 

 with obsolete peony varieties, point- 

 ing out that it would be a matter of 

 progress to select the best form of 

 each color or distinct shade of color 

 and of the early and later flowering 

 types. Even though a sharp policy of 

 elimination should be adopted, there 

 would still be enough varieties left of 

 all classes to satisfy everybody. 



As Mr. Stewart also pointed out. 

 some growers cling to certain kinds 

 which are of the easiest propagation, 

 even though they may be rather in- 

 ferior in quality of bloom. Of course 

 this is not for the best interests of 



peony devotees. The principal thing 

 is to have the best kinds for our gar- 

 dens, and in point of fact, most of the 

 good kinds are very vigorous growers. 



At the Boston iris show last Satur- 

 day, there was one flower of outstand- 

 ing supremacy. It was called Lord of 

 June, being of phenomenal size, splen- 

 did texture, and exquisite coloring, 

 light blue, and was exhibited by Mr. 

 Chase of Andover. Mr. Chase is a 

 man of the type most needed in de- 

 veloping horticulture for the masses. 

 He is a business man and grows peo- 

 nies as a hobby, selling only in a 

 small way. He is as critical as an 

 orchid expert, and as skillful in breed- 

 ing as most commercial growers. 



It may be that he will develop into 

 a grower of national prominence, for 

 some of the leading flower growers of 

 the country have been developed 

 through just such a channel. Ber- 

 trand Farr of Wyomissing, now among 

 the most prominent peony and iris 

 growers in the world, was originally 

 in another line of work and gradually 

 developed his nursery business 

 through his love of the iris. Arthur 

 Cowee, of Berlin, N. Y., who grows 

 gladioli by the ton, was formerly a 

 coal merchant. It would be easy 

 enough to extend this list until it be- 

 came a lengthy one, for the lure of 

 choice plants has wrought the evolu- 

 tion of many an amateur into a com- 

 mercial grower. 



Perhaps it is not realized by most 

 gardeners that the Mahonia or Oregon 

 grape is included in the ban which 

 has been placed on the barberry. It 

 is stated that this plant carries the 

 wheat rust in just the same way as 

 the barberry, and consequently should 

 be exterminated in every wheat grow- 

 ing section. This is rather unfortu- 

 nate, for the Oregon grape is to be 

 valued more highly than the common 

 barberry. The latter can be replaced 

 to advantage by the Japanese bar- 

 berry, which has been given a clean 

 bill of health, and may be planted 

 freely. The Oregon grape is really a 

 beautiful plant, although its decora- 

 tive value has perhaps never been ap- 

 preciated outside of the northwest. 

 Usually it is badly winter killed in 

 New England, but it went through 

 last winter practically without dam- 

 age, bloomed freely this spring, and 



MICHELL'S 



PANSY SEED 



Michell's Giant Exhibition Mixed 



A flanl strain which for size of bloom, 

 heavy texture :ind varied colors and 

 Shades cannot lie surpassed. Half tr. 

 nkt., 80c; tr. |.kt.. BOc.; '» oz., $1.25; 

 $2.00 per Vi OZ. ; per oz., $7.00. 

 GIANT SORTS IN SEPARATE COLORS 

 Tr. pkt. Oz. 



Azure Blue * ^ *2/Ti5 



Black Blue 40 



Emperor William, blue 40 



llortensiu Bed *'■ 



Kinc of the Blacks 40 



Lord Beueonsfleld, purple 



violet • - 40 



Pea k. blue, claret and 



white ?0 



Snow Queen, pure white 4U 



Striped and Mottled W 



White with Eye 



Pure Yellow 



Yellow with Eye 



.40 

 .40 

 .40 



2.75 

 2.7S 

 2.75 



2.7. w . 

 2.75 

 2.75 

 2.75 

 2.75 

 2.75 



HEADQUARTERS FOR 



ASPARAGUS PLUMOSUS NANUS 



1 OOO Seeds, $3.50 10.000 Seeds, $30.00 

 5,000 Seeds, 15.50 25,000 Seeds, 72.50 



Also all other seasonable Seeds, Bulbs 

 and Supplies. 



Send for Wholesale Price List. 



MICHELL'S SEED HOUSE 



518 Market St, Philadelphia 



has made much new growth. As a 

 ground cover it is not easily surpassed, 

 and there is reason to believe that it 

 will still be used in gardens outside 

 of the wheat sections. 



Although the vine known as Acti- 

 nidia polygama which I mentioned 

 last week is often destroyed by cats 

 when set out of doors, there are still 

 places where it is being grown suc- 

 cessfully. There is a very good speci- 

 men at the Harvard Botanical Garden 

 in Cambridge, Mass., and others have 

 been reported. Some of the nursery- 

 men have the vine listed in their cata- 

 logues. This Actinidia is sometimes 

 called the cat vine, and its peculiar 

 potency may be suggested by the ex- 

 perience of a woman who visited the 

 Arnold Arboretum some time ago and 

 was given a leaf or two. She says 

 that she carried it in her hand bag 

 to her home in Providence, and that 

 when she entered the house her pet 

 cat almost immediately began to per- 

 form unusual, unexplained antics. For 

 a long time she did not realize the 

 reason, having forgotten all about the 

 Actinidia foliage. When she remem- 

 bered it she gave it to the cat. which 

 turned almost inside out in an ecsta- 

 cy of pleasure. The peculiar feature 

 of the matter is that the vine has no 

 odor which is perceptible to human 

 nostrils. This particular cat had no 

 experience with the plant before. 



