758 



HORTICULTURE 



December 2, 1911 



horticulture: 



VUL. XIV 



DECEMBER 2, 1911 



HO. 23 



riHLlSHKD WEEKLY BY 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING CO. 

 11 Hamilton Place. Boston, Mass. 



Telephone, Oxford 882. 



IVM. ,1. STEWART, Editor and Mnnacer. 



SUBSCRIPTION TRICE 



One Yenr, In advance, $100; To Foreign Countries, »2.00; To 

 Canada, fl.BO. 



Entered as second-class matter December 8. 1904, nt the Post Office at 

 Boston. Mass., under tbe Act of Congress of March 3. 1879. 



CONTENTS 



Page 



COVER ILLUSTRATION- Chrysanthemum Mrs. Gil- 

 bert Drabble. 



SEASONABLE NOTES ON' CULTURE OF FLORISTS' 

 STOCK— Azaleas for Christmas— Care of Christmas 

 Greens— Holiday Suggestions — Pelargoniums— Poin- 

 settias — Primulas for Christmas, 1912 — Cymbidiums 

 —John J. M. FarreU 758 



FRUITS AND VEGETABLES UNDER GLASS— Straw- 

 ben us Melons— Peaches and Nectarines in Pots — 

 Pot Vines — Vegetables — George H. Penson 759 



ROBERT CRAIG'S REMINTSENCES 760 



two NEW CHRYSANTHEMUMS— Illustrated 761 



PARIS \LTUMN SHOW— C. Harman Payne 762 



DURING RECESS— Chicago Bowling— New York Bowl- 

 ers 764 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES: 



American Rose Society — Detroit Show Preparations 

 — Society of American Florists — Gardeners' and Flor- 

 ists' Club of Baltimore — Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America — Notes 766 



SEED TRADE — American vs. English Grown Sweet 



Peas 767 



Maine Seed Improvement Association — Notes 768 



OF INTEREST TO RETAIL FLORISTS: 



Steamer Departures— New Flower Stores 770 



Flowers bv Telegraph 771 



FLOWER MARKET REPORTS: 



Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati 773 



Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washing- 

 ton 775 



OBITUARY: 



Mrs. John Odgers — Frank Kleinhaus— John Lieben- 

 thaler — M. Edouard Andre — Wm. H. Murdock— John 

 H. Lambkin 781 



MISCELLANEOUS: 



Short Course in Floriculture 762 



News Notes 763 



Boston Notes 764 



Personal 764 



Chic ago Notes 764 



Wa shington Notes 765 



Baltimore Notes 764 



Cincinnati Notes 764 



St. Louis Notes 764 



Tl • Early Bulb Forcer 765 



"Jardinage" 765 



Publications Received 7s 1 



nhonses Building or Contemplated 782 



Fire Record 782 



The communication from the Chairman of 



Some the Tariff and Legislative Committee of 



good news the Society of American Florists, which 



appears on another page of this issue, 



should be very welcome news to the flower shipping 



trade and, this being Thanksgiving week, thankful 



emotions are surely in order. It is nice to contemplate 



the fact that this, as Mr. Esler states, has been a victory 



of peace. We sincerely hope it may be as permanent and 



far-reaching as it is encouraging. 



Our New England reader? should not 

 instruction overlook the notes in this issue on what 

 on right lines the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 

 through its Department of Floriculture. 



is planning to do for the floral interests. Prof. E. A. 

 White who has charge of this work has given good as- 

 surance in the pas! of bis sincerity and wisdom and his 

 practical policy in the line of horticultural work will go 

 a long way towards eliminating the prejudice heretofore 



harbored by man) as to the vali E the education 



acquired in the State Colleges Prof, \\ hue bas - 

 his co-workers from the successful men who have ai 

 plished things not by theory bu1 by hard labor and ap- 

 plication. We bespeak for his effort the approval and 

 cordial support of the floricultural interests of New 

 England. 



The Garden for Nov. 4, illustrates a new 

 Aster aster under this name which is described 

 Amethyst as follow- : 



"A deep-colored seedling from the now 

 well-known highly popular A. Climax. It is of somewhat 

 dwarfer habit than thai variety, with large deep blue col- 

 ored flower-heads." 



li mighl be well for the hardy aster specialists to look 

 into the nomenclature a little. We know that quite a 

 number of years ago the Ian (h .n-v llollis of So. Wey- 

 mouth, Mass., who raised a great number of very fine 

 aster seedlings, exhibited one before the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society under the name of Amethyst. It 

 was a large handsome flower of the Novae Angliae type 

 and well-named as to color which was true amethyst. 

 It is very probable that this plant is well-distributed 

 among New England gardens under the name given it by 

 Mr. Hollis. Some botanical works mention an obscure 

 species, A. amethystinus, as being found in eastern 

 Massachusetts. The hardy asters are rapidly gaining in 

 appreciation and popularity. It is to be regretted that 

 the botanists have the species so badly mixed and the 

 duplication of varietal names will further add to the 

 confusion. 



Every retail seedsman will probably 

 Time to agree with us that a better harmony and 



get together mutual understanding is something 

 greatly to be desired among the retail 

 seed trade. Prices on many things have been so much 

 at variance that the man quoting the higher figures has 

 been accused of overcharging and the one who happened 

 to be the lowest has had to face the suspicion that he 

 was earning inferior stock. The conditions which 

 have been in part responsible for this unprofitable con- 

 fusion have, for the time being, been to a considerable 

 extent eliminated. In other words, Nature, in imposing 

 a period of famine, has done for the seed trade what it 

 has been unable to do for itself and the situation now 

 existing is far from being an unqualified calamity if the 

 trade will only take advantage of the opportunity to 

 agree upon some general basis for establishing fair 

 living prices henceforth and eliminating cut-throat 

 policies. We know of an instance where one prominent 

 house has gone so far as to submit to a rival house por- 

 tions of their vegetable seed catalogue proofs and if the 

 spirit tints shown could be more generally cultivated we 

 believe the trade would benefit, while the public would 

 not suffer in the least. We do not suggest a trust or 

 any arbitrary- compacts but merely the promotion of a 

 better understanding and agreement as to the basis of 

 values. The seedsman is at the disadvantage of having 

 almost his entire year's business crowded into a few 

 weeks and where other industries can turn their money 

 over and over again in the course of a year he must be 

 content with doing it but once. A retail seed trade 

 organization, patterned possibly on the lines of the 

 Wholesale Seedsmen's League, would be a wise move in 

 the present crisis. 



