June 6, 1914 



HOBTICULTUEE 



833 



remedy, he says. In speaking of the 

 rose chafers, and the difficulty of 

 poisoning them, he recommended that 

 the arsenical solution be slightly 

 sweetened to induce them to eat more 

 of it. 



Letter was read from Richard Vin- 

 cent, Jr., in regard to making the trip 

 to the S. A. F. Convention in Boston 

 by way of Baltimore and steamboat up 

 the coast to Boston. This seemed to 

 strike some of the members favorably, 

 and Vincent's letter was reinforced by 

 Robert Hunter, Commercial Agent of 

 the Merchants' & Miners' Transporta- 

 tion Co., who was present and gave 

 the rates from Pittsburgh to Boston 

 via Baltimore and boat. In anticipa- 

 tion of the demand, Mr. Hunter said 

 he had reserved ten staterooms for 

 use of the Pittsburgh party. It was 

 finally left that those who wished to 

 make the trip via Baltimore and boat, 

 should arrange with Mr. Robert Hunt- 

 er, 1004 Bessemer building, Pittsburgh. 



The e.xhibition of flowers was small 

 and I can only account for it on the 

 theory that the members were em- 

 barrassed with the richness of the ma- 

 terial about them. Such crops of out 

 of door flowers have perhaps never 

 been known in the vicinity of Pitts- 

 burgh. The rose crop is abundant and 

 the peony crop is marvelous for its 

 abundance and flne quality. Peonies 

 were shown by H. C. Knauff, Al- 

 leghany; laelias by T. Tyler. German 

 iris by Mr. Alker, and tulip tree by 

 Carl Becherer, Dixmont, Pa. 



H. P. JosLiN, Sec'y. 



CLUB AND SOCIETY NOTES. 



The next meeting, the closing one 

 for the season, of the New York Flor- 

 ists' Club will be held at the Club 

 rooms next Monday evening, June 8. 



The Cincinnati Florists' Society will 

 hold its regular meeting on Monday 

 evening, June 8th. at the club rooms 

 in the Flower Market. The special 

 business will be the nomination of oSi- 

 cers as well as taking up the question 

 of the annual outing. 



The Chicago Retail Florists' Associ- 

 ation met June 1st and over sixty were 

 in attendance. The chief topic of dis- 

 cussion was the first issue of their 

 little publication which they are offer- 

 ing free to the trade. Plans are under 

 way for an outing later on. 



The monthly meeting of the Nassau 

 County Horticultural Society was held 

 May 1.3th at Glen Cove. Prizes tor the 

 fall shows were received from J. M. 

 Thorburn Co., John Wilk, Cottage Gar- 

 dens Co., Pierson U-Bar Co., Lord & 

 Burnham Co., Titus & Bowne, Kohler 

 Bros., F. B. Edmonds and C. A. Coffin. 

 Mrs. P. S. Smithers presented for com- 

 petition a set of valuable books. .Awards 

 for exhibits were made as follows: 

 Darwin tulips, H. Gaut; flowering 

 shrubs, P. Honeyman; lettuce, J. Mc- 

 Carthy. Cultural certificates to H. 

 Gaut for clarkia and J. Robinson for 

 lilium. Honorable mention to A. 

 Fournier for Darwin tulips. The an- 

 nual Rose Show was postponed to 

 Tuesday, June 16th. Mr. Gommersall, 

 of Nyack, gave an inspiring address on 

 Hardy Gardens and Perennials. 



Harry Jo.nes, Cor Sec. 



HORTICULTURAL CLUB OF BOSTON ON A VISIT TO SOUTH LANCASTER, 



MASS. 



Left to Eight, Standing— W. A. M:inil.i. I'. WlIiIi, Ja.s. F. M. Farquliar, .Juiiu K. M. 

 L. Farquhar. Seated— Wm. J. Stewart, Wm. Sim, Jos. T. Clarke, S. J. Goddard, Thos. 

 Roland, Alex. Montgomery, E. Allan Pelrce, Jos. Fuller, M. A. Patten, Peter Fisher, 

 Wm. Anderson, Fred A. Wilson, Jackson Dawson, J. B. Shea. 



On the occasion of the visit of the 

 Horticultural Club of Boston to the 

 Bayard Thayer estate at South Lan- 

 caster, Mass., described in our last 

 issue, a brief tour was also made of 

 the neighboring John E. Thayer place, 

 under the escort of Mr. Thayer and his 

 superintendent. Mr. Clarke. It was 

 here that the accompanying group pic- 

 ture was taken. 



The John E. Thayer place is older 

 than that of Bayard Thayer and the 

 trees and shrub plantation are more 



mature. There are some noble ever- 

 greens and the pyruses blooming at 

 the time of this visit presented a 

 scene of floral beauty the equal of 

 which had never been seen by any of 

 the visitors. Tulips, daffodils and 

 other spring flowering bulbs, etc., were 

 scattered over the grassy slopes in 

 myriads and the impressive vistas 

 opened here and there from suitable 

 vantage points, commanding views of 

 a wide expanse of country, were en- 

 thusiastically admired. 



THOSE NEMATODES AGAIN. 



Fifteen years ago there was little 

 doing with peonies; since then they 

 have grown in importance and the 

 sales are enormous. 



It is very unfortunate that a base- 

 less scare should come in to injure 

 the business. I have a right to speak. 

 I have been raising peonies thirty 

 years, and for the last sixteen years 

 have made it an especial business. I 

 have published two editions of the 

 peony manual and have had one of 

 the Nebraska experimental stations 

 for a number of years. We have 

 probably handled more peonies than 

 any other firm. I have watched these 

 plants as a doctor would his children, 

 and have noted their diseases and de- 

 scribed them in my last manual. 



The French club foot disease is a 

 mystery — a root infested with it is in- 

 curable and should be thrown away. 

 To get at the bottom of this theory I 

 sent two roots, one of the club foot 

 and one with nematodes, to Dr. Ernest 

 Bessey, son of Dr. Charles Bessey, 

 one of our most renowned scientists. 

 Dr. Ernest Bessey is in charge of the 

 pathological department of the U. S. 

 station at Miami, Florida — the highest 

 authority in the land. He says: "You 

 see that I confirm the correctness of 



your observation that the two dis- 

 eases are entirely different." He 

 found no nematodes in the club foot. 



I have often found my most robust 

 and vigorous plants infested with 

 these nematodes and the roots often 

 enlarged by nodules. The rankest 

 growing ones — like Andre Saures, 

 Marechal Vaillant and Grandiflora 

 rosea, almost always have more or 

 less. These are all robust growers 

 and prolific bloomers. Now if these 

 nematodes are dangerous, I surely 

 ought to know it. In selling we 

 usually strip off the nodules. For my 

 own planting I don't care whether 

 they are on or not. I think that they 

 are often more of a benefit than an 

 injury and just like the nodules on 

 the alfalfa that increase the root 

 power of the plant. 



Peonies should never be replanted 

 on the same ground, not on account 

 of the ground being infested, but be- 

 cause the plant is a rank grower and 

 exhausts the food necessary. You can- 

 not plant potatoes year after year on 

 the same ground. Now if you want to 

 find robust and vigorous peonies come 

 to my place where I can show you as 

 fine plants as you can see anywhere, 

 some of them well lined with nodules. 



C. S. H.«fRISON. 



York, Neb., May 29, 1914. 



