54 
T II E G A R D E N M A G A Z I N E 
February, 1915 
Burpee- 
SPE NCE RS 
are reve- 
lations of 
beauty and 
daintiness. If you have 
never seen the Burpee- 
Spencers you hardly know 
Sweet Peas of rare quality. 
The house of Burpee was the 
first to grow the Spencer type 
in America. At our Floradale 
Ranch, “the California home of 
Sweet Peas” — are produced 
magnificent strains that have proved 
unsurpassed. A trial of the collections 
advertised below will show you why we 
are known the world over as American 
Headquarters for Sweet Peas. The 
Burpee Leaflet on Sweet Pea Culture with 
each collection. 
Six Superb Spencers 
Frtr we ma ^ one regular io-cent packet 
TUI LOL ( 40 t0 50 seeds) each of Burpee's 
Dainty, a beautiful picotee pink-edged Spencer; 
Burpee's King Edward, deep carmine scarlet; 
Burpee's Irish Belle or Dream, rich lilac flushed 
with pink; Mrs. Cuthbertson, an exquisite pink, 
wings white-flushed with rose; Mrs. Hugh Dickson, 
rich apricot on cream ground; also one large packet 
(90 to 100 seeds) of the Burpee Blend of Superb 
Spencers for 1915. the finest mixture of Spencers 
or Orchid-Flowered Sweet Peas ever offered. 
Six Standard Spencers 
P or. we will mail one regular io-cent packet 
rOl LDL ( 40 1 0 j 0 see d s ) each of the following 
Standard Spencers. America Spencer, striped 
brilliant red on ivory ground. Burpee’s Capti- 
vation Spencer, rich rosy wine red; Burpee’s 
Decorator, rich rose overlaid with terracotta; 
Burpee’s Ethel Roosevelt, soft primrose splashed 
with crimson ; Helen Lewis, intense crimson- 
orange, Burpee’s Queen Victoria, deep primrose 
flushed rose. 
P r A we will mail both collections named 
rOl JUC above, and also a 15-cent package of 
Illuminator. 
“Five of the Finest” 
F CA. we will mail one packet each of King 
rOl OUC WHITE, the giant of Spencers — a glisten- 
ing immaculate pure white. Burpee’s Vermilion 
Brilliant, most brilliant iridescent scarlet Spencer; 
Burpee’s Mrs. Routzahn, buff flushed delicate 
pink; Burpee’s Orchid, decidedly the best of all 
lavenders ; and Burpee’s Unique Wedgwood. 
These are all of our own introduction. King White 
is shown on cover of Burpee’s Annual for 1915, and 
the other four painted from Nature comprise the 
beautiful flower plate on page no. 
C C*1 AA we will mail all three collections as 
rOl $i«UU offered above, including a 15-cent 
packet of Burpee’s Illuminator, and a regular 
io-cent packet each of Elfrida Pearson, most 
lovely pink; and Sterling Stent, rich salmon 
orange — making in all Twenty True and Tried 
Spencers for $1.00. This great offer could not be 
duplicated anywhere else in the world. In ordering 
it is sufficient to write for Burpee’s Dollar Box 
of Spencers for 1915. 
Burpee’s Annual 
Known as the leading American seed catalog 
—this bright book of 182 pages for 1915 is 
better than ever before. It is mailed free. 
See full page advertisement on fourth cover of 
this issue. 
W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO. 
Burpee Buildings, Philadelphia 
~ti u 1 ■ 1 1 rn 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 limn iTirmiimimimT 
Meetings and Exhibitions in February 
4. Worcester County Horticultural Society, Worcester, Mass.: 
lecture on gladiolus. 
5. Pasadena, Calif., Horticultural Society: meeting. 
6. Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Horticultural Hall. 
Boston, Mass.: lecture “The Home Vegetable Garden.” 
6, 7 Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Horticultural Hall, 
Boston, Mass.: midwinter flower show. 
8. Rochester, N. Y., Florists’ Association, meeting. 
New York Florists’ Club, New York City meeting. 
10. Nassau County Horticultural Society, Glen Cove, N. Y. : 
meeting. 
Shedowa Garden Club, Garden City, L. I.: meeting and 
lecture by Miss Ruth Dean. 
11. Worcester County Horticultural Society, Worcester, Mass.: 
illustrated lecture on Mexico. 
12. Connecticut Horticultural Society, New Haven, Conn.: 
meeting. 
13. Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Horticultural Hall, 
Boston, Mass.: Conference on Fruit Growing. 
Dcbbs Ferry, N. Y., Horticultural Society: meeting. 
17. Tarrytown, N. Y., Horticultural Society: meeting. 
18. Worcester County Horticultural Society, Worcester, Mass.- 
lecture, “The Vegetable Garden.” 
19. Pasadena, Calif., Horticultural Society: meeting. 
25. Worcester County Horticultural Society. Worcester, Mass.: 
illustrated lecture on gardens and deserts ol Southern 
California. 
26. Connecticut Horticultural Society, New Haven. Conn.: 
meeting. 
27. Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Horticultural Hall, 
Boston, Mass.: lecture. ‘ Culture of Hardy Shrubs.” 
Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., Horticultural Society meeting. 
Note: The Editors will be grateful for information about the doings of horticultural societies, 
garden clubs, etc , and especially as regards notices of coming events to be announced in this de- 
partment. In order to ensure timely publication, the information must reach the Editors not later 
than the twelfth day of the month preceding the date of issue in which the notice should appear. 
Useful Work in Garden Clubs — Variety Tests 
T HE seed catalogue has come with its story of 
wonders. You start in to enjoy gardening, in 
prospect, while the blizzard rages outside; to make up 
your seed list. 
Beans! Forty varieties! Each variety is plainly 
the best, the earliest, most prolific, the most tender, in 
every way better than any other variety. 
Sweet peas, three hundred varieties (I have just 
counted that many in one catalogue), and in dahlias 
or peonies, hundreds and even thousands of varie- 
ties. 
Hew decide which to get? , The Garden Club of 
Cleveland has made some real progress toward solving 
the question, during the past year, and will go further 
in the experiment this year. We do not expect every 
member of the Club to try every variety of every 
vegetable, flower and shrub in the catalogue; an 
obvious impossibility. Instead, each member is asked 
to select some one kind of vegetable, some one 
favorite flower, or some shrub, to try out all the 
varieties (so far as possible) of that one thing, and 
be ready to report to the Club a comparison of the 
varieties. 
A report on hardy plants can hardly be made before 
the second year and on shrubs the third or fourth year. 
Besides the report, much interest will be found in such 
subjects as sweet peas, dahlias, gladiolus, or chrysan- 
themums, if the Club set apart a day. as “Sweet Pea 
Day” or “Dahlia Day,” when the members may 
visit the experiment on the grounds, and in that case 
each variety should be plainly marked with name 
label. 
Names penciled on prepared sticks may do for 
marking the varieties of annuals, if the gardener does 
not hoe them up; but take warning that the pencil 
marks will be weathered out by another season; and 
be warned, too, that the label wire will cut the 
stems as the stems grow and swell, unless you watch 
out for it. 
The best method of labeling is to sketch or plat the 
rows, or the specimens, on paper, marking the names 
and the number of feet of row, or the location of speci- 
men, with reference to some permanent object, and 
keep the paper in your garden archives. The name 
labels are most important in any case, but become 
serious, indeed, if you happen to be testing several 
hundred single specimens of dahlias or peonies, year 
after year. It is important, too, to keep record of the 
dealer from whom each variety comes, as you may not 
always get the same thing under that name from differ- 
ent dealers. 
In testing vegetables, it is very desirable to plant 
all the varieties of one vegetable on the same day and 
in the same conditions of soil, and note the exact num- 
ber of days from planting to bloom and to the time 
when ready to use. The exact number of days for 
any one variety will not be the same another year, but 
you do obtain valuable information as to the relative 
time the different varieties require. This experiment 
will be still more valuable if you make several such 
plantings in a season. Buy packets only, not pints or 
pounds of seed, so the experiment may not cost much 
in either money, land, or labor. 
If the subject and purpose of the test is explained to I 
your seedsman, he will be interested and likely send j 
other samples of new varieties to be tested. 
Above all, keep careful record. Of what? Date of i 
planting, method, soil, moisture, condition. 
In case of vegetables, size, quality, flavor, tender- I 
ness, earliness, quantity, vigor, and health; in case of I 
flowers, hardiness, earliness, color, size, stem, fragrance, 3 
health, blooming period, etc. Make record, too. of I 
the bad features, in fact, of all those points which go to I 
make one variety either more or less desirable than I 
another. 
This sounds like a great effort? Well! As each I 
member will try out only one or two subjects, the I 
experiment, observations and records will require only I 
a few minutes of each week. 
Cleveland, Ohio. S. Prentiss Baldwin. 
The American Gladiolus Society Meeting 
T HE Gardeners’ and Florists’ Club of Newport, j 
R. I , have invited the American Gladiolus Society I 
to hold their annual show in their city this year. It 
has been the custom of the Gladiolus Society, since I 
their organization, to hold their exhibitions in con- 
junction with the conventions of the Society of I 
American Florists and Ornamental Horticulturists, 
but that is out of the question this year, as the con- I 
vention will be held in San Francisco, too great a i 
distance from the majority of gladiolus growers. The I 
show will be held on August 18th and 19th. 
A New Asparagus 
A NEW asparagus has been registered by the ' 
Society of American Florists and Ornamental 
Horticulturists. It was originated by F. W. Fletcher 
of Auburndale, Mass., is a hybrid seedling raised in 
1911, its parents being Hatcheri and Deflexus scandens. 
The new flower is as free blooming as A. Hatcheri 
and the cut sprays are as durable and long keeping 
as D. scandens. It is absolutely thornless, not so 
heavy in growth as plumosa, but very dainty and 
graceful. When in bloom, it is especially valuable 
for decorative work. It is to be known as Asparagus 
kybrida gracilis. 
The American Rose Society Meeting 
T HIS year, the meeting of the American Rose 
Society will be held in Boston, Mass., in 
connection with the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society. The date for this meeting has been set 
for March 18 to 21, with the annual meeting of the 
society on the 19th. 
An Exhibit of Garden Books 
ARDEN enthusiasts during the next few weeks 
should make a point of visiting the Garden Book 
Exhibit in Room 112, of theNew York Public Library. 
Director E. II. Anderson says that this exhibit is held 
partly as a stimulus to education along gardening lines 
and partly as a demonstration of the ornamental and 
The Readers' Sendee will give you suggestions for the rare of live-stock 
