September 12, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



337 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY l:Y 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted bv Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER J2, iS 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



EulTORiA!. .Articles ; — The Responsibilities of Florists and Nurserymen. — 



Substitutes for Wiiite Pine 337 



Flowers in Japan. — I. (witli illustration) Theodore IVorcs, 338 



A Protection for Artificially Fertilized Flowers {witli illustration), 



E. S. Goff. 330 



Foreign Corresi'Ondence : — London Letter F. Goldriiig. 339 



New or Little Known Plants : — Lycium pallidum (with illustration). . .C. S. S. 340 

 Cultural DErARTiuENT: — The Cultivation of Native Ferns. — IIL, 



Robert T. Jackson. 340 



Plums for the West Professor J. L. B71M. 342 



The Kitchen Garden IViUiam Falconer. 342 



September Rose Notes W. H. Taplin. "342 



Orchid Notes F. Goldring-. 343 



Notes from the ."Vrnold Arboretum , y. 344 



The Forest ; — European State Forestry B. £. Fcri:o-.v. 345 



Correspondence ; — The Boston Public Garden — Street Trees in Washinj;t<jn — 



The Pokeweed 345 



Recent Publications 347 



Recent Plant Portraits 347 



Notes 348 



Illustrations : — Sack for Protecting Artificially Fertilized Flowers, Fig. 53. . . . 339 



Lycium pallidum. Fig. 54 341 



.'V Japanese Flower Vender's Basket 343 



The Responsibilities of Florists and Nurserymen. 



IN a late issue attention was invited to the important 

 influence exerted by florists, seedsmen and nursery- 

 men in forming- the public taste in horticultural matters. 

 In some directions this influence becomes almost abso- 

 lutely controlling. It is the florist, for example, who de- 

 cides for all, e.xcept a few inquiring amateurs, what kinds 

 of cut flowers and plants shall be used for the decoration 

 of homes and wfiat kinds shall remain practically un- 

 known. Now, no one can wield an influence of this sort 

 without a corresponding obligation, and in this liglit the 

 growers and dealers in plants and flowers owe it as a duty 

 to their patrons to see that the public taste is developed by 

 being fed on what is good. Especially is this true when 

 they are called upon to decide for those who are not in a 

 position to decide for themselves which of the old favorites 

 among our plants and flowers shall retain their place in 

 popular esteem and which shall be replaced by newer 

 rivals ; which novelties shall be accepted as genuine 

 additions to our sources of enjoyment and which shall be 

 rejected as undeserving of favor. 



The desire for novelties as such — for things new, irre- 

 spective of their intrinsic excellence — is a strong passion in 

 tfie human breast, and one u]3on which a trader of any 

 kind is tempted to j^lay. Although we owe to this passion 

 for novelty much that we have gained in all departments 

 of human effort, its results have nowhere been of unmixed 

 good ; and in the department of horticulture evil results 

 have often marked its gratification. Consider the prodig- 

 ious degree to which the lists of cultivated Roses and other 

 flowers have been enlarged. Every season brings new 

 claimants for favor to the front ; rivalry in the introduction 

 of novelties often prevents a thorough testing of the merits 

 of older plants ; novelty rather than beauty is often their 

 chief merit ; and if they are generally cultivated it can 

 only be at the sacrifice of other kinds. There is no room 

 for all these thousand varieties either in the nursery, or in 

 the florist's shop, or in the purchaser's home ; and though 

 the public has undoubtedly something to do with deciding 

 which shall be grown and which neglected, the florist's 

 power is infinitely greater. Many persons who buy have 



no taste at all in such matters; others are willing to submit 

 their taste to the florist's judgment with regard to beauty; 

 and if the florist makes, not beauty, but mere novelty, his 

 criterion, the average buyer will but too readily fall in with 

 his mood. 



Sometimes, it is true, the public is wiser than its pur- 

 veyors anticipated. For example, an attempt was made 

 last winter to introduce into the New York and Philadelphia 

 markets certain horrors called "dyed flowers;'' but they 

 soon disappeared from view, and we were told, upon in- 

 quiry, because "the public did not care about them." 

 But when it comes to more delicate questions — as the 

 difference between Rose and Rose — we cannot, and per- 

 haps ought not to depend upon the public taste ; and the 

 florist must necessarily know more and should have an 

 acuter feeling for beauty than his patrons. If, in recom- 

 mending plants or flowers to his patrons, he should consist- 

 ently make beauty his criterion, and pride himself upon 

 supplying the most excellent varieties in the most perfect 

 condition, rather than those which are "very expensive 

 because they are new and scarce," he would, in the 

 long run, distance his competitors. He might miss a 

 chance now and then of making a temporary "great 

 success " with one novelty or another, but taking month 

 with month and year with year, he would be sure 

 of the best class of custom, and the most of it. The 

 truth is, we think, not that the public, in theory, cares 

 less for beauty than for rarity, but that it finds it harder 

 to be sure of getting it. A purchaser, devoid of confi- 

 dence in his own taste (and most purchasers are of this 

 sort), knows he can trust a florist when he says a flower 

 is new or rare, but is by no means so sure he can trust 

 him in matters of taste ; and in default of the certainty 

 that he will get the most beautiful possible thing-, takes 

 the most singular or expensive. If conditions were differ- 

 ent, his choice, we believe, would be dift'erent, too ; and 

 thus it is that our florists' responsibility in this direction 

 is so great. 



Naturally, we have not the slightest wish to decry that 

 constant, vigorous and often costly search for novelties 

 which yearly enlarges our sources of enjoyment by giving 

 us newly-introduced species of flowers or newly-cultivated 

 varieties, which are often real acquisitions. It would be a 

 misfortune, indeed, if we were to be forever restricted to 

 our present list of flowers, long and rich though it is. 

 All we wish to say is that there is danger as well as 

 ]3romise in the search for new things, and that the florist 

 should try to preserve us from the danger while bringing 

 the promise to right fulfillment. The private green-house 

 and garden of the botanical enthusiast ; the experimental 

 station established b)' public or individual munificence — 

 these are the places for the perpetuation of plants whose 

 interest hes in their rarity or singularity, rather than in 

 their beauty of form, their splendor or delicacy of flower, 

 or their richness of perfume. Beauty and sweetness in 

 all their myriad varieties are the things that the public 

 really wants, and these the florist should endeavor to sup- 

 ply. A feeling for real excellence should guide and inspire 

 the enterprising search for novelty, as it should be the 

 only test when the acceptance and perpetuation of a 

 novelty is in question. 



We are glad to acknowledge that their past history 

 gives us reason to believe that the florists and nurserymen 

 will not disappoint us. As a rule, our florists' shops have 

 always contained more good things than poor ones ; more 

 that are recommended by their excellence and fewer by 

 their mere rarity or costliness. Every year shows an im- 

 provement in the quality of the flowers offered and in the 

 effectiveness of their arrangement. We see no cause to 

 doubt that our florists and nurserymen will continue to 

 grow in taste themselves, and in a consciousness of 

 their responsibility as agents in the elevation of the taste 

 of the nation ; and these words have been ^\'^ittcI■l less 

 as words of needed warning than as words of friendly 

 recognition and encouragement. 



