1886 . 
ti-ib 
was luovod 
*'l'l'<)iiiC(i(i U. 
iilso Do 
coulfl bn rnducoil oiic-iijiic, id 
iiiitl vofcwl Uiai a ntniindUoi, |j„ 
rciluoo tho mitubcr ol vai-lotios M,,d , 
,,,visoU.c Mower ami seed uomomduUn.o 
Till.; CONSTI'I'IITION 
MlioiimsiaontoMbmlanoK^^^^^ 
„ oo,.s(,.tutioi., w Mol, aft.,,,, bavin ’t" 
amcmlcd and rov.scd by a conmdDmo va^ 
adoptol. An anu.s.nj. discussion occum. i 
upon who should bo eligible. Some men 
hors were alntu ChaDChe, doors would c 
opened too wide, but Ihially the renrirk m 
Mr. Vaughn that lie had not learned tin 
any S 2 liad been refu.sed, brougl,t the o'b 
jeetors to a more practical view, and the 
matter was left as tlu; committee worded it 
whieli makes any l''lorist, Seedsman, Oarden’ 
cr. Superintendent of I’arks, Dealer in Flo 
rists’ Supplies or Amateurs eligible to 
membership. Tlio ollleers are a President 
First Viee-President, 'rreasurcr. Secretary’ 
an Executive Oommittec of nine and an ad¬ 
ditional Vice-President for each State, States 
having more tlian forty members being en¬ 
titled to two. Mew York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio and Illinois arc thus favored. ’ 
FLOUAL EMBKLLISII.MKXT OP PARKS ANO 
CiAKUEXS. 
H. De Vry, Supt. of I/meoln Park, Chica¬ 
go, was announced to read a paper on this 
subject on Wednesday evening, but failing 
to appear, Wm. Hamilton, Supt. of City 
Parks, Allegheny City, Pa., gave a few gen¬ 
eral principles. Public groundsarefor com¬ 
fort, convenienee and educ.ation. Shade and 
cleanliness make them comfortable. Walks 
must be veiy broad or only slightly curved 
to promote dispatch and convenience, and 
planting must be so arranged as to give the 
public a t.aste of and love for tlie beautiful. 
He would plant on the same principle that one 
would employ a school-teacher or buy school 
hooks; get the best. The best seeds and 
plants cost but little more than the poor. 
Of the wild garden and tlie carpet style he 
\yould give the best specimens of both, 
'fhere are places where one style could not be 
used to the exclusion of the otiier. I-astly, 
try and do a little better each year. 
C. L. Allen believed in object lessons every 
time. Did not believe in books, and he 
would teach landscape gardening by sending 
the student to nature and have him practice 
what he found there. Study things, not 
books. Tlie conllict between men and books 
is unequal. Men instead of absorbing 
the books, become generally absorbed by 
them. Mr. Thorpe said that Mr. Allen does 
not seem to practice what he preaches, for 
he has a flue library and reads the books. 
J. H. Carmody, Evansville, Ind., said books 
hold the combined knowledge of the w oi c, 
and we should go slow in condemning ion 
To do aw.ay with books would be to retr - 
grade many centuries. 
THE CUT FEOWEU 'j . ,,,,, 361 . 
Will. J. Stewart of Boston 
said that Boston was the pioneer m _ ^ 
flower trade. He well Tenienibers w 
York depended upon Boston for 
and how convenient it was f oMj.pUis 
florists to ship to New York 
that had been handled over t^® ^ , ^^^as a 
flay. But unfortunately this ‘‘ g ^^t 
thing of the past, for now ^ shipped 
only raised their own Hoses but ship 
tUeir sui‘plus all over the countiy* 
^m^rican garden. 
and 
by im- 
ccslaJUrir" ®'‘t flowers nc- 
niissim "? t"® flower com- 
ucls cl' I "'•lo I'urchascs tbc prod- 
tbein ""‘^'''ofl^ot gardeners and distributes 
' among ids customers wlio look to him 
a regular su|,ply. Miieli of the commis- 
nan s time is employed in explaining 
f/My//3u,s wily t|i(. HowerH is so 
ovi, and to imike clear to the Imyar wliv 
<'wers ,tresoeos%. The variations in the 
demand for (lowers caused by holidays 
grand fetes, etc., has been cf|uaii'/,ed 
in-ovcd methods of keeping flowers, en¬ 
abling dealers to bridge ovei- periods of sev¬ 
eral days. Darkness, ice, and exclusion of 
air are important factors for keeping llowei's. 
Hose-buds, Tuberoses, and Cai-nations are 
always in demand on account of tlieir excel¬ 
lent keeping (|ualitios. 'I’lie trade in New 
York alone amounts to over 81,000,000 an¬ 
nually. 
As with other products of tlie soil, it will 
be discovered, sooner or later, that some lo¬ 
calities favoi'cd by cheap coal, abundance of 
sunlight, purity of atniosphere, and other 
.advantages, are superior to others for raising 
flowers. These places will become large 
producing and sliipping centers; refrigera¬ 
tor cars will carry tlie flowers to distributing 
points, and express messengers will be taught 
new ideas of transportation. 
[The remainder of the meeting was occu¬ 
pied with a most interesting discussion on 
Roses, Summer Cut Flowers, Heating, etc., 
etc., a full report of which will be continued 
in our next issue.] L. B. Piekce. 
219 
POISONS DESTEUOTIVE TO INSEOTS. 
One of the oldest insect destroyers is “Fly- 
stone and Treacle.-’ What is that? Fly- 
stone is Cobalt, a metal of rarity produced 
chiefly in the mining of arsenic and manga¬ 
nese and used in making blue pigment. The 
raw product is of a brownish color, and wlien 
mixed with sweetened water and placed in a 
vessel for flies to drink, destroys them by 
wholesale. Anieii a sponge is wet with tlie 
same mixture or Flystone and beef tea it 
will catch ants; the fluid is-de.ath to fowls 
and small aninvds, too. 
“Devil's Sugar,” or Sugar of Lead mixed 
in water, was used as a wasli for lice on 
plants, and was long held as the sovereign 
remedy for bedbugs. Metallic Mercury 
mixed with white of eggs and appiied with 
a feather in cracks and crevices was a fa¬ 
mous remedy, but that is superseded in iat- 
ter days by the soiubie products of the iatter 
metal Corrosive Subiimate, mixed with .al¬ 
cohol’or w.ater.aud.sal ammoniac. 
Chromic Acid, which in strong solution 
will dissolve a mouse, is as a destroyer of ' 
sanic life, animal or vegetable, very potent. 
^ Coal tar and its products. Creosote, orCai- 
.,- 15 ,.'Acid of various strengths overpowers 
ifnther ordinary smells and eradicates them 
f i,.pveution of putrefaction. Coal oil and 
oU of wood tar destroys both anhnal and 
3 ?con-osive poisons destroying the mem- 
wocouosiv „ponm.anirri- 
Sr/sor s, acting with deadly effect upon 
small animal and insect life, and alike scorcli- 
ing to vegetation, are more or less soluble 
in' water, tiie first to the greater degree. 
Paris Green is about one-flftli Arsenioiis 
Acid, the rest Blue Vitriol and Pearl .ash with 
a little Acetic Acid thrown in it to make it 
bright. Bed Chromate of Potash is a com¬ 
bination of Ciirome, Iron, Potash and Sul- 
phui-ic Acid. 
Sulplmi', by its odor or meclianical con¬ 
tact, proves certain dcatii to some insects, 
in a conservatory sulphur smoke acts with 
sindlar eflect upon parasites, as it does upon 
bees in a hive. 
Borax is distasteful and annoying to ants 
and roaches but of little avail in the garden. 
.Salt to slimy worms or snails is a terrible 
dressing. .Saltpetre water will make plants 
grow and kill grubs. 
Nicotine, the death dealing principle in 
Tobacco, will kill an elephant or a cat, say 
nothing of a worm or flying midget wliose 
substance is but the fraction of a pennj'^- 
weight. Tobacco-tea obtained by steeping 
stems in tepid water for a day and then 
straining the liquor concentrated by slow 
evaporation, is effectively destructive of 
hosts of minute winged and creeping things. 
Snuff is not certain. 
‘Insect Powder,” Pyrelhrum roscurii and 
P. carneum, grows away up .among the mount¬ 
ains of Ai-menia just below where Noah's 
ark is said to have rested. This is the “Per¬ 
sian Powder." Another variet}- is the 
Dalmatian,” or Pyrethrum cinerariafolhim, 
which came from eastern Europe. Eacli 
when fresh or well kept from air will kill 
parasites on man or beast, or in clothing; 
m.ade into tincture it is a great aid in win¬ 
dow gardening. The new California Pow¬ 
der is equally effective. These powders first 
stifle and then kill the insects. Burned on a 
tin plate or shovel tliey will kill mosquitoes. 
Hellebore when fresh is far more power¬ 
ful than when two yeai-s old; when three and 
four years old it is like old Sage forsausiige- 
meat—of small account. 
Stavesacre seed tea is de.ath-de.aling to lice 
on plants, vines and cattle, but the decoetion 
is also certain de.ath if it is drank. 
Cayenne Pepper or Capsicum is veiy hard 
on Caterpillars and otiier soft insects, but tills 
like other vegetable powders is worth most 
when fresh and oily, for all vegetable insecti¬ 
cides appear to lose their effectiveness by age. 
Grubs that work under ground are the most 
dlliioult to destroy, for Mother Earth is an 
absorbent of all noxious substances, never- 
tlieless, the day of doom is coming. Bisul¬ 
phide of Carbon,—a volatile, odorous liquid 
which will cause a headache to be remem¬ 
bered,—either alone or mixed with a Potasli 
base, mil kill grubs and cut-worms and the 
phylloxera as well. 
From tlie above it will be seen that reme¬ 
dies are abundant, and fortunately scarcely 
.any which act with destructiveness upon the 
lower forms of animal life will prove equally 
so to vegetation. True as it is that we may 
kill nine worms and the tenth takes the plant, 
yet with care and judgment that comes with 
experience, nearly .all the products of the 
greenhouse, the garden, or the farm can be 
saved from their insect enemies. For when 
man was sent to till the soil, power and do¬ 
minion over all was given hun. 
Benjamin Hammond. 
