January 3. 1914 



HORTICULTURE 



A REMARKABLE NEW BOOK. 



A Naturalist in Western China, with 

 Vasculum. Camera and Gun. Being 

 some account of eleven years' travel, 

 exploration and observation in the 

 more remote parts of the Flowery 

 Kingdom. By Ernest Henry Wilson. 

 V. M. H. With an introduction by 

 Charles Sprague Sargent. L. L. D. 

 Two volumes, with KH full page illus- 

 trations and a map. The American 

 edition published by Doubleday. Page 

 & Co., New York. 



Before reviewing this book a few 

 words about its author and his work 

 •will be fitting. .Mr. Wilson is a grad- 

 uate of Kew Gardens. His travels in 

 Western China began early in 1899, 

 and had for their object the collecting 

 of botanical specimens and the 

 introducing of new plants into the 

 gardens of Europe and America. 

 There were four expeditions in all. 

 the first two in the interest of the 

 Veitch Nurseries and the last two on 

 behalf of the Arnold Arboretum of 

 Harvard University. During the 



E. H. WiJ,.si).\. 



eleven years spent in the unexplored 

 pnd uncharted wilderness of central 

 Asia he collected no less than sixty-five 

 thousand specimens and sent home 

 seeds of over fifteen hundred i)lants. 

 Mr. Wilson thus has the distinction of 

 having discovered and introduced into 

 cultivation more valualile trees and 

 shrubs than any one in the whole his- 

 tory of plant discovery and introduc- 

 tion. He has added inestimably to 

 the list of garden plants hardy as far 

 north as Massachusetts, notably Bud- 

 dleia, Berberis. Cotoneaster. Spiraea, 

 Clematis, Rubus, 'etc. Possibly more 

 important than these are the trees, 

 especially the conifers, which he has 

 discovered, although it is rather too 

 soon to form an opinion of their fu- 

 ture value, at least in New Eiigland. 

 That they will succeed in most parts 

 of Europe there is no doubt. While 

 many of Wilson's rliododendrons may 

 not flourish here in Boston, they are 

 destined to be very valuable on the 

 Pacific Coast and the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum is already testing them at several 

 important stations. It is not possible 



to say too much of E. H. Wilson's in- 

 telligence, resourcefulness and pluck. 

 No one but a man jHsssessed of inde- 

 fatiguable industry, intrepid courage 

 and having a rich store of scientific 

 knowledge could have accomplished 

 what he has done, although not yet 40 

 years of age. His book is what might 

 be expected from such a man — indeed 

 it is much more and the reader is 

 pmazed at the myriad of remarkable 

 facts here for the first time recorded 

 with such sincerity and wonderful ex- 

 actness. It is from first to last the 

 straightforward graphic story of a 

 man who knows his subject and it 

 will be prized as an unique addition 

 to botanical and horticultural litera- 

 ture. 



Flora, to|)ography, geography, zool- 

 ogy, geology, agricultural and mineral 

 resources, products, history, methods 

 of travel, customs, language and re- 

 ligion are entertainingly treated in 

 the various chapters and those por- 

 tions describing the author's wander- 

 ings and observations through forest 

 solitudes, mountain fastnesses and 

 wild gorges never before penetrated 

 by a foreigner and the hardships and 

 privations entailed are of absorbing 

 interest. Every chapter teems with 

 interesting flower lore, but particu- 

 larly charming are those devoted to 

 the flora of Ichang, the journey in 

 quest of flowers in northwest Hupeh 

 and the tour across the little known 

 Chino-Thibetan borderland. The con- 

 cluding chapter of Vol. II is devoted to 

 a thoughtful commentary on the race 

 inhabiting this vast country and its 

 future ixissibilities and influence on 

 human destiny. The author speaks 

 feelingly of the unifoim courtesy and 

 kindness of the natives even during 

 such periods as the Boxer outbreak 

 and the Russo-Japanese war. and gen- 

 erously attributes a large part of his 

 success to the devoted loyalty of his 

 Chinese collectors. The illustrations 

 are very fine throughout, all but six 

 being reproductions from original neg- 

 atives taken by Mr. Wilson in the 

 course of his journeyings. 



Prof. C. S. Sargent's introduction is 

 a very thorough presentation of cog- 

 nate facts as demonstrated by the 

 researches conducted by the Arnold 

 Arboretum, with exhaustive compari- 

 sons between the forest flora of East- 

 ern North America and Eastern Asia 

 and showing that the two regions 

 have much in common. The connec- 

 tion of the Arboretum with this Chi- 

 nese work has given it an interna- 

 tional reputation which it could never 

 have obtained if it had confined its 

 explorations to North America. It is 

 a matter of no small gratification to 

 the friends of the Arnold Arboretum 

 that it has been, through the enter- 

 prise and sagacity of Prof. Sargent 

 and the invaluable aid of Wilson, sup- 

 plemented by the cultural skill of 

 Jackson Dawson, able to bring to the 

 gardens of the United States and Eu- 

 rope such a large number of new. use- 

 ful and beautiful plants. 



Brooklyn, N. Y. — Richard Shannon, 

 florist, and five others who were with 

 liim in an auto, were severely hurt in 

 collision with a milk wagon when re- 

 turning from Coney Island early on 

 the morning of December 23. Shan- 

 non was taken to the Coney Island 

 Hospital with a fractured shoulder 

 blade and lacerations. 



COVER ILLUSTRATION. 



Aquilegias or Columbines have been 

 so greatly improved during the last 

 decade or two by hybridization that 

 the long-spurred varieties of today 

 are among the most beautiful and use- 

 ful of our garden perennials. When 

 planted in groups in the garden, either 

 in separate or mixed colors, they make 

 a charming display throughout the 

 middle of the summer and for all cut 

 purposes they are of exceptional value. 

 Although of perennial character they 

 can be very successfully treated as an- 

 nuals, by sowing the seed early in the 

 new year. 



W. F. KASTING, P. M. 



Congratulations are certainly in or- 

 der. W. F. Kasting has been ap- 

 pointed and confirmed as postmaster 

 of the great city of Buffalo. All who 

 know the hustling wholesale florist 

 and zealous treasurer of the S. A. F. 

 will applaud this appointment as an 

 ideal one with the certainty that W. 

 F. Kasting will make a faithful and in 

 every respect efficient official in the 



W. F. Kastim;. 



public trust thus placed in his keep- 

 ing. And the florist trade is a joint 

 participant in the honor bestowed on 

 popular -Billy" Kasting. 



PERSONAL. 



Tom VVindram, of Cincinnati. Ohio, 

 left the first of this week for the Lake 

 Shore Ferneries at Leesburg, Fla. 



Bdwin Saunders, fromerly of Lenox. 

 has been appointed superinlendent of 

 the greenhouses of A. .X. Cooley, 

 Pittsfield. .Mass. 



Boston visitors: James H. Morton, 

 Huntington, N. Y.; Mr. and Mrs. H. 

 Bayersdorfer, Philadelphia. Pa.; Rob- 

 ert Greenlaw, representing S. S. Pen- 

 nock-Meehan Co.. Philadelphia. Pa. 



W. Langhout, traveling representa- 

 tive of Van Zonneveld Bros, and Phil- 

 ipps. of Sassenheim, Holland, is at St. 

 Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minn., 

 recovering from a serious operation. 



The foreign journals are featuring 

 a new double-flowered form of Prim- 

 ula malacoides. 



