318 



HORTICULTURE 



April 17, 1920 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



ranged for ready reference and quick 

 absorption. 



It seems to me no better plan 

 could be devised to interest amateurs 

 in the growing of flowers than for 

 garden clubs to throw open their 

 meetings and have talks given by ex- 

 perienced men who can make practi- 

 cal demonstrations of what they are 

 talking about. At a recent meeting of 

 the Rochester, N. Y. Rose Society. 

 .Arthur Scheonfelder talked on rose 

 culture, and to illustrate his points 

 used actual rose bushes which he 

 trimmed and pruned. At a recent club 

 meeting in Boston Mr. Letson of Car- 

 bone's gave a demonstration of ar- 

 ranging cut flowers, which was very 

 instructive and helpful. This is a line 

 of work which may be developed to a 

 much greater extent. 



Certainly we must take off our hats 

 to some of the Englishmen when it 

 comes to getting out elaborately illus- 

 trated catalogues. United States edi- 

 tion of the wholesale seed catalogue of 

 Kelway & Sons is just at hand, and is 

 far ahead of any American catalogue 

 that I have seen as regards prodigality 

 in the use of illustrations. If cuts cost 

 as much proportionately across the 

 water as they do here, the investment 

 represented by this catalogue must be 

 a heavy one. The pictures, however, 

 are an extremely valuable part of the 

 catalogues as they make it possible tor 

 buyers to know just what they are get- 

 ting, so far at least as appearance is 

 concerned, and as for quality, there is 

 never any question about Kelway 

 seeds. The cut of Kelway's New 

 Crested Frost-proof Borecole is a gem. 

 The plant illustrated might easily be 

 mistaken for a pendant of a necklace. 

 The beans and the cabbages are given 

 much attention and beautifully illus- 

 trated, but for that matter, so are the 

 flowers, a picture of the perennial 

 Gaillardia being especially fine, so that 

 the book is uniformly good throughout. 



It is in this country, though, that 

 color has been used to greatest advan- 

 tage by nurserymen. I am reminded 

 of this fact by another little brochure 

 which has come in from Hicks Nur- 



series. It deals mostly with the lesser 

 known shrubs, a fact which I am very 

 glad to mention, because buyers often 

 find it difficult to locate certain plants 

 which they have read about and wish 

 to obtain. Among the most charming 

 colored illustrations in the little book 

 is one of Enkianthus campanulatus. 

 This is a shrub which has won much 

 admiration In the Arnold Arboretum, 

 and is worthy of wide planting. Its 

 fall color as well as its unusual flowers 

 make it very desirable, and they flour- 

 ish with the same care that Azaleas 

 require. 1 notice that in the Garden 

 .Magazine the Hicks people are featur- 

 ing the Japanese Turquoise Berry, 

 without giving the botanical name. 

 The plant described is really Symplocos 

 paniculata. Its light blue berries, 

 borne, in late summer, are really very 

 ornamental. Unfortunately the birds 

 like them all too well and sometimes 

 strip a plant in a few hours. There is 

 an excellent colored illustration of the 

 fruit in the Jlicks catalogue. In sev- 

 eral other instances fruit instead of 

 flowers has been chosen for the 

 pictures, and we are shown the Ijerries 

 in color of Photina villosa. Viburnum 

 Seiboldii, and Cotoneaster divaricata. 



I have also been interested in the 

 catalogue issued by Moon's Nurseries 

 of Morrisville, Pa. It is well known 

 Mr. Moon is president of the National 

 Nurserymen's Association, and one of 

 the most active nurserymen in the 

 country in putting the business on a 

 more stable basis than in the past. As 

 is to be expected, he gets out advertis- 

 ing matter which is quite different 

 from the old fashioned catalogue. The 

 attractively bound little book at hand 

 is entitled. 'On Beautifying the Home 

 Grounds" and contains many hints and, 

 illustrations which will be of great 

 value to home makers. 



As a matter of fact there is a general 

 and commendable inclination on the 

 part of several- prominent nurserymen 

 to get away from the conventional type 

 of literature. As a result, some of 

 them have produced catalogues which 

 are fully as valuable to the planter as 

 many of the books which sell for a 

 dollar or two in the stores. Take, for 

 example, the literature of the Framing- 

 ham Nurseries, Framingham, Mass. 

 Mr. Wyman, the energetic young man 

 who is at the head of the concern, gets 

 out a catalogue which contains an 

 amazing amount of information ar- 



Reference should be made also to the 

 catalogue of the Little Tree Farms, 

 with headquarters at 6 Beacon street, 

 Boston. So completely are these cata- 

 logues illustrated and so definite and 

 valuable the information given, that 

 they have been adopted by schools and 

 other institutions for regular use. 



THE ROCK GARDENS 



It seems as if the exhibition of rock 

 gardens in Horticultural Hall in May 

 might open a world of new botanical 

 interest to many of us, for we have 

 done so little with mosses and lichens. 

 We exhibit each year the edible and 

 poisonous mushrooms. But I recall 

 with delight the scarlet tops to some 

 of the soft gray mosses, the wiry 

 stems of some of the green mosses 

 which we would twist Into fairy 

 chains when children by pulling off 

 the tiny caps at the ends of the stems, 

 then bringing the ends towards the 

 roots back into the empty sockets. 



The space of these gardens, two and 

 a half feet by three may be too small 

 to show the beautiful and varied color 

 of our New England rocks, yet the 

 polished pebbles of our beaches could 

 be used with advantage. 



Gold fish are ruled out, as although 

 they have lived through the winters in 

 our ponds, they are not native to New 

 England. But if anyone wishes to add 

 animal life to the interest of his gar- 

 den he could make a pool and intro- 

 duce a tiny turtle, or the tadpoles and 

 frogs. 



. Yet I believe that one of the chief 

 beauties of these gardens will be In 

 the variety of native ferns which may 

 be used. There will be violets and 

 other flowers to give color to the gar- 

 dens with the bright red berries of the 

 partridge-vine or mitchella, which 

 stay under the brown leaves of our for- 

 ests through the winter, to brighten it 

 all. 



Then there will be the fun of see- 

 ing how beautiful we can make these 

 gardens with the rocks, flowers and 

 ferns which we find growing in New 

 England. 



M. R. Case. 

 Hillcrest, Weston. 



April 6, 1920. 



The Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety and the Horticultural Society of 

 New York together with the New York 

 Florists' Club, will soon hold a meet- 

 ing at the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, to 

 protest against Quarantine No. 33. 



