262 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



is allowed except by the consent of the forest admin- 

 istration. 



In all these countries the strictest attention is paid 

 to the subject of forestry, and schools are everywhere 

 maintained for the purpose of instructing men in this 

 work. Russia has been the only nation where forests 

 have been until lately under no restriction, but since 

 1888 even this country has had its forest law, and of- 

 fers loans on favorable terms for the protection and 

 increase of the forests. Hardly any European na- 

 tionality is without its state control of the forests or 

 without the training schools in which men are in- 

 structed how to take care of them. They are trying 

 in Europe in every way possible to save the forests, 

 and in the United States efforts are now being made 

 in nearly every commonwealth to regulate and con- 

 trol the wooded lands, but our people are not yet 

 ready to accept the stringent measures which have 

 been employed in Europe, as a necessity, for their 

 preservation. 



GROWING ORNAMENTAL PLANTS FOR 

 PROFIT. 



FLOWER farming, the culture of cut flowers and 

 bulbs for market, and even for the manufacture 

 of perfumes, is an industry peculiarly adapted 

 to the small farms in almost every warm valley of the 

 arid region, as well as to southern California, as ar- 

 gued by Dr. Franceschi before the Farmers' Institute 

 at Santa Barbara. A perfume factory is being se- 

 riously discussed for the Yakima Valley in Washing- 

 ton, and the irrigated valleys of -Arizona and New 

 Mexico are quite as favorable to many species as the 

 less sunny vales of California. We quote from Dr. 

 Franceschi : 



" Flower farming may become a commercial indus- 

 try and ornamental plants made to strve an eco- 

 nomic purpose. Raising improved strains of garden 

 flowers and plants, either by careful selection or by 

 judicious crossing, is a kind of work made easy 

 where fruits set and seeds generally ripen to perfec- 

 tion. It is eminently adapted to small farming, and 

 even to persons in position to afford a large expendi- 

 ture of intelligent application rather than of money 

 or labor. 



" To be successful in this field one must be a spe- 

 cialist, and work only in certain lines with a single- 

 ness of purpose and care. Of course one can hardly 

 expect that the specialty he has chosen will not be 

 worked by others, but in the production of new and 

 improved varieties of flowers there is a virgin field 

 not liable to be overdone. 



" I will not attempt to enumerate the different plants 

 to which attention may be called in this connection. 

 Of such as are usually called garden flowers that is, 

 plants raised generally from seed which will bloom 

 the first season, between those seen in every garden, 

 those that have been introduced and undeservedly 

 forgotten, and those that have not yet been submit- 

 ted to culture the number is indeed too large to be 

 even partially enumerated. Selection from among 

 this vast number must be made with judgment based 

 upon what offers probable success. Impossibilities 

 there are many, and it is not advisable for the flower 

 expert to try and produce the sky-blue rose, the gold- 

 en-yellow camellia or the scarlet petunia. But 

 against these impossibilities the number of improve- 

 ments and combinations to which nature is liberally 

 open is indeed wide. The day is not far distant, in 



my opinion, when we will be able to admire a whole 

 series of white-flowered cannas, striped, blotched or 

 edged with every shade of crimson, scarlet and yel- 

 low; morning glories (Ipomaeas) of any size, ranging 

 in color from sky-blue to bright scarlet, and from 

 lemon yellow to fiery orange. 



"Among flowering or decorative shrubs and so- 

 called soft plants, what a number open to improve- 

 ment and diversification. Look at the wonderful 

 series of begonias, beautiful for either their flowers or 

 for their unequaled foliage ; look at the crotons and 

 dracaenas of European growers ; at the caladiums of 

 Lietze. On the other hand, the cleanothus and lilacs 

 of Lemoine, the sweet-scented passifloras of McCli- 

 bran, and the numberless cattleyas, cypripediumsand 

 other hybrid orchids raised of late mostly in England ; 

 what do they all show? That it has been enough for 

 an intelligent mind to take in hand any sorts of plants 

 to raise admirable forms often surpassing nature 

 itself. 



" In this country, too, a start has been given, and 

 without mentioning special cultures at Redondo, Pas- 

 adena and other places in Los Angeles county, the 

 best exemplification is to be seen at our very doors in 

 Ventura county, where the most remarkable work in 

 this line has been carried on by Mrs. Theodosia B. 

 Shepherd. At her place one can see many promising 

 hybrids of begonias, cannas, amaryllis, cacti and other 

 plants. Following in the footsteps of that enterpris- 

 ing lady, others have pushed forward with equal suc- 

 cess. One has taken petunias and verbenas, another 

 gladiolus, and so on. This leads me to suggest the 

 growing of bulbs for commercial purposes. Calla 

 lily and freesia bulbs are already largely exported, 

 and no doubt other kinds can be grown equally well. 



" The production of cut blooms for market is a mat- 

 ter worthy of attention. For cut flowers we have a 

 demand at our doors, which, for about eight months 

 of the year, will take a large amount of cut roses, 

 carnations and other flowers. Besides the most im- 

 portant centers, such as Salt Lake City, Denver, 

 Omaha, Chicago, all distant about three days travel 

 by rail, over this territory there are many smaller 

 towns to be supplied by our growers, because there is 

 no local supply, 



" On the Rivera the growing of cut flowers is prac- 

 ticed on a large scale on the flower farms and by 

 small growers, who, of course, do not have the same 

 facilities for disposing of their daily crop. I do not 

 see why a Flower Growers' Union could not be started 

 and be of as much service to the growers of ornamen- 

 tals as similar organizations are to the growers of 

 fruits. Under proper control and regulation it is not 

 impossible to establish a lucrative trade in the more 

 costly flowers that would bear transportation to St. 

 Louis, Cincinnati and even New York. I am of the 

 opinion that the day will come when we will be able 

 to ship orchid flowers to the extreme East, consider- 

 ing the ease with which many of them can be grown 

 here without artificial heat. 



" The golden flowered Australian acacias do as well 

 with us as on their native soils. Immense quantities 

 of their blooms could be shipped from November to 

 May. Some of the gums (eucalyptus) are also orna- 

 mental, keep well and would undoubtedly command 

 a ready sale. 



"In fact, the number of plants that can be profita- 

 bly grown for cut flowers for export is so large that 

 I refrain from giving even a partial list. 



"In dried flowers, what- a field before us! Santa 



