March, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



75 



more valuable to the coun- 

 try at large than novelties 

 with fickle tendencies, 

 we find Perfection Radish 

 (Dreer) a carefully selected 

 strain of Scarlet Turnip 

 White Tip. Recognizing 

 the merit (and crop 

 shortage) of Bountiful 

 Bean, the English type of 

 it, Sutton's Masterpiece, is 

 boosted by quite a few of 

 the leading eastern dealers 

 — (Boddington, Stumpp & 

 Walter, Thorburn). This, 

 while not actually a novelty 

 will be as a newcomer to 

 many gardeners. 



As "the earliest big red 

 sort," Livingston describes 

 Many fold Tomato, with the 

 qualifying statement that, 

 during the past season .on 

 183 plants, there were coun- 

 ted 442 clusters of 5 fruits 

 or more. The Home Tomato 

 (Aggeler & Musser), early, 

 medium-sized, purple, is frankly described as 

 a "freak but true-to-type." Its heavy, potato- 

 leaved foliage causes it to be particularly 

 adaptable to sections with long, dry seasons. 



Few European Flower Novelties 



\X7'HEN it comes to flower seed novelties 

 * ' the dearth of really unique things 

 is very noticeable, due, no doubt, to the 

 prolonged conflict in Europe, whose master 

 seed growers are in the trenches. Even so, 

 it is most gratifying that not all of England's 

 activities in the creation of floral novelties 

 have ceased, for in Antirrhinum Feltham 

 Beauty (Thorburn) we have a new rose-pink 

 with white centre, the enormous flower stalks 

 of which aresaid tomakeit the largest-flowering 

 sort yet evolved. The Covent Garden Strains of 

 Calceolaria, including Bronze Age and Veitchii 

 White (Thorburn) prove that underglass activ- 

 ities in seed production are progressing satis- 

 factorily in a country now in its third year of 

 war — a fact that should, in a measure, reassure 

 underglass gardeners on this sideof the Atlantic. 



Sweet Peas continue to advance in favor. Sweet Brier (left), and Snowstorm (right) are newcomers of 



the early flowering type 



In the Mammoth None-Lateral Branching 

 Aster (Vaughan) is a new type in which an 

 over production of lateral branches has been re- 

 stricted. The amount of plant energy thus saved 

 has been directed into channels making for lar- 

 ger individual flowers. Four-inch blooms on 

 two-foot plants resulted, in white and blue. 



Occasionally we witness the commendable 

 deed of some one taking hold of a sadly ne- 

 glected plant group, with sterling characteris- 

 tics and so injecting new life into it. Dreer 

 gives the group of hardy Sidalceas a new lease 

 of life with the introduction of Rose Queen, 

 with 5-foot spikes, and Rosy Gem, not over 3 

 feet high. 



But the prize for activities in developing new 

 and meritorious kinds of flowers goes to the 

 Golden State where a matchless climate 

 seconds every effort of the plant breeder and 

 hybridizer. For more than twenty years Cali- 

 fornia has contributed a regular share of new 

 forms of such popular annuals as Eschscholtzia 

 Cosmos, Nasturtium, Petunia, Sweet Pea, etc. 

 By careful breeding and constant selection, 



the new race of Early-Flow- 

 ering Spencer Sweet Peas, 

 of great usefulness for 

 forcing and for the south 

 and tropical climates, has 

 been lifted from the experi- 

 mental class into the posi- 

 tion of an important factor 

 in floriculture. A round 

 dozen new kinds (Burpee) 

 are available as follows: 



Daybreak, creamy pink; 

 Empress, deep rose pink; 

 Exquisite, primrose, picotee 

 edge; Mauve Beauty, rosy 

 mauve; Princess, soft laven- 

 der; Sunburst, rich pink with 

 amber and salmon shades; 

 Zephyr, pale lavender; La- 

 vender King, deep lavender; 

 Snowstorm, ■ white; Sweet 

 Brier, pink with amber 

 shades; Blue Bird, true 

 blue; Canary Bird, primrose. 

 Then, there are a few new 

 California Poppies, among 

 which Vesuvius stands out 

 as a wallflower red (Vaughan): Geisha, 

 golden orange within, scarlet outside. A 

 mixture of New Hybrids (Dreer) vie with each 

 other in rich oriental color combinations. 



In Coral Queen Zinnia (Fuld) we note an 

 effort to make that otherwise unwieldy annual 

 useful to people with preference for esthetic 

 colors. Dien's Ruffled Monster Petunias, of 

 enormous size, and in either distinct or the 

 broadest combination of colors is another 

 demonstration of the favorable climatic 

 conditions of the Pacific coast for growing 

 that particular flower. "Where do we 

 go from here boys?" may we ask when 

 we hear breeders and hybridizers talk 

 about Petunias eight inches in diameter, 

 Gladiolus six .feet tall, and when we see 

 plants change their habits in season of 

 bloom. 



We live in a sane age. The days of the 

 "fakir" are gone. And the very fact that 

 flower novelties are so few proves in a degree, 

 that the trade is facing adequately the stern 

 demand of the times. 



Ruffled Monster 

 Petunia is here 

 shown a little less 

 than half size. 

 Offered in various 

 colors 



None-Lateral 

 Branching is a new- 

 comer in Asters 

 with large flowers 

 on small plants 



