June 14, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



567 



MR. WILSON'S APPOINTMENT 

 The Gardener's Chronicle of London 

 has the following very pleasant refer- 

 ence to the appointment of Mr. E. H. 

 Wilson, Assistant Director of the Ar- 

 nold Arboretum: — On April 14th last 

 the Board of Overseers of Harvard 

 College appointed Mr. E. H. Wilson 

 Assistant Director of the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum, in succession to the late 

 Mr. Charles E. Faxon. Mr. Wilson is 

 eminently fitted to fill this important 

 position, for he has a most extensive 

 and varied knowledge of plants, and 

 as a plant collector in China and other 

 parts of the East has enriched our 

 gardens with a wealth of new flower- 

 ing plants, trees, and shrubs. Mr. Wil- 

 son was formerly engaged in the Bo- 

 tanic Gardens at Edgbaston, under the 

 late Mr. Lathom, and the knowledge 

 of plants he acquired there and subse- 

 quently at Kew was of inestimable 

 value to him in his several plant-col- 

 lecting expeditions. He is the author 

 of several works, dealing mainly with 

 new plants of the Far East, and is a 

 valued contributor to this journal. It 

 is a signal honor for British horticul- 

 ture that the important post of As- 

 sistant Director in this celebrated 

 American botanic garden has been 

 given to an Englishman. 



FIELD DAYS OF THE AMERICAN 

 ROSE SOCIETY. 



June 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 1919, were 

 "Red Letter" days in the annals of the 

 American Rose Society. On Monday, 

 June 2nd, the members of the Execu- 

 tive Committee with friends met Dr. 

 W. Van Fleet in his test gardens at 

 Bell, Maryland. The afternoon was 

 spent looking over the recently-intro- 

 duced novelties and the seedlings 

 which Dr. W. Van Fleet has under his 

 supervision. The exhibit was indeed 

 an interesting one. 



Among the recently introduced spe- 

 cies were septipoda. with large clus- 

 ters of showy pink flowers about two 

 inches across; blanda variety Will- 

 mottiae, with bright coral pink flow- 

 ers; gentiliana, a hardy climbing spe- 

 cies with medium sized white flowers, 

 resembling Banksiae; rosabella, a 

 light pink bush form with moss calyx; 

 multiflora cathayensis with pink flow- 

 ers about one and one-half inches 

 across in large flat corymbs. 



Dr. Van Fleet showed the party 

 many attractive seedlings which were 

 under number. One of these was a 



cross between Double Rugosa and 

 Triomphe de Orleans, a continuous 

 bloomer with laciniate petals; Engel- 

 mannii crossed with Moyesii, an early- 

 flowering variety with rich red flow- 

 ers nearly three inches across; sev- 

 eral Hugonis and Altaica seedlings of 

 promise, crosses between Wichurai- 

 ana and hybrid teas, among which 

 was a promising seedling with Lyon 

 as the pollen parent, and another cross 

 between Wichuraiana and Irish Fire- 

 flame, No. W. M. 213, a clear pink 

 containing blood of Caroline Testout 

 crossed with Wichuraina, was espe- 

 cially good as was also No. W. M. 5. 

 a rich single dark red the parentage 

 of which was Wichuraiana crossed 

 with Moyesii. 



In the evening the Executive Com- 

 mittee and the Arlington Rose Test 

 Garden Committee held a session at 

 the Ebbit House. Plans for the fol- 

 lowing day were perfected, and con- 

 sideration was also given to increas- 

 ing the efficiency of the new rose 

 garden. The opinion was expressed 

 that there should be established in 

 Washington an exhibition rose garden 

 where there should be a display of 

 those varieties best suited for the sec- 

 tion. The rose test garden is fulfill- 

 ing its purpose by a demonstration of 

 what varieties will do in the particu- 

 lar soil and climate, but from the na- 

 ture of its purpose it can never he 

 made to appeal to the eye because of 

 its beauty. Individual plants of a va- 

 riety will do this, but there must be 

 vacant spaces where varieties die out. 

 A committee, composed of J. Horace 

 McFarland, Frederick Law Olmsted, 

 Representative James R. Mann and 

 S. S. Pennock, was appointed to con- 

 fer with the proper officials of the 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture in formulating plans and in lo- 

 cating such an exhibition garden. A 

 committee was also appointed to con- 

 sider the best methods for disseminat- 

 ing the varieties of roses bred by Dr. 

 Van Fleet. 



At 9.30 a. m„ June 3rd, the follow- 

 ing judges visited the Arlington Rose 

 Test Garden to note the comparative 

 value of varieties of climbers, bush 

 and cut roses: A. Cumming. Crom- 

 well. Conn.; B. H. Farr, Wyomissing, 

 Pa.; G. S. Kidwell, Washington. D. C; 

 Dr. E. M. Mills, Syracuse. N. Y.; S. C. 

 Hubbard, Ithaca, N. Y.; George E. 

 Anderson and Charles E. Gersdorff, 

 Washington, D. C. At 11 o'clock a 



large number of members of the Rose 

 Society visited the garden and spent 

 the remainder of the morning noting 

 the various varieties. A committee 

 from the Executive Committee and 

 from the Arlington Rose Test Garden 

 committee remained to welcome and 

 to explain the work to seventy-five 

 soldiers from the Reconstructive De- 

 partment of the Walter Reed General 

 Hospital who visited the garden in the 

 afternoon. Professor David Lumsden, 

 who is in charge of the section devot- 

 ed to agricultural training, directed 

 the party. The other members of the 

 party returned to the Ebbitt House 

 for luncheon. In the absence of Pres- 

 ident Hammond, Dr. E. M. Mills pre- 

 sided as toastmaser. President Z. D. 

 Blackistone of the Washington Flor- 

 ists' Club, cordially welcomed the 

 members of the society to Washing- 

 ton, and Secretary E. A. White re- 

 sponded by expressing the apprecia- 

 tion of the members for the many 

 courtesies extended to them. Profes- 

 sor L. C. Corbett told of the work 

 which is being done in the garden and 

 of the need of a show garden. He 

 was followed by Mr. E. G. Hill of 

 Richmond, Ind., who spoke of the in- 

 troduction of roses suited for commer- 

 cial culture, and Thomas N. Cook of 

 Watertown, Mass., spoke of rose cul- 

 ture from the viewpoint of an ama- 

 teur. 



Following the luncheon, automobiles 

 carried the party through the beauti- 

 ful Rock Creek Park to the home of 

 Mrs. Charles G. Bell. Here the party 

 spent a delightful afternoon among 

 the roses, herbaceous perennials and 

 the many natural beauties of Twin 

 Oaks. 



At 9.30, June 4th, the Executive 

 Committee of the American Rose So- 

 ciety met at the beautiful estate of 

 Captain George C. Thomas, Jr., at 

 Chestnut Hill. The morning was spent 

 with a session of the Executive Com- 

 mittee. At the annual meeting of the 

 society Captain Thomas was elected 

 president, but he found it impossible 

 to serve during the coming year. Rob- 

 ert Pyle of West Grove, Pa., was there- 

 fore elected to serve as president for 

 the year beginning July 1, 1919. Im- 

 portant changes in the constitution 

 and by-laws were considered. 



Captain and Mrs. Thomas enter- 

 tained the officers, executive commit- 

 tee and friends with a delightful 

 luncheon. After the coffee Dr. E. M. 



