24 



The Rorists' Revie\v 



December 30, 1920 



how nwich I have not yet been able to 

 ascertain. Business was fairly well 

 divided between plants and flowers, al- 

 though there were a greater number of 

 basket arrangements than ever before. 

 In plants, poinsettias and cyclamens 

 were first, with heather and berried 

 plants close behind. I'ans of jonquils 

 were a novelty and sold well. Orange 

 plants, palms and ferns were in great 

 demand; in fact, anything that was pre- 

 sentable was sold. Christmas greens 

 and wreaths of all sorts were sold out 

 three days before Christmas." 



"Christmas trade this year was ex- 

 cellent. I could have sold more flower- 

 ing plants if I liad had them," reports 

 Charles Whitton. Whitton & Sons also 

 rejiort a fine business; in fact, the best 



in years. Charles Whitton is expecting 

 a large spring business, as he has an 

 abundance of stock of bedding plants. 



WOEMS ON BEDDING PLANTS. 



I wish to inquire as to the best means 

 of ridding some of my houses of a small 

 yellow worm, from one-quarter to one- 

 half inch long, that is working on the 

 geranium stock plants. As soon as the 

 plants are disturbed the worm curls up 

 and often drops from the plant. I be- 

 lieve these worms came from a few 

 weeds that were not cleaned up from 

 the edge of the walks. The houses 

 that are affected, three in number, are 

 stocked with geraniums, carnations -and 

 vincas. It would be hard to reach the 

 worms with a spray and there is too 



much surface to cover. Would hy. o- 

 cyanic acid gas be all right? II w 

 strong should such a fumigant be m 1(> 

 for this stock, which is carrying o 

 bloom? C. W. M.— N. V 



An eflBcient spray of any good ii 

 tine preparation should kill the wor 

 Arsenate of lead would disfigure 

 foliage greatly, although it would 

 effective. I should be inclined to 

 hydrocyanic acid gas at the streu 

 often recommended in The Eeview. 

 ercise care when using it and no li; 

 will come to plants, animals Or humji 

 Cool weather and a low greenhouse t 

 perature are the safest conditions ■ 

 using this gas. Great care should be 

 ercised when it is used. C. W. 



mMmmjj|tAJti oiivmvm;mui^^^ 



SEEDSMEN STILL STUDY 



»«WW'iffififfififfi?W«iyW^^^ 



VEGETABLE NOMENCLATURE. 



Committee Issues Second Report. 



Some time ago a report was made of 

 the work of the joint committee on vege- 

 table nomenclature from the American 

 Seed Trade Association and the Vege- 

 table Growers' Association of America. 

 As a part of the program, a detailed 

 study of the various vegetable varieties 

 was to be made by men best qualified to 

 judge from their close experience with 

 these particular crops. 



Twenty-one committees were ap- 

 pointed, and we believe that in order 

 that those interested in this work may 

 know how to judge of the importance and 

 the value that may be forthcoming, it is 

 well worth wliile to have public an- 

 nouncement made of the personnel at 

 work on it. 



Members of Sub-Committees. 



The following men were appointed by 

 this committee, and have signified their 

 willingness to undertake the work. As 

 a matter of fact, at the time of writing 

 many committees have already made pre- 

 liminary reports, and considerable data 

 is in hand, which indicates real jirogress. 

 Tlic lir^'t ]M'rson named in each sub- 

 coiuinitteo is cliairman tlicreof. 



Tliroufrh an error in our former report, 

 the name of Dr. Will W. Tracy, Sr., was 

 mentioned as a guest. In reality he was 

 officially appointed on the vegetable 

 growers' branch of the committee by 

 President K. A. Dunbar and at the time 

 of the last Washington meeting was 

 made member exofficio of all of the sub- 

 ('(unmittees mentioned below, this ap- 

 jiointnicnt being made in view of his vast 

 kiHiwltMlge (pf American Aarieties of 

 vegetables. It is a matter of great satis- 

 faction that Dr. Tracy's health is so 

 greatly improved. The sub-committees 

 are: 



Asparagns— .T. I!. Norton, Hartsvillo, S. C: 

 Wilfrid Whfolcr, Inncunl, Muss. 



I'.c.ilis nnd T"'!^ '■l" Imsli hpiinsl ('. N. Kro- 

 iipv. 1^ Rov. N. Y.: A. Ij Rogers, CliioiiKo, III.; 

 I,. I». Coultpr, Dotroit. Midi. 



I!i-.ins. limn ami poli' liMile nnd liiish lima, nil 

 pell' tii'iins) — Henry Fisli, Sr.. ('arpinliri;i. f'al. 



lii'cts (enrden beets, ^ugar liei'ts. iiiiinL'elsl- 

 .><. K. Wilhird. Wetlierslield. Coiiti ; W. W. Inie.v. 

 ,Ir.. Fort Collins, fol".; W. II. WoiMlrulT, Mil- 

 ford. ('<inn. 



Cnldiage .T. M. I.iiptoii. M.iltituck. N. Y.; 

 l; .1. MaiKiiinoii. Diitoit. Mi.li. 



I'arrul -Lesiei I-. MursiV San Kraniisio. Cal.; 



Ed^ar Gregor.v. Marbleheiul, Mass.; tJ. W. Kerr, 

 Doylestown, Pa. 



Cauliflower — W. W. Tracy, Sr., Bureau of 

 Plant Industr.v, Washington, I). C. 



Celery— R. J, MacKinnon, Petroit, Mich. 

 Corn, sweet and table varieties — C. S. Clark, 

 Wakeman, 0. ; S, F. WlUard, Wethersfleld, Conn. : 

 .T. C. Robinson, Waterloo, Neb.; H. G. Hastings, 

 Atlanta, Ga. 



Cucumbers a,Dd muskmelons — J. C. Robinson, 

 Waterloo, Neb.: George E. Starr, Grass Lake, 

 Mich.: H. F. Hall, Moorestown, N, .T. 



Eggplant and pepper — H. F. Hall. Afoorestown. 

 N. J.: F. C. Stokes, Moorestown, N. .T. 



Tjettuce — I^ester L. Morse, Snn Francisco, Cnl. 

 Watermelons — H. G, Hastings, Atlanta. Ga.; 

 Hugh M. Taylor, Lloyd, Fin.; Robert W. Woo<l, 

 Richmond, Va. 



Onions, parsnips, parsley — I>ester L. Morse. 

 San Francisco. Cal.: Tjeonard H. Vaughan, Chi 

 cago: Waldo Rohnert, Gilroy, Cal. 



Potatoes — Wm. Stewart. Bureau of Plant Tii 

 diistrv, Washington, n. C: ,T. C. Millwnrd. Mad 

 ison. Wis.: J. C. Waid, East Ijansing. Mich. 



Potatoes, sweet — H. C. Thompson, Ithaca. 

 N. Y.: T. C. Johnson, Norfolk. Va. 



Pumpkins, squash — H. F. Hall, Moorestown. 

 N. ,T.: Edgar Gregory, JfarWehend, Mass.; ,T. C. 

 Robinson, Waterloo. Neb. 



Radish — R. .T. MacKinnon. T>ctrnit. ^lich ; 

 George E. Starr, Grass I^nkc, MIrli.; I.eiinard H. 

 Vaughan. Chicago, 111. 



Spinach — T. C. .Tohnson, Norfolk. Va.; .Tames 

 R. Morelnnd. Norfolk. Va. 



Tomato .Toslah Livingston, Columbus. O,: .\. 

 R. Ilavcn. Santn .\nn. Cal.; L. T>. Coulter De- 

 troit. Mich.: George E. Starr. Grass T>nke. Mich. 

 T\irnips. rutabagas — W. TI. Wofidruff Milforil. 

 Conn.; G. W. Kerr. T>oylpst<iwn. Pa.; Dr C. A. 

 Znvllz. Guplpli. Out ; .T. W. Crow. Gnelph. Out 



Plan of Work. 



The plan of work for these committees 

 h.Ts been as follows: 



1. To assemble all the varietal names 

 for the kinds in question. 



2. To group the names which are used 

 for the same kind or kinds so nearly 

 identical that they cnnnnt be recognized 

 as different. 



?>. To rocomniend the name for the 

 group which best characterizes the vnri 

 etv which represents the group and is 

 most nnivofsnllv known. 



1. To desiffn.'ite the best ways and 

 means of elimination of duplicate names 

 ind elimination of unimportant varieties. 



Tt is hoped that nut of the recom- 

 mendations of these committees can come 

 suggestions for a working plan which 

 will make it possible so to standardize 

 and designate standard types that both 

 the seedsman and commercial rrrower 

 will have in mind the same type for the 

 ?ame variety, at least over a Inrge section 

 of the country. More important than 

 this, such procedure would make it pos- 

 sible for ])lant breed(^rs to see more 

 clenrlv the jiroblem for im]irovement and 

 eliminate a tremendous amount of 



wasted time in attempting to develop 

 types that are already in existence, but 

 not known. 



Field Trials Next Summer. 



The study that has already been gi\ m 

 to this question has made it clear th;it 

 many field trials must be undertaken in 

 the summer of 1921 to determine whether 

 certain so-called varieties are really dif 

 ferent one from another. Already ses- 

 eral of the leading seed firms of tlie 

 United States have volunteered to carry 

 on complete trials of certain vegetables 

 during the coming season. For the pur- 

 pose of perfecting plans for special 19'Jl 

 trials for clearing up matters of uncer- 

 tainty regarding old vegetable types an^i 

 also for the purpose of perfecting ar 

 rangements for the registration of new- 

 varieties as offered, it is expected that :i 

 second meeting of this committee will be 

 held the third or fourth week in Feb 

 ruary, the place and exact time to be an 

 nounced later. 



Postpone Publication. 



It has been definitely decided not to 

 submit a list of vegetable varieties for 

 publication in the first edition of the 

 variety catalogue which is being issue.l 

 by the American Joint Committee on 

 Horticultural Nomenclature, of which J. 

 Horace McFarland is chairman and Har- 

 lan P. Kelsey is secretary. Our com 

 mittee has reached this decision at th 

 urgent insistence of our sub-committc 

 chairmen, who feel that, at best, thei • 

 reports, if finally submitted at this tim> 

 would have inaccuracies and a lack o( 

 completeness which will be avoided aftr 

 this summer's trials have been con 

 pleted. It is hoped that a full and con. 

 plete report may be submitted for publ 

 cation with the other horticultural socit 

 ties in their second edition, which wil 

 no doubt, be issued about six month 

 after the first edition. 



It has been a great satisfaction to ou 

 committee to note that in the 1921 see 

 catalogues so far received there is a vas 

 decrease in the number of new "intvi' 

 ductions. " This undoubtedly indicate 

 that a different attitude is being takeu 

 a change which can only work for bettc: 

 conditions in the seed trade. 



H. F. Thomj)son, Sec'y. 



Francis C. Stokes, Chairman. 



