HORTI CULTURE 



July 3, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



EHtnblislieil by Williiim .1. Slowart in VMH 



Vol. XXXII 



July 3, 1920 



No. 1 



PUBLISHED WEEK1.Y IN 



HORTICULTRE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

 78 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass. 



EDWARD I. FARRINGTON, Editor. 



Telephone Fort Hill 3694 



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

 at Boston, Mass., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1897. 



Change seems to be the law of life, at least in 

 Moving a big city like Boston. The editorial staff of 

 again Horticulture had only become well accus- 

 tomed to its quarters at 78 Devonshire Street 

 when it began to hear rumors of a plan to demolish the 

 building to make room for a larger structure. When the 

 owners declined to renew our lease we knew that an- 

 other shift was impending, accordingly we were prepared 

 for the worst when the announcement came that the 

 building is to be razed immediately to make place for an 

 addition to the National Shawmut Bank. 



Fortunately, however, we have been able to secure 

 equally commodious and even more pleasant quarters, al- 

 though they are somewhat further from the center of the 

 town. After this week the editorial and business offices of 

 Horticulture will be located at 739 Boylston Street, where 

 we will have every facility for our work. With a three 

 years' lease this time we feel reasonably certain that we 

 shall not be disturbed again in a hurry. 



In spite of the high building costs in Boston, a great 

 amount of work is being done, especially in the way of 

 tearing down existing buildings to make room for larger 

 and more modern office structures. Naturally these 

 changes hit the florists and other members of the horti- 

 cultural trades. Under present conditions nobody is sure 

 as to his rent or his location unless he owns his building 

 or has a long term of lease. However, as we have said 

 before, change is the law of life and usually it means 

 progress. 



We are sure that all members of the trade 

 Expression who are acquainted with Mr. William N. 

 of sympathy Craig, Secretary of the Gardeners and 

 Florists' Club of Boston, and Superintend- 

 ent of Faulkner Farm, will give him and his wife their 

 heartfelt sympathy in the loss of their son, which is 

 chronicled on another page. The young man gave great 



promise and was the pride ol his parents' heart. It Is not 

 gtrange that Mr. Craig has received letters of condolence 

 from all over the country. His friends, and they are legion 

 among gardeners and florists, feel the keenest regret at 

 his loss. 



At the meeting of the American Seed Trade 

 Too many Association in Milwaukee last week Mr. J. 



names Horace McFarland read an unusually inter- 

 esting and important paper on the duplica- 

 tion of plant names, although it bore a different title. 

 Horticulture Nomenclature was what Mr. McParland called 

 his paper, but the subject matter had to do with the gen- 

 eral mixed-up condition which exists as regards names 

 of vegetables, flowers and fruits. It is a well-known fact 

 that there are vegetables which masquerade under half a 

 dozen difl'erent names, although they are identically the 

 same. On the other hand, there are different ornamental 

 plants which bear exactly the same names. A prominent 

 seedsman has said that there probably are 10,000 names 

 for only a thousand distinct vegetable varieties. Mr. 

 McFarland is chairman of the joint committee on Horti- 

 cultural nomenclature which is acting for practically all of 

 the organizations representing horticultural interests, with 

 the exception of the American Seed Trade Association. 



It is very probable that this association will be moved 

 to cooperate now, for Mr. McFarland cleverly and clearly 

 set forth the need of this work. Certainly it would be to 

 the best interests of the trade to have much clearer under- 

 standings as to the right names to use and the public 

 would be benefited and no doubt pleased if all catalogue 

 makers would unite in using exactly the same names for 

 the same flowers and vegetables. This would be easy 

 enough as regards some things like the different daisies, 

 the buddleias, primroses and other flowers, but we must 

 admit that greater difficulties will be encountered when 

 it comes to dealing with the same vegetables put out Py 

 different seedsmen under names of their own tor the pur- 

 pose of obtaining additional prestige. 



In the course of his talk Mr. McFarland gave one ex- 

 cellent illustration of the difficulties brought about in 

 human affairs by identical names. He said that when he 

 was in government work at Washington last year an un- 

 married man who enlisted in Rochester, N. Y., and went 

 through the war, was met on his return by two alleged 

 wives, neither of whom he had ever seen, and one of them 

 being a black woman from Macon, Ga. Both women 

 claimed and could prove that they had received the man's 

 service allotment, although he had assigned it to neither. 

 There was simply a duplication of names and of wives, as 

 well as of colors, but the confusion was no worse, Mr. 

 McFarland claimed, than exists among the peas and beans, 

 tomatoes and turnips offered in a seed catalogue. 



Whatever the results may be as far as the seedsmen 

 are concerned, and a reform along this line is certain to 

 come, the fruit growers have already done much ro 

 straighten out the nomenclature of the varieties which 

 they handle, and nurserymen are progressing rapidly along 

 the same line. Mr. McFarland's committee was doing 

 good work, everybody knew, but perhaps it was not gen- 

 erally realized that so much had been accomplished or 

 that the need was as great as it is until the gentleman 

 from Harrisburg had presented the facts in his able paper. 



