June 21 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



579 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



It seems that my few remarks 

 abount the failure of purchasers to 

 recognize the value of horticultural 

 novelties when offered by nursery- 

 men has created no little interest. 

 What Mr Wilson said in reply last 

 week is supplemented by a letter just 

 received from a man very prominent 

 in the horticultural world. What he 

 wrote was not intended for publica- 

 tion, I suppose. In fact, if I should 

 publish all that he said I can imagine 

 that something of a furore would be 

 created. A few sentences, though, 

 may well be quoted. They read as 

 follows: 



"Rosa Hugonis was put across by 

 publicity. Some nurserymen do not 

 know how to advertise a novelty. 

 They advertise themselves and all 

 that kind of a thing, but do not come 

 out openly with the proper kind of ad- 

 vertising to put across a novelty in 

 which they are supposed to have 

 faith. All too often the nurserymen 

 keep a good plant or shrub hidden 

 from the public. Perhaps the nursery 

 mentioned has been advertising Acan- 

 thopanax ricinifolium with which you 

 state they are stocked, but if so I 

 have never seen the ad., and I follow 

 this sort of thing pretty closely. All 

 this supports the argument that nur- 

 serymen won't go out to sell their 

 goods. They expect the purchasers 

 to hunt around through devious and 

 obscure channels and then to come 

 to the nursery and purchase. In 

 brief the nurseryman advertises thus: 

 'J. Jones, Nurseryman. — I sell trees.' 

 And thinks he has done a mountain 

 of publicity, although he fails to tell 

 what trees. Just imagine automobile 

 dealers merely announcing that they 

 sell automobiles! The trouble with 

 the nursery business is that the nur- 

 serymen haven't the faith in their own 

 goods to tell the public about them." 



Now I am not going to comment 

 on this letter. I had my say a couple 

 of weeks ago. But it is certain that 

 Horticulture will gladly publish any 

 come-back which a live-wire nursery- 

 man wants to send in. For my part, 

 I hope the discussion will be kept up. 



In the end it may work for the good 

 of the trade and the public alike. 



I have been finding some interest- 

 ing observations in certain of the 

 English papers which have just come 

 across. In the Gardener's Chronicle. 

 for example, I find a review of an 

 American book, which is rather de- 

 lightful as showing the critical nature 

 of such reviews, as well as to indicate 

 contrasts in gardening methods here 

 and there. The book discussed is 

 "Practical Gardening" by Hugh Find- 

 lay, who is or was, connected with 

 the University of Syracuse, N. Y. 

 Here are the paragraphs mentioned 

 just as they appear in the English 

 paper: 



"This book on gardening is intend- 

 ed for American amateurs with small 

 gardens, and it shows that some of 

 the methods practiced in that country 

 are very primitive. The first few 

 chapters are general ones, after which 

 there are some twelve on vegetables, 

 five on fruit, and a calendar at the 

 end. Ornamental plants are not dealt 

 with. 



"With regard to vegetable culture 

 there are several plates showing 

 crops, and one is impressed by the 

 poor standard of cultivation. In one 

 case a row of onions is shown with 

 the tops bent over to ripen the bulbs, 

 and we read in the explanatory note 

 that 'many of the bulbs measured two 

 inches in diameter.' We are ad- 

 vised to harvest the bulbs by 'pulling 

 or raking' them out. In the chapter 

 on potatoes sprouting the 'seed' is 

 recommended if an early crop is de- 

 sired, and 'hilling up should be prac- 

 ticed only where the soil is stiff and 

 the tubers are planted near the sur- 

 face.' 



"There are plenty of illustrations, 

 but we do not think they are well 

 chosen. Moreover, the explanatory 

 notes are mixed up in several cases." 



As the writer has not seen the book 

 he is not qualified to judge as to some 

 of the criticisms. But of course it 

 would not seem to gardeners in this 

 country that is any reason for ob- 

 jecting to the statement that potatoes 

 should be sprouted only when an 

 early crop is desired, and that hilling 

 up should not be practiced except in 

 stiff soil and with shallow planting. 



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As a matter of fact it is a growing 

 practice among good gardeners to 

 substitute level culture for hilling, not 

 only for potatoes but for most of the 

 other garden crops. In fact this is 

 generally considered an advance over 

 former methods. No doubt there are 

 sharp differences of opinion on this 

 point. In fact I have had strenuous 

 neighborly arguments on this very 

 point, taking issue with a nearby gar- 

 dener who contends that potatoes 

 should grow out of miniature moun- 

 tain ranges, while I stand for culture 

 that is pretty nearly level. 



As most garden makers know, arse- 

 nate of lead alone has never proved an 

 efficient remedy for the rose bug. In 

 fact an efficient remedy seems to have 

 been an unknown quantity, at least 

 up to the present time. Now we are 

 told that a way has been found to 

 deal with this pest, with at least a 

 moderate degree of success. It is 

 found in the simple plan of adding 

 a pint of molasses to every five gal- 

 lons of arsenate solution. The mo- 

 lasses seems to prove a bait which 

 the bugs cannot resist, and in eating 

 it they get enough of the poison to 

 end their careers. It is at least a 

 plan worth trying, and if it works, 

 will cause a sigh of relief to emanate 

 from the hearts of garden makers the 

 country over. 



