THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
presupposes some knowledge of botany, it need not 
necessarily be an extensive knowledge of scientific 
botany, but can be taken in conjunction with works of 
travel, or works of adventure. We all know that Japan is 
a great land of flowers, and indeed the cognomen "Japa- 
nica," has been given to gardeners as a class. Another land 
of flowers is Chili, many flowers from that country being 
grown in our gardens, in the South particularly. California 
is one of the greatest countries from which we draw our 
variety of annuals, and South Africa gives us a race of 
bulbs and ericaceous or heath plants. Europe, of course, 
whose temperature in the main resembles our own, has 
contributed innumerable races of plants that are our 
oldest favorites in America, mostly brought over long 
ago : and from generalizations of this kind a very little 
reading and study gets us down to definite discrimination 
of kinds ; and soon we begin to talk of this or that, in 
terms of native country or of its actual habitat in that 
country. Many people, when they have heard that a 
plant, say a Rhododendron, hails from India, immediately 
assume that the said plant requires the protection of 
a hot house, forgetting that altitude makes all the dififer- 
ence, so that a plant from high in the Himalayas may 
be as hardy as one from the Adirondacks. As our coun- 
try becomes older various sections are more developed, 
and as gardening flourishes, the man or woman who is 
ignorant of the great world of plants and of the outdoor 
life, and lacks a knowledge of gardening in its manifold 
phases, will be looked at askance. An intelligent knowl- 
edge of flowers and gardens is one of the first essentials 
in social circles of European countries and the time is not 
far distant when it will also be so here. 
^: * * 
A word might be said on the point of the need of per- 
sistency in gardening. Too often the care of the garden 
is left to the lady of the house; yet it is a man's job, 
inasmuch as it requires steady persistence. When the 
Spring opens with all its promise of flower, leaf and 
fruit, there is something in the garden that appeals to us, 
but in the wanner, longer days, when the pestiferous in- 
sect tribe in their multitudes swarm around, it is so much 
easier to lie in a hammock, or take a spin in an automo- 
bile, or simply read on the veranda or piazza, while at the 
same time something demands attention out in the border, 
or the beds, or the plots of the garden. That is where 
the quality of persistency is called for, and he who would 
make a success of his garden must be prepared to forego 
certain easy pleasures, for nothing will be achieved by 
looking at it. The recompense that will come later as 
a reward, however, will be well in keeping with all the 
effort that has been put forth and when the habits of in- 
dustry and application have been learned, the rest is easy, 
and indeed we can assume superior airs in thinking that 
we are more industrious than our neighbors, and it is an 
industry that pays. 
At the Tanuar}- meeting of the New York Florists' 
Club one of the exhibits was a vase of cut sprays of 
that delightful dwarf greenhouse shrub Daphne odora. 
While I never had the pleasure of growing this, I have 
often seen it and always loved its little creamy pink 
clusters of flowers in their rosette fringe of foliar leaves 
These leaves remind one of the Mountain Laurel, Kalmia 
latifolia. Daphne odora, the latter name implying frag- 
rance, which is so strongly characteristic of the plant, 
has to be grown in a greenhouse temperature ( .^0°-.t5°) 
in a peaty loam, in semi-shade and should be kept fairly 
moist. It loves a place in a solid bed rather than in a 
pot. As it flowers now (January) and lasts good for 
weeks, being also fine as a cut flower (shrub), it will 
be seen how desirable it is. Good drainage is essential. 
Other two noteworthy Daphnes are Mezereum, in pink 
and white forms, hardy, and Cneorum, rich pink, one of 
the best plants we have for the rock garden. This is 
generally hardy too, and will thrive in a good loam. At 
the .\pril shows last year the latter was several times 
prominently exhibited in the rock garden displays. The 
grower of the D. odora, aforementioned, was Fred 
Byxee, a Connecticut gardener. He got a cultural cer- 
tificate. 
^ ^ ^ 
.■\11 the fellows who write are busy suggesting to 
garden owners that now is the time to go to the top 
story window, look out upon the garden, sit there with 
a note-book in hand and dream of the plantings and 
plannings to be done next April and onward. A clump 
of evergreens are wanted over there ; a border or a big 
bold bed of hardy flowers could with advantage be de- 
veloped 3onder. Is there not room for a dainty water 
tank in that rather blank and bald spot near the Sum- 
mer House? Why not have a trellis to shut ofif that 
property across the way? Have you not got the rock- 
garden fever yet ? Roses — what of them : hundreds more 
are wanted. Order them now ! You know you forget 
about the biflbs until it was almost too late — in fact it 
was too late, and the result is you haven't got those 
golden patches of double dalTodils you intended to have 
along the shrubbery borders, nor the yellow and blue 
Crocuses that were to be so freely naturalized in the 
grass. Yes ; you can purchase a car in January as well 
as in June, or a photographic outfit at any time you like, 
but in gardening the plants have their seasons and you 
must respect the fact or fail. Gardening teaches us many 
excellent lessons — does it not? 
* * * 
On the table, as a centerpiece, in front of me there is 
a bowl of Roman Hyacinths. They are arranged in a 
shallow glass bowl with a silver rim and handles. The 
flowers are simply placed in one of those holders that 
one can buy at the stores for from 15c. to a quarter. 
How graceful and pure and fragrant they are, and how 
much appreciated on a dull January weather ! How 
fortunate I am ! Yes, and do not call me mean if I put 
another question to the string in the previous paragraph : 
Did you plan to have a little greenhouse built against 
your residence? If you have a greenhouse vou need never 
be without some flowers. Think it over. Make the auto 
last another season and build an attached greenhouse 
with the money. You will have the latter after two or 
three cars have been worn to pieces — plus $150 a year 
they cost for new tires, not to mention gasolene at 22 
cents a gallon. 
A letter from a reader of The Gardeners' Chronicle, 
which has been forwarded to me by the editor, discusses 
briefly some points in my paragraph on the definition of 
an amateur in a previous issue. The correspondent's 
chief complaint appears to be that at some of the flower 
shows the professional gardener gets no credit at all for 
the exhibit he stages : all the credit goes to the employer. 
The reader referred to lives at JNIilwaukee. He says that 
in England, where he formerly lived, if he exhibited 
grapes the card would be worded thus : 
First Prize for Black H.amburgh Gr-^pes 
Grown by Gardener to • . 
He adds: "Here [in America] the wording is reversed.'' 
Now, as "The Onlooker" recollects the cards at the 
English shows (and I have seen them several times in 
inv travels there), the w^ording was like this, mostly: 
Class 00. — Six plants Begonia Gloire de Lorraine 
Exhibited by Sir George Snowball, Bart., 
Elmcroft, Bexley, Kent. 
Gardener, Thomas Hustler. 
