Mabch 5, 1908, 



TheWcckly Florists' Review. 



II 



ners the ground in the pots would freeze 

 sometimes, but it never hurt them, as it 

 does since I have hot water. Where do 

 you think the fault lies, with me or the 

 cold wind, or the draught, or the bed, 

 or what? B. A. B. 



There is no doubt at all that your 

 geraniums would do much better in win- 

 ter on raised benches, and if your hot 

 water pipes, or even part of them, were 

 underneath, to furnish a little bottom 

 heat, all the better. If there is such a 

 draught as you speak of, it must be in- 

 jurious to your plants. Then, again, 

 geraniums on a solid bed near the ground 

 will not dry out as on raised benches, 

 and require more careful watering. We 

 suppose you have not used any strong 

 chemical fertilizers in your compost. 

 These often cause a heavy loss. An over- 

 dose of bone has ruined many a promis- 

 ing lot of geraniums. Growers too often 

 act on the assumption that if a little is 

 good, a larger lot will be even better, the 

 results usually being disastrous. 



After repotting your geraniums, it 

 would be well not to water at all for a 

 couple of days. Then give a soaking and 

 allow them to dry out thoroughly before 

 waiering again. They would be much 

 I)etter on the dry side until the sides of 

 the pots contain plenty of feeding roots. 

 A temperature of 50 degrees is all right, 

 and with careful watering and ventilat- 

 ing, proper soil and an absence of cold 

 draughts, you should not have had any 

 trouble, even on a bed only a foot above 

 the ground. We think you would do 

 much better by growing them on raised 

 benches another year. The plants will 

 he warmer than near the ground, and will 

 grow stockier and be in every way more 

 satisfactory. C. W. 



THE PRIVATE GARDENER. 



[A synopsis of a paper by Robert Craig, of 

 Philadelphia, read before the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, February 29, 1908.] 



I choose the subject because I con- 

 ceive that it is one of more importance 

 than is generally assigned to it and that 

 the private gardener is likely to play a 

 part of continually growing importance 

 in American life. His influence on the 

 future of horticulture is powerful for 

 good or for evil. If he be a capable, 

 energetic and honest man, he will do 

 such work as will make his employer 

 a patron, of gardening, and if he be 

 ignorant, careless and dishonest he will 

 not only ruin himself, but will damage 

 the cause he misrepresents. Allow me 

 to recite a couple of instances occurring 

 in my own neighborhood which illus- 

 trate this point: 



Success Stimulates Interest. 



I was well acquainted with a wealthy 

 gentleman who built new greenhouses 

 and started to improve the grounds sur- 

 rounding his fine mansion. He was for- 

 tunate in securing a fine English gar- 

 dener, newly arrived in this country; 

 his place rapidly improved under the 

 new gardener's ycare and after two 

 years' work, when the owner saw he 

 was getting good results, he became 

 greatly interested, and invested freely 

 large sums to carry on the improve- 

 ments. Everything prospered and was 

 a source of great pleasure to the owner 

 and his friends, when suddenly the good 

 gardener was stricken with an incur- 

 able disease and had to give up work. 

 The place was then put in charge of his 

 first assistant, a young man about 26 

 years old, who was given a fine oppor- 



Robert Craig. 



tunity to make a name for himself, but 

 he could not stand even a little pros- 

 perity; and during a spree, an accident 

 to the boilers resulted in the entire 

 stock of plants being frozen. The own- 

 er, who had plenty of money to spend 

 in gratifying his tastes, lost all inter- 

 est in gardening and became a liberal 

 patron of other fine arts. His collec- 

 tion of paintings and sculpture are 

 known far and wide, but the green- 

 houses are empty, the garden neglected, 

 and it is not likely the owner's inter- 

 est in these will ever be revived. 



Another instance coming under my 

 immediate observation interested me 

 still more. One of the wealthiest men 

 in the neighbfrrhood of Philadelphia 

 built one of the finest mansions in the 

 state, employed the highest talent in 

 landscape gardening and in a couple of 

 years had the new place greatly im- 

 proved. He employed a young German 

 gardener who had previously at a salary 

 of only $60 per month made -«r good 

 name for himself; gave him entire 

 charge, and he worked with such in- 

 telligence, industry and honesty, that 

 the employer built for him additional 

 ranges of glass at a cost of $50,000, and 

 allows him to spend annually a large 

 sum in improving the place. Only lagA; 

 summer he took a trip to Europe at hiW 

 employer's expense, with power to pur- 

 chase such rare plants as he might se- 

 lect. His salary is now quite satis- 

 factory to him. Oh, but you say, this 

 was a rare case. Perhaps it was, but 

 I am sure at the rate wealth is increas- 

 ing in this country the number of such 

 places will steadily increase. I like 

 to quote Lord Bacon on this point: 

 "When ages grow to civility and ele- 

 gancy men come to build stately, soon- 

 er than to garden finely, as if garden- 

 ing were the greater perfection." 



The Gardener's Education. 



The problem of how a gardener should 

 set about preparing himself for his life 

 work is, in this country, a serious one. 

 In the older countries of Europe, op- 

 portunities to acquire a thorough knowl- 

 edge of all departments are plentiful. 

 There are so many estates on which the 

 grounds are admirably planned and 

 planted, and where there are numerous 

 houses adapted for propagating and 

 growing everything for the garden, that 

 a man may get a thorough knowledge 

 of gardening in all branches; and there 

 are many comniorpial places which car- 

 ry on all lines and where boys may go 

 and learn the business as they grow to 

 manhood. There are only a few such 

 commercial places in America. In this 

 country almost all the trade establish- 

 ments cultivate specialties, as roses, 

 carnations or palms. Nearly all of our 

 good, all-around gardeners get their 

 training abroad, and it is well for any 

 young man who can get a chance to 

 learn gardening under such a,, man, 

 either on a large private place or in a 

 park. 



Some of our colleges now have fa- 

 cilities for teaching gardening. T wish 

 that all of the colleges would follow 

 the example of Cornell, where they have 

 six greenhouses in which students may 

 gain a practical knowledge of plant 

 growth, learn how to prepare soil and 

 manure, and have opportunity to gain 

 a general knowledge of advanced gar- 

 dening. Many of the colleges have now 

 a course in forestry, and I understand 

 that young men getting diplomas, if 

 otherwise fitted, can readily procure 

 employment at fair salaries. It seems 

 to me that the time is now ripe for all 

 the leading colleges to build ranges of 

 glass and have courses in practicalhor- 



