36 



The Florists' Review 



August 18, 1921 



l;TA't^-41ti««l>?WlJS«l^l^l^t^lV8«l^l^»>^J^S^l^^ 



OUR OPPORTUNITY 



T(J AN .■iiulifiicc siicli ;is this T do not 

 iu;i'<l to f;() into tlic rcnsons for 

 Qii;ir:intiiH' ;>7, lU'itlicr do J need 

 to ouumoriiti' tlic plants adMiitli'd un- 

 der it. The only ol)soiV!it ion J wisli to 

 niako is that 1 think tiu- fiitmi' will 

 limit, instead of increasing, the variety 

 of plants so admitted. 



With siu-li an outlook, what can Amer- 

 ican iioricuiture aiul llie lloiists of 

 Anu'rica ho])0 for? The answer to this 

 can be expressed in one l)rief sentence. 

 The American tlorists can in> the limit. 

 I suy this l)ecause 1 believe the llorists 

 of this country have as much original- 

 ilv, as good or better facilities and, cer- 

 tainly, a better market for their i)rod- 

 ucts than any other group engaged in 

 like work anywhere in the worhl. If 

 this beli(!f is well founded, there is no 

 limit t(i the opjioitunit ies open to the 

 llorists of this country truly interested 

 in lliu pr()]»agati(in of plants needed by 

 the trade. 



Foreign Plants Grown Here. 



With Quarantine :\7 in operation, 

 thei-e is an incentive for effort in this 

 direction which has never before e.v- 

 isted. As a result of this lack of in- 

 centive, Anu'ricau floriculture lias been 

 the loser, it is natural for plantsmeii 

 to follow well-heaten ]iaths as long as 

 such a courses gives fairly profitalde re 

 suits. Wo are slow to do lliiuys that 

 others are ready to do foi us, even 

 though such a course yields onl.v a frac- 

 tion of the ])ossil)le leturn from the in- 

 dustry. With tlie boat to which we h.ave 

 been hanging out of readi, it is up to 

 the industry to learn how to swim and 

 that, 1 am encouraged to say. is being 

 learned rapidly. 



Our nurseryuu'ii are jirojiagat ing 

 nuiny of the ])lauts formerly brought 

 froni abroad. All the hardy shrubs are 

 easily ])roi)agated vegetati\('ly or from 

 sei'ds. Ev(Ui A/alea indii-a. which has 

 not been commercially )>ropagated in 

 this country, is now being extensively 

 produced by at least two .\miricaii 

 growers. 



We have thousands of acres of land 

 jiist as well suited to the prop.-igat ion 

 of rhododendrons ;is tlie region abiuit 

 Hoskoop, and we ha\i' men who know 

 how to pro|)agate them. .Inst as soon ;is 

 they a])ply themselves to the task we 

 are going to have a list of American va 

 rieties of rhododendrons l)etter snitecl 

 to our needs than tlie European hybrids. 

 I say this in all candor, for had we not 

 developed American varieties of apples, 

 peaches, grajx's, (du'rries, etc., these 

 great fruit industries of ours would not 

 i)e what they are today. 



Tlu! rhododendron is a nati\e shrub, 

 growing wild in great ])rofusiou in the 

 A]i]ialachian region from I'eiinsylvaniM 

 to Florida. Why should we not ha\c 

 American hybrid seedlings, witli the 

 l)eauty of those we have lieen )>rovidei1 

 with bj Kuroitean plantsmen, which are 

 hard.v and better adapted to our more 

 trying conditions.' I feel confident that 

 the plantsmen of this country are going 

 to provide themselves with sorts better 

 suited to their needs than those upon 



■riic .•Kidross of I'nif. ],, (,'. Corlictt. of the 

 Ufpiutiiiciii (if .VuTiciMtio'i'. on "I'mvidini; SlDck 

 ill Siil.stituliciii lor Miilrri.il Kxcliulcil froin Iin- 

 IHii'i.'itiou I'lidcr (jiMi'Miiliiic Order 37." dcliv- 

 oicd lit till' WiisliiiiKtoii loiivciitioii of tlie S, 

 .\. K., ,\iiKiist Iti til is. 



which we have dejiended in the ]iast. 

 The same law which holds with the 

 fruits will be found to hold good for all 

 the' hardy ornamentals. 



Hybridizing. 



We have iiroduced the great roses and 

 carnations whicdi have contributed so 

 iiuu'h to the work of the florists of the 

 country. The Eawson, the Enchantress, 

 and others among tlie carnations, and 

 the Killarjiey rose serve as marked ex- 

 anijdes of what I lia\e in mind. A need 

 existed, the growers devoted tlu'iuselves 

 to the task, sujierior varieties wei'e jiro- 

 duced, which ha\'e returned millions of 

 dolhirs to the growers, and in the future, 

 ;is occasion reipiires, still better \arie- 

 ties will be jiroduced. 



1 am glad to say that there now ex- 

 ists in this country a small, but I'xceed 

 iugly enthusiastic, group of men who 

 art' devoting themselves to jilant 

 jiropagiition. it is their )iurpose to 

 |>ropagate fi-om see<ls, cuttings, grafts, 

 and by other vegetiitive means, ])lants 

 in large numbers and offer these to the 

 trade for lining out. Florists, nursery 

 men and others can avail themsidves of 

 this young material and handle it so as 

 to jiroduce the char.-icter of stock de- 

 manded l)y their particular trade. The 

 wtirk of this grouji will be explained bv 

 A. ir. Hill, jiresident, and V. \\. Von 

 Oven, secretary of the American Plant 

 Propagators' Associatitui. The work of 

 these gentlemen should provide a va- 

 riety and grade of material greatly 

 needed liy both florists and nurserymen. 



Keali/ing the need for Ainericin 

 sorts for American conditions, Dr. Wal- 

 ter Van Fleet and others are devoting 

 their time and ability to the creation of 

 such sorts. We now have roses which 

 are not only fine roses for cutting, but 

 the plants themselves are desirable 

 shrubs for use upon the l.awn or in the 

 border. These are not dual purfiose 

 roses, but are such roses ;is are needed to 

 lirighteu the twenty or more millions of 

 rural homes of these I'liited States. The 

 m;ni who contributes a rose or a shrub 

 which will brighten the way for home 

 makers of America has ])erformed a 

 service comit.arable to that of the serv- 

 ant of old who gatheretl the manna in 

 the wilderness, and the ]H'o])le will rise 

 up and call him blessed. 



Stimulating Interest. 



The jiopular acclaim which is possible 

 iit conuectioii with the naming of a 

 worthy rose, or other worth-while jilaiit 

 creation, is wtdl illustrated in the work 

 of the Royal Kosari.'tns of the city of 

 Portland, Ore. The popul.'ice of the city 

 made the occa.sion a gala day and devot- 

 ed themselves, twenty thousand strong, 

 to participation in a rose festival at 

 which the Mary Wallace rose, one of Dr. 

 Van Fleet's recent hybrids, was chris- 

 tened. 



1 mention this to show the inter- 



est the American jieople ciin be stini 

 ulated to take in a purely aesthetic hor 

 ticultural event. Hundreds of otliei 

 cities in America could and would dn 

 what Portland ditl this year if only the 

 local florists would furnish the motive 

 It is not necessar.v that a new rose be 

 n.'imed; start a rose festival, a cherry 

 blossom festival, an iris competition, or 

 any one of a hundred other worth-while 

 things that might be mentioned that 

 will add beauty and chiiracter to the 

 place you live in or, if you have no 

 higher motive, will add cash tt) vour 

 till. 



What arc we doing in this country to 

 bring about the improvement in ])Iant 

 conditions we all atimit is so desirable.' 

 I lia\'e already mentioned the work of 

 individual nurserymen who are devot 

 ing extensive activities to the niulti|)li 

 cation of the standard woody ornamen- 

 tal material we have been bringing in 

 from abroad. Tliese growers are well 

 scattered over the United States. 



Various Groups. 



Then there is the i)Iaut propagator 

 group, whose jiroposition is to jiroduce 

 baby ))lants in large numbers and to 

 deal almost exclusively with the trade. 



There aie also the specialists in cer 

 tain lines, who are assembling superior 

 collections of varieties of jdants of a 

 great assortment, including aquatics, 

 herbaceous perennials and woody 

 plants. Besides this group, there is the 

 individual florist who makes .1 few 

 crosses with liis carnations, roses, chrys- 

 antheintims or amaryllis, and from these 

 jiroduces a sort which he handles as a 

 specialty and from which he receives 

 not only the satisfaction of haviiiu; 

 made a contribution to the horticultural 

 ])lants of the world, but has also re- 

 ceived a due proportion of the ]teople's 

 money. 



We cannot all be E. Gtirney Hills, or 

 Dr. Van Fleets, in the rose worhl, but 

 we can all make a worth-while contribii 

 tion as we pass. 



Besides this great professional class, 

 we have another advantage not enjoyed 

 by any other nation of the world in like 

 degree. We have forty-eight state ex 

 periinent stations besides the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, in 

 which horticultural work in great v.i 

 rietv and magnitude is being carried on. 

 Some contributions of worth have conf 

 from these sources and, now that the 

 organized industries to which these in- 

 stitutions can render assistance are be- 

 ginning to look to them for assistant' 

 in the solution of the great variety aii'i 

 multiplicit.v of their ])roblems, there i-^ 

 develojiing that sjiirit of cooperatioii 

 which makes for success. 



The nurserymen have a real, live in 

 t crest in the Department of Agricultun . 

 b(>ciiiise they secured an apjiropriatitm 

 to lie devoted to the investigation of th' 

 ])roblems of plant ])ropagation in thei; 

 field. This interest shoukl extend to the 

 florists as well, for you are interestei! 

 in many of the same problems. But you 

 have a separate and distinct group of 

 [Continued on paRc f>!».] 



