92 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1918 



Dr. Walter Van Fleet 



Robert White Medallist, 1918 



THE name of Dr. W. Van Fleet is familiar 

 to all American horticulturists, and it is 

 fitting indeed that the Robert White 

 Medal of Honor should be given him in 

 recognition of the splendid service he has rendered. 

 The Massachusetts Horticultural Society as trus- 

 tee of the Robert White fund has selected Dr. 

 Van Fleet as the recipient for the honor this year. 



This gentleman's work in plant hybridiza- 

 tion most decidedly places him in the forefront, 

 not only of American hybridizers, but of all 

 hybridizers of the present day. 



Trained as a physician and surgeon, Dr. Van 

 Fleet was drawn irresistibly into experimental 

 horticulture, having found his first stimulus when 

 reading about plant hybridization while still a boy. 



As soon as opportunity occurred he experi- 

 mented largely with Gladiolus and was closely 

 associated with the famous European hybridizer 

 of Gladiolus, Max Leichtlin. Out of many 

 thousands of crosses, hundreds of thousands in- 

 deed, Dr. Van Fleet selected only five as being 

 worthy of introduction in commerce because he 

 set a rigid standard on himself. That a variety 

 should be merely "different" from others already 

 known was not in his eyes sufficient justification 

 for introduction. It had to possess some dis- 

 tinctive qualification. Many of the modern 

 strains now generally in cultivation are the by- 

 product of Dr. Van Fleet's work. 



In 1892 the practice of medicine was aban- 

 doned and the business of experimental horti- 

 culture taken up, and for several years subse- 

 quently Dr. Van Fleet was the horticultural 

 editor of the Rural New Yorker until in 1909 

 he was appointed Physiologist in the Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, a position 

 which he still occupies and where he has free rein 

 to indulge in his hobby of plant breeding. 



His contributions to our gardens cover a wide 

 range of plants. Probably the two or three most 

 conspicuously successful are the Roses American 

 Pillar, Silver Moon, and W. Van Fleet. Some 

 of his other Rose introductions however, will, 

 undoubtedly, occupy as prominent a place when 

 they become better known. 



The man who has given us these things in ad- 

 dition to such popular favorites as Flamingo 

 Canna, several strawberries, and various vege- 

 tables which remain as standards of quality at 

 the present day, merits the homage of all garden 

 lovers of America. 



A list of Dr. Van Fleet's most successful in- 

 troductions is given below: 



NAME 



INTRODUCER 



DATE 





Dingee & Conard 



1894 



Gladiolus Lord Fairfax 



Peter Henderson &: Co. 



I89S 



Princess .... 



Vaughan's Seed Store 



I906 



Isaac Hutchinson. 





I909 



Mastodon .... 



tt it u 



1 909 



Sugar Corn Sheffield 



Burpee .... 



I898 



I omato Combination. 



1 8 /» 



Quarter Century 



" 



1897 



Pepper Upright Salad 



Lonicera Hendersoni .... 



J. M. Thorbuni & Co. 



1907 



Petei Henderson &c Co. 



[896 



Rose, Climbing, Alba Rubri folia 



Conard & Jones Co. 



(KyN 



American Pillar. 



" " " 



I9O2 



Alida Lovett 



J. T. Lovett . 



[Gl6 



Bessie Lovett . 



it tt tt 



r.917 



Mary Lovett 



" " " 



I9I5 



Garnet Climber. 



Peter Henderson & Co. 



1907 



May Queen. . 



Conard & Jones Co.. 



I898 



Pearl Jjueen 



" " *' " 



lH;H 



Ruby Queen 



" " " " 



181 n 



Silver Moon 



Peter Henderson & Co. 



iv 10 



W. Van Fleet . 



tt 1. 



\<> 10 



1 1' (has. Wagner . . 



Conard & Jones Co 



1904 



H. 1 ., Magnafrano 



n a 



[905 



■ -r blooming Clara Barton 



n tt a tt 



[898 



Magnifies . 



tt tt it •• 



1 809 



1 hos. Lipton 

 \<-w Century 





1900 

 [9] 1 





Gooseberry W. Van Fleet 



J. T. Lovett . 



[917 



Strawberry Early Jersey Giant . 

 Late Jersey Giant . 



" " " ... 



1914 



" 



ivr J 



John Y . Cook 



a t* tt 



[916 



Mrnund Wilson 





I9I7 



tion have been introduced by various firms, 

 meeting with limited or transient success. 



Dr. Van Fleet is an extremely modest, retir- 

 ing man and comparatively few people even 

 among the horticulturists themselves realized 

 that his gardens, while he was living at Little 

 Silver, New Jersey, were the fountain spring of so 

 much that was of merit. He appears in public 

 gatherings very rarely, finding his fullest measure 

 of pleasure in the work that he has in hand and in 

 the realization that there are people benefiting 

 from the results of his labors. 



The present work of the doctor consists of breed- 

 ing disease-resistant Chestnuts on a fairly large 

 scale, using all native European and Asiatic 

 species;' the building up of types of hardy garden 

 Roses for American homes, using all the rare and 

 new species; disease-resistant types of orchard 

 fruits, including the apple, pear, peach, plum, 

 and quince; small fruits, such as the strawberry, 

 gooseberry, raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, 

 Amelanchier or juneberry, and barberry; various 

 ornamental shrubs and bulbous plants, including 



In addition Azalea, Hypericum, and Nicotiana 

 varieties produced at Little Silver by hybridi/a- 



Waller Van Fleet, M. D 



the Calla or Richardia, Lilium, Ixia, Sparaxis, 

 Freesia, and winter-blooming Gladiolus. Present 

 work among vegetables is confined to peppers 

 of the pimento type. 



All the new species and varieties introduced to 

 this country by the Arnold Arboretum and the 

 Federal Office of Foreign Seed and Plant In- 

 troduction are utilized in recent work and we 

 may confidently assert that a number of merito- 

 rious new varieties will in due course be dissemi- 

 nated for trial by the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. — L. B. 



Planting for Southern Gardens 



SOW seed of the Early Jersey Wakefield 

 cabbage up to the middle of October in 

 coldframes to transplant to open ground 

 in November. After the ground is 

 frozen the plants can be protected — in the event 

 of very cold weather, by placing coarse, strawy 

 manure on either side of the rows. 



Sow in the open ground for salad greens seed 

 of the White Norfolk turnip and Curly Siberian 

 kale, also have the second sowing of Spinach 

 (Savoy type). It would be desirable to have 

 some spinach sowed in a coldframe, as in case of a 

 threatened snow storm the glass sash could be 

 put on for protection and one could gather spin- 

 ach even in inclement weather. 



In all unused plots in the garden sow crimson 

 clover, rye, or barley to be turned under for green 

 manure in the spring. Some plots would be bene- 

 fited by deep plowing and a thick coating of 

 agricultural lime and allowed to remain in a 

 rough state all winter, as the constant freezing 

 and thawing would mellow the soil. It would be 

 better to test the soil to see if lime is needed. If 

 the soil is sour, litmus paper will turn pink if put 

 in a handful of the soil thoroughly moistened 

 and allowed to remain about an hour. In that 

 event lime is needed. 



Celery should be banked up with dirt as it con- 

 tinues to grow and it should be kept constantly 

 nourished with manure water or nitrate of soda 

 from the time the plants are set in the ground in 

 July until ready for the table in November. 

 Celery needs a great deal of feeding and much 

 water. Later on in the winter, the celery bed 

 should be covered with pine tags. (See Novem- 

 ber number of Garden Magazine, 1915.) 



Put out sets of the White Pearl and Queen 

 onion for use in the early spring. They are small 

 onions but delicate in flavor and quite tender. 



Strawberry plants can be set out quite late, 

 but it is best for them to get established before 

 freezing weather. Rooted runners can be taken 

 from an old strawberry bed and planted out for a 

 new bed. New beds should be made every two 

 years and the old beds plowed under. 



Cut off asparagus bushes now and burn them 

 to prevent spread of disease and to destroy in- 

 sects. Harrow the beds level. Spread with 

 well-rotted cow manure, or chicken manure 

 mixed with acid phosphates to be plowed under 

 in March when the rows are again hilled up. 



Late winter apples should be harvested the 

 latter part of September and early October and 

 stored for winter. All apples that have dropped 

 and are bruised or broken should be made into 

 apple butter or cider. Directions for making 

 same can be procured from the U. S. Agricul- 

 tural Department at Washington; and the 

 August and September numbers of 1917 Garden 

 Magazine have valuable directions on the 

 methods for the preservation of fruits and vege- 

 tables. 



Orchard, vineyard and bush fruits need much 

 attention in the fall. All dead and diseased 

 limbs should be removed and cocoons of cater- 

 pillars and other insects destroyed; and borers 

 dug out from the base of peach and plum trees. 

 The ground should be plowed, spread with 

 manure, and sowed with Crimson Clover, rye, or 

 vetch to be plowed under in the spring as a green 

 manure, or else sowed in orchard grass for a per- 

 manent sod. 



Lawns can be kept in excellent condition by a 

 flock of sheep, but the shrubs must be protected 

 by temporary fencing of wire netting. This is 

 being done by many as a war measure because 

 of shortage of labor and also to produce mutton. 



After the vines are destroyed by a heavy frost 

 the sweet potatoes are dug. Directions for 

 storing are in November, 191 7, Garden Mag- 

 azine. 



Carrots, turnips, parsnips, and salsify can re- 

 main in the ground all winter, but one can get 

 at them more readily if they are put in a kiln. 

 Directions for making a kiln are given in Novem- 

 ber, 1915, Garden Magazine. 



Plant all spring-flowering bulbs now, such as 

 Narcissus, Tulips, Hyacinths, and Crocus. Di- 

 vide and transplant perennials such as Phlox, 

 Sweet William, Hollyhock and Digitalis. Cut 

 off part of the long hair-roots of the Phlox and 

 plant in wet sand in coldframe to propagate 

 more plants. Anchusa italica and Oriental 

 Poppy roots can be cut into inch' pieces and 

 planted in coldframes to make more plants. 



Prune only late flowering shrubs at this 

 season. Avoid pruning Lilacs and Forsythias 

 and Spireas as the flowering buds are on the 

 new wood. 



Virginia. J. M. Patterson. 



