AMERICAN FLORISTS’ IDEALS. 419 
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In these days of much closer relations and interchange of commerce 
between the two nations, it is not without interest to measure up the 
standards by which the one judges the production of the other. The 
American horticulturist is distinctly exacting: he looks for a combination 
of superlative qualities. The mere fact that a plant is new, or a variety 
distinct from others that are already known, does not give it one extra 
bit of value. The standards are ultra-utilitarian. We want all our 
flowers to measure up highly in all their attributes, and a test of com- 
mercial value is applied very severely in all cases. As a matter of fact 
it may be acknowledged that the American horticulturist, the American 
florist, is engaged in catering to an uncritical public. Now, don’t mis- 
understand me. I don’t wish you to infer that Iam stating that the 
great American public does not exercise judicial qualities in its appre- 
ciation of plants and flowers. What I do mean to say is, that a flower is 
measured for itself, for the purpose to which it is to be put, and not 
merely against its associates for distinctiveness. In other words, we are 
not breeding for connoisseurs. The keynote of appreciation is selection, 
not collection. Where the European florist will grow twenty, fifty, or 
a hundred varieties, his American prototype will find that he can supply 
all the needs of the public by growing not more than half a dozen. Why ? 
Because there is room for only one red that is best from all points, one 
pink, and so on. Whereas in agricultural plant-breeding the ideal in 
view is the raising of varieties that shall not succumb to disease, that 
shall be hardy above the usual limit of that kind of plant, or that shall be 
particularly resistant to drought; so in the florists’ fold we look for a 
flower or a plant that shall be extraordinarily productive of flowers, the 
flowers themselves of perfect form, of pure colour, that will mix with the 
majority of others without producing colour discords ; and in decorative 
plants we look for pure effects, clear-cut colour schemes, and nothing of 
the intermediate lower grades. In ornamental plants, for instance, I may 
take as example the highly decorative Pandanus Veitchi, which with its 
beautiful bands of colour may be regarded as an ideal in its type. The 
colour scheme of this plant is in harmony with the general contour of the 
whole and the arching of each individual leaf. On the other hand, the 
spotty effect of the variegation in a plant like Dracena Godseffiana is not - 
pitched in the same artistic plane, and does not appeal with equal force. 
Pure colours are much sought for. Variegated flowers are regarded 
with less and less favour every year, and with the exception of carnations 
' may be practically ignored as commercial possibilities, and even in that 
flower their appreciation is on the wane. The European horticulturist 
who hopes to meet the wants of the American market should place this 
fact before him above all others, purity and brilliancy of colour; then 
having attained that he must put it on toa plant that is of itself beautiful. 
In all the popular flowers the foliage is regarded as of nearly equal value 
with the flower itself. 
To give you a concrete example, I will quote from a communication 
of one of our most prominent introducers of foreign chrysanthemums. 
“A novelty should first of all have a good habit, the foliage must be 
luxuriant and carried right up to the flower, and the stem should be 
stout enough to carry the flower erect on a stalk three feet in length, 
pp2 
