MABCH 21. 1912. 



The Weddy Fkwfets' Review. 



36 



General View of the Italian Garden in Hortkultural Hall, Boston, Mass. 



which large numbers of splendidly flow- 

 ered forsythias, ten to twelve feet high, 

 are notable. At the extreme end of 

 the hall an immense painting of an 

 Italian villa, with cypresses and other 

 necessary settings, rises to the top of 

 the hall, and, on either side, the great 

 banks of growing trees and shrubs are 

 BO effectively grouped that it is hard 

 to tell where the living trees end and 

 the painting begins. At one end of 

 the balcony, running parallel with the 

 stairs, is a stepped balustrade of drip- 

 ping water falling down shell-like 

 troughs into one of the many pools on 

 the floor of the hall. 



Around the hall, including the steps 

 leading from the loggia, are a number of 

 statues quite recently imported from 

 Italy and loaned for this occasion, in- 

 cluding life-sized figures of men and 

 women symbolic of horticulture, and 

 various animals, including lions, wolves, 

 horses and bulls in combat. Thousands 

 upon thousands of pots, pans and boxes 

 of flowering and foliage plants were 

 necessary to give the desired floral 

 display. Immense numbers of tulips, 

 both early and Darwin varieties; hya- 

 cinths, narcissi. Primula vulgaris. 

 Primula obconica, schizanthus. Azalea 

 Keempferi, EUiottiana and Godfrey 

 callas, Lilium candidum and the newer 

 L. myriophyllum, Lorraine begonias, 

 cyclamens. Daphne cneorum, acacias, 

 marguerites, Tfistarias, clivias, amaryl- 

 lis, lilacs, liif of the valley, kerrias, 

 roses and other blooming plants were 

 used, while vines in greilt" numbers, 

 cedars, bays, boxes and other ever- 

 gr«ei|fiai in hundreds^ wer« needed. 



Air €^ctrical fountain facing the log- 

 gia, with ever changing lights, was 



quite an attraction, and several other 

 fountains were playing in the various 

 pools of water. The lights were so 

 arranged around the sides of the bal- 

 cony and elsewhere as to give the best 

 possible effect, and under artificial light 

 the scene was simply enchanting. 



All of this immense undertaking was 

 carried out by the firm of E. & J. 

 Farquhar & Co. James Farquhar 

 worked like a veritable Trojan through- 

 out, and both he and his Irrother, John, 

 richly deserve the many encomiums 

 heaped upon them, for this is unques- 

 tionably the biggest individual horti- 

 cultural exhibit ever put up in Amer- 

 ica, and we doubt if even in Europe 

 it has been surpassed. This exhibition 

 will be open until March 31, and all 

 proceeds will go to the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society to form the nu- 

 cleus of a fund for the reconstruction 

 of Horticultural hall. The Japanese 

 garden, constructed three years ago and 

 run in conjunction with the spring 

 flower show, netted the society $5,000 

 and from the way the public is visiting 

 this much bigger exhibit, a handsome 

 sum will be cleared. W. N. C. 



VALUE OF DAHLIA CUTTINGS. 



Could you please give me some in- 

 formation in regard to what it is worth 

 to root dahlia cuttings? The party is 

 to furnish the tubers, and I to take cut- 

 tings and root them. Any information 

 in regard to this will be thankfully 

 received. T. H. 



It is worth more to root dahlias than 

 geraniums, chrysanthemums or cartia- 

 tions. You should get $3 per hundred 

 for all rooted cuttings, and when the 



likelihood of considerable numbers 

 damping off is considered, this price is 

 a moderate one. W. C. 



A POOE HYACINTH CROP. 



Will you kindly inform us what to 

 do for hyacinths, to make them bloom 

 more heavily? We potted them in 

 October in good, rich hotbed soil and 

 put them in a dark basement, and have 

 been taking them out since the first 

 part of February. The blooms seem 

 to be too scattering on the stalk. The 

 temperature in the house has been 

 about 50 degrees in the daytime and 

 48 degrees at night. Do you think it 

 the fault of the bulbs or have we not 

 handled them right f 



L. A, Tj, & S. 



If by hotbed soil you mean the de- 

 cayed manure from the beds, you have 

 been using compost which is a little too 

 strong for your bulbs. If you had 

 taken two-thirds loam, one-third of the 

 thoroughly decayed hotbed manure and 

 a good dash of sharp sand, you would 

 have had an excellent soil for hyacinths. 

 Bulbs planted in October should, in 

 proper compost and with the right treat- 

 ment, flower weU. Are you sure they 

 had plenty of water! Did you cover 

 them with cinders, and were they stand- 

 ing where they could get any drying 

 heat from a furnace? They should 

 have a cellar or basement which is cool 

 and where no fire heat is used. In a 

 warm cellar they would do unsatis- 

 factorily. Your soil may be at fault, 

 you may have given insufficient water, 

 or you may have kept them too warm. 

 Perhaps all three causes may have com- 

 bined to cause the failure. C. W. 



