THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
201 
m:i{BACK()US PLANTS 
During' the Iasi four years, stocks and eolleelioiis of 
herbaceous plants were allowed to run down and gcM 
very much dei)leted both upon nurseries and privah* 
places. 
The labor conditions perhaps weje the main cause. 
One season’s neglect or even a few months at a critical 
season means the loss of choice varieties. It is a very 
common error to think this group of plants can get along 
without much attention. The strong growing kinds may 
live for years and survive weeds, drouth and adveisc^ 
conditions, ])ut these are usually kinds that everyone has 
a good stock of. Not so with the choice kinds of Del¬ 
phinium, Phlox, Dianthus, Aquilegias, and the host of 
rarer alpines and improved varieties. Thes(‘ deteriorate 
and vanish as (juickly as a bed of pansies or olher high 
bred occupants of the tlower ganhm. , 
Constant attention w ith facilities to supply the varying 
needs of the diflerent kinds is the ])rice of success and 
unless the nurseryman is willing to pay the price he is 
not likely to he successful. 
The average nurseryman’s catalogue shows a very 
poor list and usually kinds that tell the plantsman, “these 
are kinds that will suiwive neglect.” 
There is little profit in handling herbaceous plants as a 
filling in crop on a nursery. To be successful and profit¬ 
able it should he handled as a separate department and 
stand on its owui feet and when proiierly managed usually 
pays as there is a ready sale for good things proiierly 
handled. 
A (lAHDEN 
To-day, June 19th, I was in a tlower garden that 
seemed to break every rule of what is consideri'd correct 
taste and practice in gardening. 
Situated on a side hill sloping slightly to the south, 
surrounded by trees, rose arbors, hushes, in fact any¬ 
thing just as it happened. The ground was not graded, 
banks or teraces were not even suggested, the beds were 
perhaps geometrical in outline hut you could not tell, 
they were divided by grass paths 4hat seemed to lead no¬ 
where in particular hut to he merely there so you could 
walk among the flowers. Trinmess there was none. 
There was a riot of plants, every kind it seemed, tall 
robust hollyhocks in pink, rose, red and maroon in a 
jumble wdth tall perennial larkspur, roses and candidum 
lilies seemed to dominate on this particular day, hut it 
was easy to see there would be other days, just as gay 
when entirely different plants would he in bloom. 
There was no attempt at color scheme or arrangement 
for there was no front, or hack to the beds or borders, 
just a jumble of i)lants, where the stately hollyhock was 
just as likely to have a rose bush as a clove piidc for its 
neighbor. 
Centaureus, stocks, pansies, mint, sage, fuschias, helio¬ 
trope, marigolds, poppies and every kind of ])lant that 
you had made the acquaintance of years before were' 
there to greet you. 
It was a garden of plants, where you forgot the work 
in connection with gardening. The straight line, the ar¬ 
tificial curve and studied effect were missing; you could 
only see plants and flowers, you could sit dowo, get 
drowsy and rest. 
Tin; landscape archilecl could not producer such a gar¬ 
den if he tried, the professional gardener would hardly he 
likely to, such gardens are like Topsy, they just grow'. 
It is not a natural garden, hecause a natural garden 
would he a garden of weeds where only the fittest sur- 
viv(?. It is merely a place where the individual iilants 
you love and care for gi'ow' and seem at home. 
Such a garden would not he evmyone’s taste, not Ik* 
suitable for all yards hut I could not help w ishing I had 
the ])ow'er to condemn all landscape gardeners w ho piac- 
tice their profession in America to he confined in it long 
enough to learn that it is just plants that make a garden. 
Obituary. * 
Mr. A. K. Clingman, of Horner & Keithville, La., a re¬ 
tired horticulturist and one of the foremost citizens of 
North Lousiana, departed this life at his home on June 
2, 1919, after an illness of only a few- moments, at the age 
of 70 years. 
The w riters having knowai this splendid man for many 
years, beg to offer the following resolution and to move 
its adoption by a rising vote. 
Hesolved by iVmerican Association of nurserymen in 
convention in the city of Cdiicago this June 27th, 1919, to 
receive w ith deepest sorrow' the new s of the death of our 
friend and cow orker, Mr. A. K. Clingman. That we re¬ 
cognize in Mr. Clingman’s death the very great loss to 
horticulture, particularly in the southwest, and the fur¬ 
ther loss to the world one w ho seiwed w ell the age in 
which he lived. 
Resolved further that a copy of this resolution be 
printed in the Annual Year Book of this Assoeiation, that 
a copy he furnished our trade Journals and a copy he sent 
to the bereaved family. 
J. R. MayheW;, 
G. C. Mayhew', 
J. B. Baker, 
Geo. F. Verhai.en. 
A report was received while the Conv(‘ntion was in 
session that Then. Inglefritz had just passed away. A 
resolution w'as adopted to send an expression of sympathy 
to the family, and to “say it with flowers.” 
Resolution of sympathy was also adopt(*d upon tin* 
death of C. S. Harrison, York, Nebraska, the grand old 
man whose life had been an insi)iration to so many. It 
w as suggested that a tree in his memoiy he planted by the 
Association. 
Resolution of condolence was also adoptc'd expri'ssing 
sorrow for the death of M. J. Ragg. 
