14 



The Florists' Review 



Skptkubkr 10, 1912. 





NOTES AND 



;^^^ COMMENTS 



$ 



ABE FLORISTS PBOGBESSINO? 



The Modern Idea of Progress. 



The recent international show in 

 London has, no doubt, led many people 

 to think that horticulture the world 

 over, and especially in Britain, is pro- 

 gressing rapidly; that we are doing far 

 better than our forebears. But, read- 

 ing between the lines of the reports of 

 this show and taking it as the highest 

 standard horticulture has to offer, it 

 will perhaps be worth while to ask the 

 question: "Are we progressing, and 

 along what lines?" 



There is one cardinal difference be- 

 tween old-time horticultural practice 

 and that of the present day. The tend- 

 ency of later times has been, not so 

 much to rear a variety or a species of 

 plant or flower to a superlative degree 

 of excellence by unusual cultural skill, 

 as to find a plant or flower that can 

 "stand the racket" and produce 

 largely of salable blooms under the 

 labor-saving and time-saving conditions 

 that obtain in present-day horticultural 

 practice. It cannot, I think, be denied 

 that this is progress. It is the progress 

 of the modern hustling, money-making 

 times, as distinct from the older flo- 

 rists' point of view. 



Some Old-time Exhibits. 



1 am old enough to remember London 

 shows where the older generation of 

 florists passed by beautiful though 

 small exhibits of herbaceous, Alpine, 

 rock and similar plants and gardens 

 with a sniff of disdain, as something 

 quite beneath their notice. They re- 

 garded orchid growers as cranks and 

 went on to examine their flat boxes of 

 picotees, carnations and pinks, each 

 flower dressed out flat, with its own 

 paper collar around it; every petal ex- 

 actly alike in shape, position and mark- 

 ings. Their pansies must each have 

 their margin of a certain depth; their 

 in-curved chrysanthemums must be 

 about the contour of baseballs and 

 about as graceful, and so on through 

 the whole gamut. 



In the light of modern times these 

 men appear, as they undoubtedly were, 

 the real cranks, but when we consider 

 the difliculties they had to contend 

 with, the lack of conveniences for 

 carrying out their work and the primi- 

 tive structures they had to use, then 

 we are bound to give them all credit 

 for their skill. For skill it was — of a 

 different kind from that we use today, 

 but skill nevertheless. 



Old-time Specimen Plants. 



Again, what has become of the 

 truly magnificent stove and greenhouse 

 plants, of large size, that graced the 

 old-time exhibitions? I think we should 

 have to look a long way nowadays to 

 find the grand specimen ericas, the 

 ixoras, the clivias — yes, even the alla- 

 utandas, dipladenias and elerodendrons 



of twenty years and more ago. It took 

 skill to grow these, and time and |>a- 

 tience too, as many can attest who have 

 spent a week or more trying out a 

 single plant. 



Take even the case of orchids. The 

 progress in this family has been grand 

 beyond the dreams even of compara- 

 tively modern times; still, the old-time 

 specimen plants are lacking. No one 

 who remembers the grand specimens of 

 aerides, vandas and others of this class 

 can think of their passing without re- 

 gret, though it must be conceded that 

 the small plants and present-day hy- 

 brids are far more valuable from all 

 standpoints. 



Orchids in America and England. 



In England progress has been rapid 

 of late years with orchids, while over 

 here we are losing ground. Taking into 

 consideration the thousands of plants 

 imported every year for cutting from, 

 some may perhaps question this state- 

 ment, but it is quite true. Thirty years 

 ago there were rare and valuable col- 

 lections in New York and other eastern 

 states, that ran the British and con- 

 tinental growers a close race, but where 

 are we today? Let those who viewed 

 the orchid show at Boston two years 

 ago, and also the recent show in Lon- 

 don, answer this. 



Here, again, we see evidence of the 

 searching for the easily grown and the 

 prolific. The cattleya, showy and easily 

 grown, is cultivated almost exclusively, 

 while such lovely orchids as Odonto- 

 glossum crispum and its varieties are 

 neglected simply because skill is needed 

 in their culture. 



Beautiful, but Neglected. 



They say our summers are too hot 

 for these Alpine species. The same 

 thing was said about European conti- 

 nental countries thirty years ago; yet 

 nowhere on earth, perhaps, have finer 

 odontoglossums been grown than in 

 Belgium. Quite recently, in a Califor- 

 nia collection, where the ubiquitous 

 cattleya flourishes, I noted some fine 

 plants of Odontoglossum Pescatorei 

 and O. cirrhosum flowering beautifully, 

 though relegated to a back seat to 

 make room for their showy compeers, 

 already mentioned. Probably the cool 

 nights of the Pacific slope had a good 

 deal to do with their satisfactory con- 

 dition. True progress in orchid culture 

 would include the growing of all that 

 is most beautiful in the family and 

 would not arbitrarily tie the growers 

 down to those species that have only 

 their showiness and free flowering qual- 

 ities to recommend them. 



Some Real, Undoubted Progress. 



Probably nothing in American flori- 

 culture has shown such marvelous prog- 

 ress as have roses and carnations. So 

 wonderful has the progress in these 

 lines been that even the English grow- 

 ers, though sometimes said to be self 



satisfied and disdainful of YaBkee 

 methods, are taking steps to profit by 

 the exam^iB set on this side and are 

 now building large, Ug^t houses of 

 American style and giving the plants 

 the freedom of a bench instead of eon 

 fining their roots to pots. 



Lawson was a great advance over 

 anything we had previously seen in 

 carnations, but look at our modern 

 giants! Not so long i^go Bridesmaid 

 and Bride practically ;^ld the field as 

 the best pink and white roses. Where 

 are they now? Where are even the 

 houseq;^h|it ^x^f9&T8 ago were thomght 

 to be the list "word in construction t 

 We surely have made true progress 

 along these lines. 



Hindrances to Progress. 



A great drawback to progress lu 

 American horticulture is the great die 

 tances between various points. Things 

 are happening in the east and middle 

 west of which the Pacific coast grow 

 ers are quite unaware, excepting for 

 what they read. Boosters for the Pa 

 cific coast have made such foolish state 

 ments that easterners are prone to 

 shrug their shoulders and take with a 

 grain of salt the truth about the reallr 

 wonderful things that are to be seen in 

 California. Could these things be 

 brought together in one great exhibi 

 tion, as the English growers can do. 

 many misconceptions would be cleared 

 up and much good would result to hor 

 ticulture as a national pursuit. 



It will be many years yet before the 

 "back to the land" movements, tte 

 school gardens, the women's clubs and 

 the many other aids to progress will 

 make the average American citizen » 

 garden lover in the same sense as the 

 European. We order our flowers, fruit 

 and vegetables over the phone the same 

 as other necessities, and the idea of » 

 garden in a general way is a lawn with 

 a straight walk to the porch or front- • 

 door. The profit and pleasure of a 

 real garden are forgotten, or rather 

 unknown, in the rush. But the love 

 for these things is inherent in all of us. 

 It has been stifled for the time by this 

 rush of progress in other lines of en 

 deavor, but it will reassert itself or 

 be awakened and, when it does, thi»< 

 alone will be a great aid to progress 

 in horticulture. 



BOCHESTEB, N. Y. 



Monthly meetings of the Rochester 

 I Florists' Association were resumed Sep 

 I tember 9, with the president, John 

 I Dunbar, in the chair. There were two 

 I papers of interest. The first was bv 

 Fred W. Vick, on the "Propagation of 

 Hardy Perennials." The other paper 

 was by James Bishop, on the "Possi 

 bilities of Using American Trees and 

 Shrubs for American Gardens," argn 

 ing that the home product was better 

 adapted than the foreign. 



Fred Vick, William T. Logan aad 

 E. R, Fry were appointed as delegates 

 to the convention of the State Federa 

 tion of Florists' Clubs, held September 

 12, at Syracuse. 



Hartford, Conn. — John Coombs is 

 adding two houses. 



Columbus, O. — The Farmers' and Flo 

 rists' Chemical Co. has been incsr 

 porated, with headquarters in this city. 

 The capital stock is $125,000, and the 

 object of the organization is the ina»»- 

 facture and sale of fertilizers. 



