EXHIBITIONS 



EXPERIMENT STATIONS 



569 



the single-flower ideal in florists' plants, are very rich in 

 displays of specimen plants of other kinds. 



Every Exhibition should make its motive or animus 

 clear. The visitor should know whether it is the pur- 

 pose to show florists' ideals, amateurs' ideals, or both. 

 The best Exhibition of any subject is that which shows 

 all its possibilities and merits. The tendency is for the 

 amateur's ideals not to be seen at the shows. There are 

 fewer prizes for these ideals, and the amateur leaves his 

 choicest things at home. Yet the amateur is the con- 

 servator of meritorious plants. He holds interesting and 

 artistic varieties and species decade after docado. and pre- 

 vents their loss. It is the amateur wh" has kept the old 

 Laciniatum chrysanthemum against thi- <'haii;;iiig moods 

 of the trade. Consider that the greater numbiTuf species 

 described in this Cyclopedia are known only to the ama- 

 teur. Our horticulture would be poor indeed if only 

 commercial ideals should prevail. 



A leading value of an Exhibition is to maintain a so- 

 ciety. The annual or periodical show keeps alive in- 

 terest in the society, and thereby enables the society to 

 extend its beneficent work. The great displays made by 

 the American Pomological Society, the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists, the American Carnation Society, and other 

 organizations, are excellent examples of the value of an 

 Exhibition in aiding to maintain a society with educa- 

 tional functions. This gives a suggestion for the local 

 improvement society: have an Exhibition in spring and 

 fall. Invite the professional growers to show their 

 specialties at the local show. It is well to make some 

 one plant or group of plants a central feature of each 

 show; aud this plant should be shown in all its various 

 forms. Endeavor to interest people in plants them- 

 selves, even though they may not show the formal 

 ideals of the plant-breeder. Good subjects for these 

 central features are the different fruits and vegetables, 

 roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, dahlias, gladioli, 

 spring bulbs, aquatics, bog plants, alpine plants, cacti, 

 orchids, poppies, sweet peas, violets, ferns, peonies, or- 

 namental autumn fruits, wild flowers, bloom of hardy 

 shrubs, foliage or bloom of forest trees, and vines. 



Aside from these technical uses of the Exhibition in 

 illustrating the progress of plant-breeding, the show 

 also may be made a powerful means of extending and 

 deepening the love of nature. In this guise it will 

 appeal to every person, not to horticulturists only. In 

 every school an Exhibition once or twice a year should 

 be made an adjunct of nature-study instruction. Such 

 an Exhibition should not stop with plants, but include 

 all natural objects. It should not be a technical horti- 

 cultural Exhibit ; and therefore, its further discussion 

 is not germane to this work. L, jj, B, 



EX0CH6RDA (from exo, externa!, and chorde, a cord 

 or thong; suggested by the free placentary cords sup- 

 posed to be external to the carpels). Jioscicece. Hardy 

 shrubs or small trees, remarkable for the structure of 

 the fr., which is composed of 5 small, bony carpels, ad- 

 hering around the central axis in a star-like manner. 

 Allied to Spirjea. Prop, by seeds, cuttings and layers. 

 Seeds are produced only on old plants; cuttings root 

 slowly and with difficulty; layering is best. Seed propa- 

 gation is advisable when seeds can be obtained. 



grandilldra, Lindl. Pearl Bush. Fig. 802. Well 

 known garden shrub, not often over 6-8 ft., but some- 

 times 15 ft. : Ivs. petiolate, lanceolate-oblong, whitish 

 below, very strong toothed on strong shoots, but almost 

 entire upon the older parts, stipuled: fls. appear with 

 Ivs. in long, terminal racemes of 5 or 6 fls., pure white; 

 calyx deeply 5-cleft; petals 5, narrow, roundish and 

 clawed; stamens 10-15, short: fr. of 5 bony, 2-valved car- 

 pels joined to a common axis, each with 1 large, flat- 

 winged seed. Apr., May. Central China. F. S. 9:954. 

 Gt. 47:1455. R.H. 1890, pp. 324, 325. J. H. III. 34:483. 

 B.M.4795. A.P.6:343. Gng.5:97. G.C. II, 16:73; III. 

 7:613.— Open habit and with thin, uninteresting foli- 

 age. Individual fls. of no value. Useful only in bloom, 

 when it is a dazzling white, the most brilliant shrub of 

 its season. Can be kept in shape by pruning, but better 

 back of or massed with other shrubs. Thrives in any 

 good soil. 



Albert!, Regel. Of greater vigor, darker foliage. 



covered with spikes of pure white fls., 8-10 on a spike. 

 Becomes G ft. Turkestan. For its garden value, see 

 Gng. for Oct. I, 1899. a. Phelps Wyman. 



EXORRHtZA (exo, out, outside, rhiza, root; alluding 

 to the large aerial roots above the ground). Palmdcece, 

 High -growing palm, with 

 straight, smooth stem, sup- 

 ported at the base by large 

 aerial, spiny roots Ivs large, 

 pinnate. Allied to 

 Kentia, but distm 

 guished by the im 

 bricate sepals of the 

 sterile fls., the elon 

 gated, subulate fila 

 ments of the stamens, 

 by the roundish-ovate ^^ 

 sepals of the pistil / ^^ 

 late fls. and by th»^ ^ -* 

 parietal ovule. In 

 Kentia the ovule is 

 basal and erect. 



Wendlandi&na, Becc. {Khitla 

 exorrhXza, Wendl.). Often more 

 than 60 ft. high : Ivs. 10-12 ft. 

 long: pinnae alternately arranged, 

 1-2 in. from each other, becoming 

 4 ft. long and 2 in. broad, 3-nerved : 

 spadix appearing below the Ivs., 

 enveloped in thick, coriaceous, 

 boat-shaped spathes. Fiji Islands. 



EXPERIMENT STATIONS 



exist in all the states and terii- 

 tories of the United States, aud 

 in the Canadian provinces, main 

 tained by the general govern 

 ments. These constitute the most 

 extensive series of agricultural 

 research stations in the world. 

 In Alabama, Connecticut, New 

 Jersey and New York there is also 

 a station maintained in whole or 

 in part by state funds. The total 

 number of regular stations in the 

 United States, to the close of the 

 fiscal year, June 30, 1898, was 54. 

 Thfe total income of these stations 

 was $1,210,921.17. In the work of 

 administration and inquiry, these 

 stations that year employed 669 

 persons, of whom 77 were horticulturists. In that year, 

 these stations published 406 reports and bulletins. The 

 mailing lists aggregated half a million names. Sum- 

 maries of all these publications are published by the 

 Office of Experiment Stations, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, in the monthly "Experiment Station 

 Record." 



In the Dominion of Canada there are five Experimen- 

 tal Farms. One of these is known as the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm, and is located near the capital, Ottawa, 

 and serves the purposes of the two large provinces of 

 Ontario and Quebec. The other four are branch Experi- 

 mental Farms, sites for which have been selected in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country, as follows : One at Nappan, 

 Nova Scotia, which serves for the three maritime 

 provinces ; a second at Brandon, Manitoba, which serves 

 the purposes of that large prairie province ; a third 

 at Indian Head, N. W. T., which serves the pur- 

 poses of the provisional districts known as the North- 

 west Territories of Canada ; and the fourth is at 

 Agassiz, in the coast climate of British Columbia, and 

 meets the need of the latter important province. The 

 grant made for the maintenance of the five Experimen- 

 tal Farms has been $75,000 per annum until 1899, when 

 this was increased to $80,000. At the Central Farm 

 there are six officers engaged in research, and two at 

 each of the branch farms, excepting at Agassiz, B.C., 

 where there is only one. The publications relating to 

 the work at all the Experimental Farms are issued from 

 the Central Farm at Ottawa. 



802. E.xochorda grandiflon 

 (XM.) 



