The Capers of Commerce 
By Dr. Otto Degener 
My wife and I just completed three fas- 
cinating September weeks in and about Du- 
brovnik, Yugoslavia. Instead of living in 
an expensive tourist hotel, we engaged a 
double room overlooking the Adriatic in a 
private home. The room, with breakfast, 
cost but $1.00 per person per day. We did 
not take our other meals in restaurants but 
early mornings sauntered to the open air 
markets to buy from peasants, honey sweet, 
fresh, ripe figs, either of a purple or yellow 
variety, for 30 Dinar per kilo (about 5¢ per 
pound); green or purple grapes for 30-40 
Dinar; and the one inch thick fruits of Sor- 
bus domestica. These last resemble a green- 
ish apple often with reddish cheek. When 
they have turned soft and brown, they taste 
sweet, a bit mealy and like a recently decayed 
pear. We ate this indifferent fruit only 
once; for the sake of experience. Bread, 
cheese and sausage completed our inexpens- 
ive but satisfying repast, taken in our room 
or picnic style in the open. 
Dubrovnik, in the Province of Dalmatia, is 
a quaint city of 16,000 souls. Until her few 
canals were filled with city trash and rubble, 
she was not unlike a miniature Venice. The 
massive, encircling, fortified wall is of lime- 
stone blocks. While walking along its top, 
a privilege allowed for a few Dinar, we 
looked down upon the panorama of ‘city 
roofs on one side and thinly scrub- and Cy- 
press-covered (curiously spelled) Srdj Mount- 
ain and the blue Adriatic on the other. 
Two plants that attracted our attention by 
growing out of the thin crevices of the city 
wall were Campanula pyramidalis and Cap- 
paris spinosa. The former is an herb with 
a few stiffly erect, pale green stems about 
as thick as my finger. These bore a mass 
of pale blue flowers. The latter plant is a 
shrub forming a messy tangle of inter- 
twining branches that hang three to six feet 
over the face of the city wall, even where 
winter storms can drench them with ocean 
spray. The leaves of this halophyte. or sait 
tolerant plant, are roundish, pale somewhat 
fleshy, and armed with spiny stipules. ha 
flowers, about two inches across, are whitish 
and furnished with many erectly curving 
stamens. They bloom only at night. In due 
time, fleshy red pods appear that break open 
irregularly. ‘ ; 
Some days later, we visited the Agricult- 
ural Experiment Station, overlooking the har- 
bor at Gruz. Here the government botan- 
ist, Mr. Zdravko Devetak, showed us various 
plantings. Among them was a thriving field 
of cuttings of a horticultural variety of Cap- 
paris spinosa. This furnishes the caper of 
commerce.. , 
The Caper of commerce is cultivated 
from Greece through Yugoslavia and Italy to 
southern France and Spain. The plant is 
propagated mainly from cuttings in warm dry 
regions, preferably on terraces exposed to 
sunshine. When established it furnishes for 
fifty years or so, from May to September, 
its crop of young flower buds. These are 
harvested daily lest they become large and 
course, and lose their characteristic pungent 
flavor. They are then allowed to wilt a few 
hours in the sun before being immersed in 
salty vinegar. This is renewed weekly for 
the next few months. These capers, rich in 
rutin and some ethereal oils, are put up in 
jars and shipped all over the world for use 
in sauces so familiar to all of us. 
Capparis sandwichiana, with much larger, 
creamy flowers, and with orange pods, grows 
wild in Hawaiian Islands. I plan sending 
seeds of this species to Prof. Devetak for 
possible hybridization work. 
Interested in plants and not inpolitics, we 
off-hand noted nothing particularly strange 
about Marshal Tito’s communist type of 
government in Yugoslavia, except that the 
olive orchards were going to waste with no 
young trees planted to replace those that 
had died and that a shortage existed in living, 
quarters. One young man we met, for ex- 
ample, had not yet been able to get a room 
for himself and bride since their marriage 
four years ago. Both were still obliged to 
live, separated, with their respective parents. 
We had set out for Yugoslavia with two 
suit cases filled with personal belongings of 
U. S., and German manuracture. By the 
time of our departure, due to purchases and 
trading, our suit cases were filled instead, 
with beautifully embroidered shirt waists, 
small woven rugs, a few laces, silver jewelry 
reminiscent of Navajo Indian work and a 
silver Mokka coffee set. We also returned 
with two large bundles ef Dalmatian herb- 
arium specimens collected by my wife and 
myself and identified by Prof. Devetak, and 
a cheese box full of Cypress seed for you of 
Dimondale. ; 
SS SS ES ES 
ABOUT THOSE SAMPLE COPIES. 
Believe me, there is a lot of hard work in 
getting out an issue of this magazine and 
having to do the work, I hate to see any 
copies go to waste. Usually there are parts 
of an issue left over and these are bound into 
the current issue and sent out on requests. 
The following letter is being inserted here 
on account of its friendliness. It is from 
Mrs. Combsie of Whittier, Calif., a grower 
of Iris, old Roses and unusual bulbs. 
Dear Mr. Saier: Have spent a lot of val- 
uable time today trying to solve the mystery 
as to WHY the July issue you sent me had 
so many articles in it that I was sure I had. 
not spotted in the copy loaned me by Plant- 
smith of Palo Alto. But, after all, I shail 
sleep tonight — for I just discovered that 
you have incorporated pages 241 to 278 
into the copy sent me, presumably from an 
earlier issue. Thank yon a lot for the 
thoughtfulness — those pages have already 
proved of deep interest and information 
to me. Of course, women-like, [ am cur- 
ious to know what was on pages 278 to 336, 
the missing pages. ; 
Two items that particularly interest ma 
right now are the Camellia-flowered Impati- 
ens mentioned.on page 259, and the Primula 
sikkimensis on next page. Bet I could 
grow ’em here. 
Kinda late with any remarks on Rose 
multiflora, but ITIl just say: DON’T!! 
For your garden’s sake, DON’T! 
Thanks for your kind letter, Mrs. Combsie. 
Before I forget, I want to thank Plantsmith 
for his many interests in our magazine and 
I will mention his plant food which must 
be good for so many of his customers have 
written us. I am sorry not to be able to 
send back copies but they are all mailed out. 
LYSMACHIA QUADRIFIDA. 
We have a request for the yellow flower- 
ing Lysmachia quadrifida from a New York 
reader and if one of our readers is growing 
it, please advise us. 
SPECIAL ROSE 
OFFER 
RED VARIETIES 
AME ICAN BEAUTY. Very double. 
AMI GUINARD. Deep velvety red. 
Cc. K. DOUGLAS. Bright scarlet. 
E. G. HILL. Dazzling red. 
ETOILE DE HOLLANDE, Dark red. 
F. S. KEY. Large rose; red. 
GRENOBLE. Dark red. 
HADLEY. Rich crimson. 
McGREDY’S SCARLET. Velvety crimson. 
NIGHT. Deepest blackish crimson. 
POINSETTIA. Pointed buds; red. 
RED COLUMBIA. Rich velvety scarlet. 
RED RADIANCE. Free blooming red. 
ROUGE MALLERN. Dark red. 
SENIO#. Pointed buds; free blooming. 
SENSATION. Scarlet crimson. 
SYRACUSE. Scarlet crimson. 
RED TALISMAN. Scarlet crimson. 
PINK VARIETIES 
BRIARCLIFF. Brilliant rose-pink. 
MRS. CHAS. BELL. Shell pink. 
CYNTHIA. Senational pink. 
EDITOR McFARLAND. Glowing pink. 
J. J. L. MOCK. Pointed pink buds. 
PAUL NEYRON. (H. P.) Rose-pink. 
PICTURE. Velvety clear pink. 
PINK RADIANCE. Free blooming pink. 
SALMON RADIANCE. Salmon-pink. 
SHELL RADIANCE. Shell pink. 
WHITE VARIETIES 
CALEDONIA. Lovely pure white. 
F. K. DRUSCHKI. (H. P.) Large white. 
K. A. VICTORIA. Dandy white. 
KONIGAN LOUISE. Very double white. 
SNOW QUEEN. (H. P.) Snow white flower. 
WHITE AMERICAN BEAUTY. (H. P.) 
MULTICOLOR VARIETIES 
ANTOINE REVOIRE. Rose, carmine and 
yellow. 
BETTY UPRICHARD. Two-toned. 
CONDESA De SASTOGA. Red and yellow. 
EDITH. NELLIE PERKINS. Two-tone. 
PRES. HOOVER. Yellow, red and gold. 
TALISMAN. Bright red and gold. 
POLYANTHAS ROSES 
ELSIE POULSEN. Rose-pink. 
FLORADORA. Scarlet red. 
GLORI MUNDI. Orange-scarlet. 
GOLDEN SALMON. Pinkish orange. 
IDEAL. An ideal red. 
TE OLED. LAFAYETTE. Deep glowing 
red. 
YELLOW VARIETIES 
GOLDEN CHARM. Deep yellow. 
GOLDEN DAWN. Flushed old rose. 
GOLDEN OPHELIA. Golden yellow. 
GOLDEN SASTAGO. Soft clear yellow. 
LADY HILLINGDON. Apricot. 
LUXEMBOURG. Coppery bronze. 
MRS. P. S. DuPONT. Yellow. 
ROSLYN. Golden yellow. 
SOUER THERESE. Golden yellow. 
SUNBURST. An old favorite. 
WESTERN GOLD. Clear yellow. 
YELLOW TALISMAN. Pale sulphur yellow. 
. CLIMBING ROSES 
BETTER TIMES. Rose-pink; pointed buds. 
BLAZE. Brilliant scarlet. 
CALEDONIA. Pretty white. 
ETOILE DE HOLLANDE. Dark red. 
FLORADORA. (P.A.F.) Scarlet red. 
PAUL’S SCARLET. Popular red. 
PINK RADIANCE. Cameo pink. 
MRS. P. S. DuPONT. Golden yellow. 
RED RADIANCE. Bright red. 
RED TALISMAN. Pointed buds. 
TALISMAN. Bright red and gold. 
HOOVER. Yellow, red and gold. 
We are pleased to be able to offer the fel- 
lowing HARDY FIELD GROWN — TWO 
YEAR OLD Roses. 
They are all STRONG HEAVY BUSHES. 
Delivery can be made most any time; state 
when wanted. These large bushes are pre- 
paid. NO ORDER FOR LESS THAN 
$2.00, please. ORDER EARLY. 
PRICES: ANY 3 for $2.00; ANY 8 for 
$5.09; ANY 25 for ONLY $14.00; prepaid. 
HARHKY E. SAIER, DIMONDALE, MICH. 
Se ee eee vga 
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