The NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SocIETY

JANUARY, 1948 The American Horticultural Society PRESENT ROLL OF OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS April, 1947

OFFICERS President, Mr. W. H. Youngman, Silver Spring, Md. First Vice-President, Mr. Frederic P. Lee, Bethesda, Md. Swmd ,Viet-Prll'idml. Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, Washingtou, D. C. Secretary, Dr. Charlotte Elliott, Lanham, Md. Treasunr, Mr. J. Marion Shull, Chny Olase, Md. Editor, B. Y. Morrison, Takoma Park, Md. DIRECTORS Terms Expiring 1948 Terms Expiring 1949 Mrs. Walter Douglas. Chauncey, N. Y. Mrs. Robert Fife, New York, N. Y. Mrs. J. Norman Henry, Gladwyne. Pa. Mrs. Mortimer J. Fox, Peekskill, N. Y. Mrs. Oement S. Houghton, Chestnut Hill, Dr. David V. Lumsden, Silver Spring, Md. Mass. Dr. Vernon T. Stoutemyer, Los Angeles, Dr. E. J. Kraus, Chicago, III Calif. Mn. Arthur Hoyt Scott, Media, PL Dr. Donald Wyman, Jamaica Plaia. loIasa. HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS Mrs. Mary Hazel Drummond, Pres., Mr. Al1en W. Davis, Pres., American Begonia Society, American Primrose Society, 1246 No. Kings Road, 3424 S. W. Hume St., . Los Angeles 46, Calif. Portland 1, Ore. Dr. H. Harold Hume, Pres.. Dr. Ira N. Gabrielson, Pres., .. American Camellia Society, American Rock liarden Society, University of Florida, Investment Bldg., Gainesville, Fla. . Washington, D. ' C. Mr. Carl Grant Wilson, Pres., Mr. John Henny, Jr., Pf'eI., American Delphinium Society, American Rhododeadroa ' Sodetr. 22150 Euclid Ave., Brooka, Ore,ron Cleveland, Ohio Mr. George A. Sweetser, Pres., Amencan Rose Society, Dr. Frederick L. Fa2ley. Pres.. 33 Forest St., American Fern Society. Wellesley Hills, Mass. 287 Fourth Ave., Mr. Wm. T. Marshall, Pres. Emeritus, New York 10, N. Y. Cactus & Succulent Society of America. Dr. Franklin Cook, Pres., 228 Security Bldg., Phoenix, Ariz. American Iris Society, Mrs. Hollis Webster, Pres., 2747 Hurd Ave., Herb Society of America, Evanston, Ill. 300 Massachusetts Ave., Mr. Marvin C. Karrels, Pres., Boston is, Mass. American Peony Society, Mr. Edwin C. Freed. Pres.. 3272 S. 46th St., Midwest Horticultural Society, Milwaukee 14, Wis. R.R. 2, Downer's Grove, III SOCIETIES AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 1946 Akron Garden Center, American Rose Society, 226 South Main St., Dr. R. C. Allen, Secy., Akron, Ohio Box 687. HarrilblD'l, Pa. American Primrose Society, . American Begonia Society, Mr. Carl Maskey Levy, Mrs. Mary Hazel Drummond, Pres., 2125 5th Ave., 1246 No. Kings Road, Milwaukee, Ore. Los Angeles 46, Calif. Benson Garden Club .American Camellia Society % Mrs. Amelia Doll, Box 2398 University Station 6016 Binney St., Gainesville, Florida Omaha, Nebr. Bonne Terre Garden Oub, ArHngton County Garden ~ub, Mrs. R. L. Fowler, Pres., Mr. Lewis H. Weld, Pres., Bonne Terre. Mo. 6613 N. Wasbington Blvd., Bristow Garden Oub, East Falls Church, VL Mrs. R. L. Jones, Pres., Box 660, Bristow, Okla. American Fuchsia Society, Cactus & Succulent Society of America, Headquarters : Calif. Acad. of Sdences, Mr. Carl F. Brassfield, Pres., Golden Gate Park, 8060 Lankershire Blvd., San Francisco, CalIf. No. Hollywood, Calif. Publication 01llee, 82nd St. and Elm Ave., Baltimore, Md. Entered as seeond-cla88 matter Janua17 27, 1932, at the Poet Office at Baltimore. Md., under the Act of Augu8t 24, 1913. California Garden Clubs, Inc., Greeley Garden Club, l\,f rs. Clark G. Adams, Mr, ]. E. Looney, 201 San :Marcal Ave., Ch. of Horticulture, San Francisco, Cali f. Greeley, Colo. Cali fo rnia Horticultural Society, Hawthorne F lower & Garden Club, Miss Cora R. Brandt, Secretary, Mr. L. C. Zimmerman, 300 Montgomery St., 79 12 Cermak Rd. & 48th St., San F rancisco, Cali f. Chicago 23, Ill. Chestnut Hill Garden Club, Holl y Society of America, :'Ifrs. Bryan S. Per mar, Treas., Mrs. Clarence R. ' Vol f. Pres .. 41 Crafts Rd., Mi llvi ll e, N. J. Chestnut Hill, Mass. Home Garden Club of Denver, Chevy Chase (D. C.) Garden Club, Miss Lula Morse, Pres., Mrs. Edward J. Mullins, Pres., 3768 Perry St., 5315 28th St., Denver 12, Colo. Chevy Chase, D, C. Howard Park Garden Club, Garden Clu b, Chevy Chase, Md. Mrs. C. F . Morrison, Jr., Secy., Mrs. Randolph Ka1:lffmann, Pres., 60 1 Chapelgate Rd .. I W. Melrose St., Baltimore 29, "Mel. Chevy Chase, Md. Iowa Rose Society, Olico Horticultural Society, State House, 1144 W, 3rd St., Des Moin es 19, Iowa Chico, Calif. Kendall Garden Club, Colorado Forestry & Horticultural Ass'n, Miss Edith M. Edgerton, Secy.-Treas., 1355 Bannock St., 8537 S. E. Gray St., Denver 4, Colo. Portland 6. Ore. Co mmunity Garden Cl ub of Bethesda Men's Garden Club of Rockford, Ill., Mrs. L. W, Pogue, Pres., ' 1\1 r. R. Hallett Shumwig, 11 6 Chevy Chase Drive 115 So. First St., Chevy Chase, Md. Rockford, Ill. Fauquier & Loudon Garden Club Micnigan Horticultural Society, Mrs, Warren Snider, Pres" ' Mr. Earl Bailey, Exec. Sec'y, Leesburg, Va, 2201 E. Jefferson Ave., Federated G.c. of Cincinnati and Vicinity Detroit 7, Mich. Mrs. W. R. Grace, Sr., Pres., ' Midwest Horticultural Society, 79 11 Hamilton Ave., 100 North Central Park Blvd., Mt. H€althy 31, Ohio. Olicago 24, Illinois Forest Hills Garden Club, Mission Garden Club, Mrs. H .. N orair, Pres., Mrs. George Boyle, 2936 Albermarle St., N. W., 1201 Conway, Washil'lgton, D. C. Mission, Texas Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati Northern Nut Growers Assn., Walnut and Central Parkway, ' Mr. Clarence A. Reed, Pres., Cincinnati 10, Ohio 7309 Piney Branch Rd., N. W., Garden Center of Greater Cleveland Washington 12, D. C. East Boulevard at Euclid Ave" ' Omaha Botany Club, Cleveland 6, Ohio 4937 Maple S t .~ Garden Center Institute of Buffalo, Omaha 4, Nebr. 1500 Elmwood Ave .. Pittsburgh Garden Center, Buffalo 7, N. Y. Schenl ey P ark, Garden Center, Pittsburgh 13, Pa. Youngstown Public Library. Plainfield Garden Club, Youngstown 3, Ohio % Miss Harriett Hallowaw, 804 Central Ave., Garden Club of Alexandria, Plainfield, New Jersey Mrs. Malcolm Matheson, Jr., Potomac Rose Society, Ferry Point, Mr. R. E . Scammell, Treas. Alexandria, Va. 2810 Bladensburg Rd., Ga rden Club of Danville, Washington, D. C. Danville, Va. Rock Garden Society of Ohio, Garden Cl ub of Fairfax, Mrs. H. O. Wendal, Treas" Mrs, Edward H owrey, Pres., 28 11 Shaffer Ave., Burke, Va. Westwood, Cincinnati, Ohio Garden Club of Virginia, Rush Garden Club, Mrs. C. James Andrews, Pres., Rush. N. Y. 929 Graydon Ave., Sacramento Ga rden Center, Norfolk 7, Va. 330 1 H Street. Geo rgetown Garden Club, Sacramento, Cal if. M rs. R. H. A. Carter, State Agricultural Society, 323 1 Reservoir Rd., N. W ., P. O. Box 2036, ' Vashington, D. C. Sacramento 9, Calif. (CollfillllCd (III illside back co,'c,,) The National Horticultural Magazine

VOL. ?:7 Copyright, 1948, by THE A1[NRIOAN HORTiOULTURAL SOOIETY No.1

JANUARY, 1948

CONTENTS PAGE The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. REID MORAN ______1 S weetpotatoes, in J apan. V I CTOR R. BOSWELL .______14 Concerning Hardiness. ROBERT ' So STURTEVANT ______._.______28 The Crocus. AGNES C. DARRO W______30 Gloxinias of) the Pacific Coast. GEORGE B. FURNISS ______33 Lily Notes: Lily Improvement Requires Years. H. Roy MOSNAL ______. 35 Cactus and Succulents: Succulents in Oakland. W . C. ANDREW ______.. 38 An Oklahoma Collector. GILBERT T AYLOR ______39 Aloe for Winter Flowers. W. T AYLOR MARSHALL .______41 Idria col umnari S. W. TA YLOR MARS HALL ______42 Camellia Notes: Growing Camellias and Azaleas in the Rose Capital of the World. V IRGI NIA B URKS ______45 The Gardener's Pocketbook: The Argemone or Prickly Poppy. ALLAN L. TRUAX ______. ______48 The White Sands National Monument. ROBERT SENIOR ______49 Some Native Orchids. MRS. J. ROBERT CHRISMON ______.____ 50 Poncirus t1 r ifoliata. ALFRED BA TES______51 The Blue Latan Palm. ALEX. HA WKES ______54 The Garbage, from Kitchen to Garden. HELEN M. Fox ______55 From the Midwest Horticultural Society-ELDRED E. GREEN: Acer j ap onicu111, ______56 A c er Sc hwedleri ______57 A ustrian Copper Rose ______57 N andina domestica. ALFRED B£\ TES .______:______57

Published quane" I;' by The American Horticultural Society. Publication office, 32nd St. and Elm Ave .. Baltimore. :lid. Editorial orn c' e. Room 821. \\asnin2'ton Loan and Trust Building. Washington, D. C. Contributions iT om ail members are cordially in~dted and should be sent to the Editorial office. A suhscription to the magszine 'is inciuded in the annuai dues to ail memhers' to non·members ~he price is seventy-fh-e cents a CopS. three doliars a year. I ii The National Horticultural Society Volume T wenty... Seven

Washington, D.C. 1948 Copyright American Horticultural Society. 1948 As a part of the original water system of the Santa Barbara Mission, this dam is one of California's famed historic land11w1-ks, built in 1807 by the Indi,(11~s unde1' the direct1:011 of the Francisca.n Padres. The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

REID ~IoRA N) Botanist SOll fo [5nrbara Botanic Gm'dell

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Thus the Botanic Garden demonstrates the value of native plants for gardens Well over a century ago, when the of California and of many other parts \ i\T est was still a wilderness, the fame of the world. of Cali·fornia's fl oral riches penetrated to the gardens of Europe; and Cali­ Site of the Garden fornia became known as a land of color­ ful flowers. Garden-loving Britons. Santa Barbara lies at the seaward always on the alert for new plant treas­ base of the 4,OOO-foot Santa Ynez ures, early sent coll ectors to this Range, which runs east and west, promising land, where they explored parallel with the coast. Offshore thirty and collected, sometimes at the ex­ lIlil es to the south, the peaks of another pense of great hardship. Through the east-west range stand above the sea efforts of these men, many California tu (orm ,the chain of four Channel plants reached European gardens to be­ Tslands. come highly prized ornamentals. In Mission Canon, in the foothills of As California became settled, it was the Santa Ynez Range back of Santa natural at first that the few garden orn­ Barbara, is the Santa Barbara Botanic amentals should be those which the Garden. The boulder-strewn slopes of pioneer brought with him from hi s Mission Canon support many fine old I:omeland; for a garden in the new li ve oaks; and in the canon bottom are land was not a garden without old maples and laurels, and along the familiar plants. But here, as elsewhere, stream, sycamores and alders.* Above exotics have remained in high favor. the Botanic Garden, chaparral-coverer! Cali fornia plants were admired in E u­ slopes rise sharply to rugged La rope, where they were exotic. At home, CUl1lbre Peak. The height of the foot­ however, either they were too common­ hi lls grants a broad vista southward place to be noticed or they were ad­ over Santa Barbara and across the mired as wildflowers with no thought blue waters of the Santa Barbara Chan­ that they could be tamed. Native plants nel to Anacapa, Santa Cruz, and Santa were uprooted to make room for plants Rosa Islands. On a clear spring day, fr0111 the other side of the world. Only Lhe verdant islands seem close, yet in­ within the last twenty-five years have accessi bly remote and intriguing. natives begun to be really appreciated Mission Canon is named from Santa at home. Bar,bara Mission, built near the mouth of the Canon by the Franciscan Padres The Santa B-arbara Botanic Garden at Santa Barbara, California, is de­ II1 1786. Included in the Botanic Garden are the old Mi sion Dam and voted entirely to plants native to Cali­ fornia. Especially are those of orna­ 'Ooast Live Oak, QueTe". "yri/ol;tt; Biglea f ~o[apl e, d ee r ma.c'·ophyllum · Oalifornia Laurel mental value assembled here and used U mbellula1'ia, calijo'r nica ; I,Ve tern Sycamore: PI (~t a nu.8 race mosa ,o 'Vhite Alder. Almls rh ombi to show their horticultural possibi li ti es. f nlla. II J 2 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jail., 1948

Willles Flowers alld foliage of th e C atalil'la C eanotln ts (C ea /'loth us arborells). Flowers dee p billc. Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 3

Re·id Moral! Flowe1's alld foliage of Fre'/'llontia J.VI e,'!:icana. THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE J a ll., 1 9 ~8

V oight-Wilkes The Is/a'l1d Trail, of the Santa Barbam Botawic Gm-den, passes betweeN a great sandstone boulder and several Santa Cnfz Island Ironwood trees, LY0l/.otha111- /IU S asplc'/1ijoli lf s i:1 :flfll N OOlll. ..

Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 5

Voight­ Sp1'1:ng meadow of California poppies. Trees and shrubs of the Foothill Section border the Meadow and Arlington Peak (left) and the Santa Y1~ez Range rise in the distance.

parts of the open stone aqueduct which But it was Mrs. William H. Bliss who carried water to the Mission. made the vision a reality. In 1926, as Most botanic gardens are located for a memorial to her father, Henry Blaks­ convenience, with little thought for ley, she bought the original tract of beauty of surroundings. But here the land and established an endowment magnificant site suggested a bctanic fund for the maintenance of a botanic garden. In the beauty of its natural garden. Her friends, Dr. and Mrs. Elmer J. Bissell, undertook to admin.; setting, the Santa Barbara Botanic ister and develop the garden; and Botanic Garden is perhaps unrivaled under their hand during the next ten among the botanic gardens of the years, the chaparral slopes became a world. well~landscaped , but still naturalistic garden. Development of the Garden SiLlCe 1936 the Garden has been ad­ The idea of a botanic garden in Mis­ l11inistered by a self-perpetuating Board sion Canon came ,first to the late Dr. of Trustees, with Mr. Maunsell Van Frederic E. Clements, ecologist of the Rensselaer serving as Director. It has Carnegie Institution of Washington. continued a privately endowed insti- 6 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

Apl'il Meadow of wild st1'a'lvben)l, Fraga/'ia chiloe11sis. Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 7

] osef Nfll ench

A hands07lle California box-elder, Acer l1 eg~£lIdo califonlicLl7ll, shades a por­ t·ion of this inviting pool. The 11lassive Blaksley M el'n01'ial Botclder stands -il! the bacl?ground. 'Il THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

FloZ('('J's and foliage, one-third natural size, of Santa C1'UrZ Island Irollfwood, official fr ee of Santa Ba,rbG1'a County.

tuiOll, reCelVll1g 11 0 aid from any gov­ added. Furthermore, the Garden has ernment source. But with the help of broadened its program to include edu­ many private gifts and bequests, it has catlonal work, publication, and re­ continued to grow. The area has been search. The organization is dependen.t enla.rge d, the Experimental N ursery for future growth on the support of ha ·been built, and the Blaksley Library private individuals, and H erbariUI11 building has been Last fall a cooperative working rela- Jan., 1945 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 9

Josef Muench Illformation Ce17ter, SG!I/ta Barbam Bota.nic Gardel/. tionship was established between the phasis on research at the Garden. A Botanic Garden and the University of small laboratory is being built for California, Santa Barbara College. Un­ physiQlogical and cytological studies. cler this plan there will be greater em- This laboratory and the othe t" facilities 10 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Ja11., 1 9 ~ 8

DI'ipless LathhMJ-se D esigned with sloping roof, diagonal purloins, a.nd metal tl'oughs to ca'YI'Y off e ~1:c e ssive 1'(];infall and eliminate dripping. A w/'iniature wwat on the outer edge of the foundation discourages ants and sowbugs. Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 11

Agave Shawii One of th e so-called centu.ry plants. This one bloo11'£ed in the Desert Section in th e Spring of 1945. The ove1'-all height is about 15 feet. 12 THE N ATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948 of the Garden will be used by the staff the rounded ridge to the east of Mis­ and students of the College. sion Canon, the g.round slopes away, at A group of persons distinguished i.n first gently to a broad bench of 5 to 10 professional fields give fre~ly of their acres, then more abruptly into the inner time as members of an Advisory Coun­ canon. On -this bench are the Informa­ cil. During this ten-years period of tion Center, Blaksley Library, and Ex­ steady growth, the Garden has b~en perimental Nursery and the Meadow especially fortunate in having the gUld­ which in spring is the main attraction of the Garden. From this center an inaI::> hand of the noted landscape garden- er, Beatrix Farrand. irregular pattern of trails radiates along the bench, down into the canon, and Objectives of the Garden up the slope into the Forest Section. The primary purpose of the Santa In some outlying parts of the Bar,bara Botanic Garden is to en­ Garden, the native vegetation has been courage the use of native ornamental left undisturbed. In the central part, plants for roadsides, parks, and though most of the beautiful old oaks gardens. Promising native plants are have been left, the chaparral has been tested in the garden and, if they prove cleared to make room for a greater of value, are incorporated into the variety 'of natives. landscape to show their horticultural A diversity of soils and exposures possibilities. Mr. Roy Wells, Horti­ makes possible many plant communi­ culturist, carries on experimental work ties in natural settings. The Garden is 1:0 find the best means for their propa­ roughly divided into ten sections, aver­ gation. When a plant has been aging 3 to 5 acr~s each, and each de­ th@roughly tested in the Garden, in­ voted to plants of one type of habitat. formation about it is published in an The Meadow planting is really an attractive illustrated leaflet. annual performance and is the out­ The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden standing feature of the garden each has other objects and interests ~ well. Spring. Sometimes it is a gay med­ It encourages the conservation of the ley of California wildflowers; but native flora, and is interested in any usually it is planted to a single kind of increase in knowledge of native plants. flower, so that in the spring it is a beau­ The Garden is an outdoor museum as tiful solid mass of color. Some years vvell as a showplace, having a large col­ the Beach Strawberry, P'ragm'ia chilo­ lection of native plants in natural ens'is, has been used and some years the settings, labeled with common and Sea Dahlia, C O1'eops'is qqq,aritima. scientific names, family. and native In a dry, sunny spot on the rim of range. the inner canon is a small Desert Sec­ The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden tion, with cacti, yuccas, and other is free to the public; the library and desert shrubs and trees. herbarium are available to visiting The undisturbed chaparral of Mis­ botanists and horticulturists; ' and in­ formation on California plants is freely sion Canon may be seen in several given to all who inquire in person, by places in the Garden, notably in the telephone or letters. upper part of the canon and on its western slope. In addition, individual Plan of th e Garden chaparral plants from various parts of The general plan of the Garden has the state are di splayed in a Chaparral been adapted to the topography. From Section 0 11 th e rim of the inner canon Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE ]3

west of the Meadow. has received special emphasis and study In the Island Section are plants from here. These flowering shrubs range the islands off the coast of southern hom creepers to small trees with California. The island flora includes flowers varying from white to deep several interesting endemic species, blue. The Garden's most important some of which, as shown by the fossil publication is the book Ceanothus, record, formerly occurred on what is prepared in collaboration with Profes­ now the mainland. Several island sor Howard E. McMinn. plants are of great horticultural inter­ Thus the Santa Barbara Botanic est. Garden is helping worthy California The Ceanothus Section, after the plants, long cherished in European Meadow, is perhaps the best know part gardens, to achieve their rightful place of the Garden; for the genus C eanothus in gardens nearer home. SweetpotatQes in Japan

V.ICTOR R. BOSWELL2 Introduction ukyu group from China about 1600 by The Japanese farmer is one of the one Sunagawa Muneya, but the exad best in the world. Because of the date is not known. Later Sokan Nogu­ scarcity of arable land, and the eco­ chi, caIled the Potato King of Ryukyu, nomic conditions ii1 his country, he is said to have brought the sweetpotato must be a goo d farmer or face severe to hi s village from China, and planted malnutrition and ruin. Despite lack of it at the place that is now Kitaya-mura most facil ities and aids to crop produc­ in Nakasu-gun, Okinawa. There is a tion that are essential for the Ameri­ further story that the sweetpotato was can farming system, the Japanese ob­ carried to Shikoku from Miyazaki in tain high yi eld s of crops of good qual­ 1692, which antedates the record 9f a ity. This is accompli shed. however, at gift of sweetpotatoes from King Shotei an almost unbelievable cost inhuman of Ryukyu, ih 1698, to a feudal lord of toil. Kagoshima who planted them on Ta­ \Vhi le assigned to the Agricul ture nega Shima. It is supposed to have Division of the Natural Resources Sec­ spread from Tanega Shima all over ti on of General Headquarters of the Kagoshima and Miyazaki. Still anoth­ Supreme Commander for the A llied er student of the matter claimed it was Powers in Japan in 1946 the writer had introduced into Japan about 1750 from occasion to study production practices China by way of Okinawa to Kagoshi­ and requirements of the sweetpotato in mao About the only .consistent part of Japan in some detail. Because the the whole sto,ry seems to be that the sweetpotato is Japan's No.2 food crop sweetpotato was brought to Japan fromI ( rice is N o. 1) and because of its wide­ China, by way of the Ryukyus to south­ spread culture in America a brief re­ ern Kyushu. If the Japanese students view of the crop i n Japan appears to be and historians can come no closer to­ of general interest to American gar­ gether than the above accounts, it is deners and vegetable growers. hardly likely that an Occidental critic Histo?',)1 of second-hand reports will come to any The accounts of Japanese students of definite conclusion. the hi story of the sweetpotato cliffer as . One account also says that in 1734 to when and .by what route the sweet­ the sweetpotato was taken to the Kanto potato was introduced into Japan. Dr. region (east central Honshu), and in 1. N al11ika wa, Dean of the ColIeo'e of 1788 to areas north of there. With no Agriculture at Kyoto Imperial UI~ver­ dates given, it is supposed to have been sity, cited records to the effect that it intr-od uced by Haizaemon Ido into Shi­ wa int1~oduced in to Kagoshima pre­ mane prefecture from Kagoshima, but fecture 111 1705 from China. Another presumably before it reached the Kan­ account, however, states that it was in­ to area. Another story says it was tak­ troduced to Kanko Island of the Ry- en to the Kanto area about 1800 by 'Photograph s by Vic tor R . Boswell, throug h one Aoki. c~!" rt ~sy. of the U. S. D epartment of Ag ri culture. -Pn n.clpal H ortlcultuTls t and A ssis tant H ead of The use of different names for the the D, v,s,on of Fruit a nd Vegetable Crops and same plant, even an important crop D~seases. Bureau of Plant Indus try Soil s and Ag n ~ U~lur a l . E ng ineering, A g ri c ultu/al Re;earch plant, is COmI110 11 in many lands. 111 ..-\ dl11l11 ~ s lr a t lO n , U . S. D epartment of Ag ri culture, Belt S\'Jiie, i'I'I d. Kagoshi 111 a prefecture the sweetpotato ( 14 ] Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 15

.J \.-/ '- .. ~: -.~\-

5 E A 0 F \ ~ -+- \ J A PAN \ ~ --- '?' ~ ~ \ I () \ ~O_-I-___ - ----r-

i 1

Ou.tline map of Japan showi7lg the distribution of the sweetpotato crop by prefectures. 011e dot rep1'ese11ts 2,000 acres. is called KARA-IMO, m eaning ties as a producer of food per acre, Chinese potato; in the Chugohu dis­ yielding up to 50 percent more calor.ies trict it is called RYUKYU-IMO on the less fertile upland than rice does (Ryukyu potato) ; and in most of the on the more fertile low land. It pro­ rest of Japan it is called SAT SUMA­ duces 2.5 times as much "rl ce equiva­ IMO (Satsuma potato). This last lent" per acre as barley and 3.0 times name comes from the name of Satsuma, as much as wheat. It is unsurpassed by the feudal lord of Kq.goshi ma who is any crop in Japan as a producer of food supposed to have first popularized the per unit area of land. Lack of storage crop in the island of Kyushu, the first facilities and perishability of this crop one of the four main islands of Japan are probably the main reasons why it in which it was g rown extensively. is not grown more extensively. At the Repeatedly in the history of J apan same time, the average Japanese re­ the sweetpotato has been the crop that gards the sweetpotato as one of the less has prevented widespread starvation desirable foods. during years of ri ce failure. Until now, Table 1 shows the mean acreage. however, the sweetpotato has been the production, and yield per acre in Japan " red-headed stepchild" of ' Japanese by 5-year periods from 1911 to 1945. agriculture. It has enormous potentiali- This production is 2 to 3 times as great 16 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

o'anic matter is used generally because as in the entire United States. Belated b . efforts are now being made to improve coal, wood, or charcoal are too precIOus disease control and storage conditions to use for such purposes. Crude elec­ in the hope of warding off severe trical heating installations, however, hUllCTer in the lean post-war years. are increasing rapidly, In southern T ABI~E I.-Average, Production, and ,Yield Kagoshima. in Oita, and in other places per acre of Sweetpotatoes in Japan 5-y ear Average Average Average of volcanic nature hot wells and springs period annual annua! Yield per furnish ample hot water at low cost for ending area grown productIOn per acre 1915 746,798 154,816,766 207 heating the plant beds. (Figure 2.) 1f 1920 770,992 169,996,430 220 a good grade of stable manure, contain­ 1925 717,136 153,578,493 214 ing nitrogenous matter along with the 1930 653,772 139,055,030 213 1935 661,927 139,887,552 211 bedding, is not available, night soil may 1940 690,504 150,107,320 217 be mixed with the straw that is 1945 861,198 176,618,028 205 trampled into the hotbed pit. The walls 'Calculated from data of the Ministry of Agri· of the hotbed or coldframe are com­ cui ture and Fores try) Impenal Japanese Govern­ ment. monly constructed of poles of bamboo G1'o-wing the C1'OP . with rice or other straw to retain the Basically the procedures in growing . contents of the bed (Figures 3 and 4) the sweetpotato in Japan are similar to and to afford support for the cover and those followed in the United States, al­ room for the growing plants. The beds thouCTh details are very different. The are usually built entirely above grGund farm:r has much less efficient equip­ with these materials, are about 6 feet ment and materials to use in his work, wide inside measure and . as long as and the pressure for land imposes field necessary. practices that are quite unlike those in Despite the fact that there are C011l­ our bwn country. siderable amounts of electric power in Except in the southernmost parts of Japan and most farms have electric Kyushu and Shikoku, namely in the . lights, very little use of electricity prefectures of Kagoshima, Miyazaki, seems to have been made on farms for and Kochi, plant beds must be artifical­ any purpose except for a very meager ly protected and heated if the plants are degree of lighting. Electricity, like to be obtained early enough to produce many other valuable things that Japan a good crop. These warmest parts of has been producing for many years, Japan lie about 31 Y;; 0 to 33 Y;; 0 north apparently was considered too precious latitude, and have temperatures similar to justify making it available in quan­ to those of northern Florida and south­ tity to farmers. On January 6, 1946. ern Georgia and Louisiana. The march however, a broadcast from the Osaka of the seasons in the districts of the radio station stated that the Ministry "outside" or Pacific side of Japan, from of Agriculture and Forestry was plan­ south to north, is similar to that in the ning to make available in the spring. United States, and the timing of the equipment for the installation of some growing operations for the sweetpotato 5.500 tsubos of electric hotbeds crop is also similar. The Japan Sea ( enough to grow plants for 4,000 to side is colder, wetter, later, and less 5,000 acres of sweetpotatoes) in the suited to the crop. (See Figure 1.) prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Plant B eds Wakayama, Nara, and Shiga. In Where artificial heat is necessary, N iigata, Chiba, and S?-itama plain gal­ manure or other hot fermenting or- vanized wire was observed strung on Jan.,. 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 17 light wooden frames, buried i.n the bed In the cooler sweetpotato districts, as and connected to the power supply. around Tokyo and northward-even Lack of insulation results in great in Hokkaido-and during cooler power loss by "leakage." These heaters periods in the southern districts the last only one season. beds are covered with straw or rush An interesting variant on the more mats (Figures 3 and 4). Before the or less standard method of propagation sprouts emerge, rice hulls, straw, or was observed in Okayama prefecture leaves may be placed directly on the in a district of heavy summer rainfall, surface of the soil covering the mother hot weather, and fairly heavy soils. roots to improve insulation and con­ There it is the practice to bed only serve heat. (Figure 5.) Whatever about half as many roots per unit area covers are available, or necessary, they of bed as is common in Japan, giving are skillfully manipulated as by our much space for the sprouts to develop own best plant growers. The beds are, in the bed. (Figure 8). Although there of course, built in protected locations is little planting in Okayama before the that are exposed to a maximum of end of June, the beds are made at the available sunlight. Windbreaks and end of March, and about 3 months are slopes are universally used to good ad­ allowed for the development of the vantage. (Figures 6 and 7.) sprouts. In this time sprouts 12 to 15 The Ministry of Agriculture and inches long develop slowly and are Forestry recommends the bedding of strong and firm. These are cut off a 20 kan of roots per tan of land to be little a~oye the soil of the bed and then set with plants (1 kan equals 8.27 planted horizontally and very shallowly pounds and 1 tan equals 0.245 acre.) on the very top ·of the ridge simply by This rate approximates 13 bushels per pressing the stem into the wet soil and acre, similar to common United States then pressing wet soil over it. The practice. The Japanese do not generally terminal 2 or 3 inches of the sprout is place the roots as closely in the beds as left out of the soil, and the several American farmers do, the recommended leaves at the nodes are not covered, or rate of bedding being 2 to 3 tsubo of are only partly covered. The planting bed space per tan of land to be trans­ distances are essentially the same as planted. This is equal to 16 up to 24 elsewhere in Japan but the rows are standard sash (in America) for the 13 generally closer than in the United bushels of stock normally bedded for States. an acre. The closest rate of bedding Bed area is measured in tsubos, 1 approximates ours, but the average is tsubo being equal to 35.586 square feet. somewhat lighter. It appears that this Thus a square tsubo is approximately lighter rate of bedding is preferred in 6 by 6 feet, practically the same area as Japan in order to obtain longer and that covered by two standard hotbed sturdier plants and to permit, planting sash in the United States. stock to produce more plants per unit In the milder southern half of the of weight of stock. Scarcity of planting sweetpotato-growing area, the beds tock is a real problem in most parts of may be covered with oiled paper. (Fig­ Japan because of the high losses from ure 4.) Glass and cloth have not" been during storage, and because of the available to the average Japanese great demand for roots as food. farmer. The paper covers are effective . Whereas the American farmer rarely in mild weather. but they are fragile. pulls plants from a bed more than three .-:.~ 18 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

times, and often less than three, crop allowed time to grow long above the specialists in Kyushu say that many soil and the mother roots usually are Japanese farmers take sprouts as many covered with a very thin layer of soil as fou l' times. This apparently is not -barely covered. a general practice. To the extent that Soils it is followed, it again refl ects the Sweetpotatoes are grown only on scarcity of planting stock; indeed, the " upland" soils; and upland in Japan scarcity of food and of everything else might seem .to many Americans to except manpower is everywhere evi­ mean any land that is not under water dent in Japan. much of the year-in contrast to rice The Japanese experim ent station paddy land. Much of the arable "up­ workers are aware of the di sastrous land" lies on very slight elevations in effects of too late planting, as many broad valleys or along coastal strips farmers also are, but in Japan much of that would be considered lowland in the planting is late. A very little crop America (Figure 9). Sweetpotatoes is much better than none a:t all. Even if are very extensively grown on such planting is greatly delayed the farmer soils of the Kanto Plain in Tokyo pre­ must go ahead and do the best he can fecture and adjacent prefectures. On because he has little if any alternative. the other hand, they are also grown on If however, late plantings are made fantastic, terraced, steep montainsides merely in the interest of conserving in ,Nagasaki and other areas, from seed stock (more plants from succes- nearly sea level up to elevations of 'sive pullings), hi s smaller yields from 1,000 to 1,200 feet. The rock walls the late plantings prove this to be a supporting these terraces often are as ·false economy. high as the arable surface is wide; and '. In the United States most sweet­ when viewed from Inanypoints they ,potato "plants," sprouts, draws or appear even higher. Very striking slips as removed from the propagating terrace developments of great antiquity bed consist of entire sprouts that have are located near Nagasaki and on the been pulled from the mother root with- _ Shimabara Peninsula, where unbroken out disturbing it in the bed. In Japan series of terraces extend up the moun­ the sprouts generally are not pulled tainsides through several hundred feet from the root, but are cut with scissors in elevation. an inch or two above the surface of the Soils of light textures are preferred 'soil covering the mother root. This is for sweetpofatoes in J ap~ n, as they are <;l 011 e, the Japanese explain , to avoid in America, but there is generally so carrying with the sprout to the field little choice of soil available to the any black rot or other disease organ­ Japanese farmer tha t he can not get isms that might be present on the what he wants. Even on soils that mother root or on the bases of the Americans would consider as originally sprouts. This procedure, furthermore, far from ideal fo r the sweetpotato the a voids wounding the mother root in Japanese farmer has obtained surpris­ the bed with its danger of encouraging ing res ults. If the general features of decay, and avoids the danger of pulling the terrain and the climate p~rmit cul­ out large masses of tissue at the bases ture of the sweetpotato, a wide range of the sprouts whi ch might interfere of soil s may be devoted it-especially with or reduce subsequent development sin ce intense pressure has been applied of other sprouts. The prouts are by the Japanese government to increase Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 19

Figures 2 - 5, in the tmwl left to right. Heads of two hot, flowing, wells and pipes canying hot water by gmvity to hotbeds. [lVater te111pe1'atu1'e at the wells is 60° C. N em' IbL~zuki village, Kagoshi11'La Prefecture. Manure-heated sweetpotato propagating beds built of stalles, ban1.boo poles, barley st1'aw and rice straw rope. The soil sU1'face is cove1'ed 1'ice hulls. Rolled- up strwc.U 1'IWtS lie abMtt. H orikane village, Saita7na Prefecture. Electrically hea.ted, hotbeds with sash cove1'ed with oiled paper fa,cing the sun and straw mat structure on the north side. The rolled mats an for additional cove'!' over the pape1'. Prefectural E.'rpe1'im,ent Station, I1·u11w.gawa, Saita11'ia Prefectt~re. Showing light covering of soil and heavy covering of straw 111;Q.tS in a 111anure­ heated hotbed b·uilt of strarc.U. Ob'/;~kuro village, Saita.ma Prefectu.re. its culture since 1941. T hus it is grown as many as possible per acre. A nd it on alluvial soil s as well as on the light­ must he said that they do that very er, coarse diluvi ums, or marine terraces well. The average sweetpotato yields on the volcanic-ash plateaus, and on the were around 215 bushels per acre, sandy beach ri dges that are so charac­ about 2Y;; times those of the United teri stic of many coastal areas of Japan. States, before World \lIlar II when T he heavier soils, and manuring, circumstances for production were often result in very heavy vine growth favo rable. Despite some of the heavy and rough, long roots that would be soils used and tbre methods of produc­ undesirable on America!'l markets. The t ion, the varieties developed fo r adapt­ Japanese, however, have been unable abili ty to those conditions generally to afford the luxury of concern over have shapes t hat woul d be considered minor matters such as shape and skin very satisfactory by a discri minating color of roots. T hey must grow calories, American buyer. 20 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

F ertiliz(!1' S ni trogen and less ~l&-Q American experience hat i f@d that Although the Japanese recognize the the crop needs. One menlber of the sweetpotato as life-saver because of its Ministry staff estimated the average great productivity, it has long been the requirement as 80 kg. of nitrogen, 40 stepchild of Japanese agriculture. Be­ kg. of phosphorus, and 120 kg. of fore 1940 it was considered so inferior potassium per hectare. A · supposed to rice and grain as food, or as a crop summary of experiments on "Amounts to grow for profit, that a little manure of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium or compost, and some wood ashes was for a crop of sweetpotatoes, per hectare, about all the fertilized ever applied by prefectu~es" does not agree with directly to the crop. As Japan's last ill­ with the above estimate. but shows an hted military venture went from bad average of about 70, 70, and 120 kg. to worse, the importance of the sweet­ respectively for the prefectures in the potato soared as an emergency food northern districts, and about 60, 55, crop. At the same time, however, com­ and 110 for those in the south. It is merical fertilizer became more and not clear how these experimental re­ more scarce with the result that the sweetpotato still is not fertilized in sults were obtained, language limita­ tions on Japanese-American inter-com­ Japan according to any officially recom­ mended or consistent plan. There municationbeing what they are. It is seems to be little reason for the differ­ strongly suspected, however, that those ences· in prefectural experiment station figures were based upon a limited num­ . r,ecommendations in different areas ber of !rials in field plots of inadequate and no agreement between recom~ design and extent. meridations and actual practice. The Fertilizer recommendations of ex­ Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry periment station workers on Kyushu recommendations, said to be based were in essential agreement only as to upon experimental evidence, are gen­ quantities of manure or compost to be erally at considerable variance with applied per acre, 3 to 5 tons. In sharp verbal recommendations obtained from contrast to American practice this the prefecture experiment station spe­ amount is laid down in the furrows be­ cialists. fore the ridges are built, and the soil turned over it without mixing it with In calculating "fertilizer" applied, or the soil. Some stated that only 2 to 3 needed by a crop, the Japanese appear tons were being used by growers in to be accustomed to include not only recent years because of the shortage of t~e nitrogen, phosphorus, and potas­ manures and fertilizers, but none rec­ SIum of commercial fertilizers but also ommended more than 5 tons. the estimated amounts contained in the manure, compost, night soil, or any Field cu,ltwre crop residues that are added. The com­ Sweetpotatoes are grown on ridges position and quality of the added ma­ generally 24 to 30 sometimes as much nures and composts vary enormously, as 36 inches apart in Kyushu and in as does the composition of the mixed other districts where the more friable wood ashes used. In their efforts to soils occur.. On the heavier or wetter obtain potash, which they know the soils the ridges must be a little farther crop needs, from such manures -and apart to permit buildinO" them as hiO"h .. b b ashes as they have available the Jap­ as 1S reqUlred to effect proper drainage anese generally apply incidentally more for the plants. In most districts the Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 21

ridges are somewhat higher than is the before harvest. The terrible pressure common practice in the light soils in upon the l~nd, the essential rapid the United States because the summer succession of crops and constant oc­ rainfall is about two to thr<'le times cupancy of the land are responsible for that of the American districts-30 to this. In the southernmost districts the 48 inches from June to September, in~ grain fields are generally planted with clusive. The ridges are built by hand the rows much closer together than in tools anywhere from 10 to 12 up to 16 the northern districts where harvest inches high, depending upon the re­ comes after sweetpotato planting time. quirements of the particular field. One Sweetpotatoes may be set in alternate specialist of the Ministry stated that middles if the grain rows are close, or ridges were built 24 to 28 inches high, in every middle if the grain rows are 2 from furrow to crest. This statement or more feet apart (Figures 10 and 11). seems erroneous, and may be the re­ If the grain is harvested in time, as in sult of differences in language and units southern Kyushu, or if no grain pre­ of measure. Normal settling and cedes sweetpotatoes they may be weathering under heavy rains reduce planted as early as May 15, but most the original ridge height a variable planting even in Kyushu is done in late amount, depending again upon the soil; Mayor early June. .Farther north . bu t the tops of the ridges are not planting is successively later, mainly dragged down 'of flattened as they often mid-June to late June if sweetpotatoes are in America. In the light, volanic­ are not preceded by grain. When the ash plateau soils of Kyushu and the crop is transplanted between the grain Kanto district the ridges are but 7 or rows, it is set 3 to 4 weeks before grain 8 inches high. harvest. The Japanese are' trying to Plants of medium size, according to breed very rapidly-growing varieties our standards, are normally set 12 that will make good yields when ' inches apart in the row, with sm~ller planted after grain' harvest and that plants set somewhat closer and larger can be harvested in early October be­ ones a little farther apart, all · ranging fore time for grain phmting. They are from approximately 10 to 15 inches. having some measure of success as is No data have been noted to support the shown by the yields of their ·new effectiveness of this practice, and on the varieties. basis of American experiments it ap­ pears of dubious value. Harvesting Planting times correspbnd roughly As in America, the recommended with those American districts having time of harvest is soon before killing comparable climates, although there is frost, in order to protect the keeping a tendency to later planting in Japan quality of the roots by avoiding the because sweetpotatoes generally follow . harmful effects of too low temperature. grain crops. In the south where grain And, as in America, many farmers harvest is relatively early, they usually tend to dig too late, either in trying to are not planted until after the grain is get bigger yields by letting the crop harvested. In districts where the grain grow as late as pc>ssible, or purposely can not be harvested before time to letting the frost kill the vines so that plant sweetpotatoes, and this applies to harvesting will be less difficult. Efforts much of the country, sweetpotatoes are are made to complete harvesting as transplanted between the grain rows quickly as possible if the plants are 22 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZI NE Jan., 1948 frosted, but it is said that much har­ very precious, so ' that thus far none yesting continues fo r as long as a has been spent in protecting sweet­ month after frost. All harvesting is potatoes in storage, either for food or done by hand, as is practically all the £01- seed. Even as early as January it working of the crop. is common fo r losses or heavy fo od O n fa rms having a horse or cow (on consumption to deplete suppli es to the the average there is less than one horse poin t that shortages of seed stock in the or draft cow per fa rm in J apan ) it is spring are clearly foreseen. It is recog­ customary to cut the yines near the nized that losses from rotting are hill before frost, pull them from the soil , heavy, and there is often so much fear and ensile them in small concrete pits of heavy 10 s and insufficient seed stock 4 to 5 feet in diameter and 6 to 7 feet that movement of sweetpotatoes from deep. The more tender parts of the one district to another virtually stops. vines are occasionally used for human In the Tokyo area, sweetpotatoes for food in the form of greens. In the food are about all gone by January 1. later years of \Vo rld \Var II some ten As would be expected in a temperate of thousands of tons of sweetpotato climate, temperatures are generally too leaves and petioles were air-dried, low at harvest time for proper curilig ground, and incorporated into yarious of the roots without artificial ·heat. food products for their nutrient and There are thus heavy losses in storage "filler" value. The product was nearly although the storage temperature rang'e black and of very unappetizing appear­ is usuall y kept close to 55° F. in the ance. CO lllmon storage places thaJ are avail­ The J apanese often harvest the hills able. Vv'i thout artificial heat tempera­ intact and store the clumps of roots tures Ilear 55 ° F. can be maintained in without separating them. This is done the cooler districts only in "caves" dug to avoid al1Y wounds that would afford into the hillsides or in deep excavations entrance for decay organisms. where the water-table is low enough to Regardless of whatever may inter­ per111i t thei r use. In the moderately fere, it is essential that sweetpotato har­ cold sections, such as middle HonshLl, vest be completed in time to prepare a soil cover of 6 to 7 feet will maintain the land fo r sowing winter grain at the a temperature of 12 to 15 ° C. ( 53 ° to proper time. The slowness with which 59° F.) if the cellar entrance is well the poor J apanese fa rmer is compelled insul ated and the structure is well to wo rk hi s land by primitive hand managed. A n air vent to the surface is methods is a very serious obstacle in provided, regarClless of the depth of th e the whole production scheme. Many structure. In the north it is' customary grain ·fields are planted so late rhat they to tunnel back into a steep hill what­ make poor yields, and in turn, many ever distance is necessary to obtain a sweetpotato fields are planted so late safe temperature of 12° to 15 ° C. On that they make poor yields. The pres­ well-drained plains storage tunnels are sure both upon the land and upon the run from a shaft about 20 ft. deep, dug fanner is almost unbelieYable. in the all uvium without cribbing of any Storing kind. Good storage fac ilities are probably In southern Kagoshima and Miya­ Japan's Ill Ost critical need in connection zaki the roots keep reasonably well in ~' ith this crop at present. As mentioned field pits in the well-clrained 'volcanic­ in connection with plant beels. fuel is ash soil when covered with only a Jan., 1948 THE NATWNAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 23

Fig1,/.res 6 - 9, in the 'usu,a,[ left to "ight. T'vPical straw-1i'lOt 'willdbrca,k sunotmding 'hotbed ya1'd. The concrete beds are Ul~. llsual in la.pan. Prefect%ral Expe?'il11ental Station, Chiba Cit,)!, Chiba P?'efectLl1'e. Typical hotbed ya1'd ill the su.nny lee of a village sheltered by a dense g1'ove. The 1'OW crop in the f01'egl'014nd is barley. HOl"ika17 e village, Saita?I'/.Q P?'efecttwe. HI ide spacing of mother Toots il1, the hotbed yields ?1Wre and sturdier plants than close spacing. This spadng is nea?'!y a foot apa1't, wider tlw.n is usual. PI'efecttwal Experimel1.t Station, Olwyama City, Olwyama Prefectuire. Typical te1'1'a.ced plain. Near lb·uzu.ki village, Kagoshi1'l'!,a P1'efect~we. couple of feet of soil. Pits, usually slit time if the crop is free of disease. trenches about two feet wide and six Black rot is generally distributed feet long, are dug to a depth of three to over the sweetpotato districts and is four feet. Roots are placed in the pit said to cause an average loss of about to within about 15 inches of normal 33 percent of the stock that is carried ground level, then straw and ,finally soil clear through until bedding time. In are mounded W€1l over the trench to a the northern districts no attempt is height of a foot to a foot and a half. made to carry eating stock past mid­ Frequently, but not always, pieces of December because of the heavy losses large bamboo sttlms with the nodes that usually occur. Really suitable fa­ punched out are inserted as ventilators. cilities for storing .Iarge quantities are They are placed at an angle of 45 not available. Son1e J apal1ese experi­ degrees or less and the upper end of ment station workers have said that in the tube is cut at an angle so as to pre­ the absence of black rot they lose only vent rain from falling into it. Little about 5 percent of the roots under the rain falls during the storage season. storage conditions described, but this In this district roots keep well in these is believed to be exceptional. There is pits through February, up to bedding a question as to whether all the differ- 24 THE 1 ATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., ·1948

ences ascribed to presence or absence manufacture, the third is for stock feed, ')f black rot are properly expJained. and human food is fourth, according to Differences in temperatures during information from Japanese sources. harvesting and handling may result in The only prep'aration of the roots great differences in black rot damage for drying is thorough washing and although a similar spore load of the then slicing them 3 to 4 mm. thick by black rot organism is present in each means of ordinary household knives or case. by simple hand-power rotary slicers. Even as far north as Tokyo sweet­ The slices are spread in a single layer potatoes are stored in common pits in on rush mats or bamboo trays and the soil (Figure 12), but losses in that placed in the sun on beaches, walls territory run high after the first of the (Figure 13), I:oadways, ditch-banks, year. roofs, door-yards, or any open place. As drying progresses, the load from Sun-Drying two or more mats may be combined From 1941 to 1944 the Japanese on a single one in order to release some government annual collections of sun­ of the mats for new loads of freshly cut dried sweetpotatoes, in metric tons, slices, and to reduce the number of amounted to 162,000, 135,000, 159,000, mats that need to be handled in drying 134,200, according to the Ministry of a given quantity of product. Care is Agriculture and Forestry. The airdry taken to avoid packing or piling the weight of this product is, on the aver­ pieces in any manner that would re­ age, about one third of the fresh weight tard drying. To protect the material of the roots. The above figures thus from bad weather the trays are tem­ represent about 16,000,000 to 19,000,- porarily piled in the dwelling house or 000 bushels annually of fresh sweet­ any available shelter. Exposure out of potatoes, approximately 10 percent of doors is continued every fair day until the crop in recent years. Since an un­ the pieces become brittle, usually about known amount of this dried product is a week. They may then be placed in consumed by the growers as stock feed, straw bags holding 10 kan (82.7 lbs.) and sold through private channels in­ each, in either the unbroken state or stead of to the goverment, the quanti­ finely pounded to a meal or powder. ties actually dried must considerably Generally the material is bagged with­ exceed the amounts stated above; a out crushing it, although some claim total of 20,000,000' to 25,000,000 that when it is pounded finely it is less bushels dried is not improbable. . subject to insect infestation. In Japan, sweetpotatoes are sun­ The work of drying begins as soon dried as a means of preservation, to re­ as other work and the weather permit duce the bulk of material to be stored after harvest and continues as long as or handled in trade, and to obtain a the weather is suitable and the roots product better adapted to industrial or hold up in storage, or until the quantity , stock-feeding purposes than are the to be dried is finished. In the region fresh roots. The chief use of dried about Tokyo little or no drying is done sweet potatoes is for the manufacture of after the end of December, but it con­ alcohol, both industrial and potable. tinues later farther to the South. In The quality of the latter is considered Southern Kyushu drying still was in low by Americans and Japanese alike. progress in early February. There is The second greatest use is for starch very little rain in winter to interfere Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 25

Figu1'es 10 - 13, in the usual lett to right. Freshly harvested barley drying between-and on-rows of sweetpotatoes trans­ planted in the ba1'ley 3 to 4 weeks em'lier. P1'efectural Exper·i111.e11.tal Station, Chiba City, Chiba P.refecture. . . Grain stubble and sweetpotatoes im11ltediately afte1' removal of grain. Sweet­ potatoes were set in alternate middles of close 1'OWS of grain. Chiba Horticultural School,. Matsuda City, Chiba Prefecture. Thatched shelter over sweetpotato stol'age pit. The white spots atop the ridged earth are the uppel' ends of long bal1/f,boo "tubes" within which the1nometers are lowered to the level of the stol'ed roots. P1'efectuml Experi111,e11.t Station, Chiba City, Chiba P1'efect~£re. Raw sliced sweetpotatoes d1'ying 01'l. st,'aw mat atop seawall of Kagoshi11w Bay. Kagoshima Prefectu1'e. with these operations, there. The essentially as described a:bove. The Kanto Plain and southern Kyushu are cooked potatoes dry in much less time the districts in which the greatest quan­ than the raw ones, requiring only about tities of sweetpotatoes are dried. 2 days of good weather. In addition to the drying of raw The drying of some 20,000,000 potatoes for industrial and stock-feed­ bushels or more sweetpotatoes annually ing purposes, limited quantities are is handled entirely as a home enterprise prepared for human food by first boil­ within the individual homes of the ing the thoroughly washed roots. They country. No evident precautions are are then cooled and allowed to "set" taken to protect the drying product for a day to become firm. From this from dirt or other contamination, trays point on, they are sliced and d,ried often being seen on the very roadways 26 T H E NATIONAL HORT I CULTURAL MAG AZI NE Jan., 1948 where animals and vehides pass fre­ ash soil s; skin ivory; fl esh nearly whi te; quen tl y. There is li ttle or po standardi­ medi um in starch and total soli ds. It zation of quality. is strongly res istant to nematode, a good keeper, but rather late. Better V G.1- ie t·ies adapted to the more southerly di stricts. A meri ca n varieties elf sweetpotato NORIN 3. Short spindle shape; that had been tried in Japan prior to skin ivory; fl esh nearly whi te ti nged 1946 were not adapted to the condi­ with yellow: medium high in starch tions of Japan and the desires of the Japanese. T hey are reported to be too and total solids. NORIN 4. Long spindle shape ; susceptible to disease and too low in yield. On the other hand, the vari eties reddish-purple skin ; light yell ow fl esh : low to medium in starch and total developed by the Japanese to sui t their conditions and des ires a,ppear rather soli ds . Very fast-developing, being outstanding in productivity. In appear­ adapted to the short season between ance, particularl y color, and in their grain. crops in mi ddle Honshu or in low total solids. some of them wo uld regions of relative short season else­ not spit A merican req uirements but where. Strongly resistant to nematode. there"ls no do ubt of their adaptabili ty OKIN A W A 100. Cylindrical shape; to J apan. None of their varieties have skin light red; fl esh light yellow ; very highly colored fl esh and most are whi te low in starch and so lids ( like J ersey), or nearly so. Some of the salient but popul ar bcause it is a very high characteristics of several of the more yielder. Develops rapidly and said to important varieties are briefl y stated be somewhat resistant to black rot ; below, according to info rmation sup­ highly res istant to "black spot" and pli ed by the Japanese specialists. nematode. GENGI. Short spindle shape; light TS U RUN A SH I GENG I. Short reddi sh brown skin ; nearly white fl esh spin dle shape; skin light reddish is tinged with yell ow; fl esh mediu 111 brown; fl esh yellowish whi te; starch high in starch and soli ds; reported by and soli ds high. Weakly resistant to some to have some resistance to black nematode. rot, but not so reported by others. I n the early spring of 1946 several GOKOKU. Nearly ball -shaped: of the best Japanese and A merican brown skin; nearly white fl esh tinO"ed varieties were exchanbO"ed throlJO"b h the . b wIth yellow; fl esh low in starch and mili tary and agricul tural authorities. total soli ds. Said to have a weak re­ Some of the Japanese so rts have proven sistance to "black spot. " Is a favorite · resistant to fusarium wilt under Ameri­ in the Kanto District because of its can co nditi ons. T he J apanese claim s high yield. fo r r.esistance to nematode are of spe­ NORI N 1. Tapered thick spindle or CIal 1l1 teres t in America but have not conical shape; ski n reddish brown' yet been verified under our conditions. flesh nearly wh ite but tinged wit l~ Disease yellow; flesh medium in starch and Black rot, caused by the organi sm total solids. Said to be weaklv resistant Endoconidiophora fi11lb 1-iata, call ed' to black rot. strongly resistant to "black C eratostomella fi,11~br 'iata by some work­ spot," and 1110derateh' resi tant to ers, is consistently reported as the nematode. ' wo rst di sease of sweetpotatoes in NORH, 2. Ball-shaped on some Japan. It causes losses of about a third oils, nice chunky shape on the volcanic- of the seed stock that fa rmers try to Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 27

carry through to bedding time, and sweetpotatoes are grown year after largely determines the length of period year in the same soil, with only a of availability of the crop for food over winter grain crop alternating. It is most of the territory in which the crop probable that the varieties in question is grown. In the Kanto District the may be more resistant than the Jap­ crop must be largely eaten or dried by anese realize, or it may be true that the end of the year, or else is lost. their methods of soil management keep Bichloride of mercury is not used to the pathogen under control. Both of control surface infection with black rot these factors may be effective. in Japan as it is in America. The Jap­ anese say they have a better method: The Ministry's sweetpotato specialist Hot water treatment for -to minutes at has listed the following di sease-causing 47°-48° C. The method is so trouble­ organisms as common on the sweet­ some and fuel is so scarce that farmers potato in J a pan: H elicobasidium have not used it generally and it pro­ 7nOI1I.Pa., Sphaceloma batatas, Cercos ­ ponents have had hard work to popu­ pora batatae, C ortiCU11lL c e ntrifug~£11IL, larize the method. Progress is being Alterna?'ia sp., Thielaviopsis basicola, made in extending its use by inducing Phoma batatae, and Sclerotinia scle?'a­ farmers to reheat the family bath after tiO?'U11!f,. He has also listed the follbwin'g use and before it has cooled appre­ diseases which are fairly common or ciably, thus conserving fuel. The roots serious on one crop or another in the in this case are treated in the bathtub. United States, as being uncommon in Still the Japanese pathologists contend Japan: Plenodo11!f,~tS destruens, Phyha­ that their method is better than bi­ tot1'ic%m 011!f,nivo?'um, Actin011!f,yces chloride of mercury. They claim that ipomoca, Pythiu111, ulti11!f,~tm, and P . the hot water treatment kills organisms scleroteichum. By omission of Fusa­ beneath the surface of the roots and rium from the latter list, it would ap­ they have some data to support their pear that the organism is well known claims. Bichloride of mercury is simple although it is claimed that it causes no to use and it seems likely to effect a serious damage. far greater degree of control than is In addition to the above, the Ohara likely to be realized by the hot water Institute lists several other organi'sms method. However, the Japanese are a that affect sweetpotatoes in Japan to surprising people. They successfully some extent, as follows: S clerotiu111, make use of many methods that seem batat1:cola, Diap01'the batata.tis, Rhiz'o­ impractically laborious to us. pus nig?'icans, Pythiu111 spino sum, Fusarium wilt is known in Japan, Botryodiplodia bataticola, Fusa1'ium but most workers that were questioned solani, Fusarium, sola11i var. eU?11a1,tii, stated that it causes no particular Fusarium batatatis, Fusarium se1ni­ trouble. The varieties most commonly tect'f,tm, Fusarium, orthoceras, Gibe?'ella grown are not characterized as resist­ saub'inettii, Cylindrocarpon didy11!f,~t11!f" ant; but if they are not resistant Cylindrocarpon mdicicola, Trichoder­ Fusarium must be virtually non-exist­ ma lig1wrum, and M onilochaetes in­ ent in Japanese soils. In many localities fusca11s. Concerning Hardiness

ROBERT S. STURTEVANT

From a laymen's view-point, the a good half died the first winter, the relative hardiness of this or that is last survivors kill··back periodically. based in part on the keenness of his This was largely straight lack of hardi­ desire to grow a certai n shrub or ness and yet in Tennessee with a big fl ower and we are si1l1ilarly interested native red-bud that seeded regularly in the extent to which we will fight there has been one thicket of seedlings drought, poor drainage, or the wrong in eight years and only a few survivors scil in achieving success. As a land­ due perhaps to a hard freeze in the scape architect I can afford but rarely seedli ng state but more likely to a to recommend anything that is not prolonged drought. hardy year in and year out under the A co ll ected Carolina rhododendron, neglect of the average home owner but if planted in the spring, may thrive in as a gardener success just once in a :-tIassachusetts but succumb if planted decade may become a treasured mem­ in the fal l. In Nashville, it may die of ory or the object of continuing efforts. drought if spring planted and appear l 'hus hardiness (or success) is al­ to live if early winter planted though most a necessity for t he commercial it is fated by the limestone soil. grower in anyone locality and within Hardiness is unmistakable when the the bounds of hi s accustomed habits of first frost catches a tomato or shrubby propagation in the open or under glass heliotrope; it is less dearly the trouble and it is a most variable quality under with a pansy or snap-dragon that in the skilled care of the clever gardener vigorous growth may pull through a who, with concentrated interest, may New England winter with a heavy select a favored spot, nourish, pet, and snow cover. shelter his single specimen. Many a fl ower of early spring is In nature there is grim competition caught by a freeze both North and and hardiness enters into many other South. A peach bud may be actually environmental conditions that effect frozen by extreme cold or caught in not only successful growth but even full bloom and no fruit result and hence more the power of regeneration on the lack hardiness as a crop. In its lovely fringes of habitats. It is not every year fl owering forms, however, its beauty of by a long shot that we find a carpet of bloom in one year out of five may the native white pine seedlings, nor justify the space it takes. I have seen even then in the vicin ity of every bear­ few fl owering peaches in New Eng­ ing tree. I have seen fo rty year-olel land ; it is probably not commercially healthy white pines, cone-bearing at hardy, but after a period of mild years Orton Plantation (N. C.) grown with the success of a few courageous experi­ camphor and camellias BUT I doubt menters may lead many to try it. I if seedlings will develop short of the actually doubt if it will be caught more foothills. Again the red-bud is not an frequen<]y than the beautiful magnolias unusual specimen around Boston and or even the Flowering Dogwood which yet of a hundred seedlings planted is a sparse native. twenty years ago none have hloomed, Recently the American Iris Society (28) Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 29

comlucted a questionnaire on growth­ where the Japanese Cherries suffer. tender, slow, unreliable, satisfactory. j\tI embers of the Rose Family may be at This included, of course, only about home in Florida or Manitoba, certain thirty of the leading varieties and there daffodils al so. 'vV e have graduall y come were very few reports of actual tender­ to realize these brO:ld limitations in ness. Even then they were balanced growing the most popular of shrubs or by favorable reports from practically fl owers or the most sought-after fruits the same localities. There are relatively and berries but we still seek in vain for few iris species of known tenderness, guidance either on the less popular or apparently as few as named varieti es above all on th e species that we have despite scattered failures in many a come to associate with in door culture garden or part of any one garden. It or certain climates. is clear that failure to bloom is frequent The gardenia, the camellia, many a in some localities, actual fai lure to live rose , fern, bamboo, or palm has just rare among the iris. not been tried or at least not repor ~ ed H some such similar questionnaire on in many a locality. That is where were applied to camellias or roses, you may help many others. fuchsias or begonias and if we could We have come to value and use link a reasonable success with some far freely certain flowering trees in certain more common shrub like abelia or localities, with increased information althea, pyracantha or blue hydrangea one sees them over wider and wider -all border line cases of hardiness areas, first as mere specimens and there would a real guide to many an gradually in greater quantities. For ardent gardener who has not dared many years the Arnold Arboretum has attempt some reported impossibles. been a leader in such recommendations Camellias, e.g. frequently still bloom -other institutions follow suit. Un­ after a drop to 24, 18, of even 8 de­ doubtedly we owe the popularity of the grees; in Trees and Shrubs of the Flowering Crab to this s·ource. Origin­ British Isles, 31 degrees of freezing was ally rare (except the native) even not fatal. How continued any of these around Boston you now see them temperatures can be and the plant still among the azaleas of Mobile or live we just do not know. A Society Charleston or with the spireas and such as this with a wide spread of viburnums in Minnesota. A plant of members and interest is in a key posi­ mimosa has proved relatively success­ tion to report a modicum of success ful at the Arnold Arboretum for prob­ with camellias or what you will and ably twenty years but as I drive I see one such report including a group of few mimosas north even of \ Vashing­ border line plants generally considered ton. An in stitution must be slow to tender may encourage dozens of other recommend but you as an individual trials and add a whole new outlet for have no reputation to maintain. I would gardeners in anyone locality. like to see reports on flowering apri­ Lilacs and peonies, it is generall y cots and peaches, cherries and crepe known, are not reliably hardy far north myrtles, on evergreen magnolias or and become less and less satisfactory mimosas, on all these things that in with heat. The Bearded Iris dislikes leaf or bloom are so showy as to bring both extremes and may perform poorly you to halt when you are speeding in a narrow band subject to unseason­ through the countryside. able freezes-perhaps the same baml N ashville, Tenn. The Crocus AGNES C. DARROW As a amateur gardener, with the that can be dry in summer. Kever problem of shade from forest trees to plant them in heavy wettish soil. It cope with, I have been forced for many must always be well drained. years to find plants and bulbs that will My crocus have grown for years in thrive and bloom without much sun­ woods soil with an annual supply of shine. The logical result of this condi­ leaf mold. After the ground is frozen tion was a spring garden and the earlier (so that the seedlings won't be dis­ yo u can have fl owers bl oom, the more turbed) rake off the fallen leaves an d fun it is. This means Spring-flowering put back about an inch of pure leaf bulbs and wild fl owers. Of all those mold. When they fl ower in the Spring, with which I have been successful they are much prettier coming up through the years, the crocus has given through the dark leaf mold than the most joy an d has been the most through the uneven scattered leaves interesting. and they get all the nourishment they The crocus belongs to the Iris need although bonemeal may be added Famil y which includes freesias, gladi­ at times, without harm. olus, ixia, blue-eyed grass, tigridia and ow, where is the best place to a good many more. It is not a bulb but plant them? Never in the lawn. It is a corm a structure composed not of not natural and since crocus make their scales but is a solid substance. The growth and increase through the help plants are stemless with the leaves of the foliage the grass can never be coming in sheaves directly from the cut until this has ripened and disap­ bud on the corm. This latter when peared. Many people have planted this mature is covered with fibrous coats way in the past and then wondered w,hi ch vary in number and thickness why they "lost" their crocus in two or and are usually brownish in coloring. three years. On small places there are The fl owers which in many cases de­ four ways to use them. First you can velop before the leaves, are funnel­ make broad irregular groups of them shaped and erect with a I·ong tube, toward the front of the perennial though this is much longer in some border. You can plant them in " drifts" than others. There are six fl oral seg­ two or three dozen or more at the ments, equal or nearly so in size, which edge of shrubberies on under trees. we speak of as petals and which to­ Don't put them under the shrubs as gether form the perianth. There are they need light and air. You may use three stamens, attached to the inner them as an edging for a bed or border, surface of the perianth. In the center but it should be an irregular edging and rises the pistil with its three-cleft not a straight, narrow line. F inally, stigma, sometimes further divided. The so me of the smaller species are fine in whole is a simple structure, with the the rock garden. If you have a larger beauty that so often characterizes sim­ place, then the best location for them pl icity. is on a sloping bank whether it has sun The crocus must have proper soil or shade. conditions in order to thrive. It does Because the crocus is a corm and not as well in shade as in sun, but it must a bulb, you should plant it more deeply have moderately li ght, even sandy soil than you might think from its size. The [30) Jan. , 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 31

tulip bulb to increase di es and fo rms are at work, and in early Spring when several new bulbs about the axis; the rabbits like to eat the leaves, and. narcissus splits b ut remains with its blooms, because they are so hungry, al7 smaller bulbs about the old mother ways put out cabbage and lettuce l eav~s, bulb. The crocus after fl owering and among the crocus, every night. Rabbits growing, withers but produces one or prefer them to crocus ! more new co rms on top of the old one. Years ago, I knew only the so-called As this process continues, the corm D utch crocus in tones of purple or blue, will eventually come closer and closer both plain and striped. I knew nothing to the surface, which is the reason it about the species or wild crocus. From should not be planted shallow. I t is what I have seen in the gardelils Qf al so the ~easo n why crocus have to be most amateurs, this still seems to be lifted after a number of years unless the state of aff airs, so I am making 'a they are first planted at least fi ve inches plea fo r a much more wide spread use deep and have had leaf mold added to of species crocus and for several rea­ the bed each year. In deep planting, sons. They bloom earlier or in the the annually produced roots have a Autumn. T hey are very hardy. They tendency to hold the co rm more fi rmly have smaller fl owers of more vari ed in. place. shapes. T hey are very graceful in their W hen I have to transplant to in­ habit of growth, they last longer in crea"e my stock; because of over crowd­ bad weather, in snow or rain, and best ing, or because the corms are no longer of all they propagate themselves both fl owering well , I do it always immedi­ by corm and seeds. ately after the fl owering and always try There are seventy-five or more to lift, divide and reset, the same day. species of crocus. They come from all In this way it is easy to see where to parts of the Old W orld T emperate plant them in relation to other growths Zone : fr om Portugal, Spain, I taly, and there will be enough subsequent F rance, Greece, Palestine and Turkey: rain and sunshine to develop them fully F rom the Caspian R egion to Asia so that they will Hower the following M inor is the home country of the year. When one buys new corms, they greatest number of the species. They arrive in the Autumn and should be are fo und also on the Balearic and planted as soon as possible so that I onian Islands and they grow high up there will be ample time for deep root-, on the Alps, in the Pyrenees and in the ing before Winter . A utumn-flowering Ca uc a s u s. The Autumn-flowering sorts are best planted in July or species are not to be confused with the August. Colchicums which are some times called The crocus has some enemies, mice autumn crocus, but which belong to the rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks all eat L ily Family and are quite a different them. If you do not wish to get rid of affair. the enemies, you must protect the The so-called Dutch crocus are crocus. When planting in the F all, I hybrids. They are mostly the result of: always cover the groups with screen crossing Crocu.s v en/,u.s with C. 11'LOesia­ mesh wire until the ground is packed. cus according to some authorities. They I have found that this keeps out, even were developed mostly in the N ether­ the chipmunks. Naptha fl akes put on lands, hence the name. They are very the ground saves them in the summer beautiful and now come in many named if you find evidence that the enemies varieties, some of which are of great 32 T HE 1 ATION AL H ORTI CULTURAL MAGAZINE Jail ., 1948

ize. If carefully chosen, they wi ll give e. dl1'ysallthus E. P . Bowles is a a bl oo ming peri od of two to three good yellow variety, a pure .b uttercup weeks aft er the species are mostly vellow. The fl owers are faIrly large gone. They defin itely belong in any ~.y ith a very smooth texture. Many Spring garden but just as defin itely fl owers come from each corm. should be preceded by the species ! C. S USiaN1f.S called Cloth of Gold, is The ea rlies t of my species is e. a bright yellow with brown on the out­ Imp er ati. This year, 1947, after the side. It bloomed late this year, but it warm weather in December and J anu­ is supposed to be one of the earliest. ary, it began to fl ower on January 30. e. F leische'ri is a very unusual It was then covered with snow fo r a species. T he white petals are narrow month, but other buds opened by and pointed and the anthers are a March 5. It is a lovely thing, the outer brill iant scarlet. It bloomed profusely segments fawn color flu shed or marked from March 22 to April 8. with violet, the insid e warm red purple. e. W eldeni is white shaded with The next to bloom were e. Sieben', a blue, free fl owering and its wh ite form cl ear blue lavender and C. T 011'l llwsi­ e. TlVe ldeni albus differs merely in niaNus lavender or gray without. A bout being pure white. twenty years ago I bought a dozen C. b i jl01 " ~~S the Scotch crocus, looks corms of each of these. Since then they like HI eldewi but is larger. ha ve been divided and reset have in­ e. bijlO1'uS P arl?insoni is a small but c r e a ~ ed and seeded themselves until a quite a nice fl ower, the insi de of the hillside, 25 by 125 feet is completely petals whi te, but the outside marked covered with groups of them. In with purple stripes. It fl owered in F ebruray or early March it is a solid late March. sheet of lavender. T his year it was still e. ch1'ysanthus Large Warley W hi ~e a mass of lavender after more than a is a very beautiful large cream colored th o u ~ a ll d fl owers had been picked. O f fl ower, half a dozen to the cO rln. It the two, T O1'l'lmasil1ianu,s is by far e. bloomed in early April. the more prolifi c. e. v ersicolor p -i ct~wat1M sometimes C. T Olll1llOS in ial1u.s Whitewell Purple called Cloth of Silver, is w hi ~e, also is a vari ety worth having. It has many with stripes on the outside of the petals. small red purple fl owers and is lovely It began to bloom in the latter part of 111 a mass. March and continued for several e. Oliv ieri from Greece, is a very weeks. It seemed impossible that so deep clear orange. The foli age is dark many fl owers -could come from one wi th the usual white band. It is also small corm. It is one of the best for very ea rl y and bears many fl ower. to the rock garden. each co rm. e. e t1'~£S C 'U.s has fl owers of very good e. allreus is another orange one, with form, and of a beautiful shade of dozens of small bright fl owers. It mul­ la vender. It continues in bloom fo r ti ples rapidl y an d is very hardy. more than a month and is particularly e. chr'ysanthlls D o r o~ h y is a lovely worth whi le. ye ll ow feathered with bronze and its e. chrysa11thus Q uaintness is of fl owers la t a long tim e. even with primrose hue feathered with light Spring rains. T his year it began on purple. March 22 and continued in blo0111 fo r e. vermis Vanguard is a very large three weeks. and a very beautiful variety blue-Iav- Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 33 ender inside and gray on the outside. try C. saf·ivus, the saffr·on crocus of It is a fine addition to any collection deep lilac with lighter shadings and whether large or small. orange stigmata or C. speciosus in These are only a few of the many violet blue and many varieties, or species that I have grown and the dates again, C. zonatus a most striking thing of blooming are of this year (1947). of lilac rose with an orange center. Other years they have been three weeks There are many others. Look over all earlier. All of these species I have the catalogues, choose wisely and you found to be hardy, interesting in their will have flowers through October and forms and colors; of rapid increase and November (in December in mild coun­ free blooming. They may not be pre­ tries) and again in Spring for two cisely those that you might want for months, provided you include also the your garden, but they are excellent. If familiar Dutch crocus. you need Autumn-flowering species, Dayton, Ohio

Gloxinias On The Pacific Coast GEORGE B. FURNISS

Gloxinia ·seed and tubers for the fungus and rot. Then, too, the utmost domestic trade come largely from Cali­ care is required in watering and keep­ fornia. Whether European sources will ing the foliage dry. The layman lacks regain control is doubtful because of the time, perhaps the facili ties or the regional advantages. Crops are com­ ability, for such detail but he can find mercially grown along the central and satisfaction in a lathhouse. Here, a southern coastal . sections where the uniform change of air prevails, no air humidity is relatively high. The pockes nor faulty ventilation, or exces­ weather during the growing period is sive humidity to cause buds to die, or cool at night and warm of days. The mold to develop. species, however, are native of the sub­ Water may be use profusely on tropical regions of Ameri·ca yet the plants and the surroundings which con­ growth seems to be remarkably sturdy dition holds humidity and defies pests. and vigorous under these coastal condi­ Pests just don't like water and this also tions. gets rid of that other burdensome pest Seed is started in February under -the insecticide sprayer. I water early artificial heat between 65 and 70 de­ of a morning, before the sun gets grees. Cultivation is under glass for . strong, and this gives the air currents forcing purposes and as the season ad­ ample time to dry off the foliage before vances, which is early, the vents are evening_ This evaporation is also in­ kept full open during the day. I find vigorating to plant growth, resulting in that the sooner the plants can be turgid stems and leaves. hardened-off and put in a lathhouse, \i\Tatering is done every morning the more robust is the growth. Devel­ during hot spells and less often accord­ opment may be slower but the results ing to weather conditions. Yes, even are better than under the ventilation the velvety leaves are wetted which is restrictions of a glasshouse. no other than what occurs in nature. Greenhouse culture requires extreme However, effort is made to hold the skill and a constant battle against pests, spray below the flower-heads. A fine THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE J an., 1948 spray is made with the finger held over surface of the medium. I use the same the nozzle so as to direct and control compost as for potting. This is sifted the force. Force keeps pests from through a window-screen lu esh and the lodging and also strengthens growth. sphagnum is powdered through a tca­ Spraying and pot-watering are sys­ strainer. Watering is done by absorp­ temized together by sections. tion from a saucer. Seed planted in soil, In potting, several inches of dry gets a natural and a diversified nourish­ leaves are put in the bottom of the pot ment immediately and apparently ob­ for drainage, that is, using top leaves tains a more sustaining start. from under oak or other hard-wood A common mistake is sowing seed trees ... no crocks, just press the too thi ck, thereby getting more plants leaves down firmly. This provides free than needed, and (2) transplanting be­ drain::tge and lessens the danger of f.ore the secondary leaves are developed. over-watering. For compost, I use 0 Sowing fewer seeds, well scattered and soil , y,I peatmoss and ;4 oak leaf-mold. then transplanting with the advent of In absence of the last, use 0 peatmoss. true leaves, starts the plant on its mis­ The purpose of adding sand is to sion with a rugg-ed constitution instead open a compost for drainage and air. of a weak. succulent impotence. The amount of ~ and of course depends A local propagator who wholesales upon the texture. Our form ul a call s specimen Gloxinia plants to the fl.orist for more soil than is generall y used; trade and uses greenhouses for forcing, the ob ject is to have the soil sufficient was confronted with his plants lan­ and somewhat heavy so as to slow up gui shing in spite of what he did. He the compost in drying out. With each called in horticulturists from the U ni­ watering, a certain amount of nutri­ versity of California who found the ment washes out so that by cutting Gloxinias suffering from boron defi­ down the frequency of watering, saves ciency. The formula prescribed was a nutriments and time. level tablespoonful of borax (laundry The proper texture may be told by kind) in a pin t of water so as to make the feel and that comes with experi­ a saturated solution. This was used at ence. Upon half fi lli ng a pot. I mix in the ratio of 2 drops to each gallon a rounding tablespoonful of fertil izer to every 2 weeks in watering. The plants a six inch pot, fishm eal preferred. Cut­ responded gradually to this treatment tings, leaf and part of stem, are taken and the grower was thus saved a heavy when mature which is the period fol­ financial loss. Thanks, that such valu­ lowing the last blooms. Sand is a good able scientific service is made available rooting medium but must be k ~ pt quite by State and Federal Departments. dry to prevent rot. Vermiculite. as a An infinitesimal element thus be­ rooting medium, advertised under vari­ comes the thread between health and ous names, has not proven superior in disease, between li fe and death. Its ab­ a check test, even when the surface was sence becomes a case of starvation pulverized to nestle the fine seed. from hunger when food sources are The strong argument is, that being ahundantly present. Such a plant is sterile, it do es not require the di sagree­ like The Ancient Mariner: "Water, able task of sterilizing as is made neces­ water everywhere, Nor any drop to sary by other medi ums. But steriliza­ drink." tion is not necessary if a coating of Some years ago a nationally known dried sphagnum moss is sifted over the Cali fo rnia grower added Gloxinias to hn., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE hi s specialities with much introductory Tuberous Begonias in period of bloom publicity. Extreme losses occurred and and requirements. At Skagway in July poor results developed so he quit the we saw them blooming in the open and species. Perhaps that too, was boron in hanging baskets under trees . These truancy. were gorgeous and comparable in size Gloxinias are adaptable to northern and texture with those in California~ climates and even in those climates only the color was far more vivid~an with short summers. Two acquaint­ intensiveness which latitude bestows on ances, one living in Nebraska and the its fl ora. In that latitude the growing o'her in Minnesota, start their seed period is short but the long daylight and tubers in the household and bloom and warm weather makes for rapid them on their porches. A lso, pots are development. In this there is a surpris­ plunged in the garden in sheltered ing fact. There are more days in the locations and on the north side -of course of a year when the temperature shrubs . .. Yes, hot weather, winds, and in the shade reaches 90 degrees, or rain notwithstanding. . over, than at Panama where the aver­ Gloxinias should do well in Alaska age of course is much higher. as they are closely associated with Oakland, California

Lily Notes

Lily I111prov e111en t R equires Years, But While there are a good many lilies, Is Worth It. there is also plenty of room for their A man wants his first child to be a improvement, especially as to disease son. A psychologist explains this on resistance, hardiness, vigor. the basis that when a man is old enough First, I got together all. the books to have a son, he has already realized on hardy lilies I could, also bulletins that his work will not get as far along about lilies, lily bulb catalogs and lists, as he wishes in his own brief lifetime. and I did also a good deal of corre­ He wants a son to carryon the work. sponding to get still more information. If it happens to be the improvement Wilson's "Lilies of Eastern Asia" is of hardy lilies, hi s idea is well most helpful. grounded. One must know the fi eld before there More than ten years ago I started can be worth while progress. working on trying to improve hardy That took about five years. Then I lilies for that large region east of the was able to layout the plan as to what Rocky mountains, which comprises should be possible to do and what about three-fifths of the United States should be done? and perhaps seven-eights of the popu­ The lilies that do so well on the lation. VI/est Coast are the same lilies that do Iowa is a fine place to create new best in Europe and in England, such and better hardy perennial plants. Its as L. M artago1'1 and L. pyre11G.inmt, blizzard belt, freezing and thawing which have naturalized themselves there over and over often with no snow. T o for more than three hundred years, but stand this they must be really hardy. are always difficult to establish in New 36 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

England or in the northern part of viable. That is, it grew. Scajawea is the United States. As to L. chalced011i­ a hybrid of two Pacifi c coast native cum, or Red Martagon or Constanti­ lilies, H ~t1"'I< boldtii X pa?'adalin~t11~ . nople, it has long been common in It is named for the Indian woman many places in E ngland, but in the guide of Lewis and Clark expedition. U nited States east of the R ockies, it In 1946 nearly fifty crosses were is a very diffin!lt lily, to say the least. made. About half of them did not All these lilies do well on the West take. I rather expected that. Coast. The best of these so far is a second Then there is a lily from Burma, generation hybrid in-bred cross. The India-the giganteum~, which is largest seeds were the largest, heaviest, lily known. It grows as much as 12 plumpest and darkest colored lily seeds feet tall, and is the pride of large Eng­ I b'!ve ever seen. The seeds measured li sh estates. It blooms only once. Has z3!.16" by 3/8". large, whi:e fragrant fl owers. It is a --r:11ey were planted indoors in sub­ very difficult lily east of the Rockies. irrigated flats, several weeks after After about five years gathering ma­ planting several varieties of such early terial, I made out a plan and started to germinating lilies as j01'1110sanu111, in­ CTe t tOCTether the bulbs I needed for the '" b cluding several hybrids- also concolor various crosses. and Awrelianense. One rare S peciosu11~ 1'u,b,"u1n I got But the new cross seeds were up from the one place in Japan where it long before the j0r111OSanUm and others. could be secured, and the only place In a short time they have become at anywhere. If I had waited another least fi ve times as large, and have al­ year, I would not have had them. ready begun to send up true leaves. Then I got lily bulbs from Manitoba, At this rate they should bloom by 1948, Canada, 200 miles north of the U. S.­ as it is a rule with lilies that those that Canadian line. They are hardy all right. germinate quickly also bloom in a Also got some fine bulbs from British couple years or so. Columbia, and from many parts of the The slow germinating lily seeds, such United States. as a.wa.tu11'l., spec iosu111", and such, do One bul b I needed to fit in a certain, not bloom under about five years from important place, is not a commercial seed. It is possibl e, by giving them lily. No bulbs to be had anywhere. li quid fertilizer about every other week, Finall y I got some seeds from the to get them to bloom in as short a time Boyce Thompson Institute for P lant as fo ur years. Research. I raised four bulbs. Last I had j01'1nOSanu.,% liVilsoni, the late year two of them bloomed the first fonnosanu11'I" last fall that were eight time. They gave me plenty of poll en, feet tall with a dozen nine-inch blooms which was what I wanted them for. on one stem, white and fragrant. The Although I made so me crosses be­ j0'l'1noSamt1n is said to be a short-lived fore last year, I was not suppli ed with lil y. I have not fo und them so. These the right lilies to do what I planned. are seven years old, and get larger and One lof these earlier crosses was better every year. The stems are so candid" /N. or Madonna as pollen sturdy that they do not need to be parent, on Scajowea as seed parent. staked. I have other tall lilies that do Neither of these produce seed normally. require staking, such as henryi, also This cross prodnced seed that was known as the Golden Speciosum. This Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 37 is the longest blooming lily I have. and many more, including the lovely As to the for11'1osa'mf'ln, keep them Siberian Coral lily, or pU111iht111, for­ away from the Tiger lilies, and its a merly known as telluifoliIl7"". It is one good idea to keep all other lili es also of the earli est lili es to blo0111, blooming away from Tiger lilies. And still , the in J line. From then 011 there are lilies Tigers are the most vigorous, hardy in bloom until black, killing frosts come and healthy liles we have. They in autumn, and garden is dead but full naturalize here. Some people don't care of dreams for the next year. for them. Say they are coarse. The lily experts assert that auratu71'L Among the crosses is auratu1'1L X and specios1.t7l1 are the two finest liles, speciosu111, which is the long lost and and they are included among the lilies Oll t s tan di ngly beautiful Parkmanii especiall y adapted to the United States hybrid, lost for some 75 years. I sup­ east of the Rockies. pose that this cross is ab~ratum pollen But it is not going to hurt at all to on speciosu71~ rubr~~71IL. There are improve these and create new lilies that several other speciosu71L, of course, such are hardier, more viO'orous and more as albu71~, and others. I have a li st of disease resistant. That is the job I 12 different varieties of sp ecio s~mL , six have picked out. In another five years of fOr7110Sa11'/Jt711, and there are hundreds or so, I hope to have something to of auratums; some of them retailing show for some 15 years of very inter­ up $125 a bulb. esting work. Now I am just getting started in new I have a giant form of Coral lily that and I hope better hardy lilies. grows more than three feet tall. This There are also various sp eC iOS~£71'L on SU111mer I discovered that this lily has aU7'atum crosses. Some even starting a lovely honey fragrance, not strung. to grow, which they should do for a There are several named kinds. In­ year. If they grow early they wi ll also cluding seve ra~ yellow. bloom early. T:le rules or heredity work just the Its only about a dozen years I have same as to hardy lilies as hybrid seed been at it. corn, chrysanthemums, and other The second generation hybrids, espe­ plants. cially in-breds, should result is newer The hybrids often have more vlgor and better, more hardy, vigorous and than either parent. disease resistant lilies . The new hybrids that is making such The vast region east of the Rocky rapid growth will not be a white, and it mountains is fortunate as to lilies. probably will not be highly fragrant. Those that do best in that immense In c?lor it wil be probably an orange region are the lilies native to China and or P1l1k. There is an in teresting future eastern Asia, which include atWMM71l. for hardy lilies. f07"7710Sanu111-frol11 the island of that H. Roy MOSNAT name - sPCCiOSU111, regale, tig'ril1 U7 '11 , Belle Plaine, Iowa Cactus and Succulents

W. TAYLOR MARSHALL, Edito1' Directo1', Desert Botanical Ga1'den, Phoenix, A"izona

S~tcculents in Oakland before the show every member, who Just how much can be accomplished was free to do so, gathered at the show by a small but earnest group of plant grounds to work on the exhibits. lovers to further interest in their own For the largest exhibit a background specialty was clearly demonstrated at scene suggested by Shiprock Mountain, the Spring Flower Show in Oakland New Mexico was built and painted by by the Cactus and Other Succulent our own members. Dirt was hauled to League. build up a natural-looking gully and About thirty members comprise the covered with reddish-brown slag which group but each is an enthusiast for suc­ blended with the color of the backdrop culent plants and a hard worker where and in this we planted fine specimens of hi s hobby is involved. Only such a Cacti as can be seen in Figure 1. group would have considered entering For the Succulent plant exhibit we the 15th Annual Show in all three had a ready made background in a log classes of entry for succulents as li sted cabin already in place and it was neces­ by the Show Committee. sary only to bring in rich soil and First there was class 577, A collec­ colorful rocks with which to build a tion of cacti-20ro other Xerophytic rockery in which our choicest and most plants permissable-not less than 500 colorful succulents were planted. AI­ plants-not less than 700 square feet. small section of this garden is seen in Next was class 579, Outdoor exhibit Figure 2. of Succulents-not less than 50 species and varieties-not less than 100 plants, F or the third entry we had a shadow and la tly there was class 581, Coll ec­ box built and painted with aluminum tion of the more delicate succulents­ paint, and there we showed nearly per­ not less than 30 plants-judged for fect speci men plants of both cacti and cultural merit and rarity. tl1e other succul ents, each pot wrapped For these classes the Show Commit­ in florists foi l and the whole lighted by tee provided fi rst prizes of ,$320, $80, one flu orescent fixture. This entry is and $30 and it was extremely likely shown in Figure 3. that there would be no efficient com­ Yes, we did win first prize on each of peti tion for them but to keep us alert the entries and our society is richer by these is a provision in the show rules the $430 prize mon.ey less about $200 that says "\iVhere there is no competi­ which we spent on the entries. tion it will be left to the discretion of But more important than the prize the Judges to award 1st. 2nd, 3rd. etc., money we attracted the attention of premiums or no award." almost everyone of the more than Preparations for the exhibits began 100,000 paid attendance and some of a full year in advance when each of our them will surely be sufficiently inter­ members selected his best plants and ested to start a collection of succulent commenced to groom them to assure plants. near perfection. The last six week ends W. C. ANDREW [38] Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 39

. \ I / j

, '/:~w>.:w-;~~_t... WI-· '- Official Flower Show photo. Fig. 1. Th e 700 square feet cactus entry.

An O/?baho111.a CoUector and Arizona, the last in the spring of Six years ago, at the age of thirteen, this year on whicb trip we t(}ok 162 the cacti of our neighborhood a'tracted Oklahoma cacti to the Desert Botanical my attention and I collected plants of Garden near Phoenix where an Okla­ Echinocer e '~bs p1JWp1Jbre1J£S, C oryphantha homa section was started. vivipam, N eobesseya '/IJIl.issou1'iensis and In 1944 I built a 12 x 12 greenhouse of three Opuntias and established them to house my ever-increasing collection in our garden. Since then my collec­ but found that even with this protection tion has grown until it numbers about I was not too successful with the tropi­ 200 species of Cacti. cal and subtropical species such as At first I was able to obtain only E piphyllum and C e1'eus, both of which small cuttings and seedlings and some seem to need a more humid air that is seed which I planted and from which usual in Oklahoma. I have raised some nice plants. A year after my interest was first aroused, My fa vorites are 1\.1 a111,111.illGJria, my uncle, Lewis Vi. Sweet, took me on Astroph'ytu11'/" Echinopsis, GY111.no­ a trip to Texas where we collected ad­ calyci H11L and H a7'1'IGtoca.ctu,s all of ditional species to add to our coll ection, which flow er freely in 111)' greenhouse. Mr. Sweet also had a cactus garden. In the picture taken in my garden in Since then we have been companions 1944 the large plant is Hom.alocephala on other trips to Texas, New Mexico teXe'llS1's which I found near my home 40 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

Fig. 2. A section of the S u cculent PlaHt exhibit. at Mangum. The crest on a graft is one a more natural setting on hi s fa rm at of several found by my uncle in one the edge of town. locali ty at the west edge of town. It is My coll ecting trips have greatly in­ Echinocereus pllrpurMIS. creased 111 y interest in desert plants. The second picture shows part of the On one of our trips I found the most desert plant collection at my uncle's aristocratic of cacti, P e diowct~£s Simp­ home which has since been moved to sonii at the sU111 mit of a 10,000 foot Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 41

Stover Studio The shadow box exhibit of specimen plants. peak nea r Mountainair, New Mexico. ranean countries, all are succulent and My visit to the Giant Cactus of Arizona all produce colorful flowers on simple gave me a real thrill and I also greatly or branched inflorescences with fl owers enjoyed the visit to the Desert Botani­ in nodding racemes in reds, yellows or ~ l Garden near Phoenix where I had orange. an opportunity to see so many of the In the more favored parts of our Mexican and South American species country they are grown outdoors, as growing just as they would at home. we grow them in A rizona, and they My interest in cactus has proved it­ lend brill iant color at a time when the self by the number of fine people I have cacti and other desert plants are hare met through it and the many happy of blooms. hours I have spent with my plants. Many of the smaller species make My only regret is that circumstances good pot plants to be grown outdoors will not permit me to go to some good in the warmer seasons and brought in co ll ege and really find out about cactus and placed in a sunny window in winter and all plant life. where the fl owers can brig

Cact~£s beds at the Sweet home. supply enough light in the winter season to develop flowers. The accompaning study by R. C. Proctor, Arizona famed cactus flower photographer, was made in February and shows Aloe spinosissi111,(l at the peak of its flowering. In pot culture a soil composed of equal parts of top sol1, sharp sand leaf mold has proved best and water can be f~eely supplied in hot weather but as winter nears give less water until the plant is taken indoors when the soil in the pot should be allowed to com­ pletely dry between waterings.

I dria COlU1%IW1'is Kellogg. The lad who saw a living elephant for the first time and declared "there aint no sHch animal" has many counter­ parts amongst the visitors to the Desert Botanical Garden whet! they first view our plants of I d1'ia columnaris. Gilbert Taylo·r and some of his plants. The plant is a tree which may attain a height of forty feet or more, the trunk at the growing tip. From the trunk is shaped like an inverted carrot, 12 arise numerous short, spiny and leafy inches Dr more in diameter at the base branches. The first leaves on, new and tapering to a point at the apex, growth branches are borne on long silvery gray at the base to fresh green pedicels which harden into spines when Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 43

R. C. Proctor Flowers of Aloe spinosissima 44 T HE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

It is fo und only in the central section of Baja California and in one small colony near Puerto Libertad in Sonora on the western coast of the mainland of Mexico. In Lower California the tree is called "cerio," the name fo r a tapering altar candle, by the natives, but the Ameri­ cans refer to it as the "living telegraph pole." R eg. Manning, the desert cartoonist and artist, being a very wise man has not forgotten his " Alice in W onderland" and he calls our plant the Boogum Tree in his bo ok " What Kinda Cactus Izzat" and it is by this name that I d,-ia is known to most of the vi sitors to the Desert Botanical Garden. I dr-ia. is naturally an undivided column but occasionally a plant has a f . A. S chrellde'r divided main trunk from twenty feet I dl-ia co lulnnaris gro7mng zn a cactus above ground. T . S. Brandegee was gal-d en, Lafay ette, Calif. of the opinion that such branched trunks were the result of an injury to the main trunk rather than a natural the leaves fall , secondary leaves appear growth habit. at the axil of these spines in groups of F or strength the plant has a conical two to four. The tree is leafl ess in dry woody structure covered by a thick and peri ods. punky bark and fill ed with a pi thy sub­ The cream colored fl owers are borne stance. The woody cone which survives on panicles at the apex of the plant in after the tree has died bleaches white J uly and August. when the punky bark has disintegrated and shows numerous holes where the The plant was fi rst co ll ected by Dr. branches arose from the living plant. Veatch near the Bay of Sebastian I dl'ia has been successfully grown in Viscaino on the peninsula of Baja Cali­ gardens in the desert di stricts and in fornia and was described by Dr. many parts of the milder di stricts of Kellogg in 1885 as a species of Califo rnia, T exas and Florida and it J7ouqLtie1'ia or "ocotilla" but five years has also been successfully grown as a later Dr. K ellogg placed it in the potted plant anywhere if hothouse monotypic genus Id,'·ia.. It is therefore protection is available fo r the colder a member of the plant fami ly Fouquie­ months of the year. Like most desert riaceae or Candlewood wh ich contains plants it requires a very porous soil but two genera and about ni ne species . and li ttle or no water in cold weather. Camellia Notes

H. HAROLD HUME, Editor

CrowiNg Call1ellias and Azaleas in the their regal splendor from three choice Nose Capital of the World spots in our garden. The fall of 1946 in East Texas was How grateful we were for ou r ideal warm and dry, wi th an I ndian summer soil, a perfect blend of sand and clay, spell of lazy, pleasant days and nights, lightly acid-"Nature's Greenhouse," accompanied by drying win ds and an the horticul turists were calli ng it-and unusually small rainfall for {J ur section for our usuall y very reasonable climate at this time of year. Because of the with plenty of rainfa ll in the spring, lack of any rea l winter weather, we fa ll and wi nter. Summer drouths were were fo rced to continue watering and not of too long duration, and sprin kler Ilmlchi ng our camellias and azaleas to systems and hand-watering took care prevent the drying out of the soil and of them. to meet the demand of the rapidly This year we were looking forward swell ing fl ower buds. Many varieties to a banner bloomi ng crop. Now. for were prematurely advanced for their the first time, we would be able to reg- ubr blooming season. compare in our own garden, the Lady We had occa~ i ona l twinges of doubt Hume's Blush with Mrs. K. Sawada; about the wisdom of contin uing to the Tea Garden with the Georgia water so much so late, but feared that Donckelaari and the E ugene Li ze the lack of mois"ure at this ti me might Donckelaari ; Alba Plena with K . cause bud dropping and the wilting of Sawada and Henni ngham Smith; and some new late growth on ~ome of our F lame with Red Donckelaari. This year smaller pi:tnts. H opefully we looked we would see Chandleri E legans next for a moderate cold spell to take the to its red sport, Sophia, and its soli d pi:tnts gently into dormancy, but none rose, F rancine. came before Christmas. But the best laid plans can't compete O n September twenty-first we were with the eccentri cities of our T exas excited to ·find a fully opened White weather! Daikagura. A very pleasant surprise, On December twenty-eighth the as we had bought the two-year graft thermometer stood at 76 degrees- a the year before as a W hite Perfection . warm, shirt-sleevesy day. T he weather It made an interesting addition to {J ur man was predicting a sudden drop, pos­ fam ily of soli d R ed and Variegated sibly freezing before morning. With Daikaguras. several such fa lse alarms in the past to By the middle of October the Alba guide us, we confidently expected P lenas, Debutantes, Alba P lena Fim­ nothing worse than that very late "cool briatas, some P ink Perfect ions, Davis spell " our plants had been needing for R ose and Dawns and Cheerful s were the past six weeks. W ith nightfall , in bloo m ; fo llowed by P rof. Sargents, came a brisk shower which allowed the E llen McKinseyes, and the lovely Lady camellias plenty of moisture to cope Clares . P urity and Lotus were in with the co ld, we thought. fl ower at Christmas, along side of But-by daylight, the thermometer Adolph A udusson, Red and Varie­ had fallen to 21 degrees, fi fty-six de­ gated, with the Donckelaaris flal1nti ng grees in eleven hours. A Texas "blue [45) 46 T H E NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948 norther" had struck with all its power branches of many of the azaleas as and fury. The gorgeous blossoms of soon as possible, but some were missed. the afternoon before were encased in These branches died back and the solid ice. From 21 degrees the ther­ as the plants that received immediate mometer continued to fall until it bushes have not recuperated as rapidly reached 10 degrees, four days later. treatment. For ten days East Texas was in an icy Now, with the Kaempferis and grip, with several days of noon thaw to Macranthas, it is a different story. be followed at night by another hard These two spl endid species of azaleas freeze. The United States Weather went ahead with a bountiful showing Bureau stated that this had been the of bloom. The late-flowering, decidu­ quickest and biggest drop ever recorded ous Kaempferis blossomed right 011 in this secti on. Cold comfort to us and s'chedule, and to our great surprise and our camellias! joy, we discovered about two dozen East T exas has occasionally expen­ " double-flowered" plants among some enced near-zero temperatures in the we had bought as singles. The ever­ past, but never anything like this. Al­ green Macranthas, in rosy pink and ways these low temperatures had been salmon pink, extended our azalea proceeded by suffi·cient cold to make blooming period well into June. most of the plant material of this sec­ The only diagnosis of camellia dam­ ti on completely dormant. This year age and fatality we have been able to many thousands of young roses were make for ourselves, from this experi­ killed in the fields; gardenias were ence, pointed to the growing condition killed back to the ground, in many of the individual plant itself. It was cases destroyed completely. All nursery very evident that camellias, either in stock suffered severely. The estimated full bloom, half-opened bud, or over­ loss to the rose-growers, alone, was in laden with bud, are much more suscep­ hundreds of thousands of dollars. The tible to cold damage than plants with many beautiful fl owering shrubs this less matured buds still wrapped in their section is famous for were either killed protective husks. These husks or sepals back, or their bloom retarded and very seem to form a kind of winter overcoat meager. on the buds, and, until they begin to Of the azaleas, the Indicas received split and open, offer some measure of greater damage than the Kurumes,­ protection to the flower from the cold. P ride of Mobile (Elegans Superba) Our loss was greatest in grafted more than F ormosa, Pres. Claeys, plants that had been bought and set Flame, Daphne Salmon and Fielders out in October, two months previously. V\!hite. The bark on many twings was But this loss was not confined entirely spli t, with th e bark at the base of a to recent plantings, alone. Several of fe w plants completely girdled. These the plants we had purchased the fall latter pl ants, after a false spring of 1945, also, were badly hurt or killed. growth, soon langui shed and di ed. The Vve decided perhaps, that the camellias Belgian H ybrids faired even worse. Of fro111 a certain nursery were more sus­ twelve vari eties in our garden, only ceptible to the cold. But, again, this one J still alive. The Kurumes were was not proven to our satisfaction, as burned in bud and leaf, but managed a a fi ve year old graft of Lady Hume's decent show of fl ower late in the spring. Blush came through with only a few \ Ve cut out the damaged twigs and burnt terminal leaf-buds and leaves Jan., 1948 THE NATIOKAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 47

We lost several of the very beautiful good, but not as heavy as last year. semi-double A udussons, (by far my This is probably just as well, and will favorites) ; a large Donckelaari - an save disbudding of any surplus. eight year old graft on about fourteen Of course, we now realize that a year old understock; a Eugene Lize great deal of the camellia damage was Donckelaari, two Mrs. Chas. Cobb, one our own fault. We had kept our plants Aspasia, Eleanor of Fairoaks; several in a growing condition by heavy water­ Rubra Virginalis, and three A lba ing during the warm, lush, spring-like Plenas were so badly damaged that the days in December. But hindsight is plants had to be cut back almost to always better than foresight. This year stumps. With the Alba Plenas, that we have resolved to try to enforce was not unexpected, but the other dormancy, if necessary, by withholding camellias were either semi-doubles or water from the plants from about the peony-formed, and had been previously fifteenth of October to the first week thought more cold resistant than the in November. double varieties. In February of this year we gave Many of the so-called tender each plant a moderate feeding of cotton "double" camellias came through with seed meal. We consider this the ideal less harm to the plants themselves than fertilizer on our soil for all plants, with some of the ories recommended for the exception of bulbs. Again in April, the northern-most camellia belt. Mrs. we used cotton seed meal in more K. Sawada, Lady Hume's Blush, Hen­ liberal amounts-about two cupfuls ningham Smith, C. M. Hovey, Rosea scattered back from the base of the Superba, Mathotiana, Eleanor Hay­ trunk for a large shrub, and then good, Otome, Purity, Prince Eugene watered in thoroughly; for smaller Napoleon, Margherita Caleonie, and plants, a scant cupful. About the first many other doubles seemed to be hurt of June, for the sake of trying some­ very little. True, there was some split thing new, we used the 5-10-5 formula, bark on branches, late spring di e-back but in very small amounts, two tbsps. on twigs, but on the whole, they look around larger plants, one around small very "thrifty." ones, well watered in . At all seasons The flower buds were ruined on all we are careful to maintain sufficient of the one hundred and sixty odd mulch, renewing it when it has washed varities of camellias in our gat"den, away or decayed into the soil. We have with the exception of the old faithfuls, found oak leaves, pine straw, grass Tricolor Seboldi, Leucantha, Austell cuttings, rotted oak or pine saw dust Pink and Empress of India. The excellent for this use. "Ale have learned flowers on the two latter camellias by experience not to put the mulch too opened very late, in May, and were close, or too deep, around the base of dwarfed and somewhat distorted. the trunk, but to gradually deepen it The leaf-buds were killed on many of back to the edge of the branches of the the plants .and defoliation began in plant, and there form a basin. This about four weeks. Since many of the holds extra water for the bush and new leaf-buds were destroyed, the helps to prevent leaching. plants have had a hard struggle to re­ The new growth this year on our place these; in l1l ost instances, the new camellias has been shorter than ever leaves are rather small and sparse. The before, but looks strong and healthy, Rower-bud crop for ]947 seems yery fo r the most part. The spring and sum- 4S THE NATIONAL HORTICULTUl{AL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

mer growth on the azaleas has been collecti ve optimism, we have organi zed very good. on some plants better than "T;1e A. zalea and Camellia Society of we normally get. \V ood is matured Ea ~ t Texas," and are planning for a and ready for cuttings. Flower buds Camelli a S how in December. With are again swelling. A new season of this many qualified voters banded bloom is at hand, and hope is high together, perhaps Congress will finally again. \Ve are very op ~ imistic, and feel do something about the weather. sure Fate will not play another such VIRGINIA BURKS trick on us this year. In fa ct, in our T yler, T exas

The Gardener's Pocketbook

Tile A rge111bone 01' Pric/?ly Poppy. Annual or perennial herbs or rarely In 1929, wh il e visiting the Wind shrubs, with prickly bristles and yellow Cave National Park in South Dakota, 0;:- wll i 'e sap. L -:: a ves alternate, cb sp­ I was impressed by a showy white­ ing, pinl1J tifid or lobed, the divisions fl owered Argemone or P rickly Poppy ti1)pecl with spines and often blotched that grew there in great profusion, and with white. Flowers erect in bud, per­ was led to consider the possibility of fect. Petals 4-6, showy, yellow or its use as a garden subj ect in the white. St lmens numerous. Sepals 2-3, Northern Great P lains. As the only hOJ d -d or horned, deciduous. b::-tany I had at the time was Gray's Rydberg's "Flora of the Prairies and Manual, which gave A. platyce1'as as P lains of Central North America," the onl y wh:te-flowered A rgemone, I which is the la 4est and best Botany for cencluded that th is South Dakota form the Great P lains r e~ i o n , li sts the fol­ must be of that variety, and. judging iowing variet:es of Argemones: 4 frem i s stature and size, I thought it A . 1lLcxicana. with yellow ffow ers; must be a perenn ial. However. when its habitat, hillsid :: s, cultivated ground I mentioned thi s in a contribution to and waste places in the West Indies, this Magazine, Lester R ountree wrote F lorida, Texas, South America, Africa, me from California that A1'ge11iLOne E ast Indies, and Australia. Cultivated platyceras was an annual with her. I and esclped; reported from Colorado, have sin ce learned from later botanies Iowa and Kansas. than Gray's that the variety I saw in A . i17t el'1nedia , with white fl owers; South Dakota was Ayge11wl1 e inte1'- habitat, the plain s of South Dakota, 11l edia. I have also learned from actual­ Missouri, Tex as, Northern Mexico, ly growing it in my garden that It IS \Vyoming. a perennial that blossoms the fi rst A . hispida, white flowers; habitat, year. the plain s and hillsid es of Kansas, New Our Editor's article on the "Prickly Mexico, U tah and \Vyomi ng. P oppies (Argemone) in the July. 1946 A . sqllanosa, white fl owers ; habitat, number prompts me to give the fo11ow­ the plains of N ew Mexico, Colorado ina information concerning this attrac­ and Kansas. tive pecies of the P oppy family. W ith­ A . hispida. above is li sted in Coulter out including the technical botanical & Nelso n's "New Manual of Rocky data. the A rgemones are generally de­ Mountain Botany" as En071Hg1' a scribed by modern botani sts as follows : hispi da, since M r. N elsol1 considered it Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 4? to ha ve sufficient distinctive charac­ to the 49th parallel. I am sorry that teristics to warrant its being cl assed as our editor did not try A. intennedia a distinct species. Eno117egm is Arge- instead of A. pla,tyceras and A . 1nexi­ 11Iwne spelled bCl!ckward. It is desc ribed canal by Nelson as a perennial. Rydberg has ALLAN L. TRUAX restored it to its original place among Crosby, North Dakota the Argemones. The vVhite Sands National MonU111,ent. Gray's " L essons and Manual of The White Sands Nati onal Monu­ Botany" lists also Argemone platyce- ment in south central New Mexico has 1'O.s, giving as its habitat Central appeared frequently in prin t. Not far Kansas and Nebraska, south and west­ from here, the army establi shed a prov­ ward. Rydberg does not li st th is ing ground where the fi rst atomic variety. bomb was exploded, and later new It wi ll be noticed that Rydberg does types of projectil es were tested. But not state which varieties of Argemone it is not primarily because of a desire are annuals and which perennials. A. to visi t the scene of these epoch making 111,exicana and A. platycems are prob­ events that anyone interested in the ably annuals, though they may act as disti nctive plants, animals, or geology, biennials under certain conditions. A. would take a trip to this section. Here hispida and A . intermedia are no doubt we find an area of about 225 square perennials, but. are somewhat short­ miles that is absolutely unique in this lived and may even act as biennials. I country. have no data on A. squanosa in this Suppose you are touring to the respect. "Monument." If evening is approach­ I planted seeds of Areg171,one inte1'- ing, you wi ll probably spend the night 11I/'edia in ordinary garden soil in early at the little town of Alamogordo, stop­ May of 1945 and they came up and ping at one of several excellent motor blossomed in late August of that year. courts. It was necessary to move them to an­ If you can spend an extra day in other location that fall , where they this section, by all means take the short came up again and blossomed through­ trip from Alamogordo to Cloudcroft, out July and August of 1946. The same making a gentle and deli ghtful moun­ plants are in blossom again at this tainous ascent of about fo ur thousand date, A ugust 2, 1947, this being their feet. As you ascend, you will observe third year of blossoming. the change in plant life from the , I find that A rg e11'b011,e i11,te'rmedia is a Sonoran to the T ransition zone. At the fine garden plant. It propagates readily base, near Alamogordo, you pass nu­ fW111 seed and res ists drouth and heat. merous apricot orchards : at Cloud­ I use it for planting among Oriental croft, you are among the evergreens, Poppies, where it fill s in the spaces with occasional open spaces, on which caused by the dying foliage of the latter Columbines. Iris, Penstemon, Erige­ with its glaucous leaves and great white rons, and numerous other genera of silken co rollas with rings of golden low growing herbaceous plants fl ourish. stamens clustered around a ri ch purple Let us now take the fifteen mile trip stigma. Although Southern South to \ iV hite Sands. As you proceed. you Dakota appears to be the northern limit find stretches of rather arid country, of its natural habitat, my experience where nevertheless a fairly large num­ shows part of North Dakota and close ber fl owers, such as Y uccas. Asters. 50 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948

Yucca elata o nagra gypsophila Lupines, yellow composites grow. white flowers. Among the lower grow­ Suddenly you see in the distance an ing ones, many had extremely grey, enormous tract of white sand-just as wooly leaves. One of the most attrac­ white as new fallen snow. You are ap­ tive ones was an Evening Primrose, proaching the entrance to the "Monu­ Onagra gypsophila, with good sized ment." flowers having a somewhat pinkish When you arive at the entrance, you cast. As far as I know, this interesting are greeted by one of the Rangers, species grows only in this locality. who incidentally will probably take you Then there is a "Sand Verbena," through the small, but interesting Abronia angustifolia, with a faintly Natural History Museum. The Ranger pink flower that I believe is also found informs you that "White Sands" is only in this section. The above men­ really a huge gypsum bed, and like sand tioned plants seemed to us the most dunes on the sea shore, the shifting distinctive ones that we found. Of winds continually blow these particles course there were others of more or around, often forming large mounds less interest, many of them belonging and depressions. It seems incredible to the Composite family. that any plants can live under these un­ ROBERT :M. SENIOR favorable conditions. And yet we counted a fair number of interesting S01ne Native 01'chids specIes. These were seldom found in Lip(Jjris lil'iifolia or Lily-leaved Tway­ clumps, but single plants were well blade is none too common in our spaced, as if there were not enough woo d la n d s. Unlike other native nutrition in the soil to enable several orchids, it grows up from a pseudo­ to survive in close proximity. Ap­ bulb. In early April there is sent up parently through a rapid elongation of from this bulb a shoot covered by their stems the plants often surpass several sheaths. As soon as weather the crest of a rising dune. It is said permits, the sheaths give way and the that occasionally a plant has been dug plant produces two green leaves. up, with roots and stems underground, Between these two leaves the flower that were forty feet long. Here we s'pike pushes its way upward. The have a remarkable adaptation to envi­ flowers are odd looking, the side petals ronment. and sepals being reduced to thin hair­ The most conspicuous and tallest like bodies, the lip being contrastingly plant is Yucca elata, with its creamy broad, delicate brownish orchid in color Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 51

and iridescent. The blossoms are borne in this locality. These plants all have to the side of the pseudo bulb and each their flowers arranged in spiral fashion year a new parent plant is formed be­ upon the stalks. The Spiranthes side the old bulb, the plant of the fol­ blossom throughout all seasons (except lowing year arises from the old bulb, winter); different species occur at drawing upon the old one for food until different times of the year. In early it is exhausted. spring the Vernal Twisted Stalk can Contrary to general belief they may be seen in the meadows. In the sum­ be transplanted successfully. We have mer we have the small species known had them in the garden for three years as Beck's Tresses (S. Bec/?ii) and the receiving very little attention. The grass leaved S. gmcili.)·, which is much Tway-blades are most likely to be taller and more striking in appearance. found in damp places, but these were S. cernua is the last orchid of the sea­ discovered on a hillside ih dense shade. son and perhaps the commonest, bear­ We were thrilled the day we di s­ ing flowers that, however insignificant covered a Colony of Whorled Pogonia in size, are marvelous pieces of mechan­ near us. This exotic looking plant is ism to which such men as Charles of interest to anyone with a minimum Darwin and Asa Gray devoted hours of curiosity. Itis as bizarre in appear­ of study. ance as orchids of the tropics. The The earliest orchid to bloom here is plant stem is 10-12 inches tall at the the Showy Orchis (Orchis spertabilis) summit is borne a set of five leaves, which is found in our woods. The from the center of leaves comes the fl owers of purplish pink, of deeper and flower with its long purple sepals over­ lighter shades are borne several on a hanging the strikingly colored lip, stem, which in turn arises from be­ which is Nile Green at back, lighter in tween basal leaves. The flowers are color towards the front. This Pogonia, very beautiful and fragrant but it is (P. ve1,ticillata) was first described best left in native habitat. If placed under its present sci(lntific name by in the garden they will probably live Thomas N uttalJ, an early A merican and bloom for one year-then disap­ botanist. pear. We have grown excellent specimens The Rattle-snake Plantain is as of H a.bena1'ia fiml~briata. The beautiful handsome when only in leaf as it is in purple and pale lilac flowers were flower, making it a year around exquisite, but plants short-Jived. favorite. The plant creeps by prostrate Another native orchid is Aplectn£11lL stems and in such a manner produces hye11'Lale (Adam and Eve). This in­ rosettes of leaves at intervals about the teresting species grows about one foot place it grows. The leaves are deep high, bearing greenish-brown flowers green with white markings all over the lasting a long time. It prefers rich upper surface. This orchid, Epipactis loam and semi -shade. p~£b escens is common here, usually growing in the pine barrens. In July it MRS. J. ROBERT CHRISMON, sends up a spike of white sac-shaped Greensboro, North Carolina flowers. Like some of the Ladies' P onci1'us tri folia ta Tresses the leaves remain areen the . b entire year. It is surprising so few gardeners . . The genus Spiranthes, or Ladies' grow, or even know this charming Tresses are represented by four species small tree for it is decorative at all S2 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE ]an., 1<.148 seasons and, because of its long sharp when they slowly change ,first to a thorns, may be also used to form an rusty lemon, then a soft yellow and impenetrable hedge. As it is easily and finall y become a bronzy apricot. In quickly grown from seed it is aL1 in­ their various stages of ripening they expensive plant for that purpose. gleam against the rich green or the Furthermore, the pruned branches may leaves; but before the fruit is fully ripe be used to surround choice plants that the leaves begin to color and by mid­ are beloved of rabbits, laid carefully October are a rich bright yellow of over crocuses or other spring-fl ower­ about the shade of the Ginkgo and in bulbs as a protection against destruc­ slowly fall leaving the ripe fruit on the tion or their blossoms by birds, and stems a little while longer. There are when j udicously placed among the few plants that can provide a full year foliage of plants which pet dogs or of loveliness. cats for their favorite sleeping mats Being one of that class of plant­ will deter them, the animals, from seek­ lovers called by J ason Hill, Curious ing such clumps as couches. Gardeners, I like to know all I can Few other plants can claim so con­ about my plants-their histories, de­ tinuous a round of beauty in stem, rivation of name, habitat; as well as foliage, fl ower and fruit. During winter their soil requirements and other needs its irregular branches and twigs and and have got into the habit of expect­ its large barbed spines, both of which ing others to be fully as curious. . are at all times a rich deep green, make Known in com1110n garden language as it an ob ject of interest and beauty. the Hardy, or the Trifoliate Orange Blooming in spring before the leaves because of the threefold formation of its appear it is extrernely lovely with its leaves, our plant has been loaded with two inch wide fl owers with pink sta­ a heavy cargo of botanical synonyms; mens produced singly or in twos and Bailey gives no less than seven, of threes close hugging the stems at axils which that used above is legally correct or the spines. These seem to be several -at least here in America for Bean forms for while I can detect but little gives Aegle sepiaria, DC. as the cor­ or no fragrance from those I have rect one on the other side of the water. grown some friends claim it is very Linnaeus started it on its round of fragrant and Bean in Trees and Shrubs aliases by naming it Citrus trifoliata Hardy in the British Isles makes the but subsequent botanists have usually same cl aim . During the summer the separated it from the clan of the true rich glossy green of leaf, spine and orange and the lemon chiefly because stem is always fresh and attractive its stamens are free and not united as against the more quiet and often tired in Citrus and also because of the tri­ looking greens or the August foliage. foliate leaves. It is interesting to note Then in late September the fruits begin that when Linnaeus established this to color and it assumes an added genus he chose the aIel Greek word beauty. The fruits are like miniature Kitron which had long been used for oranges about two inches in diameter the l ~ mon , citron and orange although and covered with a soft velvety down; this word Kitron originally in very during the summer as they gradually ancient times been used for some fra­ increase in size they pass from deep grant wood which came from Africa. jade to emerald and finally are a rusty Then De Candolle, for reasons above nark green before beginning to ripen stated, placed our plant in the genuE Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 53

Aegle which genus had been created Horticulture, it is "referred to in the by Correa and named for one of the Mannyo shu, a Japanese MSS. work damsels of divine extraction who, ac­ dating from the 8th century" and it cording to Greek myth, guarded the was "described and figured in the golden apples in the garden of the Cheng lei pen ts'ao, printed in 1108 Hesperides; he, De Candoll e, gave it A.D." which is a Chinese book. a new speci fi c name, se pi01"ia, from the Coming from the northern part of Latin sepes-a hedge-referring to the China it should certainly be hardy fa r plant's use as a hedge. Then Ra­ beyond the northern limit of P hiladel­ finesque, throwing a id e these and phia as given in Bail ey's Cyclopedia; several less known names, made a new and so it is. At Gladstone, in northern genus for it calling it Poncirus, from New Jersey, there are trees that have the French pOl1cire-a kind of quince been in the garden for over twenty - and retained Linnaeus' specific name. years and flower and fruit annually; in It is very probably that Linnaeus knew Yonkers, N. Y. there is a six foot high the plant only as an herbarium speci­ hedge which is so severely prunned men for it does not seem to have been each spring that it has no chance to grown in Europe unti l much later and bloom, the intent being to keep out then probably in the southern parts dogs; in a garden beyond Nyack, N . only; J ohnson's Gardeners' Dictionary Y. there are several trees eighteen to states it was introduced into E ngland twenty feet high. So to my certain in 1869. De Candolle must surely have knowledge it is hardy at least to Lati­ known it as a living plant-and one tude 41 North ; and the winters in all that had become fairly common-in these places are severe with frequent that hi s specific name refers to its use­ and sudden drops in temperature to fulness as a hedge. Here in America below zero. it certainly was known long before The gardens in which I know it 1869 for tradition claims it as a plant present a wide range of soil , from in colonial gardens of Virginia and sandy loam to heavy clay and from oLher parts of the South. It is a well quite calcarious to strongly acid. It is known fact that pre-revolutionary claimed that the plant does not like an traders constantly brought back orna­ extremely sandy soil or one with a mental plants from the far East. heavy lime content but I have grown Although native to northern China it in a garden where lime was applied it was long co nsidered a native of Japan yearly because of an impression that where it had been grown for many tulips, daffodils and bearded iris needed centuries. It is in·eresting to note that lots of lime. it is mentioned several times in The It is easily rai sed from seed and Tale of Genji, written by the Lady reaches fl owering size in three to four Murasaki in about the year 1000 of years at a height of about three and a our era. However there is the possi­ half feet. The seed may be taken from bili ty that she refers to some real the fruit and sown in rows either in the orange but I am certain she means our autumn or following spring; or the plant for at no time does she speak of whole fruit may be planted as soon as its being eaten, always both fl owers it falls. In the later case a group of and fruit are praised fo r their beauty seedlings with appear early the follow­ and their fragrance. According to W. ing spring and when two or so inches T. Swingle, in Bailey's Cyclopedia of tall separated and either set out in 54 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948 nursery rows or in their permanent positions. For hedge use it would be well to grow the plants in a nursery row until about a foot tall and when planted permanently to pinch out the tips so as to induce low branching. Seedlings and even small trees trans­ plant easily. Where squirrels abound one may expect tufts of seedlings in all sorts of places for these pests seem to be deceived by the firm rind of the fruit and consider them lJuts and so bury them and either forget them or later find that they are not edible. While fragrance of the blossoms is debatable there is no question about that of the fruits for a dish of them used as a table decoration will pleas­ antly scent the room. ALFRED BATES, New Jersey. The Blue Latan Palm, The Mascarene Islands form a small cluster in the Indian Ocean about iive hundred miles east of Madagascar. Their flora consists of a peculiarly diversified group of plants, exhibiting The Bltbe Latan Palm a very large percentage of endemism. The palms of this tiny bunch of islands the fruits produced by ·this tree wer'e are of particular interest, since they in­ thus probably fertile. clude several which are favorites with Latania is the only genus of growers the world over. Mascarene palms with dioecious plants. One of these, the so-called "Blue It is placed in the tribe Borasseae, and Latan," is known by the botanists as as now understood consists of three Latania Loddigcsii. It is a rather large species, all endemic in the Mascarenes. palm which is gradually receiving the The other Tropical Garden. It is a in a short time if given adequate care. female specimen, and the immature The leaves usually measure about four fruits may be seen emerging from the feet across, and are rather stiff. They trunk, among the leaf-bases. Several gradually lose their glaucous character male trees were flowering nearby, and as they mature, and some forms have Jaro., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 55

For composting refuse. scarcely any of this glaucosity at any The Garbage, from kitchen to ga1'd en. time. These days the problem ever pres­ The fruits of Latania Loddigesii, ent with the gardener is how best to measuring up to about three inches in fertilize his plants, for horses are being length, are more or less cylindrical and replaced by machinery, cows kept only generally not especially numerous. The by skilled dairymen and chickens with male inflorescences consist of finger­ their high susceptibility to diseases like spikes of varying number which being raised almost entirely by experts. are borne on a woody peduncle from Another problem for the person who the main spadix. They become hard lies in a completely rural part of the and rough with age, previously bearing country is how to dispose of the numerous fuzzy flowers. garbage~for no one comes to collect it. The Blue Latan Palm, though not For years when there was plenty of one of our smaller introduced species, cheap labor the garbage on our place nevertheless deserves a place in many was driven to a distant spot in the dooryards in southern Florida. Its neat woods where there was a hole, ,a fresh habit, graceful form , and unusual hole was dug every year) and dumped coloration make it one of the loveliest there. After three years the hole was of exotic species available to us at this emptied, the contents screened and time. spread upon the garden with highly ALEX D. HAWKES satisfactory results as to soi l composi­ Miami, Florida tion and growth. Then the war came, S6 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1')4~

labor had become sca rce and the time From th e Midwest it took to drive the garbage over to Horticultural Society the pi t could not be spared. It became imperative to find another solution for Acer japoniCU111, garbage disposal and in this respect we moved into modern times in the This small shrub-like maple from matter of garbage disposal. the Orient is one of the subjects that For garbage-inspired by the sight appears in localities where some enter­ of the excellent garbage pit at the Gar­ prising landscape architect or nursery­ den Center in Stockbridge, Massachu­ man has pioneered in offering them or setts-a pit was dug on sloping ground placing them in plantings. where the drainage is sharp, and along­ These maples which may reach a side of the cold frames. Behind the height of ·fifteen feet are generally seen frames is the compost heap and the in forms that rarely exceed six to ten whole is about three hundred feet from feet. They are not overly particular the house . This pit consists of a hol­ as to soil but will likely make best low square built of concrete block mea­ growth in a moderately moist well-en­ suring six feet six inches by six feet riched soil. The plants send out typical nine inches and being six feet deep on maple shaped leaves but of a small size, the low end and eight on the high. The just a few inches across. The habit of floor was cemented and a large drain grow ~ h is a branchy shrub and it is inserted with a pipe to carry the mois­ usually rather symmetrical. The yearly ture down the hill. The mouth of the growth is short so that the develop­ drain was covered with a fin e screen, ment of a five or six foot specimen is to keep out animals. To roof this re­ a time consuming task. ceptacle a door-like frame in two The variation in this maple is ex­ pa.rts was made of strong woo d and treme. Some varieties have green two layers of wire screening were foliage that resembles some of the o'her nailed across it. Thus air can come in dwarf maples, while others have leaves and out of the pit but no animals or that are dissected, and still others have fli es. There is a slight odor but this colored foliage that is striking. Deep persists for a few hours only after the maroon reds, bright blood reds, and garbage has been dumped. many other forms with various, reddish The refuse from the house is emptied hues can be found. Some have the into this pit every o'her day and a normal leaf while others have the spadeful of top soil (a heap of which curiously dissected leaves in addition li es conveniently alongside) is scattered to the color. over it as also a handful of lime. While some of the forms border on Thus we have the satisfaction of the grotesque, many of the red hued knowing our garbage is rotting, slowly kinds fill a definite need for a low turning into crumbly fertilizer under plant with symmetrical growth that can absolutely sanitary condiLions and that add color and form variation to the within three years when the container landscape. As with all accent plants, will be fu ll we will have only to dig they can be easily overdone. However, out the contents and spread them on there is still room in many gardens for the garden. a specimen or so of the brilliant forms, HELEN M. Fox, and in rockeries some of the green­ P eekskill, N. Y. leaved dissected ones may be interest- Jan., 1948 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 57

ing. These plants are inter esting in all Norway maple. This has all the de­ sizes and small plants will attract at­ sirable atributes of the common green tention even when first planted. form with the addition of fine spring color and a contrasting bronze effect Attstrian Copper Rose. during the summer. The Norway Almost everyone is familiar with maple is one of the finest of trees for two shrub roses that are greatly ad­ street and lawn planting with a strong mired as garden subjects. One of these, straight trunk and a spreading habit the Harisons Yellow, is one of the that is excellent for shade. Foliage 1S most widely distributed roses in the attractive and in large plantings 1S country, while the other, the Hugonis effective. rose, is popular in many gardens. An­ The red form known commonly as other showy rose that has much the Schwedleri is a bright red in early same characteristics is the Austrian spring when the young growth is start­ Copper. ing. As summer progresses the red The Austrian Copper is one of the changes into a bronzy green that makes oldest roses known. It has been cul­ a fine contrast with the bright green tivated since 1596 and has enjoyed con­ of the common form without being ob­ tinuous popularity. In America it was trusive. ,t\There large numbers of introduced from Europe and was maples are used the occasional intro­ widely grown until about a century duction of a Schwedleri will add a great ago when the popular Harisons Yellow deal of variety and interest without originated from it. Harisons Yellow changing the pattern or form that may had the advantage of being a double be desirable under such conditions. rose and the garden lovers of that time Street plantings, parks, and cemeteries were more interested in plants that did can all do well to add a definite per­ not like the wide roses that they saw centage of Schwedleri's to the quan­ everywhere. Austrian Copper is a tity of Norway maples used. In home large single rose, about half again as plantings the variety can well be sub­ large as Hugonis. The color is a deep stituted for the green form unless yellow on one side of the petals and a several are to be used. Then use of bright coppery red on the other. both forms will add variety and inter­ AC"ually the first of the bicolor roses est to the planting. and one of the most striking. Foliage The Norway maple is suitable for and habit are very similar to that of use in all situations where any maple Harisons Yellow and so are a fine for can be used. It is more rapid in growth garden decoration even when not in than the sugar maple and is far su­ flower. perior to the soft maples in habit, N ow that the emphasis has shifted cleanliness, and longevity. It is useful from the all doublt roses to the single whever a shade tree of good size is as well, this old time lovely rose should needed. It will grow in a wide variety once again come into its own as a of soils and under most exposure con­ hardy neat, and showy beautiful rose di tions. for the shrub border or the rose garden. ELDRED E. GREEN

Acer Schwcdleri. N andina d0111,estica One tree that deserves far wieler ,t\Thile the question of hardiness is in planting is the red-leaved form of the our mind we may consider this inter- 58 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Jan., 1948 es ting and attractive plant which, praise 45 minutes .North Latitude and subject be to the God of Botany, is not en­ to hard wiriters. Yet in this garden it cumbered with any synonyms but had survived five winters at the base has been left where Thunberg placed it of a two and a half high dry stone wall when he created the genus and used the which supported a terrace; further­ Japanese name with a specific cl early more the wall faced west and was open meaning domestic, this because it is to north and west winds that blew always grown near the home in Japan. across a wide valley. The owner told Various reasons have been given for me it had never been frozen back to this custom from the use made of its the root though several times about a twigs as tooth picks or tooth brushes third of its stems had been killed and to the quaint superstition that dreams that while it blossomed it had never must be whispered into its foliage fruited. I have not been able to find either to prevent them from coming any statement that it is a dioecious true or to insure their realization­ p'lant and wonder as to the cause of its one may take ones choice. Originally unproductiveness. The plant has never a plant from northern China, like so had any more winter protection than many of such it has for many centuries the leaves which the wind blows against been cherished- and claimed a native the base of the wall and they are not -by the Nipponese. very deep for snowdrops and the vernal It is an interesting plant in that it Adonis were blooming through them belongs to the Barberry Family whi ch within a foot of the stems of the shrub. it in 110 way resembles save in struc­ Could its unfruitfulness be the result ture of flower and fruit and to a great of constant shade for a huge o3.k grew extent reminds one of a bamboo, of to the south of the terrace and no sun which it is no relation, in the grace­ ever reached the plant? If so here is ful featheriness of its leaves . While another instance where cultural advice its panides of small white fl owers are is incorrect for we are told it should not of great garden value, its bright be grown in "full or partial shade." red berries in numerous clusters, there These two examples should stir the is also a white form, are outstanding adventurous gardener to experiment in autumn and early winter. Then too with other half-hardy material. When it is lovely in the early spring when the we remember that Yucca jila11'1;entosa new fo liage is strongly tinged with red which is native no further north than and purple-bronze; nor is it unattrac­ North Carolina and Tennessee braves tive during the winter fo r the hard undaunted the winters of northern New textured long and very narrow leaves York and Vermont or the humble assume shades of purpli sh red and Ornithogalum umbellatum once native persist until the spring growth begins. of the Mediterranean region is now It is spoken of here because it is con­ thoroughly at home in New England sidered not hardy enough to be grown states we should take greater chances north of central Virginia. This past than we do and not meekly accept hor­ spring I was greatly surprised to see ticultural dicta. it growi ng in a garden outside Mend­ ALFRED BATES, ham, N . ]. which is about 40 degrees New Jersey SOCIETIES AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY (Conlinwd from page i) Takoma Horticultural Club, Victoria Horticultural Society, A. C. Barret, Pres., Mr. Jack G. Beastall, Sec'y., 4719 Brandywine St., :'11. W .. 255 Battleford Ave., Washington, D. C. Victoria, B. c., Canada The San Francisco Garden Oub, Vivian Garden Oub 465 Post St., Vivian. La. San Francisco 6, Calif. Welcome Garden Oub Mrs. J. A. Reid, Pres., Trinity County Garden Club, 400 Speed Drive, Mrs. Rose N. Grigsby, Treas., Monroe, La. Weaverville, Calif. Winnsboro Garden Oub, The Trowel Oub, Winnsboro, La. Mrs. ]. Douglas Rollow, Woodridge Garden Oub, 4524 Cathedral St., N. W. Mr. George Targett, Pres., Washingtou, D. C. 2948 Carlton Ave., N. F-, Tala Garden Oub, Washington, D. C. Mrs. Allen Henry. Pres., Worcester County Horticultural Society, 1301 South Yale, 30 Elm Street, TulJa 4, Olda. Worcater, Mus. The American Horticultural Society

I NVITES to membership all persons who are interested in the develop­ ment of a great national society that shall serve as an ever growing center for the dissemination of the common knowledge of the members. There is no requirement for membership other than this and no reward beyond a share in the development of the organization. For its members the society publishes THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE, at the present time a quarterly of increasing importance among the horticultural publications of the day and destined to fill an even larger role as the society grows. It is published during the months of January, Apri~ July and October and is written by and for members. Under the present organization of the society with special committees appointed for the furthering of special plant projects the members will receive advance mate­ rial on narcissus, tulips, lilies, rock garden plants, conifers, nuts, and rhodo­ dendrons. Membership in the society, therefore, brings one the advantages of membership in many societies. In addition to these special projects, the usual garden subjects are covered and particular attention is paid to new or little known plants that are not commonly described elsewhere. The American Horticultural Society invites not only personal member­ ships but affiliations with horticultural societies and clubs. To such it offers some special inducements in memberships. Memberships are by the calen­ dar year. The Annual Meeting of the Society is held in Washington, D. C., and members are invited to attend the special lectures that are given at that time. These are announced to the membership at the time of balloting. The annual dues are three dollars the year, payable in advance; life membership is one hundred dollars; inquiry as to affiliation should be ad­ dressed to the Secretary, 821 Washington Loan and Trust Building.