KDEN 



THE outlook of the garden season of 1920 is full of 

 encouragement. Among the nurserymen the de- 

 mand for stock of all kinds during the last fall has 

 helped materially in clearing up the situation that 

 had got somewhat out of hand as a result of labor 

 conditions during the active war period. Things are re- 

 turning to a nearly normal basis. Of course, importation of 

 quantities of stock from abroad has been stopped by the 

 imposition of Quarantine No. 37 and as there seems little 

 likelihood of an immediate modification the people who use 

 plants must turn around and readjust themselves to the 

 changed conditions. 



Already the reaction is teaching the nurseryman the value 

 of introspective study of his own conditions, and the possi- 

 bilities of materials already in the country which merely 

 need propagation and multiplication. Any close student of 

 gardens and the materials used in making landscape plantings 

 is painfully aware of the fact that the majority of the nursery- 

 men do not take, much interest in searching out and offering 

 really new things to their clientele. The demand for such 

 material is being forced upon them, however, through the 

 spread of knowledge and the wider acquaintance with plants 

 of all kinds brought about by interchange of experiences, 

 reading of magazines, and memberships in the various 

 garden clubs. 



From now on, though it will be somewhat of a shock to 

 many to go without the things that have hitherto been 

 common, the progress of the advance of horticulture in 

 America will be watched with a great deal of interest be- 

 cause we are approaching a new era. 



LOOKING at the seed trade we find plenty of encour- 

 agement and although the cost of seeds has never been 

 a very serious item in the maintenance of a garden, still it is 

 a sign of good times to note that there is a decided downward 

 tendency in seed prices for the coming season; and the return 

 toward normal in this one industry may be a slight indica- 

 tion of what must follow in other channels. 



For the second consecutive year bumper seed crops were 

 harvested in 1919 and again there is an unusual, large, world 

 demand. It still seems to be the part of this country to sup- 

 ply a large portion of the actual food material of the world 



and in 1920 the home garden will, as much as in the last two 

 years, be a vital factor in the production of food material 

 and as an aid in meeting the "cost of living" problem. The 

 lesson that we learned during the war garden campaign and 

 the argument that carried that through as a national activity 

 are just as surely confronting us for the coming year. There- 

 fore it is well for everyone who has available garden space to 

 cultivate it diligently. With the passing of the guaranteed 

 prices for certain farm staples one may expect a slight tend- 

 ency to lessened production which the home garden may well 

 meet. Beans may still be counted as the equivalent for 

 loaves of bread, and beets, carrots, turnips, and such like 

 from the home garden plot will relieve the pressure in the 

 market places. 



With the one exception of peas every important vegetable 

 seed is available in abundance although our information is 

 that the "quality" produce is a trifle under the normal. It 

 may indeed be several years before any highly selected spe- 

 cialities will be available in sufficient quantity to be placed 

 on the market at normal prices. In other words, seed prices 

 generally all go downward except a few selections of high 

 quality types, where the tendency will be in the opposite direc- 

 tion. Exporting houses from Europe — at all events from 

 France — are holding on to stock seeds in order to build up 

 their reserve supplies for future years. 



In the meantime, domestic production of quality strains 

 of such staples as beans, carrots, onions, lettuce is forging 

 ahead with the possibility that the world's market will be 

 held by the American trade. Peas, however, are an excep- 

 tion to this rule; they are in short supply; and even in the new 

 pea region, Idaho, are developing difficulties peculiar to them- 

 selves. 



IN FLOWER seed production we have been growing apace. 

 With the outbreak of the world war we, in common with 

 the rest of the world, were largely dependent upon Germany 

 for seed of the popular Annuals in distinct "colors and in 

 special varieties. But as has already been told in these 

 pages a great spurt was taken by our growers and the flower 

 seed industry, already on a firm footing, increased acreages 

 by leaps and bounds. The extent to which the industry 

 was enlarged was brought out before the Convention of the 



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