November 11. 191 1 



HORTICULTURE 



lid.l 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 

 The International Horticultural Exhi- 

 bition. 



Committees have been appointed in 

 various counties to ;issisi in the or- 

 ganization of the Royal International 

 Horticultural exhibition to be held In 

 London next year. Some correspond- 

 ence has taken place in the press as 

 to the charges proposed to be made for 

 admission. The directors have now- 

 decided to provide speeial facilities to 

 professional gardeners, and also reduc- 

 tions in the charges to the general 

 public. The size of the ground at Chel- 

 sea is 2] acres; seven acres are occu 

 pied by trees, shrubs, and the remain- 

 ing 14 acres will lie available for the 

 marquees, out-door exhibits, adminis- 

 trative offices, etc. Numerous applica- 

 tions have been received from British 

 growers for space in the fioricultural 

 section, whilst the foreign department 

 will be of a very representative char- 

 acter. A splendid list of special prizes 

 is being got together. There will be a 

 special section for horticultural sun- 

 dries. The exhibits will be given 

 prominent positions in the grounds, 

 both under cover and in the open. In 

 every case the awards will be made by 

 special jurymen, as is the case at the 

 chief European exhibitions. It is ex- 

 pected that the event will attract 

 nurserymen and florists from all parts 

 of the world, so that a favorable op- 

 portunity will be afforded for an inter- 

 change of ideas on international trade 



matters. 



Spring Bulb Show. 



A special exhibition of forced spring 

 bulbs is being arranged by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society to take place in 

 March next year, the object being to 

 determine the varieties most suitable 

 for gentle forcing. The trade as well 

 as amateur growers are invited to com- 

 pete. The society medals and prizes 

 will be presented by the General Bulb 

 Growers of Haarlem. The trade grow- 

 ers' classes include a collection of 100 

 hyacinths in 20 named varieties, five 

 blooms of each variety; and a collec- 

 tion of 120 hyacinths in 12 varieties in 

 pans, 10 bulbs of one variety in each 

 pan. The gold medal of the Haarlem 

 Society is to be awarded for the best 

 exhibit. There is also a special prize 

 for bulbs grown in moss, fibre, or sim- 

 ilar material. W. H. ADSETT. 



ROSES IN CUBA. 



Secretary Benj. Hammond of the 

 American Rose Society, has received 

 the following communication from 

 Holguin, Cuba: 



Dear Mr. Hammond:— I am very much 

 interested in roses but I find It very hard 

 to take the descriptions of the American 

 rose firms and make them all give the re- 

 sults described. I have the following kinds 

 which have done very well for me in Cuba, 

 and l should be verj glad if you would 

 suggest some other additions, and where 

 they can be secured, and I shall lie glad 

 to try them out. 1 bud them all on a non- 

 blooming stock we have here In I uba. It 

 is very easily rooted, and a very vigorous 

 grower, and one that if it would stand the 

 ••old I believe would lie a magnificent stock 

 for the American rose grower. 



There is small demand an -• the Ameri- 

 can's for roses lore; but the Cubans are 

 great flower lovers, and all the patios are 

 small gardens of flowers. 



This is the list mentioned: American 

 I'.eautv. I'aul Nevron, KUlarney, Maman 

 Cochet, White Marecbal Niel, I'erle des 

 Jardines, Helen Gould, Kalserln Aug 1 . Vic- 

 toria, and a few others who noes I 

 have missed, but they have nothing strik- 

 ing about them. The Cubans like the roses 

 with color. Very truly yours, 



T. It TOWNS. 



A BERMUDA LETTER. 

 Editor HORTICULTURE: 



Dear Sir — I enclose a little picture 

 of Araucarias or "Norfolk Island 

 Pines" growing at Sunnylands. This 

 was taken about four weeks ago 'I hose 

 trees have been growing about fifteen 

 years and are at least fifty feet high. 

 One of the trees has several large 

 Cones on its topmost branches. 1 have 



another large pine on the farm which 

 is about seventy feet high and has 

 quite a crop of cones thereon. And 

 from now on I hope to have plentj 

 of seed and can grow my own plants 

 instead of buying abroad. If these 

 cones are as good as other seeds grown 

 on the place like Pandanus utilis, Phoe- 

 nix, Latanias and Cycas revoluta, I 

 ask for nothing better as they are all 

 about 99 per cent, germination. Of the 

 cycas seeds I will have a crop of about 



20 bushels as they are all ripe for 

 gathering. 



The Ficus pandurata grows well and 

 takes kindly to our soil and climate. 

 In October, 1910, I planted a good spec 

 imen in the garden near the house. It 

 was two feet high at time of plan 

 today it is ten feet high, and with 

 handsome lateral branches, and with 

 the large fiddle-shaped leaves over lit" - 

 ti en inches In length. 



I have been experimenting with dif- 

 ferent trees, to find what will grow 

 and also fast growing trees. Our 

 islands are quite popular as a « 

 and summer resort and we are need- 

 ing such trees to decorate our high- 

 ways to make it more attractive to out- 

 northern visitors. Possibly you or 

 your readers may be able to suggest 

 some other trees that would do well 

 in a climate like this, where the 

 perature never goes below 50 in winter 

 and seldom over 85 in summer. 



Yours very truly 



THEODORE OUTERBRIDGE. 



Sunnylands. Bermuda. 



GLADIOLUS AND DAHLIA NOTES. 

 c. Betscher, of Canal Dover, Ohio, 

 has been doing a vast amount of glad- 

 iolus hybridizing the past summer. 

 With the very line seedlings already 



produced and the finest of the fluids, 

 I.emoine. Yilmorin and l'fisler produc- 

 tions, his stock is taking high posi- 

 tion in the most advanced class. Rela- 

 tively, as visitors assure us, the Bets- 

 cher seedlings are grand and in a dis- 



iiet class by themselves. In a re- 

 ci ni letter from Mr. Betscher he 

 writes as follows: 



Several of these neu seedlings are -imply 

 remarkable but onlj whal we bred for. 1 



have dene a vei-y large ai ml of this 



expensive work with slew progress 

 making. Sow I have the "Mud" where it 

 Is mutating very well and much; I 

 x> mi 25 IPs. of seed nf all t his besl Meed 

 crossed with besl buyable, we know that 

 the results will be very advanced. 



We arc in- ling several distiucl types, 



one a yellow strain, blooming from early 

 July to November. These show some rich 

 yellows in all tintings and limes. A very 

 fall type— these are going to be a striking 



type. Seme we eut ever 6 feet tall, 



unusual substance; mail} of these are very 

 Inte, needing 6 to 7 months to bloom, while 



I he earliest Mooios in l!u days. 



Of dahlias we bought over 150 new ones. 

 i. hi find only n verj few that are equal 

 to our old list. These were by instruction 

 Hi, pick of over 2500 sorts, so there must 

 ne almost 2,450 sorts on the market today 

 thai possess very little to commend iheiu 



to the I. oyer who want- p 1 blooms i" at 



e.i-i reasonable numbers. We have l.'J->0 

 ,,i , well recommended sort that has not 

 given us a single bloom up to Oct. 20tb; 

 iiiiimv others in the same .lass. New. how 

 can "the dahlia be made popular with such 

 "to date" sorts? in such sorts as rtora- 

 dera. j. H. Jackson, \V. Swan, etc., we 

 had a sea of brilliancy, an ocean of color 



ii. vr liefer pialed. although no rain 



more than a sprinkle from April to Aug. 17, 

 lifter which we had ideal conditions nntn 

 Oct 2f>; so that while plants had an awful 

 -! niggle until then, after that date they 

 si nply were magical. Still, many sorts 

 did not show up at all. To offer these 

 seits is simply retarding the sale of good 

 ores and. putting it truthfully, flavors of 

 obtaining money without giving value for 

 it Yet our societies seem dead to it— our 

 methods of trial and Introduction are very 

 weak or ancient. We all ought to do be& 

 i,. i mil keep en doing ii seriously, zoal- 

 'insiv. hopefully, cheerfully. 



C. BETSCIIEB 



A ROSE LIST. 

 'The Garden," London, has recently 

 published the last installment of a list 

 nl roses, giving parentage, raiser, date 

 of introduction, etc., which has been 

 running in weekly chapters since last 

 May, compiled by Mr. Robert Daniel. 

 As stated in the introduction the task 

 i dei ia' en by the compiler was one 

 real magnitude and the Informa- 

 tion given will prove useful to many. 

 such work is a. ways largely a laboi ol 

 love and rarely appreciated as it 

 lioiild lie but it is to I"- regretted that 

 in the present instance it is so woeful- 

 ly Incomplete. In all. a 100 va- 



s are listed which is really but a 



i on of what a list anywhere mar 



implete oi varieties of which the 



tage is on record would be. If 



,,nly obscure or obsolete varieties 



• omitted no great fault might be 



I but when one looks in vain for 



ii of the Prairies, Baltimore Belle, 



Andre Schwartz. W. F. Bennett, Mrs. 



W. J. Grant (Belle Siebret ht I Gruss an 



plitz, The Dawson. American Beau- 



My Maryland, etc., etc all varie- 



tiiat have been in the limelight, 



more or less continuously during re- 



cent years, one's estimate of the value 



the compiler's effort gets a rude jolt 



notice that "M. Natick" is given as 



the raiser of Wellesley. Alexander 



tgomery would sound better! 



