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HORTICULTURE 



September 16, 1911 



DECORATIVE STOCK AT DREER'S. 



It having been whispered that 

 were many new and interesting 

 things to be seen at Dreer's that the 

 ra of HORTICULTURE would be 

 glad to hear about, we put a pedomi 

 in our jeans, took Sawbones Lane 

 along as a germ protector, and 

 tackled the job. Alter six hours of 

 strenuous work, tagging after .Mr. 

 iii* pedometer buret, and the 

 doctor had arrived at the saturation 

 One of the first vistas to greet 

 us was a block of fifty thousand Areca 

 lutescens three plants to a pot — a 

 bigger one in the center. It developed 

 in the course of conversation that the 

 best demand for areca is in the south- 

 ern states. It seems to fit conditions 

 down there better than any other 

 variety, but it is not so popular in the 

 north as formerly. 



A good idea of the relative im- 

 portance of Kentia Belmoreana and K. 

 Forsteriana may be gleaned from the 

 fact that here we find the former in 

 three-inch pots two million strong, 

 whereas the latter is only grown 

 about one-eighth as many, or one- 

 quarter million. Belmoreana is the 

 popular palm idol of the day, and a 

 close second is the dainty Cocos 

 Wedelliana, a block of which covering 

 some twelve thousand square feet of 

 space, was a sight to make one dance 

 with pure joy. Like all the palms at 

 Dreer's these are clean foliaged, shiny 

 and perfect. Last year's seed came 

 up well, quite a contrast to two years 

 ago. when, out of a lot of two hun- 

 dred thousand seeds, only seventy-five 

 plants resulted. The regular ex- 

 pectation is from sixty-five to seventy 

 per cent. It is surmised that the 

 trouble two years ago lay with the un- 

 conscionable scoundrels in Buenos 

 Ay res. shipping old seed; or else that 

 the seed got damaged on the steamer. 

 The Dreers have one block of three 

 hundred thousand this year (in addi- 

 tion to the stock mentioned above) 

 being grown along, and strictly re- 

 served as a nucleus for next year's 

 sales 



Now come eight more houses — a 

 vista of Belmoreana, Forsteriana and 

 lutescens — six, seven, nine-inch, 

 many in tubs — they look better in tubs 

 although they don't seem to cost any 

 more. We saw some nine-inch Fors- 

 teriana with a fine spread and good 

 finish, for only four dollars. Again, 

 as showing how values go, we saw 

 splendid arecas in seven-inch pots for 

 two dollars that would appeal to the 

 ordinary observer as easily worth 

 five. And there are still other houses 

 of palms, big specimens — the ten to 

 twenty-five dollar kinds. 



Now we move out of the palm 

 groves and strike into other scenes, 

 the first being something we can't 

 see the sense of until it is carefully 

 explained to us, an acre or so of roses 

 in pots, big plants, 2-year, 3-year or as 

 maybe. Hut why under glass? Why 

 not out in the open field, getting 

 iied up? The explanation that they 

 can be better handled; that they are 

 outside bye and bye and get 

 frozen, and then come back again 

 under glass for spring sales may be 

 all right ; but to our dense under- 

 standing there seems something more 

 to be explained. There are all kinds 

 of them: Hybrid Teas, Bourbons, 



Ramblers. Koinontants; and we get a 

 nice bunch of bloom to lake home on 

 the train. Bui we are not. at all sat- 

 isfied in our own minds that we have 

 this thing down fine. One must dig 

 sometimes and be even rude In ques- 

 tioning to get anywhere. We saw our 

 old friend Gloire de Dijon and are told 

 that this one does well here as an out- 

 door summer rose, but that Marechal 

 Neil under similar conditional is no 

 good. 



Pot-grown Hiawatha, Dorothy Per- 

 kins and all the other popular Ram- 

 bler varieties are here in trained 

 specimens, lour to eight feet, and in 

 all Shapes. We can readily understand 

 the reason for those being in pots and 

 in frames, as they are obviously in- 

 tended for winter and Easter forcing 

 and are no doubt much better than 

 outdoor stock for that purpose. 



We glance in passing at a block of 

 fifteen thousand thrifty giant-flowering 

 cyclamen under slats, that are being 

 grown on for Christmas. They are 

 Dreer's own strain seed saved from se- 

 lected plants — the kind that George D. 

 Clark would describe perhaps as the 

 "unsurpassable." 



The Araucaria department is part- 

 ly in the open — that is, the structures 

 are not greenhouses but composed of 

 lath giving partial shade and plenty 

 of air; 75,000 in one block — excelsa, 

 excelsa glauca, robusta compacta and 

 plumosus. We are invited to pick out 

 which we would prefer as between ro- 

 busta and plumosus and were unlucky 

 enough to prefer the wrong one. Plu- 

 mosus is the deeper green, while we 

 preferred the lighter green of robusta 

 we were assured that that is not the 

 general verdict — just the opposite, plu- 

 mosus being by far the best seller and 

 comparatively scarce on that account. 



Camellia japonica — a nice lot well 

 set with buds. This old favorite of 

 fifty years ago is regaining some of its 

 ancient popularity, and the demand the 

 past few seasons has been quite con- 

 siderable. Begonia Duke Zeppelin and 

 Lafayette are flowering profusely in 

 frames at present. They are the left- 

 overs of these magnificent bedding va- 

 rieties from spring sales and are mak- 

 ing fine stock for next season. 



Now we come to a few frames of 

 ferns that are the special pride of 

 James Clark, the fern expert. 



Todea Africana is not new, but a 

 species whose value as a house plant 

 has not until recently been recognized. 

 It is especially pretty as here seen in 

 six-inch pans as a table fern, of a rich, 

 deep green color, and when produced 

 in quantity should also prove valuable 

 as a dish-fern in small sizes. Scolo- 

 pendrium omcinarum undulatum is a 

 variety of the evergreen British Harts- 

 tongue in which the foliage is deeply 

 undulated or wavy. It is a favorite in 

 a shady corner of the rockery and per- 

 fectly hardy but as grown here in four 

 or five-inch pots, it should find a 

 place among decorative ferns and will 

 make a fine subject for window boxes 

 for the winter in a protected position. 

 Dracena fragrans, Massangeana, and 

 Lindeni show up in large blocks and 

 in fine condition. Cocos flexuosus is 

 a very graceful plant. There is con- 

 siderable demand for it for decorative 

 purposes and it is grown here quite 

 extensively. This variety and plumo- 

 sus are used in Florida and California 

 for outdoor planting. Kentia San- 

 deriana we find in limited quantity. 



This is a dwarf grower of elegant and 

 graceful habit. Beautiful bright 

 green. Rather high-priced as yet but 

 desirable as a novelty where some- 

 thing extra choice is wanted. 



Returning to the fern kingdom, 

 passing a house of Adiantum Farley- 

 ense we now come to the sensation of 

 the visit which our guides have evi- 

 dently been holding back until the 

 last minute — Adiantum Farleyense, 

 Glory of Moordrecht. The despair of 

 the fern growers of the world hereto- 

 fore has been to get Farleyense to 

 seed. How this clever Dutchman at 

 Moordrecht managed to find one that 

 did — nobody knows. We compared 

 Glory with Farleyense in all stages 

 and it is absolutely the same — only it 

 gives fertile spores, and that is a 

 fact of immense importance. We can 

 now have this recognized aristocrat 

 of the fern family by the million. The 

 first importation of plants received at 

 Dreer's last summer seeded nicely and 

 by next spring they will have at; 

 least twenty thousand young plants 

 out of one small batch. This variety 

 is known as the Glory Fern in Lon- 

 don and other places (Adiantum Far- 

 leyense glorlosa) but it is the same 

 thing — Glory of Moordrecht. All the 

 good things that have been said of it 

 we believe to be quite true and well 

 authenticated by Mr. Clark and other 

 fern experts. The Glory of Moordrecht 

 is undoubtedly the fern sensation of 

 the day. The sporty Nephrolepis has 

 held the center of the stage these 

 many years, but the new and brilliant 

 star outshines it in all directions. 



Another sensational new thing — 

 only in a slightly lesser degree than 

 the Glory Fern— is the Cyrtomium 

 Rochfordianum, a crested form 0f the 

 old favorite, "Holly Fern." Last spring 

 what few plants were to offer in 8-inch 

 pots were quickly disposed of at $5 

 each and many more could have been 

 sold. The pinnae are deeply cut 

 and undulated and the color is also 

 much deeper and glossier. It is ex- 

 cellent, not only for fern pans but 

 also for specimens. We understand 

 that by the 1st of November a splen- 

 did batch will be ready in six-inch 

 pots that can be offered as low as a 

 dollar each. Of Cibotium Schiedei 

 here there must be nearly an acre. 

 We never saw so many of this mag- 

 nificent decorative fern together be- 

 fore and they were worth going a 

 long way to see. 



Ananas sativa variegata is a name 

 easily remembered — it sounds so like 

 Ananias. Of course this is the varie- 

 gated pine apple, and a splendid 

 batch of several thousand plants are 

 to be seen here. This pine apple in 

 richness and variety of coloring far 

 outshines Pandanus Veitchii and the 

 only reason it has not been the leader 

 was the higher price. But that is 

 past now. Fine plants in from four 

 to six-inch pots are offered at from 

 50 cents to $1.50 this year. 



Many more things we saw in ferns 

 and foliage plants — alocassias, maran- 

 tas and so forth, but our story is al- 

 ready long enough and we must re- 

 gretfully bid good-bye to a most en- 

 grossing topic with which we could 

 fill several numbers of HORTICUL- 

 TURE. Peonies, phloxes and Jap- 

 anese iris are now going out by the 

 million. Our field days on these 

 ought to have come earlier. 



GEORGE C. WATSON. 



