HORTICULTURE 



Vol. XXXII 



JULY 10, 1920 



No. 2 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



Do higli prices olTsel tlie link of 

 sales? That is a question which Mr. 

 N. F. McCarthy, the well known plant 

 auctioneer of Boston, is trying to 

 answer. Mr. McCarthy reports that 

 while buyers seemed perfectly willing 

 to pay whatever was asked for the 

 goods, the volume of sales was very 

 much less than in the years before the 

 war. This he accounts for in large 

 measure by the fact that nearly all of 

 the large estates at Newport. Lenox 

 and other summer places are running 

 in a very limited way. Ordinarily the 

 smaller nurserymen have bought heav- 

 ily at the auction sales in Boston and 

 have resold the stock to the owners of 

 large private estates. Of course there 

 has been few transactions of this kind 

 this season. A large proportion of the 

 people who have been making a lot of 

 money the past few years are not 

 people who have acquired as yet much 

 of an interest in gardens and the dec- 

 oration of their grounds. Perhaps this 

 will come later, but the old time buyers 

 have been largely out of the market. 



Without doubt Mr. McCarthy has on 

 hand at the present time the largest 

 Block of bay trees and rhododendrons 

 in the country. He has 450 excellent 

 specimens of bay trees alone. Most 

 of his stock is now at the nursery 

 which has been established at Mont- 

 rose, Mass., a few miles from Boston. 

 It is Interesting to find that a great 

 many sales have been made at the 

 nursery this spring, something which 

 has been due presumably to the fact 

 that the nursery is close to a much 

 traveled highway. Mr. McCarthy said 

 that it was a common thing earlier in 

 the season to sell from three to five 

 hundred dollars' worth of plants be- 

 tween four and six o'clock on Sunday 

 afternoon. During the day a constant 

 stream of automobile riders would 

 pass, but never did buying begin until 

 late in the afternoon. Then it wonUl 

 come with a rush. 



Mr. McCarthy also reports that the 

 sale of roses has not been as heavy as 

 for many years. When the season be- 

 gan the call for perennials, however, 

 was large, and the auctions were very 

 well attended. Later, however, inter- 

 est dropped off. As a matter of fact. 



the number of perennials offered has 

 not been as large by any means as 

 usual, because the growers have not 

 offered a great quantity, owing to the 

 lack of production during the past 

 year or two. 



.Mr. Walter S. Schell, a prominent 

 and progressive seedsman of Harris- 

 burg. Pa., has just purchased the four 

 story building recently given up by the 

 Standard Baking Co. on Tenth and 

 Markets Sts. This is a modern build- 

 ing and will be used by Mr. Schell for 

 his growing business. It had been 

 Mr. Sehell's intention to construct a 

 large seed store on a lot at Fourteenth 

 St. and .Market St., owned by him and 

 at present occupied by a temporary 

 seed and implement warehouse, but 

 owing to the high cost of construction 

 work. Mr. Schell thought it best to sell 

 the lot and buy a building already 

 erected. As a result of Mr. Sehell's en- 

 terprise, he has been able to greatly 

 enlarge his list of customers and is 

 now looked upon as one of the leading 

 seedsmen of central Pennsylvania. 



Prof. E. H. Wilson, Assistant Direc- 

 tor of the Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica 

 Plain, Mass., is now on the water 

 headed for England, having sailed 

 from -New York last Saturday morn- 

 ing. Mr. Wilson told me before leav- 

 ing Boston that he expected to be away 



alKjut three years, possibly longer. He 

 will spend about six weeks in England, 

 which he has not visited before for 

 nine years. Of course, he will visit 

 Kew and other prominent gardens to 

 see what progress is being made in 

 growing the plants which he has in- 

 tro(l\iced from time to time from other 

 countries of the far East. 



From England he will go by way of 

 the Suez Canal to Australia, and spend 

 several months in that country, Tas- 

 mania and New Zealand. He expects 

 that aliout next May he will be on his 

 way to India. Just where he will go 

 after that is uncertain. 



While Mr. Wilson will keep an eye 

 out for any good plants adapted to 

 -American conditions, he will look 

 especially for conifers, of which very 

 lew native to the countries mentioned 

 are now being grown in America. After 

 all. though, the most important object 

 of his trip is to make scientific connec- 

 tions between the Arboretum and lead- 

 ing horticultural institutions in other 

 places. It is expected that he will ac- 

 quire many valuable books and pam- 

 phlets to add to the Arboretum library, 

 as well as many important herbarium 

 specimens. 



As Mr. Wilson said just before he 

 left, "There is really not much incen- 

 tive to the introduction of living plants 

 or of seeds under the present drastic 

 ruling of the Federal Horticultural 

 Board at Washington." Any seeds 

 which he_ might send back would have 

 to go to Washington before they 

 reached the Arboretum and undergo a 

 baking process which is not favorable 

 to their germination. 



Prof. E. H. Wilson 



One who has gone through the rose 

 liouse.s of the Budlong Rose Company. 

 .Aiibtirn. R. I., and noted their growing 

 conditions of a few- years ago, cannot 

 be but impressed with a general 

 change under present conditions, and 

 this has been caused by the increase 

 in operating expenses, particularly 

 fuel and labor. 



Only a few years ago there was a 

 general wet treatment being used on 

 this entire plant; you could hear water 

 dripping and see it running down the 

 walks at all hours of the day. High 

 temperatures were run during the day- 

 time, while at night average rose tem- 

 i'cratures from .58 to 62 degrees were 

 maintained; but on sunshiny days 

 even in the summer steam was kept 



