Vol. IV. 



NEW-YORK, MAY, 1883. 



No. 5. 



ke Imerican (|iAi e 



A MONTHLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL. 



Devoted to the Gardening Interests of America, 



ONE DOLLAR A YEAR. 



SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 

 DR. F. M. H EX AM ER, : : : Editor. 



15. K. BLISS & SONS, Publishers, 



34 Barclay Street, New- York, 



To whom all orders should be addressed. 



Entered at Post-Office at New-York as second-class matter. 



CONTENTS OF 



The American G-arclen 



For May, 18S3. 



Page Eighty-one— Contents —The Value of Flow- 

 ers. 



Page Eighty-two — The Vegetable Garden— 

 Seasonable Hints — Musk Melons for Amateurs, 

 by T. I). E. — Succession of Peas. 



Page Eighty-three — New Potatoes — Bedding- 

 Sweet Potatoes, by Tn. D. Baird — Preparing 

 Vegetables for Market, by Dr. B. D. Halsted. 



Page Eighty-four— The Fruit Garden — Sea- 

 sonable Hints— Indoor Grape Culture, by Milton 

 Mansfield— How Foreign Grapes are sold in 

 New- York, by C. W. Idell. 



Page Eighty-five — Filberts — Large Gooseberries 

 —The Best Strawberry. 



Page Eighty-six —The Flower Garden — May 

 Blossoms, a Poem — Seasonable Hints— Chry- 

 santhemums —Salvias — Benevolence and Flow- 

 ers. 



Page Eighty-seven ,— Juncus zebrinus, by John 

 Thorpe — Spring Treatment of Roses, by Chas. 

 E. Parnell. 



Page Eighty-eight — Lawn and Landscape — - 

 Arrangement of Evergreens, by L. P. Pierce — 

 Amelanchier Canadensis, by Ike Ivy — The 

 Window Garden — Cinerarias, by Francis 

 Regan — Freesi as. by Wm. Falconer. 



Page Eighty- nine —Orchids for the Parlor, by 

 E. S. Rand, Jr.— Gloxinias, by Amateur. 



Page Ninety — Foreign Gardening — Tropical 

 Fruits — Bermuda Onions and Potatoes — Deco- 

 rative Tree Planting. 



Pagre Ninety-one — Horticultural Societies — 

 The American Pomologieal Society— New-York 

 Horticultural Society — Michigan State Horti- 

 cultural Society. 



Page Ninety-two —Miscellaneous — Obituary. 



Page Ninety-three— Books and Pamphlets received 

 — Answers to Correspondents. 



Page Ninety-four — Advertising Department. 



THE VALUE OF FLOWERS, 



Some persons are so intent upon hitting 

 some one that they "go it blind," and do 

 not care whether the blow falls in the right 

 or wrong place. 



This observation is suggested by the fol- 

 lowing amazing information given in a 

 western exchange: "Most of the Roses 

 used at the recent Vanderbilt ball were 

 imported from the tropics, and from Spain, 

 Algiers, and other lands, expressly for the 

 ball, being sent when nearly matured, and 

 started in bloom in a hot-house on the 

 I ship." 



That a horticultural editor should display 

 I such gross ignorance, and should dare to 

 offer such nonsense to his readers, is a poor 

 compliment to their intelligence. But, even 

 if such a procedure as this oceanic hot-house 

 business were possible, importing Rose-buds 

 to the American metropolis would indeed be 

 "carrying coal to Newcastle." Any one who 

 has advanced as far as the a b c of floricult- 

 ure even knows that America produces as 

 fine Roses as can be found anywhere, and 

 that the extent and perfection of forcing 

 Roses in winter, in the vicinity of New- York, 

 is unequaled in any part of the world. The 

 exquisite beauty and consummate perfection 

 of the banks of <ien. Jacqueminots, Baroness 

 Rothschilds, Cornelia Cooks, Nvphetos, Mare- 

 c.ltal Niels, Catherine Mcrmets, and number- 

 less equally beautiful varieties, which may be 

 seen at any winter and spring exhibition of 

 the New- York Horticultural Society, dazzle 

 the eye and baffle description. The New- 

 York florist who could think of importing 

 Rose-buds from the tropics must have sadly 

 mistaken his calling. 



The cost of the floral decorations used on 

 I this occasion is said to have amounted to 

 ten thousand dollars ; upon which our con- 

 temporary comments as follows: "Don't 

 this make your head swim ? Can you com- 

 prehend the enormity of this foolish and 

 lavish extravagance ? You who are toiling 

 early and late . . ." 



Now, we have not the least doubt that Mr. 

 Vanderbilt could apply his money to more 

 charitable and benevolent purposes than the 

 buying of flowers, but he might do a great 

 deal worse with it. In fact, we are inclined 

 to think that this is a far better and more 

 praiseworthy object than he occasionally 



spends his money for, and that he should be 

 rather encouraged in this tendency. 



Where did these ten thousand dollars go to ? 

 Primarily to the florists wdio have furnished 

 the flowers and arranged the designs — hard- 

 working men, who, by industry, intelligence, 

 and perseverance, have worked themselves 

 up from poverty to the proprietorship of 

 floral establishments. Through their hands 

 it passed, in the form of wages, to their 

 gardeners and workingmen, to the carpen- 

 ters and masons and glaziers who built 

 their greenhouses, to the iron-workers and 

 machinists who built their heaters, to the 

 potters and clay-workers who make their 

 flower-pots, to the miners who dig the coal 

 for the heating of their greenhouses, and to 

 many other hard-workiug men and women, 

 all of which in turn continue it in circula- 

 tion in providing for the support of their 

 families. 



It is safe to assert that nine-tenths of this 

 amount has passed directly to laboring men, 

 and remains in the country ; while, if it had 

 been spent in traveling abroad, or in buying 

 foreign works of art, or in many other less 

 showy ways, it would have hardly elicited 

 any unkind criticism, and yet it would not 

 have brought a dollar among our working 

 people. 



The present custom among our fashion- 

 able society, of the lavish use of expensive 

 flowers for the decoration of their rooms as 

 well as their persons, should be encouraged 

 rather than discountenanced. The only fault 

 we can find with Mr. Vanderbilt, and other 

 I millionaires, in this respect, is that they do 

 not spend enough. If they were to buy every 

 week ten thousand dollars worth of flowers, 

 they would Tiring more money among deserv- 

 ing working people, and do more real good 

 than by devoting the same amount to pro- 

 miscuous charities. 



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Short, concise articles on horticultural mat- 

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Copyright, 1883, by B. K. BLISS & SONS. 



