120 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
bers are earnestly requested not to make other engage¬ 
ments for dinner Tuesday night; if we can do business 
together and belong to the same Association, we can sit 
down and eat together and in a thoroughly democratic 
way, with no special tables and no little parties on the 
side. It will be what we used to call a “Dollar Dinner,” 
now extinct at that price. And the nervous need not be 
nervous; it will be dry. Anybody who thinks he can 
contribute wit or wisdom to the occasion will be given 
a try-out under the supervision of a Vigilance Commit¬ 
tee. Let’s all plan to be in Chicago Tuesday night for 
the Dinner. And let’s all bring our wives and make it 
a pleasure trip as well as a business meeting. 
Mabel has left a lot of letters on my desk for me to 
answer. I want you to know that this Transportation 
situation has taken me to Washington and New York 
and Philadelphia and kept me stepping sideways. I 
will get to the letters right off now. 
Mr. Sizemore wires that bis trips to Chicago and St. 
Louis have served to bring matters to a head there and 
that the situation is rapidly clearing up in the West. 
Yours truly, 
John Watson, Secretary. 
A NEW FLAGSTAFF ERECTED IN KEW GARDENS 
An interesting account of the securing and erection of a 
giant flagstaff, from the Journal of the Kew Guild 
One of the most interesting events of the year 1919, at Kew 
Gardens, England, has been the erection of the giant flagstaff to 
replace the old Douglas fir spar erected in 1861 on the site of 
the former Temple of Victory. 
The old spar had been deteriorating for many years and, in 
addition to surface patches required to make good diseased areas, 
it became necessary in 1896 to replace 20 feet of the base owing 
to dry rot. Despite every care however, the new wood and a fur¬ 
ther section of the spar became infected with the fungus, and in 
1913 it was deemed advisable to lower the spar to the ground for 
a thorough examination. This resulted in the decision that it 
would be unwise to re-erect it. 
The idea of Kew without her most conspicuous landmark was 
not to be thought of, and the sympathy of the Agent-General for 
British Columbia was enlisted. He approached the Government 
of British Columbia, and orders were issued to the forest officials 
to secure one of the most perfect Douglas fir trees available, for 
presentation to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 
How the tree was found and prepared for a flagstag is de¬ 
scribed in a pamphlet entitled “How the Big British Columbia 
Tree became a Flagstaff,” published at the Office of the Agent- 
General for British Columbia. Twelve trees were felled near 
Gordon Pash Lake before one was found to fulfill the require¬ 
ments of the forest officials. This, after the removal of the head, 
measured 220 feet in length and was 6 feet in diameter at the 
base and 18 inches inside the bark at the small end. It was 
hauled ten miles on a logging railway to the sea and was then 
towed by a tug to Vancouver. The tree was there trimmed into 
its present shape and dimensions. The length was reduced to 
215 feet, the lower 15 feet being squared with a diameter of 33 
inches. From that point to a height of 157 feet the shape is oc¬ 
tagonal and the remainder round. When actually raised the pole 
was a few inches short of 215 feet. The age of the tree is not 
recorded, but on arrival the base showed 360 annual rings. It 
was ready for shipment during the summer of 1914, but a diffi¬ 
culty arose in getting a steamer with sufficient deck space to 
fake the load; then the war broke out and delayed matters still 
more, and it was not until the autunm of 1915 that the owners 
of the S. S. Merionetshire agreed to accept the tree and trans¬ 
port it to London for the sum of 100 guineas. On reaching the 
Thames it was unloaded into the water and hauled by a tug to a 
position opposite the Syon Vista. It was there moored to the 
bank until, when a favorable tide occurred a few days later, it 
was possible to float it out of the river on to the towing path. 
This was accomplished on January 4th, 1916. A few days later 
it was rolled over the Ha Ha into the gardens and taken on 
planks and rollers to a position near its present home. It was 
there cleaned and creosoted, but owing to the shortage of labour, 
due to the war, it could not be raised. Eventually it was decided 
that the Canadian Forestry Corps should be entrusted with the 
work of erection, but later on, owing to the difficulty experienced 
in procuring the necessary appliances and material, before the 
demobilization of the Corps, the work was placed in the hands of 
Messrs. Coubro & Scrutton, London riggers. They began work 
during last summer by building a gangway to the top of the 
mound along which the pole was carried on rollers. A gantry 100 
feet high was erected near the position the pole was to occupy, 
and that, with the aid of three powerful hand winches, was used 
to raise the pole into position. Altogether the work occupied a 
period of between three and four months, the final work of erec¬ 
tion commencing on October 17th, the pole becoming perpen¬ 
dicular about 3 o’clock in the afternoon of the following day. 
In order that the risk of dry rot may be reduced to a minimum 
and no part of the pole shall be hidden, it has not been lowered 
into a chamber beneath ground as was the case with the old spar. 
Instead, a steel axle has been inserted through the base of the 
pole, the ends fitting into sockets fixed into a reinforced concrete 
platform. It is held in position by eight strong wire ropes which 
are secured to two well protected, galvanized iron bands at dif¬ 
ferent heights on the pole, and to strong iron staples embedded 
into deep concrete in the earth. A flag 36 feet long and 18 feet 
wide is ready for hoisting on some important public occasion, 
but so far it has not been flown. 
Although not intended as a war memorial, visitors have chris¬ 
tened it the “Victory Flagstaff,” and the mound on which it 
stands is now spoken of by visitors as “Victory Hill;” thus the 
position of the old Temple of Victory has regained its lost honor 
and glory. 
Editor National Nurseryman; 
One thing that you might stir up with advantage to 
buyers of nursery stock is the packing question. 
Today I received a package of plants. 
These plants weighed about 10 pounds. 
They were first dipped in heavy mud, then put in a 
box so large that it was cleated in the center and upper 
half left vacant, heavy cardboard, then sawdust the 
whole box weighing 60 pounds with contents and then 
expressed. 
They could easily have been wrapped in waterproof 
paper and cloth and been mailed for less than half the 
charge. 
The waterproof cloth paper would not have cost one- 
half what the box did. 
Now this firm spends many thousands of dollars ad¬ 
vertising every year. 
Yet these methods of shipping make it hard for a 
buyer to find a profit after he has paid such outrageous 
unnecessary express charges. 
A man that had some idea of the ultimate cost of such 
packing should he in charge of every shipping room. 
1 will sign myself 
Grouch. 
The stock was mostly privet. 
FARMER ON THE STRAWRERRY 
The new Strawberry Culture, by L. T. Farmer, Straw¬ 
berry Specialist, Pulaski, N. Y., is an unpretentious book 
of 112 pages, 50 illustrations and no advertising. It dif¬ 
fers from the majority of horticultural works, being his 
own experiences written in his own way and not a com¬ 
pilation of the experiences of others. It is brimful of 
practical information about the strawberry, from grow¬ 
ing, to marketing, exhibiting and preserving, it is a book 
that can only be written by a specialist who knows his 
subject from A to Z and adds much of value to the re¬ 
corded information to the subject upon which he treats. 
The price of the book is 50 cents. 
