Special Plant Societies 
The Chrysanthemum season is on, and many shows are Chbysan- 
taking place throughout the country. Our gardens are giving themum 
their best in red and bronze, in yellow and white and even Society 
pink, rewarding us for the little we have had the time to give 
our ' ' mums ' ' during a most trying summer just passed. 
This brings to mind a small society of less than two hundred 
men and three — just three — women. "Why only three women 
members, when every woman we know has at least one "mum" 
plant in her garden, and many others have whole gardens and 
greenhouses full of them? Women should come forward in 
this society, for they need us ; they should bring their blossoms 
to the shows. The touch of a woman at a flower show is 
always beneficial. 
At present the membership of the Chrysanthemum Society 
of America consists almost wholly of professional growers ; but 
that does not mean that the amateur is not welcome. 
The Society has plodded along quietly for a generation; 
registering, listing, classifying its flower carefully. The Exam- 
ining Committee meets every week during October and 
November, to watch, while growing, the varieties submitted 
for registration and certificate. Greatest care is exercised to 
keep out inferior varieties, and to avoid confusion in names. 
Advice is freely given on problems which every grower 
must try to solve — blight, insects, fertilizers, etc. 
The secretary's name is Mr. Charles W. Johnson, and his 
address is 141 Summit Street, Rockford, 111. Two dollars buys 
a membership which will be of benefit both to the new member, 
and to the society which does so much for that most beautiful 
last-of-all in our gardens. 
News and Views 
In some greenhouses there is a certain amount of wall space Greenhouse 
showing, which, if not covered, detracts from the good appear- Notes 
ance of the interior. Oftentimes there is opportunity for the 
display of some climbing plant that would be a special feature 
at some particular time, and which otherwise could not be 
accommodated. If a perpetual wall of living green is desired, 
the climbing Fig, Ficus vnmila, is a first rate plant for the 
purpose, and so far as I have observed, is never subject to 
insect pests. 
One of the best walls of green I remember to have seen 
was in a cool greenhouse with a northern exposure, the back 
wall of which was covered for the entire length and from 
floor to roof with Maidenhair Fern, Adiantum cuneaium. The 
method of attachment Avas by means of zinc troughs a few 
inches deep and fastened on the wall a foot or so apart. Not 
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