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HORTICULTURE 



May 29, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



EatabUahri] by nllllam J. Stewart In 1004 



Vol. XXXI 



May 29, 1920 



No. 22 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BT 



HORTICULTURE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 

 Telephone Fort HUI 8694 



ADVERTISING RATES: 



Per Inch, 80 Inohee to pace flM 



DItooant on Contracts tor oonseontlTe tnaertloBS, as follow*: 



One month (4 times), 6 per cent.; thre* months (IS times), 10 

 per cent. 1 six months (26 times), 20 per oent. i one year (St times), 

 M per oent. 



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Mtared as second-class matter Daceraber t, 1904, at tba Pelt O&ee 

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Coatreas af Uarek S, 1807. 



While the late spring has retarded planting 

 Freight op€rations and has been a serious drawback 

 Congestion to the making of gardens, it has held com- 

 pensations tor the plantsmen by making it 

 possible for them to ship much later than usual. And they 

 have welcomed this relief, because it has made it easier 

 for them to overcome the handicap of shipping conditions, 

 which are the worst ever known in the history of the trade. 

 And not only the nurserymen, but florists, seedsmen and 

 dealers in supplies, have been affected the same way. 

 There has been almost a famine in wheelbarrows, for ex- 

 ample, and other tools have been hard to get. 



In .Massachusetts, the State Department of Agricul- 

 ture has for several weeks had men at work tracing cars 

 laden with fertilizer in the endeavor to hurry them along 

 so that suspended operations on the farms might be re- 

 sumed. One of the leading dealers in seeds in New York 

 City stated that traffic conditions were worse than 

 they had been within the past ten years. New York firms 

 have been compelled to ship by express even in carload 

 lots. Seeds that, under ordinary circumstances, would 

 have been shipped by rail have in many cases been dis- 

 tributed from Boston by truck. The freight tie-up has al- 

 ready caused a' considerable diminution of planted areas 

 in New England. If not speedily relieved it will cause very 

 much greater lessening of prospective crops. It goes to 

 emphasize the fact that the trouble on the railways is 

 everybody's business. 



It had been hoped and expected that after 



Labor and the wartime period had passed the difficulty 



Coal of securing labor and fuel for maintaining 



private greenhouses would be over. As a 

 matter of fact, many estate owners started in to recon- 

 struct and improve their places, and planned much new 

 work. Indeed, considerable new work is now under way, 

 and a number of important greenhouse projects are being 

 carried out. Nevertheless, the labor problem and the fuel 

 question, like Banquo's ghost, will not down. This condi- 

 tion is indicated by a recent report from Lenox, Mass., 



where many of the finest estates in the country are located, 

 including the great country home of the late Andrew 

 Carnegie. The members of the Lenox Horticultural So- 

 ciety are undecided even as to the holding of exhibits, al- 

 though their shows have been important horticultural fea- 

 tures tor years. It is found very difficult, however, to get 

 qualified greenhouse men or for that matter gardeners and 

 even day laborers. 



The question of wages is not the only obstacle, either, 

 in Lenox as elsewhere. The lure of the city is strong upon 

 members of the craft, and many of them seem loath to 

 take places on country estates. Yet the wage question is 

 one which must be adjusted finally, for in some cases men 

 working by the day or week are demanding higher pay 

 than is received by the foremen or superintendent, who 

 has given years to the study of his profession. 



The fuel situation complicates matters badly. This ap- 

 plies to private estates as well as to commercial green- 

 house men. Owners feel hesitancy about keeping up their 

 establishments w^hen there is danger that the coal supply 

 will fail. .4s it is, very few of the larger estates are keep- 

 ing their greehouses up to standard. For years Mr. and 

 Mrs. W. E. S. Griswold has maintained one of the most 

 productive greenhouses in Lenox and one that has won 

 many prizes by its products at Lenox, Boston and New 

 York shows. Now the greenhouses on the Griswold estate 

 have been practically closed. It is obvious that horticul- 

 tural conditions in America are not likely to become normal 

 for a long time, and meanwhile there is great danger that 

 the garden profession will suffer badly by the breaking up 

 of its rank and file. 



Just because little has been heard of late 

 Quarantine 37 about Quarantine 37 is no indication that 

 Again that oppressive measure has been over- 



looked or that gardeners in general and 

 the trade in particular have become reconciled to its harsh 

 provisions. On the morning of June 15. an important con- 

 ference is to be held in the Museum of Natural History, 

 New York City, to consider the quarantine from a new 

 angle. The conference has been called by the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society, Wm. C. Endicott, president, 

 the Horticultural Society of New York, T. A. Havemeyer 

 and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, James Boyd, 

 president. 



The call which has been sent out urges the attendance 

 of everyone interested in the improvement of horticultural 

 conditions in this country. It has been said that many 

 hundreds of the leading amateurs and semi-professionals in 

 the garden craft will be present. Not only will garden 

 clubs and horticultui-al societies from various parts of the 

 counti-y be on hand, but many other prominent gardeners 

 will be present as interested individuals. The trade will 

 also have representatives of various societies, including the 

 S. A. F., and are sendng delegates. 



The meeting is to be in the nature of a formal protest 

 against the uncalled for severity of the embargo, and it 

 is expected that all phases of the subject will be taken up 

 in detail. Of course, nobody can tell what the result will 

 be. The Horticultural Board at Washington seems 

 adamant. Yet with every chance of a political ovei-turn 

 within the next few months, it is probable that the in- 

 fluence of this meeting will be far reaching and in the end 

 effectual. Members of Congress are beginning to realize 

 that something is wrong in the methods of the Horticul- 

 tural Board, and they should be given no peace until some 

 means of rectifying these wrong methods is evolved. Such 

 meetings as the one planned for New York will do much 

 towards awakening popular opinion and focusing the at- 

 tention of law makers on the issue. 



