50 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



have a splendid list from which to make selections. Many of our 

 progressive firms have gone into the culture of perennials on a 

 large scale. TJie Palisades Nurseries, Sparkill, N. Y., list over a 

 thousand species and varieties. Henry A. Dreer, Philadelphia, 

 H. & J. Farquhar, Boston, Bertram Farr, Wyomissing, Pa., A. N. 

 Pierson, Cromwell, Conn., Knight & Struck, New York City, and 

 many other progressive florists and seedsmen offer large collections. 

 However, the number of species and varieties does not compare 

 with the number grown on the other side of the water where this 

 group of plants has always received a great deal of attention. 

 Mr. M. Free, the superintendent of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden 

 in an article in the Florists' Exchange, March 26th, 1916, makes 

 the following statement with reference to the number of species in 

 •cultivation in this country, compared to the number used in England. 



" It must be generally admitted that our perennial borders, with 

 some few exceptions, are characterized by a great lack of variety 

 in the plant material used. Especially is this noticeable when 

 comparisons are made with the hardy flower borders of several 

 European countries where the culture of herbaceous plants in 

 borders and rock gardens has assumed enormous proportions. In 

 the Royal Gardens, Kew, over 8000 species and varieties of her- 

 baceous plants are grown, and it is no uncommon thing to see 

 catalogs published by nurserymen containing over 2000 varieties. 

 While not advocating for an instant the growing of plants simply 

 for the sake of having a large collection, it must be conceded that 

 when a nurseryman catalogs 2000 hardy plants, there must be a 

 number of really meritorious subjects which are not grown in our 

 borders, and which are not to be found in the lists published by the 

 majority of American firms dealing in hardy plants. 



" The demand for, and importance of, hardy perennials is in- 

 creasing by leaps and bounds. People are getting tired of the 

 monotony and expense of formal bedding and demand a return to 

 the old-fashioned perennial border which, when properly con- 

 structed, provides plants in bloom, of some kind or other, from 

 April to November. It is up to the nurserymen therefore, to see 

 that this demand is supplied. The man who is able to do this is 

 the one likeliest to reap the largest profits. We will have to break 

 away from the stereotyped list of plants that everyone who grows 



