66 



HORTICULTURE 



January 24, 1920 



seen. The early lots of hyacinths, at 

 least those that I have seen up to this 

 time, are decidedly inferior. There is 

 some very fine Darwin tulip stock 

 offered, however, and this tulip grown 

 properly so that it is not drawn up 

 with too long stems, is about as satis- 

 factory as any bulb that can be put in 

 to the retail store. There is a grand 

 range of colors, with good size and 

 general finish 



Sometime ago, I spoke about Ca- 

 mellia as a good plant to be taken up 

 by tlie plant grower to help fill the gap 

 occasioned by the absence of so many 

 Christmas and Easter offerings that 

 we have been in the habit of getting 

 abroad; consequently 1 was interested 

 to notice that Mr. Thomas Roland of 

 Nahant has a nice block of camellia 

 coming along, which should be in good 

 shape for next season. He probably 

 will have enough to fill one fair-sized 

 house, and they will be welcomed in- 

 deed by the plant buyers. 



Mr. William Elliott, in talking to the 

 members of the Boston Florists' As- 

 sociation at their last meeting on the 

 subject of market conditions and 

 prices as they affected the grower, to 

 my mind brought out one very impor- 

 tant point and one which is vital to the 

 grower. That was the increasingly 

 large sale every year of artificial leaves 

 and flowers tor Memorial Day work. 

 Mr. Elliott thinks that the store man 

 is not playing fair with the grower 

 in pushing the artificial wreaths so 

 hard. He compared the prices of a 

 number of years ago when short roses 

 would go somewhere near $6.00 per 

 100 on that particular day, and the 

 price of the past two years when $2.00 

 per 100 was nearer the average. Prob- 

 ably the store man will have his side 

 to, this argument and we are going to 

 have a chance to hear from him at one 

 of the meetings in the near future, 

 but the fact remains that the grower is 

 made to suffer through the heavy sale 

 of these good-for-nothing concoctions. 



In spite of the fact that some of the 

 early bulb stock has been inclined to 

 come blind, it was very pleasing to 

 see such a nice lot of stock at Frank 

 Edgar's place in Waltham. His Gold- 

 en Spur certainly has done all that 

 could be expected, and all of his bulb 

 stock seems to be of better than aver- 

 age quality. 



Two interesting points in connection 

 with bulbs may well be noted. First, 

 the retail store m.an seems to be hold- 

 ing off this season from buying- pan 

 stock. He claims that the price is too 



high, and it is noticeable that instead 

 of buying in dozen lots as in previous 

 years it is a sort of hand-to-mouth way 

 that he carries this stock. Now when 

 we think of the price of the bulbs, the 

 labor, and the loss from those that 

 come blind and other causes, it doesn't 

 seem that bulb stock is bringing any 

 more than can well be expected; in 

 tact, to my mind this line does not run 

 as high proportionately as most any 

 other crop. 



The other point is that the Holland- 

 er who is making his first round of 

 visits now is quoting as high and in 

 many cases higher than the past year. 

 I am not prepared to say whether these 

 high prices are necessary; the condi- 

 tions in Holland are not known to me. 

 However, the Dutch Bulb Growers' 

 Association have set their prices, and 

 already we can see that this has stop- 

 ped many a grower from placing early 

 orders. True it is that many wait for 

 the second trip of the Hollanders 

 which comes in the spring, and if I 

 am not mistaken many buyers of bulbs, 

 particularly some of those who have 

 been through the mill for many years 

 and buy in large quantities, are going 

 to hold off until next fall. I have heard 

 several say that there will be a better 

 chance to buy then than now. Let us 

 see it this works out. The tact re- 

 mains that unless bulbs come down 

 somewhat, the store man can hope for 

 no easing off in price, in fact he may 

 have to pay more., 



It is interesting to find that even the 

 seedsmen are taking up the "Say it 

 with flowers" slogan. In the 1920 

 retail catalogue put out by John Lewis 

 Childs, the national motto stands out 

 very prominently, being lettered at the 

 base of the splendid cut of Autumn 

 Glory Chrysanthemum. Certainly the 

 florists will appreciate this kind of co- 

 operation. Mr. Childs goes even furth- 

 er than this by writing a little per- 

 sonal message about flowers and their 

 value in the home. 



The Childs people are noted for the 

 novelties which they feature. Novelties 

 are not very plentiful this year, to be 

 sure, but Mr. Childs has several excel- 

 lent colored plates in which he illus- 

 trates Lythrum Rose Queen, Monarda 

 Cambridge Scarlet, an attractive 

 Veronica, several of the newer dahlias 

 and five of the new large flowering 

 type of Lemoinei hybrid gladioli. The 

 illustrations are always among the 

 most charming features of a Childs 

 catalogue, the color work being splen- 

 didly done. 



SWEET PEA SCHEDULE FOR 1920. 



The schedule of the Twelfth Annual 

 Exhibition and Convention of the 

 American Sweet Pea Society to be held 

 under the auspices of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society in the 

 Horticultural Hall, Boston, July 10-11, 

 1920, has just been issued. 



The officers of the American Sweet 

 Pea Society are George W. Kerr, presi- 

 dent; Edwin Jenkins, vice-president; 

 William Gray, secretary; William Sim, 

 treasurer. 



Executive Committee — The above 

 officers and David Don, W. A. Sperling, 

 John H. Stalford, James Stuart, E. C. 

 Vlck. 



Nomenclature and Trials Committee 

 —Prof. A. C. Beal, William N. Craig, 

 George W. Kerr, Leonard Barron. 



Trial Grounds — Cornell University, 

 Ithaca, N. Y. 



Exhibition Committee — George W. 

 Kerr, chairman, W. A. Sperling, James 

 Wheeler, William Sim, John H. Stal- 

 ford, William Gray. 



Entries must be made on the entry 

 blanks supplied by the secretary, Wil- 

 liam Gray, Bellevue avenue, Newport, 

 R. I., and mailed to reach him at New- 

 port on or before Thursday, July 8th. 

 Entries in the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society's part of the schedule 

 must be made to Wm. P. Rich, secre- 

 tary of Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, 300 Massachusetts Ave., Bos- 

 ton, Massachusetts. 



Trade exhibitors intending to enter 

 in the American Sweet Pea Society's 

 Gold Medal Class^the Silver Cup Class, 

 or to make a special exhibit should no- 

 tify the secretary three days previous 

 to the opening of the exhibition, stat- 

 ing the amount of space they intend to 

 fill. 



Entry in the American Pea Sweet 

 Society's classes is free to members 

 of the American Sweet Pea Society. 

 Non-members competing must accom- 

 pany their entries with an entry fee of 

 $2. 



All exhibits must be staged by 12 

 o'clock on Saturday, July 10th. 



All Sweet Peas exhibited (except in 

 classes for display and arrangements 

 for effect) must be legibly named on 

 cards furnished or approved by the 

 secretary. 



SURPLUS CINERARIAS 



Excellent Plants at $1.25 Each 



Should like to sell the lot to one 

 party 



HARMONY GROVE CORPORATION 

 Salem, Mau. 



