December 14, 1912 



HORTICULTURE 



843 



Seed Trade 



I 



Baltimore Analyzed. 

 Amadis tells me I should forget it, 

 and adds. "You'll only get yourself 

 disliked." "True, Oh sage," is my re- 

 ply, "but I have so many dear friends 

 in that old town — who have stood by 

 me through thick and thin — both in a 

 business and social way these past 

 thirty years, that I feel impelled to be 

 the disinterested friend of the family 

 and say things." 



"Ha, Ha!" says Amadis, "1 see your 

 finish!" Which brash remark — while 

 making me more careful — in no way 

 detracts from the sincerity of anything 

 I may have to say about My Maryland. 

 She has such a glorious history behind 

 her and such a splendid future that the 

 candid visitor and friend fears nothing 

 of favor here or hereafter in telling his 

 impressions. The outsider sees things 

 so much clearer than the native that it 

 really is a service to give the impres- 

 sions candidly and truthfully. 



The wholesale seed trade of Balti- 

 more — say what you will — is the peer 

 of them all. Clean cut, shrewd, far- 

 seeing men, as were their fathers be- 

 fore them, and their hold on the At- 

 lantic seaboard trade is impressive and 

 convincing. One may ask why Phila- 

 delphia, New York or Boston should 

 not lead in this trade. To our mind 

 the sole answer is "the man." The 

 breed was there and still remains — 

 and with it the trade. That's mainly 

 why Baltimore is such a big factor in 

 the wholesale seed trade of America. 

 And there are signs of the younger 

 generation of the retail seedsmen of 

 Baltimore taking their true place in 

 the near future. I have met many of 

 the younger men in that line of late 

 and look for big things within the next 

 few years. The old ramshackle chaos 

 of the "front shop" is going to disap- 

 pear and wide, roomy, clean, orderly, 

 daylight system and scientific arrange- 

 ment is going to emerge. The leaven 

 is working now and before long there 

 will be the spick-and-span of Dreer, 

 Henderson, Stumpp, Fiske or Farquhar 

 and everything systematized to the 

 minute. Then when that time coines 

 we shall hear no such remarks in the 

 Emerson or the Belvidere as, "Oh, yes, 

 I wanted a lot of that but of course 

 we did not have it in Baltimore so I 

 sent to New York for it." That kind of 

 talk ought to make a seedsman of a 

 metropolitan city like Baltimore blush, 

 and yet it is common enough. 



In the flower selling end of the busi- 

 ness there are also hopeful signs. The 

 old standbys from the fine foundations 

 of their forefathers — the Feasts, the 

 Hallidays, the Cooks and others — are 

 holding their own. And there are 

 many younger men in the field also 

 showing good promise. But from a 

 casual glance it seems rather remark- 

 able that all these florists should be 

 sitting idly by while the biggest plant 

 " business In the city, (palms, ferns, 

 araucarias, and so forth), is being 

 done by one of the seed houses! — 

 Mercy! ! 



When you want to go anywhere in 

 Baltimore ask a policeman or get a 

 taxi. There are no signs on the street 

 corners. They were all burnt up in 

 the fire. G. C. WATSON. 



SOLANUM CAPSICASTRUM MELVINI 



A MONEY MAKER FOR 

 THE HOLIDAYS 



(Ititroducfd by us last season) 



Dw;irf, bushy plants, 12 to 

 15 inches high, covered 

 with brilliant si;irlet, cou- 

 iojil shaped berries, ciirried 

 well above the foliage. 



AWARDED 

 Silver Medal by Society of 

 American Florists. 

 Bronze Medal by Newport 

 Hort. Society. 

 First Class C ertilirate by 

 Mass. Hort. SDciety. 

 First Class < <•■ tificate by 

 Gardeners" ai d Florists' 

 Club of Bost 11. 

 First Class Certificate by 

 National Gardeners' As- 

 sociation. 



,^ow Seeds in .Tan. or Feb. 

 for next Christmas. 



Singia pkt. 25c. 5 pkts, $1.00 



lOpkts. )1.50 100 pkts. $12.50 



ORDEII NOW AS SEED IS LIMITEO 



THOMAS J. GREY CO. 



32 South Market St , Boston, Miss. 



The Third Generation of Hendersons. 



Two grandsons of the late Peter 

 Henderson have recently associated 

 themselves with the house of Peter 

 Henderson & Co., New York. One, 

 the namesake of his distinguished 

 grandfather and son of the late Alfred 

 Henderson, is a graduate of Yale Col- 

 lege. The other, Howard Henderson, 

 son of the present head of the com- 

 pany, Charles Henderson, spent two 

 years at Cornell University. That the 

 long-established repute of this honored 

 house, which, since the death of 

 Peter Henderson has been so ably 

 maintained, will he energetically pro- 

 tected and extended in the coming 

 days when these two promising young 

 men will be called upon to assume 

 that responsibility, will not be doubted 

 by anyone who has had the pleasure 

 of meeting them. 



about finished and will be fully 

 equipped and stocked for business by 

 January 1. 



Clover-seed shipments from Austria- 

 Hungary have been very large this 

 year, the amount for the first six 

 months being 8 4-5 million pounds, 

 against 5 3-5 millions pounds in the 

 same period last year. The United 

 States bought 25 million pounds of 

 clover seed in the fiscal year 1911, but 

 only 2 per cent, of it is credited as 

 coming from Austria-Hungary. 



Some Very Seedy Verses. 



Secretary Wilson's aiiiiiial report will 

 show that bis department has distributed 

 34.000,000 packages of seeds during the last 

 year. — News Item. 



The wealth of Ormus and of Ind — 



He has it quite completely skinned. 



You merely tickle with a hoe 



The fallow field in row and row. 



Then write to Uncle Jim, 



And when you've heard from him 



Just drop his answer in. 



And somewhat later, 1) ! 



You gather "tin" 



In form of carrots, cabbages or corn. 



While Plenty tips her horn. 



So over all the land is seen 

 His trade mark written green 

 In field and garden fair, 

 Jim and old nature make a corking pair! 

 — Maurice Morris, in N. Y. Sun. 



Owing to rather poor health recent- 

 ly, Chas. N. Page, of the Iowa Seed 

 Co., started for California last week, 

 to be gone about six weeks. He will 

 visit the seed growers in the Sacra- 

 mento, Santa Clara, Arroyo Grande, 

 and Ventura districts, where they are 

 now setting out onions, beets, carrots 

 and other roots for seed production, 

 ending his trip at San Diego, where 

 he will spend the holidays with his 

 wife and three of his children, who 

 are staying there this winter. He ex- 

 pects to return to Des Moines, about 

 January 12th to 15th. 



NEWS NOTES. 



Notes. 



Lexington, Ky. — A $25,000 seed- 

 cleaning plant is being erected by the 

 Central Blue Grass Seed Co. 



Lamoni, la. — The Farmers' Grain 

 and Seed Co. has been incorporated 

 here with a capital stock of $5,000. 



Mllford, Conn. — The new seed ware- 

 bouse for F. H. Woodruff & Sons is 



Riverdale, Md. — The greenhouses ol 

 Alfred Ellaby have been purchased by 

 William Henckell. 



Hollis, N. Y. — The greenhouses of J. 

 Gilkinson & Sons have been purchased 

 by F. Speigler. 



Leadville, Colo. — The greenhouses 

 of Mrs. L. A. Gates. 423 West Third 

 street, have been purchased by Mrs. 

 N. Kellerup. 



Fremont, Neb. — An interest in the 

 Yager Nursery has been purchased by 

 Wade R. Martin and the name will be 

 changed to Yager & Martin. 



Seattle, Wash.— F. W. Gust and T. 

 V. Rhoades have purchased the store 

 of the late L. P. Walz and will con- 

 tinue it under the name of the Rosery, 



