136 
The Garden Magazine, April, 1923 
things for hybrid trees? In fact such natural hybrids as we 
know are startlingly interesting. The Carolina Poplar is a 
hybrid. The largest of all Elm trees is a hybrid. The best 
Hickory nuts are the fruit of hybrids. What cannot the future 
unfold? 
Other fields of interest, and which have direct relationship 
to the individual garden owner, lay in the suggestion of estab¬ 
lishing a Rose garden and a rock garden. Such features, if 
planned comprehensively, would add much to the horticultural 
value and general service of the Arboretum among the great 
group of people who are reached by this magazine, and who 
are now given the opportunity to participate. 
It is desired to raise $500,000, and donations are solicited 
in sums from $5.00 up. The Garden Magazine contributes 
one hundred dollars ($100 ) and will gladly forward donations 
for its readers, or subscriptions may be sent direct to the 
Treasurer of Harvard College. 
Florida announces its first Annual State Flower Show to be 
held at Orlando, April 17th and 18th, at which time also there 
will be a joint meeting of the State Florist and the State Horticul¬ 
tural Associations, and the State Federation of Women’s Clubs. 
Part of the festivity takes the form of a Floral Parade after the 
model of the Festival of Roses at Pasadena, Cal.—prizes in this 
department alone total up to nearly $700. The schedule calls 
for displays of Roses, Gladiolus, Dahlias, Sweet-peas, Lilies, 
Cannas, Zinnias, Carnations, altogether a combination for the 
season that surely looks strange to a Northern reader. 
The Dahlia Society of New Jersey has been organized 
with Mrs. Charles H. Stout of Short Hills, New Jersey, as Presi¬ 
dent, in which the Society honors itself. It is organized for 
the purpose of lending aid to local associations in the State by 
granting medals, certificates, etc; and to hold a central show 
in Trenton or Newark; and to establish a State Trial Garden for 
Dahlias, possibly in connection with the State College. 
New England will go to Horticultural Hall, Boston, for the 
Spring Flower Show on April 5th to 8th. Lectures on Spiing 
Flowering Bulbs will be given each afternoon of the Show, and a 
special addition to the schedule calls for a group of Orchids in 
flower covering one hundred square feet. 
THE opet^c olumi K, 
Readers’ Interchange of Experience and Comment 
Hybrid Rugosa Roses on Own Roots 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
OW should one go about it to propagate plants of the Hybrid 
Rugosa Roses, such as Mad. Georges Bruant and Conrad F. Meyer 
on their own roots? Please give full directions.—W. E. Bontrager, 
Oherlin College, 
—Grafting of Rugosa Hybrids in the greenhouse in winter is the best 
course to pursue for maximum results, though they may be budded, and 
raised from cuttings. The last method, however, assures only a low 
percentage of success. If grafted on Manetti stocks with careful 
handling afterward the hybrids get onto their own roots.— Ed. 
Here’s Duty—but Where’s Justice? 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
DON’T know whether it was Quarantine 37, the new duty, or my 
own stupidity that resulted in my paying $18.00 to bring in to this 
country something over $3.00 worth of bulbs. In the old happy 
days before the war, I had started to collect by degrees some of the 
smaller bulbs and this last summer thought I would like to add to the 
number so sent to Washington asking for a permit. Apparently the 
bulbs can be brought in all right if only one is sufficiently something or 
other. I could not bring in Muscari, Scillas, nor Chionodoxas, because 
I did not want them for propagating purposes. I could not bring in 
Anemones nor Leucojums, because I was not a notable amateur, so my 
request was finally granted for Tulips, Narcissus, and Crocus species; 
these to the amount of 16 shillings arrived safely and in fine condition, 
but before they finally reached me I had paid out $18.00. 1 should 
like to know by what system they make the valuation on imported 
objects, I sent the bill to show what had been paid, but still the valua¬ 
tion was $6.00. Isn’t that excessive and on what principle? 
After all, nearly everything that I ordered can now, most happily, 
be procured from American dealers once more. I do not see the 
Scillas nor the Chionodoxas yet in the catalogues, but perhaps next 
year we may find them again.—H. T. S., New York. 
An SOS from a Southern Garden Neighbor 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
Y YARD has a shaded corner about 54 x 18 ft., triangular in shape, 
in which I have never been able to persuade grass to grow. Will 
some garden neighbor kindly suggest something with which it can be 
successfully covered? It is outside of a piazza with a northern expos¬ 
ure, and also has tree shade. Your magazine was given me last year 
as a birthday present, for which I am sincerely grateful. The only 
trouble about it is that it makes me envious of all these beautiful pic¬ 
tured gardens, though I tell myself that they represent only the suc¬ 
cesses and that there must be many problems and failures not told of. 
I am a gardener of many years and each spring begin again with new 
enthusiasm.— Mrs. G. H. O’L., York, S. C. 
■—-We hope the gardeners of the South will offer a remedy for the 
good of all.— Ed. 
From a Neighbor in Maine 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
HE personal letters in The Open Column are always read with 
great interest, and there are many useful hints. I wonder if one 
or two findings of my short garden experience would be of any value 
to your readers? 
Shrubs always arrive at a time when every one is very busy. One 
year I tried having holes dug some time in advance and leaving the soil 
beside the holes until the shrubs or trees came. I found it was rather 
a bother—making the grass unsightly where the soil was piled, people 
were apt to step into the holes by mistake, and the rain washed some of 
the dirt away. Last spring a week or two before my shrubs were due, 
I had the hole dug, saving nice sods and taking out all undesirable 
stones. Compost was put in the hole, then it was refilled with the soil 
and the good sod laid back as a cover. One could hardly see where the 
sod had been lifted, but when the bales of shrubs came at a very busy 
time they could be planted very quickly. I had the markers all ready 
stuck in the sod over each hole so I could tell at a glance where each 
shrub was to go. 
In weeding and spending a long time on my knees I never like a 
cushion very well. Having two pieces of rubber left from a stair carpet, 
1 have been using them to kneel on, rubber side down, and by slipping 
one ahead of the other am never troubled bv dampness. They are very 
comfortable to kneel upon, and as the rubber has a cloth fibre on the 
back it can be cut any size which seems most convenient. 
In answer to K.K.K., New Jersey, I would suggest that he, or she, 
try planting annual Gypsophila elegans alba grandiflora. 1 have found 
it very useful.— Mabel Cary Tobie, Portland, Maine. 
Repudiating “the Jackdaw” 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
ULIAN HINCKLEY’S “A Trace of the Jackdaw,” in the February 
number, was most entertaining, and I agree with him that it is 
hard to understand the enthusiasm expressed for the “made to 
order” and unchangeable garden. That type of garden belongs to the 
“one catalogue gardener.” But why be so pathetic about it? He is not a 
very independent character and is over easily discouraged. He scorns 
“show gardens” and their owners, then fusses because things are not 
suitable for show gardens. Scoffs at the enthusiasts who are ignorant 
of floral nomenclature and leave the work of their gardens to a paid 
gardener, then he goes on to say “it is best to conform to the majority 
and plan and plant yourgarden to suit the usual and unknowing visitor.” 
He asks very sadly how people whose “enthusiasm is for the new and 
rare plants overcome the difficulty”; then he succumbs and gives up 
collecting Campanulas to devote the space to Petunias and Dwarf 
Marigolds! What a combination for the super-sensitive. 
I’ll tell him how to overcome the difficulty. Be independent. 
Personally I do not care a fiddlestick for the opinion of any unsympa¬ 
thetic visitor. Last spring not one person who entered my garden space 
expressed or could be made to express admiration or even interest 
