<'=!■ vi; 



14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



July 18, 1911. 



I 



?Si^<»^.<»^.<»^.<#^.<»^.' 



RAILROAD 



GARDENING 



g^^j^^r^^5S^^^^^l^^^^i^^^^^^^S!^M^^^^^S 



^^^ 



i. 



A PROFITABLE INVESTMENT. 



(An address by Paul Huebner, landscape gar- 

 dener for the Reading Railroad System, before 

 the Florists' Club of I'hiladelphia, July 11, 1911.1 



It is a good many years since I last 

 had the honor of addressing you on the 

 subject of railroad gardening. At that 

 time — some eight or ten years ago — 

 there were not so many of the railroad 

 systems of the country that had adopted 

 this policy in which my company was 

 one of the pioneers. A good many more 

 have taken it up since then, and you 

 will no doubt be glad to learn that the 

 Reading has taken no backward step, 

 but has kept steadily along on the same 

 broad and enlightened policy as it first 

 mapped out. 



Why Railroads Garden. 



You understand, of course, that the 

 hard-headed gentlemen who manage 

 railroads do so from a dollars and cents 

 standpoint — and look on the embellish- 

 ment of station grounds and approaches 

 from the dollars and cents standpoint 

 only — and not from an a'sthetic point 

 of view. They realize that it attracts 

 travel and settlement and by so doing 

 not only helps current revenue but im-. 

 proves the value of their real estate. 

 Nevertheless, these managers are to be 

 fommended for their breadth of view 

 and for their far-seeing, good policy — 

 even from those of you who work for 

 the advancement of horticulture in a 

 spirit of altruism for the public good. 

 The community which the Reading 

 serves are given constant pleasure bj' 

 this policy and are inspired thereby to 

 efforts of their own along horticultural 

 lines. The character of the architecture 

 of the stations has been greatly im- 

 proved of late years and the surround- 

 ings have to conform. Improved grounds 

 and improved stations are two of the 

 best advertisements a road could have 

 and worth far more than their cost in 

 that condition. Safety and convenience 

 come first, of course, but elegance is 

 equally desirable if the cost be not too 

 heavy. 



Best Stock for This Use. 



I am often asked: "Which is best for 

 work of this kind, shrubbery or bed- 

 ding plants?" In reply to that I always 

 answer that there is plenty of room for 

 both and I use both freely. When and 

 where depends, of course, on the size 

 of the spaces to be planted — also on the 

 surroundings. Shrubbery is generally 

 most effective when used as a back- 

 ground. When in flower it is very at- 

 tractive. But for glowing effects and 

 striking pictures that will make the 

 passengers sit up and take notice, and 

 carry with them strong impressions, 

 strong enough to make them talk about 

 it when they go home, be their home near 

 or far, there is nothing like the bril- 

 liant cannas and geraniums and other 

 tender plants which make these erst- 

 while dull and unsightly locations a 

 glory all summer long and carry the 

 fame of the Reading to the ends of the 



earth. I receive letters from all over 

 the country from passengers who write 

 the company asking as to what canna 

 that was or what geranium that was, 

 etc., showing very clearly the strong 

 impression made, even from a flying 

 train at sixty miles an hour, and the 

 good advertisement the company gets 

 out of it. 



While there is no great change in the 

 policy of the road as to ray depart- 

 ment or in my management and meth- 

 ods during the ten years that have 

 elapsed since I last addressed your 

 club, there is soitte change in the 

 varieties of plants we use. For in- 

 stance, in geraniums we used then 

 Mme. Thibaut for pink, La Pilot for 

 scarlet and La Favorite for white. Now 

 these best ones of their day have been 

 superseded by La Glorieuse as pink, 

 John Doyle as scarlet and Mme. Buch- 

 ner as "white. We also use Abbe 

 Schaeffer as a sacrlet and Jean Viaud 

 as a pink. These varieties are not 

 only better flowers than the old ones, 

 but they are also more constant bloom- 

 ers. Salleroi is still our standby as an 

 edging. 



In cannas we are now using Fuerst 

 Bismarck, King Humbert, Mme. Berat, 

 Mme. Poitevine, Philadelphia, Admiral 

 Avellan, Columbia, Robusta and Italia. 

 We still use Florence Vaughan a little, 

 but for a good yellow Richard Wallace 

 is the best of them all. 



Bom« Effective Beds. 



We have made recently some effective 

 beds with a combination of ricinus, 

 caladium and abutilon, and of course 

 we still use the coleus largely. A big 

 coleus bed laid out in a design is cer- 

 tainly a gorgeous sight. The big bed 

 at Trenton Junction, for instance, is a 

 good example of what can be done with 

 the coleus. A bed like this will take 

 3,000 plants, but they are easy to grow 

 and are inexpensive. The shrubbery in 

 the background helps this situation, 

 and of course the lively green of the 

 surrounding lawn is indispensable. 

 Imagine what a dreary, uninteresting 

 place this would be without this blaze 

 of color framed in green and harmon- 

 iously toned by its background of shrub- 

 bery. 



Take again the little triangle at the 

 terminal station in Philadelphia. This 

 is but a little patch, but it is the 

 glimpse of the unexpected which 

 catches the eye and pleases the traveler. 

 This bed is made of coleus, caladiums, 

 achyranthes and alocasia. The clover- 

 leaf bed in the same patch is of gera- 

 niums edged with ageratum, with a yuc- 

 ca in the center. The work at Langhorne 

 Station is distinctive, as it has a fine 

 perspective, and has an excellent back- 

 ground of privet hedging. Geranium 

 .John Doyle is used freely here in con- 

 junction with coleus beds. 



Privet for Hedging. 



I am still a strong believer in the 

 privet for hedging. We use the Cali- 

 fornia variety and find little trouble 

 with it winter-killing, about which some 

 complain. It has proven satisfactory 

 with us, being a quick grower, a beau- 

 tiful glossy green, and absolutely free 

 from all insect pests. We use this 

 largely for windbreaks, to prevent snow 

 drifting in winter, as well as for orna- 

 mental purposes. Even when it does 

 freeze it comes up again from the roots. 



Railroad Gardening— The Reading Statioa at Langhomet Pa. 



