﻿April 8. 1920 



The Rorists^ Review 



17 



gF ^a pitim2iitA2J i 4y^i2^^^^ 



TAKING ORDERS FOR TREES 



S THE season for outdoor 

 planting draws near, con- 

 siderable numbers of 

 florists have opportunities 

 to take orders for shrubs 

 and trees as well as for 

 _ bedding plants and other 



'^i'TiO^ herbaceous stock. Many 

 ^ " florists, of course, are so 



situated that they would 

 not find it either convenient or profit- 

 able to push the sale of hard-wooded 

 8tock. Others, however, are favorably 

 located for the successful handling of 

 xuch a line of trade. Certainly few 

 florists can afford to disappoint and per- 

 haps offend a customer by rejecting such 

 extra spring business when it is freely 

 offered to them. 



In accepting even a stray, semi-occa- 

 sional order for a few trees or shrubs, 

 the florist may — who knows? — be con- 

 ferring an ultimate benefit on a wide 

 circle of people, including himself, the 

 customer, the community at large, the 

 nurseryman from whom the stock is pro- 

 cured and the whole nursery trade. Not 

 a few home-owners have just enough 

 ambition for home-improvement so that 

 they will take the slight trouble, on 

 their way to or from business, to stop 

 at the store of the neighborhood florist 

 and give an order for trees or shrubs — 

 if the florist can tell them exactly what 

 are the best varieties for their purpose. 



What to Sell and What to Tell. 



If these half-hearted would-be pur- 

 chasers find that the transaction re- 

 quires any greater effort than "dropping 

 in" casually at the florist's store, they 

 simply will not purchase; they will limit 

 their lawn operations to the growing of 

 grass. But if the florist sells them the 

 right trees and shrubs, accompanied 

 with a judicious amount of the right 

 sort of advice, the results may be so 

 satisfactory as to encourage the pur- 

 chasers to greater endeavor in lawn 

 beautification. Their neighbors also. 



watching developments, may be spurred 

 to the same sort of endeavor and so the 

 wholesome contagion will spread, ad in- 

 finitum. On the other hand, if the 

 florist proffers the wrong stock or the 

 wrong advice, the consequences may be 

 only disaster and disappointment. How 

 important it is, then, that the florist 

 should know what to sell and what to 

 tell when the amateur planter wishes to 

 buy I 



Some helpful suggestions on the selec- 

 tion of ornamental and shade trees are 

 given in a bulletin recently issued by 

 the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, at Wooster, O. Of course the bul- 

 letin's statements, as far as they are 

 based on experiences at or near Wooster, 

 are not intended to be precisely applica- 

 ble elsewliere, even in similar latitudes. 



Latitude and Local Conditions. 



Wooster is in the same latitude as 

 north-central Illinois and the southern 

 extremity of New York state. But local 

 conditions, as well as latitude, must be 

 considered. Some species of trees which 

 are approved in the bulletin, and which 

 presumably thrive in the vicinity of 

 Wooster, O., would not fare so well in 

 or near Chicago. That assertion applies 

 especially to some of the flowering trees 

 and other more showy varieties men- 

 tioned in the bulletin, such as the liquid- 

 aiiibar, tlu> flowering dtigwood, the jiidas 

 tree and most of the magnolias. Con- 

 servative nurserymen in northern Illi- 

 nois would hesitate to recommend these 

 to local patrons. Even the birches, 

 though unquestionably hardy, are dif- 

 ficult to establish near Chicago and in 

 some other localities. 



Among the less familiar, less common- 

 place trees that are favorably referred 

 to in the agricultural bulletin, perhai)s 

 the most desirable is the ginkgo or 

 n\aidciiliair tree, called botanicilly 

 Ginkgo biloba or Salisburia adiauti 

 folia. It is of Chinese origin and is 

 unicpie and picturesque in aj)pearance. 



Its leaves, which are fan-shaped or 

 maidenhair-like, withstand city condi- 

 tions. It is hardy and seems to be un- 

 molested by pests, even when surround- 

 ing trees are a prey to many sorts of in- 

 sects. It may be obtained either in de- 

 cidedly pyramidal shape or with more 

 wide-spreading branches. The pyra- 

 midal form is the more striking and is 

 suitable for comparatively small areas, 

 such as city lawns, though the tree 

 finally attains a good size. 



Oaks would not usually be considered 

 good subjects for a beginner to experi- 

 ment with, but the agricultural bulletin 

 rightly gives them high rank as orna- 

 mental trees. "Well selected hardwood 

 trees," says the bulletin, "although in 

 some instances of slow growth for a 

 few years after planting, have a per- 

 manence worthy of serious consideration 

 when the choice of planting materials 

 is being made. When they are once 

 thoroughly established, the rate of even 

 the slowest species becomes accelerated 

 and it is safe to assert that at the age 

 of 25 years the oaks will approximate in 

 size most other species that were 

 planted at the same time. On the 

 grounds of the experiment station the 

 oaks are becoming the leading trees in 

 a planting scheme designed primarily 

 to illustrate the value of native planting 

 materials. 



Choice Species of Oak. 



''Our oaks are trees of much dignity, 

 are extremely long-lived and are en- 

 dowed with a landscape value such as 

 few trees possess. For streets and ave- 

 nues oaks compare farorably with the 

 elm and can be grown on a greater va- 

 riety of soils. One of the finest is the 

 red oak, which has been more widely 

 planted in Europe than any other of our 

 oaks and is probably the most rapid of 

 all the oaks in its rate of growth. The 

 pin oak is an extremely graceful tree; 

 it is native to moist lands, but grows 

 well almost evervwhere and makes a 



A Small Section of a Suburban Nursery; a Convenient Source of Supply. 



