12 



The Florists^ Review 



July 1©. 1919. 



gained valuable information of their 

 cultural requirements, such as soil, tem- 

 perature, light and moisture. 



In the early part of the nineteenth 

 century, many collecting expeditions 

 were piloted by such systematic botan- 

 ints as Sir William Hooker, Sir Joseph 

 Banks and others, and the species of 

 plants from both tropical and temperate 

 sections which were found suitable for 

 growing under glass in this country 

 were increased many fold. In later 

 years, the work of these men was fol- 

 lowed by many others, among whom 

 were Sir Harry Veitch, Verschaffelt, 

 Engelmann, Victor Lemoine and the 

 Vilmorins. 



Botanists Helped. 



The scientific work of Dr. Torrey, Asa 

 Gray and other systematic botanists 

 has been of great value to floriculture, 

 for many of the species of native plants 

 they listed are now valuable garden spe- 

 cies. Through the work of these men, 

 therefore, our list of ornamental plants 

 has been increased by introducing spe- 

 cies from the flora of every part of the 

 globe. 



While some of these plant collectors 

 have been practical horticulturists, they 

 have been so educated that they have 

 been enabled to conduct scientific ex- 

 periments. They have learned to as- 

 sociate practice with scientific truth. 

 Among such men, who have been en- 

 gaged in the work in recent years, no 

 name stands out more prominently than 

 than of Jackson Dawson. While Mr. 

 Dawson's early education and training 

 were largely of a practical character, 

 his natural instinct enabled him to do 

 work of a strictly scientific nature. 

 The results of his propagation of mate- 

 rial sent him by plant collectors and his 

 breeding of hardy roses have been un- 

 usual. His introductions, the Dawson 

 rose, W. C. Egan, Farquhar and Sargent 

 roses, have been valuable acquisitions in 

 the floricultural list of species. His 

 "passing on" is a distinct loss to the 

 horticultural world. 



A scientific collector of note in re- 

 cent years is E. H. Wilson, the student 

 of Japanese and Chinese species, whose 

 work for the Arnold Arboretum at For- 

 est Hills, Mass., is bringing to our 

 American flower lovers such ornamental 

 species of value as Lilium myriophyl- 

 lum, Lilium Sargentiae, Hydrangea Sar- 

 gentiana. Clematis montana var. rubens, 

 Buddleia variabilis var. superba, Syr- 

 inga Wilsonii, and many others. The 

 history of the work of these collectors 

 and a study of their introduction of or- 

 namental plants are extremely interest- 

 ing, but space will not permit a detailed 

 discussion of them. 



The Needs of Plants. 



Following the introduction of spe- 

 cies of plants from foreign countries 

 and the somewhat unnatural conditions 

 under which it became necessary to 

 grow them, the plant culturist began to 

 realize the need of a thorough knowl- 

 edge of the requirements of different 

 plants as regards light, moisture and 

 heat. Slowly but surely present-day 

 floriculturists are coming to realize that 

 they must have a better knowledge of 

 plant structure and physiological proc- 

 esses in plant life before they can suc- 

 cessfully grow plants. 



That division of botany which we 

 know as plant physiology, and which 

 relates to the vital function of the 

 plant, is, then, of the greatest impor- 



tance to the grower of ornamental 

 plants under glass or in the open. Not 

 only has the scientist learned many 

 plant secrets in this respect during the 

 last decade, but he has been able to in- 

 struct the practical grower regarding 

 them and to demonstrate that certain 

 environmental factors, such as heat, 

 light and many others, so change and 

 modify plant tissue that improvement 

 in plants may be marked. 



Owe Much to Scientists. 



The results of the wonderful investi- 

 gations of Hofmeister, Qreen, De Can- 

 doUe and von Mohl in morphology; of 

 Robert Brown, Schleiden, Malphigi and 



Nageli in vegetable anatomy; of Koel- 

 reuter, Sprengel, Major and many 

 others in plant physiology, have taught, 

 and are now teaching, plant growers the 

 principles which underlie cultural prac- 

 tices. 



A thorough knowledge of the science 

 of botany is, therefore, necessary for 

 the successful cultivation of ornamen- 

 tal plants, either under glass or in the 

 open, and the gradual development of 

 this field through scientific investiga- 

 tion and research is constantly reveal- 

 ing new truths which closely affect 

 plant growth. 



[To be continued.!. 



Anywhere Plants Are Sold? 



Customer : * ' Have you a price list f ' ' 



Salesman: "Not a recent one, madam; 



but I can give you an old one and all 



you have to do is to multiply everything 



by two. ' ' 



Dealing with Dead Ones. 



Some people say they won't advertise 

 because everybody knows where their 

 stores arew Also everybody knows 

 where the cemetery is, but they don 't go 

 there often. — Clipping. 



Tit for Tat 



Near Shanghai, an English sailor on 

 his way to the foreigners ' burial ground 

 to lay a wreath on the grave of a com- 

 rade met a native with a pot of rice. 



"Hello, Johnl" he hailed. "Where 

 are you going with that 'ere!" 



"I takee put on glave — glave of my 

 flien'," said the Chinaman. 



" Ho, ho I " laughed the sailor. * ' And 

 when do you expect your friend to come 

 up and eat itf " 



"All time samee your flien' come up 

 and smellee your flowers, ' ' replied John. 



Superbugs. x 



This is one told by Joseph J. Qoudy, 

 representative of Henry A. Dreer for 

 three decades, who has heard many a 

 "good un" on the road: 



A crowd of truck farmers were gath- 

 ered in front of the post-oflBce and gen- 

 eral store in a down-east village, "cuss- 

 ing and discussing" the potato bug. All 

 were agreed that it took only a brief 

 time for the insect to destroy a crop of 

 tubers, one farmer saying that his field 

 was ravaged in two weeks, and another 

 declaring that it required only ten days 

 for his crop to be ruined. 



"And besides," added the latter, 

 "the pesky bugs roosted in the trees 

 around my patch to see if I wouldn't 

 plant again," 



"That's nothing," said a seed house 

 salesman who had been an interested 

 listener, "When I was in Pumpkin 

 Center last spring I saw two bugs ex- 

 amining the books of the store there to 

 find out who had bought seed." 



Mr. Goudy contends that the story 

 has a moral. 



A Seed Store Sale. 



A slim one who was so thin she nicked 

 the counter when she leaned against it,' 

 trickled up to the hosiery department 

 of a Sixteenth street store and said: 

 "Can you give me a pair of hose that 

 won't bag at the knees t" 



Mame shifted her Spearmint against 

 her back molars, oozed a wise slant over 

 the customer, and replied listlessly: 

 "Not unless you take garden hose." 



A Better Language. 



When Homer Wiegand was not so 

 good a golfer as he is now, he was on 

 an Indianapolis golf course one day, 

 and had swung selAntl times in an un- 

 successful effort to hit the ball. Having 

 missed it completelsr every time, Mr. 

 Wiegand, there being no ladies present, 

 relieved his feelings accordingly. 



One of his customers, who was play- 

 ing in the match, thereupon suggested to 

 Mr. Wiegand: "Say It with Flowers." 



I. Bosnosky. 



What to Put in the Punch BowL 



H. A. Dubuis thinks the suggestion as 

 to the future use of the otherwise obso- 

 lete punch bowl gives the following 

 lines an appeal to florists: 



It is 'water, water everywhere, and not 



a drop to drink'; 

 We no longer hear the music of the 



mellow crystals clink. 

 When the Colonel, and the Major, and 



the Gin'ral, and the Jedge 

 Meet to have a little nip, to give their 



appetites an edge; 

 For the eggnog now is nogless, and the 



rye has gone awry, 

 And the punch bowl holds carnations, 



for the country has gone dry. 



All the nightcaps now have tassels, and 



are worn upon the head, 

 Not the nightcaps that were taken when 



nobody went to bed; 

 And the breeze above the blue grass is 



as solemn as is death, 

 For it bears no pungent clove tang on 



its odorific breath ; 

 And each man can walk the chalk line 



when the stars are in the sky, 

 For the fizz glass now is fizzless — the 



country has gone dry. 



„....i 



