134 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1918 



overseas and tying in our base hospitals and 

 other institutions. It had been discovered that 

 the boys, while well supplied with delicacies and 

 comforts of all kinds, craved flowers; and there 

 appeared to be no means of supplying a little bit 

 of floral cheer through ordinary channels. The 

 National League for Woman's Service at that 

 time had started upon the work of flower distri- 

 bution, with Mrs. J. Clark Curtin at the head of 

 its National Flower Distribution Committee, and 

 after a consultation with her, the aid of the New 

 \ ork Florists' Club was invoked and receiving 

 depots established in New York to which the 

 florists in and around the city sent daily, and are 

 still sending, supplies of flowers, the League's 

 Committee making judicious distribution. 



The Society of American Florists then laid a 

 proposal before its members and the trade in 

 general in about seven hundred cities, wherein 

 the League had branches, that when sick and 

 wounded soldiers or sailors were located in 

 institutions within those cities they should pro- 

 vide flowers for distribution through the League 

 in the same way. The proposal was heartily 

 agreed to and the League work has thus been 

 greatly extended. 



The suggestive slogan of the Society, "Say it 

 with Flowers," has been adopted by the League 

 also, and the legend is displayed by the League's 

 members in their chapter houses, on their motor 

 cars, and in other ways, so that flowers are 

 carrying a message of sympathy to helpless 

 heroes throughout the land." 



The florists are proud in the consciousness of 

 "doing their bit," and we feel our readers will 

 be appreciative that they are doing it efTectively. 



Exit The "War" 



f\F COURSE the war garden goes, but the 

 >-' garden is still here. The thousands of 

 "war gardeners," having become acquainted with 

 the joys of the soil, let alone any measureable re- 

 sult in the household, are not likely to quit. They 

 will become "victory" gardeners in more than 

 one sense, and just as the victories of battle are 

 celebrated by music and the waving of flags, so 

 will the gardener joyfully raise in his domain, 

 flowers — those symbols of pleasure and peace that 

 are as music to the soul. 



The Christmas Call 



THE story of the Red Cross has been told so 

 many times that we are likely to forget its 

 significance. There is a great temptation to 

 put such fundamental things into the back- 

 ground, to contribute what we think we can af- 

 ford merely as a matter of decency, and then to go 

 on earning our pay and spending it, giving our 

 thought to things more novel or more amusing. 



Therefore when you are asked to continue 

 your help in the organization we feel that no 

 appeal can be better than the official words of 

 the War Council. "The moment is now come 

 to prepare for Peace. Actual peace may come 

 at any hour; it may be deferred for some time. 

 Until peace is really here, there can be no re- 

 laxation in any Red Cross effort incident to active 

 hostilities. But even with peace, let no one sup- 

 pose that the work of the Red Cross is finished. 

 Millions of American boys are still under arms. 

 Thousands of them are sick and wounded. Ow- 

 ing to the shortage of shipping, it may take a 

 year or more to bring our boys home from France. 

 But, whatever the time, our protecting arms 

 must be about them and their families over the 

 whole period which must elapse before the normal 

 life of peace can be resumed. 



"The cessation of War will reveal a picture 

 of misery such as the world has never seen be- 

 fore, especially in the many countries which can 

 not help themselves. The American people 

 will expect the Red Cross to continue to act as 



their agent in repairing broken spirits and broken 

 bodies. Peace terms and peace conditions will 

 determine how we may best minister to the vast 

 stricken areas which have been harrowed by 

 War, and in this great act of mercy, the heart 

 and spirit of the American people must con- 

 tinue to be mobilized through the American 

 Red Cross. 



"On behalf of the Red Cross War Council, 

 we accordingly ask each member of our splendid 

 body of workers throughout the land to bear in 

 mind the solemn obligation which rests upon 

 each one to CARRY ON." 



*"m OPIWCOLUMM 5 ! 



Readers Interchanges ^Experiences h 

 J «« •<*&. and Ideas -«t» ^sg^&fi. 



Crinums in Kentucky. — How can I grow in 

 the garden Belladonna Lilies and Crinums and 

 make them bloom in latitude of Lexington, Ky. ? 

 I am willing to take any amouut of trouble to 

 cover with glass, ashes, or manure if to be win- 

 tered in the ground, preferring some such arrange- 

 ment as a removable cover which would leave 

 plants to blossom in the garden. In a former 

 Garden Magazine article, growing Crinums 

 successfully in a garden in New Jersey is de- 

 scribed, but Kentucky is not New Jersey! 

 Crinums and Belladonna Lilies are my joys. 

 Having success with Roses and Lilies, I want to 

 try Crinums. — Olive Nelson. 



Improvising a Christmas Tree — For many 

 years at Christmas time it has been the custom 

 to put up on Boston 

 Common a large tree, 

 decorated with thou- 

 sands of electric lights, 



Can't get a large enough 

 Christmas tree? Then build it 

 out of smaller ones! 



around which the public would gather and sing 

 appropriate carols making a scene that left a pleas- 

 ant memory throughout the year for those who 

 participated. Last year there was to be an extra 

 effort to arouse the Christmas sentiment and a 

 tree ninety feet high was planned. This tree 

 was of necessity made of 250 smaller trees at- 

 tached to a central telegraph pole which was sunk 

 into the ground fifteen feet. The small trees 

 were held in place by iron:; with sockets into 

 which the small trees were driven and spiked. 

 The general effect of the work was excellent and 

 the impression from a distance was of an enor- 

 mous Spruce tree surmounted by a red star. — 

 L. J. Doogue. 



Viburnum Carlesii, about which a question 

 appeared in the Garden Magazine a few months 

 ago, is a Korean plant, and is especially prized 

 for its fragrant pink and white blossoms, which 

 come very early in the spruig. It is by far the 

 most fragrant of all the Viburnums. It was 

 named from a description given by William R. 

 Carles, in 1888. Plants from seeds had been 

 grown iw Japan, however, several years before 



Mr. Carls reported upon the plants found by 

 him in Korea. This Viburnum was taken from 

 Japan to Europe in 1901. It made a strong 

 appeal to Lemoine, the French hybridizer, and 

 many plants were grown by him and widely dis- 

 tributed. Although not nearly so well known 

 as many of the other Viburnums, V. Carlesii is 

 sold by several nurserymen, and is perfectly 

 easy to grow. It has been thriving in the 

 Arnold Arboretum, near Boston, for several years, 

 and seems indifferent to the coldest winters. Not 

 long ago a gentleman from the western part of 

 Winnipeg reported that this Viburnum flourishes 

 there and blooms freely, although the temper- 

 ature often remains from 20 to 30 degrees below 

 zero for several weeks. Viburnum Carlesii seems 

 to require no special treatment or soil. Yet it 

 is among the most desirable of the early flow- 

 ering shrubs, both for its beauty and for its sweet 

 scented flowers. It has never fruited in the 

 Arboretum, however, and unlike many of the 

 Viburnums makes no fall display. — E. I. F. 



— Viburnum Carlesii is one of the earliest of the 

 Viburnums to flower — usually about the middle 

 • of May, and has proved perfectly hardy at the 

 Arnold Arboretum and promises to be one of the 

 most beautiful introduced shrubs we possess. 

 The flowers are produced in terminal clusters, 

 three to four inches across, and are borne all over 

 the plant, which is a dwarf compact growing 

 shrub. Before opening, the buds are a deep 

 pink on the outside but as they open the inside 

 of the flowers changes to pure white and indi- 

 vidually resembles a Mayflower blossom, but the 

 cluster itself more like that of Rondeletia cordata. 

 The flowers are all perfect and differ from those 

 of the Opulus section where both fertile and sterile 

 flowers are produced. The perfume of the 

 flowers is intensely sweet and although difficult 

 to describe is equally as fragrant as Daphne 

 odora. The leaves are shortly stalked, thick and 

 soft to the touch, being . densely hairy on the 

 under side, roundish when mature with serrated 

 margins. It may be rooted from cuttings and 

 is also sent out by European nurserymen as 

 standards grafted on Viburnum lantana. The 

 beauty and fragrance of this plant make it a 

 very desirable addition for small gardens and it 

 can be highly recommended for that purpose or 

 even to plant on rockeries as it flowers when quite 

 small. Seed was obtained by a Japanese firm 

 from Korea in 1885 and a living plant was sent 

 to Kew Gardens by that firm in 1902 where it 

 flowered in 1906. Viburnum bitchuense is 

 often sent out by Japanese and European nur- 

 serymen for Viburnum Carlesii. That one is a 

 native of Japan and although the flowers are 

 similar in color and fragrance they are not so large, 

 and the plant has a much loose and straggling 

 habit of growth — W. J. Judd, Arnold Arboretum. 



For a Different Magazine. — I approve of the 

 suggestion made recently by one reader to the 

 effect that it might be well to print, if not less 

 matter concerning the vegetable garden, at least 

 more concerning fine flowers and ornamental 

 plants in general. It seems to me that other 

 publications, those that serve what might be 

 called "local" communities, and bulletins of 

 the various departments of our Government, 

 are doing the other work well. Your paper 

 would, I am confident, be much more accept- 

 able to the classes of people who subscribe for 

 it if it should regularly confine itself more to 

 articles of high character such as those of Mr. 

 Wilson which appeared in the Garden Mag- 

 azine two or three years ago. But my sug- 

 gestion and implied request are perhaps not 

 needed and, after doing its "bit" so gener- 

 ously and magnificently, the magazine will come 

 back to what seems to me to be its peculiar 

 sphere, as implied. — Frank B. Meyer, Ohio. 

 — Thanks for your confidence. We agree 

 with you too, and can promise an increased 



