898 



HORTICULTURE 



June 20, ISli 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTU- 

 RAL SOCIETY RHODODENDRON 

 SHOW. 



The exhibition given at Horticultural 

 Hall, Boston, under the above name, 

 en Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 

 14, was a brilliant spectacle, filling the 

 large exhibition hall with glowing 

 •color, but the display of rhododendrons 

 was exceedingly meagre, the more pro- 

 'minent subjects being the German 

 irises, peonies, hemerocallises and 

 pyrethrums. Walter Hunnewell showed 

 a table of one hundred vases of Rhodo- 

 dendron delicatissimum, a hybrid of 

 maximum and Catawblense, well 

 known as one of the most reliable 

 hardy sorts. T. C. Thurlow's Sons 

 Co. showed six varieties, one truss ot 

 e?ch and those were all. 



Magnificent and extensive groups of 

 hardy garden material were arranged 

 by R. & J. Farquhar & Co.. whose dis- 

 play won a silver medal. Mt. Desert 

 Nurseries, which won honorable men- 

 tion. Eastern Nurseries, which took 

 first prize offered for twenty-five spe- 

 cies and varieties — a tastily- arranged 

 and commendably labelled group, Old 

 Town Nurseries and others. In all 

 these groups the irises were a promi- 

 nent comi)onent and in addition there 

 were varied and beautiful iris collec- 

 tions from T. C. Thurlow's Sons Co., 

 K. M. Dumphe and J. K. Alexander. 

 Among the most lovely of the German 

 irises included in these collections 

 were Pallida Dalmatica in several va- 

 rieties, Dalniatica purpurea being es- 

 pecially showy; Mme. Paquitte, claret 

 rose; Mme. Chereau, white with blue 

 edge: Clio, light and dark purple, falls 

 white edged; Mrs. H, Darwin, white: 

 Victorine, white and violet mottled; 

 King of Iris, yellow and maroon; 

 Lorelei, blue and cream; Rhein Nixe, 

 white, with violet blue falls bordered 

 with white; Gajus, crimson falls, with 

 bright yellow edge; Gracchus, crimson 

 and white; Maori King, crimson and 

 yellow, falls margined gold; Garrick, 

 Jenny Lind, Rose de Chine. Nibelen- 

 gin and many other gems. Visitors 

 flocked about the iris tables, busy with 

 pencils and note books. Peonies were 

 prominent on all sides and, besides 

 appearing in the mixed groups, were 

 shown separately by Mrs. J. L. Gard- 

 ner, Wm. Whitman and Jas. McKis- 

 sock, collections of seedlings being 

 staged by Walter Hunnewell, Dr. 

 Chas. Minot and G. W. Page. Seed- 

 ling hemerocallis by G. W. Page, can- 

 terbury bells by Mrs. Fred Ayer, 

 aquilegias in the Farquhar exhibit, ere- 

 iiiuruses in the Mt. Desert group and 

 pyrethrums and dianthus in the Old 

 Town Nurseries display were all 

 worthy of special notice; Jackson 

 Dawson staged an interesting group of 

 flowers of hardy rose species, seedling 

 climbers, etc., which was awarded a 

 certificate of merit. Miss Cornelia 

 Warren, gard. Henry Stewart, showed 

 a fine hydrangea grou]). 



In tender material orchids were the 

 principal factors. First and second 



prizes went to Mrs. J. L. Gardner, 

 gard. Wm, Thatcher, for very exten- 

 sive groups strong especially in Cat- 

 tleyas, Miltonias, Phalaenopses and 

 Calanthes. F. Dolansky showed a gi- 

 gantic specimen Cattleya Mossiae and 

 two plants of Mossi<E Warneri. E, a. 

 Clark, gard. Alex. McKay, was in with 

 Dendrobium thyrsiflorum and Miss 

 Warren staged a group of big Onci- 

 dlum fiexuosum, which was a show in 

 itself. 



There was the usual appetizing dis- 

 play of choice vegetables, a cultural 

 certificate being awarded to Frank 

 Wheeler for asparagus. 



STONE AGE HUMOR. 



There's an editorial note In last 

 week's Horticulti'ke which I think is 

 worthy of passing comment. You men- 

 tion the happy way in which the mem- 

 bers of the Nurserymen's Association 

 mix relaxation with business. The 

 editor seems to think well of it. I 

 agree with him. It is a fine art. Most 

 of the big successful concerns of the 

 country have made it a study and the 

 effectiveness of their putting the idea 

 into practice has been the G. E. R. 

 (generation equals results) or else 

 there's something wrong. It is far 

 from easy to put a correct theory into 

 correct practice. James Watt tried all 

 his life to put his theory of the steam 

 engine into practice, and he vastly im- 

 proved as the years rolled by. His 

 successors are still improving on the 

 practice, but the theory remains the 

 same, and that theory of the steam en- 

 gine has revolutionized the world. It 

 has shortened distance and multiplied 

 production during the past hundred 

 years to the extent that few of us 

 trace to its source — James Watt's 

 theory. This is merely by way of illus- 

 trating that the theory of mixing re- 

 laxation with business is one of the 

 finest of fine arts and only the highest 

 intellects in our profession have a 

 clear conception of it. The idea of a 

 committee ot a trade club putting at 

 the end of their outing circular "any- 

 one who talks business will be fined 

 five dollars." That's silly and shows 

 a lack of understanding of human 

 nature. If I share joys with my 

 brothers I must also share in their 

 sorrows. There is no picture without 

 light and shade. Consequently when 

 we go to a picnic the thing to do is to 

 be natural and talk about whatever 

 sufficiently interests us. There is just 

 as much enjoyment to be found in 

 talking business as there is to be 

 found in talking religion or politics or 

 sport. But I presume the remark I 

 refer to was not directed at a moder- 

 ate well balanced personality that 

 takes everything in moderation, but at 

 tliose men who carry whatever they 

 do to excess. Some eat to excess; 

 others dress to excess; some push busi- 



I More Red Devil Cutters Used Annually Than All Others Combined 



I SMITH A HEaiENWAT CO., . 



Send 6c. for ■ample N*. 024 

 and Booklet <0 atylee, and 

 anderstand why. 

 SEND FOB BOOKLET ANY- 

 HOW. 



181 CHAMBBB8 ST.. NEW TOBK 



ness to excess. They will try to 

 sell a man a bill of goods on the 

 picnic grounds with no more manners 

 than a curbstone peddler. Fortunately 

 there are few like that in our trade 

 bodies and the small percentage there 

 is does not justify any committee in 

 stigmatizing the majority of the mem- 

 bers who are well balanced and know 

 better. The remark was probably put 

 in as humorous. If so — it was of the 

 stone age brand. 



P. S. — Your scribe passed through 

 Michell's this afternoon. Fred. Michell. 

 Junior, is one of the committee whose 

 name is signed to that $5.00 fine rule 

 for talking business at the picnic. A 

 bundle of bags and a wheelbarrow 

 wanted the right of way. We cour- 

 teously stepped aside. The youthful 

 Fred, explained tnese items were for 

 the sack and wheelbarrow races at 

 the outing. The bags were stamped 

 in letters nearly a foot higli, "Mich- 

 ell's Reliable Seeds." If that isn't 

 talking business in large caps, what 

 is it? And by one of the committee, 

 at that I The l)laze on the bags 

 blinded us for the minute, so we 

 did not see the name on the barrow, 

 but no doubt it was equally fineable. 

 Two fives, please. Cough up! 



Geoege C. Watson. 



WAR ON CATERPILLARS. 



There was a great clean-up of moths 

 and caterpillars in Revere, Mass., on 

 Saturday, June 13. The presence of 

 these pests on private grounds and in 

 orchards became a positive nuisance 

 and the new Civic Club of Revere per- 

 fected plans to form an organization 

 t( war on the insects. 



The principal ot every school centre 

 was made a field secretary and the 

 town was blocked out in squares. 

 Companies of 10 were next chosen, 

 with a leader for each company. The 

 Scout Masters had supervision of their 

 respective territories. 



At 8 o'clock in the morning the war 

 began and at noon thousands of nests 

 of caterpillars were destroyed. It was 

 the greatest clean-up ever made in 

 Revere and will, undoubtedly, benefit 

 the owners of orchards, as well as the 

 farmers, many thousand dollars. 



HOW TO CHECK THRIPS ON 

 GRAPE VINE. 



Referring to the query, on this topic, 

 on page 8fi9, issue of June 6, a well- 

 informed gardener gives the following 

 additional advice. 



First buy from your seedsman va- 

 porizing fumigator and lamp. Half fill 

 the lamp with wood alcohol. Light 

 and place on the floor at the lowest 

 point. Place the shield with cup on 

 top over your lamp. Then fill the cup 

 with nicoticide, taking care not to 

 over fill, otherwise it will boil over 

 and catch fire. The small size lamp 

 will fumigate 2,000 cubic feet, the 

 large size will fumigate 5,000 cubic 

 feet. Repeat this for two nights, and 

 be sure the house is closed tight. 



X postal from James McHutchisou. 

 dated at Melbourne, Vic, reads as fol- 

 lows: "Best wishes from this fine 

 city with the beautiful gardens — bet- 

 ter, I think, than any I have ever 

 licen in. 



