634 



HORTICULTURE 



November 4, 1911 



MAY FLOWERING TULIPS. 



DARWIN TULIPS. 



Courtesy oj A. 7\ Boddington 



ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT. 



Dear Sir — I have read in your col- 

 umns with interest and enjoyment the 

 fine, vigorous address ot Mr. Farquhar 

 in New York and the notable letter 

 from Professor Sargent concerning the 

 lack of interest shown by our eommer- 

 ( ial horticulturists in the scientific side 

 of their profession. I am very closely 

 in touch with many amateur flower 

 gardeners and I appreciate to the full, 

 from their standpoint, all that these 

 gentlemen have said. During the 

 twenty years in which I have been in 

 a position to know, my experience has 

 been that if one wanted any English, 

 French, German or Dutch novelty, one 

 must write abroad, not to mention the 

 impossibility of getting here named 

 varieties of plants for years cultivated 

 in England and on the continent. — 

 plants perfectly suited to our climate, 

 but which our seedsmen and nursery- 

 men have disregarded entirely. 



It is the exception, too, to find a 

 florist who knows, except for roses, 

 carnations and a few other things the 

 names of the various varieties of flow- 

 ers which he offers for sale. Lately 

 1 had occasion to buy some small au- 

 tumn chrysanthemums of a large met- 

 ropolitan firm of florists. The flowers 

 were of so fine a form and color that 

 I asked for their name and received 

 the information that they were called 

 "baby chrysanthemums!" Very courte- 

 ous was this reply, but it felt like a 

 slap in the fa 



For the intelligent and enthusiastic 

 men who deal in these wonderful 

 waies of flowers, such as several whom 

 I might name, the advanced amateur 

 gardener in America should give 

 Heaven thanks! The Garden Club of 

 Michigan, an association of women to 

 the number of fifty, has just been or- 

 ganized. They band together at a for- 

 • Tvnmer.t, for the seedsmen of 



this country in a few instances are 

 now showing their desire to offer what 

 amateurs who travel, read and adapt 

 to their own climate and needs, should 

 and will have. An era of "Gardening 

 finely" is here, and with Mr. Farqu- 

 har I express the hope that our coun- 

 trymen who deal in flowers and allied 

 stock may seize the opportunities now 

 crowding upon them. Let them buy 

 abroad, sell here, profit greatly, but 

 above all — study! 



Very truly yours, K. 



.Michigan. 



NEW MALLOWS. 



A few weeks ago we had the pleas- 

 ure of seeing a plantation in bloom, of 

 the new hybrid marshmallows which 

 Bobbink & Atkins, Rutherford, N. J., 

 have been working up for some years. 

 They are indescribably beautiful and 

 showy and must be seen to be properly 

 appreciated. The flowers run from 

 eight to eleven inches in diameter, in 

 brilliant tints of pink, salmon and 

 crimson and are produced in great pro- 

 fusion, being at their best in latter 

 part of August. These mallows are en- 

 tirely distinct from and vastly super- 

 ior to anything in this line yet pro- 

 duced. 



This firm has established a fine rose 

 garden which promises to be a great 

 attraction at their nurseries. So far 

 as we know it is the only attempt at 

 a rose garden by any commercial con- 

 cern in this country. There are now 

 5000 plants in over 300 varieties and 

 they are making a vigorous growth. 

 The enclosure is surrounded by a rus- 

 tic cedar fence on which the climbing 

 roses will be trained. 



berries are of fair size, good color and 

 flavor. There are two varieties, Fran- 

 cis and Americus. Mr. Farmer writes 

 about them as follows: 



These plants were grown in the 

 open and unprotected. They were set 

 last spring and all blossoms kept off 

 until Aug. 20th. We began picking 

 ripe fruit Sep. 10th, and they will con- 

 tinue to fruit until the hardest freez- 

 ing weather. We are having wonder- 

 ful success with them, having grown 

 the improved varieties for three years 

 now. Last year from 500 plants set 

 May 1st we gathered during Aug., 

 Sept. and Oct. 400 quarts of berries 

 and sold them at the leading hotels 

 and grocers at 25c. per quart. The 

 500 plants were set 3V 2 x 1 ft. and 

 occupied 1-25 of an acre. It will be 

 seen that they yielded over 8000 

 quarts to the acre, netting something 

 like $2,000 to the acre. 



FALL-BEARING STRAWBERRIES. 

 We have received from L. J. Farm- 

 er of Pulaski, N. Y., a sample box of 

 hi? Fall-Bearins; strawberries. The 



C. HARMAN PAYNE. 



The Journal of Horticulture, London, 

 Eng., for September 28, contains an 

 extended and very interesting biog- 

 raphy of our esteemed European cor- 

 respondent, C. Harman Payne. As 

 there stated, Mr. Payne's position in 

 the horticultural world is almost 

 unique. His experience and services 

 to the cause have been almost wholly 

 literary, but lie lias exercised no small 

 me ;it home and abroad, and 

 few men not directly in the trade are 

 more widely known. For a quarter of 

 a century his efforts on behalf of the 

 chrysanthemum in England and on 

 the continent have been unceasing 

 and he holds exalted position among 

 the chrysanthemum experts every- 

 where. His horticultural library is 

 rich in antique and rare volumes and 

 is very extensive in its general collec- 

 tion 



