THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



259 



(Canthuif d from page 251.) 

 The economic value of lliis work, iis is realized today, is of 

 much importance in every town where it takes root. The value 

 of a taste cultivated in the direction of makiiij,' tilings grow in 

 a snuUl way tends at once to improve the appearance of a 

 neighborhood. The florists' shop never causes a detriment to a 

 neighborhood, but is the example of what will make the liomes 

 of a community look better. 



The past year the Committee on School Gardens has followed 

 up its limited work of suggestion to school trustees and others 

 in every city, town or village where a member of the .Society 

 of American Florists is located. l)y mailing to each official school 

 body a well illustrated circular letter, calling attention to this 

 work, and appreciation of this call is acknowledged by many. 



One of the manufacturing- towns whicli were built on the sand 

 dunes or waste places at the south side of Lake Michigan is 

 Gary, and the leading men of the cosmopolitan city of Xew 

 York have been out there and came back home to tell among 

 other things what school gardening and flower growing do to 

 break up the old time barrenness of a manufacturing city. X'l's 

 work over the country, especially in the larger cities, like Cin- 

 cinnati, St. Louis. Cleveland. Chicago, Los Angeles, Bellingham, 

 Worcester, Toronto, r.altiinore. Pittsburgh, Bufl'alo. Syracuse, Jlin- 

 iieapolis, .\tlanta. Louisville. Indianapolis, Grand Rapids. Kala- 

 mazoo and so on, gives merely an idea of what is being done in 

 central centers of large population. The work is aided by the 

 seedsmen in many places. Roses, Dahlias, Asters, Gladioli, Cannas, 

 Coleus, Geraniums, Sweet Peas, etc., are an evidence of the in- 

 creasing appreciation by the mass of American families of flower- 

 ing plants in tlie odd corners and waste places. E.xample and 

 training are effective ways which lead and elevate home taste. 

 A development in the use and growth of Howcrs is nowhere more 

 apparent than the roofs of the great tenement buildings or apart- 

 ment houses on .Manluittan Island — the boxes of flowers tell their 

 own story of the yearning in human hearts for pretty tilings, 

 and the llorists and seedsmen of tlie world are the trades that 

 help uplift humanity. 



Your Committee's advice to all the people is — keep right on 

 the job. 



Respectfully, 



BEN,JAMIN HAMMOND. 

 mCH-\F.L BARKER, 

 IRWIN BERTERMANN, 

 GUST. X. AMRHYN, 

 LEONARD BARRON. 



PRIZES OFFERED FOR PHOTOS. OF LARGEST TREES. 



Foresters of the United States are interested in the announce- 

 ment recently made by the American Genetic Association that 

 two prizes of .$100 each have been offered for two photographs — 

 ore of the largest tree of a nut-bearing variety in the United 

 States, and one of the largest broad-leaf tree which does not 

 bear edible seeds. In the first class, for example, are included 

 trees such as chestnut, oak, walnut, butternut, and pecan; and 

 in the second, trees such as elm. birch, maple, Cottonwood, and 

 tulip poplar. No photographs of cone-bearing trees are wanted, 

 sin<c it is defiiutcly known that the California bigtrees have no 

 rivals among conifers. At a later time the association may talce 

 up the same question as between the various kinds of conifers, 

 as pines, spruces, firs, cedars, and cypresses. 



The purpose of the competition, as stated by the association, 

 is to find ovit in what regions the native trees attain their largest 

 growth, and under what conditions they thrive best. When 

 these large trees are located and the measurements authenticated, 

 the association hopes that it may be possible, to secure seeds, 

 cuttings, or grafting wood from thrifty trees in the region where 

 they grow, to see whether finer specimens may be propagated 

 in other parts of the country. It is hoped in this manner to get 

 some jjarticularly choice strains of native trees established in 

 regions where good specimens are not now found. 



It ' is assumed by the association that seed from the region 

 ■where the largest trees grow ought to produce larger aiid stronger 

 trees than from regions where only small trees are found. By 

 finding out where the large trees are and then planting seeds 

 fiom thciii in other locations, the as..nciation hopes to demon- 

 strate the practical value to horticulture and forestry of the 

 laws of heredity. Now that reforestation is becoming a pressing 

 problem, the question of seed trees which will produce particu- 

 larly good offspring is naturally coming to the fore. 



Other inniiences. of course, will have a bearing on the subject, 

 and the results of the investigation may help to settle the ques- 

 tion as to whether trees can be acclimatized. Even if they 

 cannot Tic, there may be cases where trees in a new environment 

 may make better growth than the best in their native range. 

 This is said to be true of certain of the Australian ciicalypts, 

 and of the Monterey pine which does not amount to much in 

 its native location in California but has proved of great value in 

 New Zealand. 



Tlie federal forest service has conducted some studies along 

 this line and iias discovered, for example, that the Douglas fir 

 of the Rocky Mountains and the Douglas fir of the Pacific Coast, 

 while the same species, have dillVrent characteristics and will 

 juiiduce trees like the parent stock, modified somewhat, however, 

 by environment. For example, if the two forms are planted to- 

 gether, during the earlier jieriod of its life at least the Pacific 

 Coast form will make a larger and stronger growth than the 

 Rocky Mountain tree, provided it is not affected by adverse 

 local conditions. 



Several other questions, such as the climatic reipiirements of 

 trees grown in different localities, will, of conrsi', enter into the 

 final solution of tlie problem. It has been found in Germany, 

 for example, that the Pacific Coast form of Douglas fir is not as 

 hardy as the Rocky Mountain form, which has to endure in its 

 native habitat severe extremes of tcmiierature, and German 

 foresters have been working to discover a strain of Douglas iir 

 which will combine, as far as possible, the hardiness of the Rocky 

 Mountain form and the large size of the Pacific Coast form. 



Some authorities go so far as to say that even the ingenuity 

 and porsevernnce of man are unable to induce trees to change 

 their habits far enough to adopt a country not closely like their 

 native habitat. 



This fastidiousness in the habits of trees has its good and its- 

 bad sides, they say. It absolutely limits the forester's choice of 

 trees to grow in a given' region. But, on the other hand, there 

 is practical certainty of results. If beech or spruce thrives where 

 the average warmth and moisture of the growing season from 

 year to year ranges between certain degrees, then wherever else 

 the same average is found, in the northern hemisphere at least, 

 the forester may plant beech or spruce, whether or not they are 

 already there, with confidence that they will ilourish. 



The announced juiipose of the (Jenetic .Association is to liriug 

 about the dissemination of seed or stock of the best specimens, 

 when found, to demonstrate, if possible, the value of heredity in 

 tree growing. The contest for the $100 photographs is announced 

 to end on July 1, 1915, on which date, .says the secretary of the 

 Genetic Association in Washington, the offer will terminate. 



ARRANGEMENT OF NATIONAL ROSE GARDEN. 



There seems to have been a misinterpretation in some quarters- 

 concerning the planting list of the Washington Rose Garden as 

 included in the committee report read liy Mr. William F. Gude 

 .'it the meeting in Boston of the Society of .-\merican Florists. 

 The lists were simply to show where the plants were located 

 and were prepared for the information of donors and the use of 

 interested parties visiting the garden. 



The arrangement of beds, as "yellow tea," "pink tea," etc.. was- 

 tentative, but promises to work satisfactorily. The assignment 

 to the beds was made entirely from catalog description. This- 

 was taken from the donors' catalogs where practicable, and where 

 not, from catalogs of other reliable firms. The breaks in the 

 beds weie caused by the inability of some firms to supply all the 

 jilants they had expected to send. The varieties with what might 

 be called "mongrel descriptions" were distributed with the color 

 to which they were most nearly akin as far as description would 

 suggest and space permit. 



Places were only provided for teas, hybrid perpetuals and 

 climbers, and other sorts were placed just wherever there hap- 

 jjened to be room, as. for example. Dwarf Polyanthus, which are- 

 planted at several ditTerent points. It is intended to transplant 

 \arieties as soon as practicaide after it is found they are not 

 properly placed in the scheme adopted. 



The list must not be taken as a recommendation by the De- 

 partment of .\griculture either as to adaptability or color, but 

 merely as a record of whore the different varieties are growing. 

 The Rose Garden has not .yet been under way six months, .so, if 

 course, the studies have hardly begun. It will require several 

 seasons' observations before any conclusions can be reached. 

 Suggestions are at all times most welcome, as it is desired to 

 arrange the garden so as to be as instructive as possible. 



F. L. M in. FORD, 

 Landscape Gardener, U. S. Department of .Agriculture. 



October T, 1014. 



THE ART OF NAMING PLANTS. 



Taxonomy has its place. It trains the perceptive faculties,, 

 teaches orderliness, develops judgment and strengthens reason. 

 There is a saving grace in botany not found in most of the other 

 sciences, and this is exercised through taxonomy more fully thaa 

 through all the other divisions of botany combined. 



Systematic butany furnishes to the average layman a more con- 

 tinuous incentive for pleasurable and inspiring contact with the- 

 world about him than any other subject which lays claim to a 

 idace in a cultural course. It may be the primitive pha.se, but 

 most great botanists, at least, began at this point, thus illustrating: 



