October 21, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



5.".9 



For Closer Relations Between Commercial Horticulture and Scientific 



Institutions 



A Communication from Professor Charles S. Sargent to the Horticultural Club of 



Mr, John Farquharj I nt, Horticultural Club of 



Boston : 

 M\ Dear Sir. Farquhar: The formation in Boston 

 I Itural Club, which is intended to be Na- 



tional in dp and in it s field of operation, 



matter of public importance and public interest. 

 For tlic firel time in thi rj il affords opportunity 



for concentration and effective effort in several direc- 

 tion-. To speak only of one of the benefits to the coun- 

 try, which i he community lias a right to expect from 

 .-mil an organization as you propose, it should be able 

 to bring Commercial Horticulture in closer touch with 

 Science. 



In most European countries arc nurserymen and 

 seedsmen whose names are known and respected by 



me who cultivates plants. These firms, for gener- 

 al km- sometimes, mselves in constant com- 

 munication with the great National Scientific Gardens. 

 They have often rendered these Gardens important serv- 

 ltIi their enterprise, intelligence ami lore- 

 thought, have done mui h for the world, ami made them- 

 selves rich ami powerful. Some of the mosl important 

 botanical discoveries have been made by European nur- 

 serymen, who with rare sagacity and business good 

 sense have hunted d over for new plants. The 

 remarkable increase of sugar in the beet and the greater 

 product of the wheal field are due to the labor of a 

 Paris firm working patiently from generation to gener- 

 ation along scientific lines. Such firms are looking 

 evi rywhere for improvement and novelty. The princi- 

 ple which underlies their efforl is not to supply the 

 public with cheap ami inferior material, hut to find or 

 rial, ami then teach the public to ap- 

 preciate ami buy it. 



In this country, however, Commercial Horticulture 



iw to ta! e a< for its 



own improvemenl and thai of the public. To illustrate 



I need only re Arnold Arboretum. This 



is a museum of trees ami shrubs ami a station for in- 

 creasing thi 

 ment and explorations. It has now for many 



ictive in the botanical exploration of North Amer- 

 ica, and more recently it has worked in Japan, Korea, 

 Manchuria, eastern Siberia and western China, It con- 

 tains the 1. ad shrubs in Xorth 

 America, and ons are richer. Tt 

 is well known in I ; heads or the prim 

 officers of some of ;' e National Gardens have found it 

 worth their while to cross the Atlantic to visit it; it is 



■ice with the principal nur- 

 of Europe, to which the Arboretum i- hted. 



Every tree 1 or amateur, aes to 



Ami] i, • ... ar( J 8 p,, r ,. s) JXi 1 1 ~ . To 



American Commercial Horticulture, the Arnold A 



etum however, is hardly mon- than a nam.. Occasion- 

 ally an American nurseryman passes an hour there, 



norally in thi dli lay, and then 



goes on his way. 1 do not believe there is one 



of them who knows the collection or its richness in 

 commercial possibilities. \\ me of American 



nurserymen is true of many Amen, an park superin- 

 tendents, and of most American landscape gardeners. 

 This is a cause for general and national regret. The 

 \rhoi-ei its duty and of its purpose, if it 



- to make known to the country generally the value 

 contaiii.il in its collection. This can only be done by 

 nurserymen. \ planl taken up by I le in the 



course of a few years becomes known to thousands of 

 people in different parts of the country, who might 

 never have the opportunity to see the Arboretum. 



1 have realize. I for several years the necessity of 

 closer relation between the Arboretum and the import- 

 ant nurserymen oJ the country, hut oui lo bring 

 this about have not nut with much success. A few 



irs ago, at his request, we sent to a prominent Ameri- 

 can nurseryman a collection of ra -. selected by 

 himself, with the understanding that he was to propa- 

 gate them an. I put them on the market. A few months 

 later I found that he had sold the collection as he had 

 received it, to one of his customers. To another firm 

 even better known than the la um once 

 sent a collection of plants from northern China, which 

 were quite a at 1 hal i ime. \ few years later, I 

 found them in the row where they had first been plant- 

 ed, crowded together, choked by grass and ruined. 

 Some of the Bame plants sent at tie -.m,. time to I 

 ropean nursi ing by thi ave been 

 advertised, have I considerable' sums of money. 



Hardly a wed, passes that does not bring letters to 

 the Arboretum as! ing where plant here can be 



bought. In nine cases out of ten. we axi I to 



-end in reply t 1 of a European nurseryman. 



This usually mean- tlurt the would-be put 'oes 



without his plant, for it is not easy to import a single 

 plant, or even a half-dozen, and to persons not accus- 

 ni in Europe it a- ore 



difficult than it really i-. 



'I' re o be one field hat 



the Horticultural Club can properly enter— the bring- 

 ing aboul of .i better appreciation than now exists, of 

 the nee a closer relation between American 



al Eorticulture and the Scientific Gardens 

 ions of the country, of which the 

 Arnold \ only one, and the most limited of 



" -ill in it deals with only two classes of 



plants. 



Wishing you ■ e es s in your new efforts for 



the advancement of Horticulture, I am, 



"Very truly yours, 



Brookline, Mai :. 1911. 



