The NATIONAL HOR TICULTURAL MAGAZINE

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, INC. APRIL 1954 THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, INC.

1600 Bladensburg Road, Northeast Washington 2, D. c.

OFFICERS President: Dr. John L. Creech, Glenn Dale, Maryland First Vice-President: Mr. Arnold M. Davis, Cleveland, Ohio Second Vice-President: Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D. C. Secretary: Dr. Francis de Vos, Washington, D. C. Treasu,rer: Miss Olive E. Weatherell, Olean, New York Editor: Mr. B. Y. Morrison, Pass Christian, Mississippi Managing Editor: Mr. James R. Harlow, Takoma Park, Maryland Edito'rial Stalf: Miss May M. Blaine, Mr. Bernard T. Bridgers Art Editor: Mr. Charles C. Dickson DIRECTORS Terms Expiring 1954 Terms Expiring 1955 Mr. Stuart Armstrong, Silver Spring, Mary- Mrs. Mortimer J. Fox, Mount Kisco, New land York Dr. Fred O. Cae, Bethesda, Maryland Mr. Frederic P. Lee, Bethe~da, Maryland Mrs. Walter Douglas, Chauncey, New York Mrs. J. Norman Henry, Gladwyne, Penn- Dr. Brian O. Mulligan, Seattle, Washington sylvania Dr. Freeman A. Weiss, Washington, D. C. Mrs. Arthur Hoyt Scott, Media, Pennsyl­ Dr. Donald Wyman, Jamaica Plain, Massa- vania chusetts

HONORARY VICE~PRESIDENTS "Mr. Arthur C. Brown Mr. Harold R. Laing American Camellia Society Men's Garden Clubs of America Box 2398, University Station 2891 Plymouth Road Gainesville, Florida Chagrin Falls, Ohio Mr. James B. Craig Dr: G. H. M. Lawrence American Forestry Association American Horticultural Council 919 Seventeenth Street, Northwest Bailey Hortorium Washington 6, D. C. Ithaca, New York Mr. Harry W. Dengler Mrs. Hermann G. Place Holly Society of America The Garden Club of America Maryland Extension SerVice 530 Park Avenue College Park, ¥aryland New York 21, New York Mr. Carl W. Fenninger American Association of Botanical Mr. Claude I. Sersanous Gardens and Arboretums American Rhododendron Society 1632 Chestnut Street 240 Southeast Clay Street Phil;ldelphia 3, Pennsylvania Portland, Oregon Mr. Paul W. Jackson Mrs. Alma Wright International Geranium and African Violet Society of America Pelargonium Society Post Office Box 1326 Post Office Box 231 Knoxville, Tennessee Santa Paula, California

AFFILIATED SOCIETlES-1954 American Association of Nurserymen Garden Club of Fairfax (Virginia) American Begonia Society 'Garden Club of Virginia American Begonia Society, San Francisco Garden Library of Michigan Branch Georgetown Garden Club (D. C.) American Begonia Society, Santa Barbara Gulfport Horticultural Society Branch Herb Society of America American Camellia Society Houston Horticultural Society American Gesneria Society Iowa State Horticultural Society American Gloxinia Society Men's Garden Club of Montgomery (Mary- American Iris Society land) County American Rhododendron Society, Middle Michigan Horticultural Society Atlantic Chapter Midwest Hor1icultural Society Bel-Air Garden Club, Inc., (California) National Capital Dahlia Society Birmingham Horticultural Society National Capital Garden Club League Cactus and Succulent Society of America North American Lily Society California Horticultural Society Northern Nut Growers' Association, Inc. Chestnut Hill Garden Club, (Massachusetts) Perennial Garden Club (D. C.) Chevy Chase (D. C.) Garden Club Plainfield Garden Club (New Jersey) Fauquier and Loudoun Garden Club Potomac Rose Society (D. C.) (Virginia) San Francisco Garden Club Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati Tacoma Rhododendron Society Garden Club of Alexandria (Virginia) Takoma Horticultural Society (Maryland) Garden Club of Chevy Chase. Maryland Washington (D. C.) Garden Club Garden Club of Danvi11e (Virginia) Worcester County Horticultural Society The National Horticultural Magazine

VOL. 33 Copyright, 1954 , by THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, INC. No.2

APRIL 1954

CONTENTS

Iris Hybridizing. AGNES W RITING ______89

A Virginia Garden In 1774. MARJORIE F. V"; ARNER______92

Modern Varieties of Vegetables. VICTOR R. BOSWELL ______96

A Garden For America. RAY S. DIETL ______11 3

Antibiotics, Pesticides, and Food. FREEMAN A. WEISS ______11 5

A New Hybrid Magnolia. BERNARD HARKNESS ______11 8

T he Peony. E. BUCKNER K IRK ______120

Concerning S treptocarplls. PEGGY SCH ULZ ______133

A Boo k 0 r Two ______135

T he Maple Bladder Gall. DO NA LD L. SCHUDEL ______148 c

A Durable And Safe Trash Burner. FREEMA N A. vVEI SS ______150 The National Horticultural Magazine

The National H orticltltural Magazine is a quarterly journal, being the official publication of The American Horticultural Society, Incorporated. It is devoted to the dissemination of knowledge in the science and art of growing ornamental plants, fruits, vegetables, and related subj ects. The ] ourna! is published by Monumental Pril1ting Company at Thirty-second Street and Elm Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, and is entered as second class matter in the post office of that city in accordance with the Act of August 24, 1912. Original papers increasing the historical, varietal, and cultural know ledges of plant mate­ rials of economic and aesthetic importance are most welcomed and will be published as promptly as possible. Material of lasting interest appearing in related journals will be re­ printed as available. Publications received for the Library will be reviewed and made avail­ able to members after publication of the reviews. These books are designated "Library" following the prices in the book reviews. Reviews of private collections will also be accepted and published. These books, however, are not available for loan to members of the Society. Manuscripts should be prepared to conform to the style adopted in the latest number of the current volume. The nomenclature ust'd in manuscripts, whether treating horticultural or botanical subjects, should be in conformance insofar as possible with the Codes published by the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. They should be typewritten with double­ spacing, leaving a one-inch margin at the left for editorial direction to the printer. Footnotes to text statements should be avoided unless they are absolutely necessary. Usually the infor­ mation can be included in the text, parenthetically if necessary, without making the reading too cumbersome. Footnotes to tables are often necessary and should be designated by small Roman letters. Literature citations, footnotes and illustration legends should be on a separate sheet. Authors are requested to give for each citation, the author, or authors, year of publica­ tion, full title or citation without abbreviation of the journal or volume, in the case of jour­ nals, the beginning and ending pages; of books the edition number and the number of pages, the name and address of the publisher. One set of the galley proofs will be sent to the author for corrections, which should be held to a minimum, and such corrections should be returned immediately. Reprints, side-stapled, will be furnished in accordance with the following schedule of prices plus postage, and should be ordered at the time galley proof is returned by the author: Copies 2pp 4 pp 6 pp 8 pp 10 pp 12 pp 14 pp 16 pp 18 pp Covers 100 5.50 6.00 6.50 7.00 7.50 8.00 8.50 9.00 9.50 7.00 200 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 8.50 300 8.50 10.00 11.50 13.00 14.50. 16.00 17.50 19.00 20.50 10.00 400 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00 22.00 24.00 26.00 11.50 The Journal is issued for the months of January, April, July, and October. Manuscripts must reach the Editorial Office at the Society's Headquarters three months before publica­ tion is desired. Missing numbers will be replaced without charge provided claim is received in the Editorial Office within thirty days after publication date. .~--- -- Iris Hybridizing

AGNES WHITING

Vife began planting iris seed in 1935 with our own seedli ngs as they became just fo r fun. We had about two hun­ worthy, we have constantly raised the dred of the better iris vari eties in our standard of quality. garden, all carefull y labeled. We be­ We have never li mited ourselves to longed to the American Iris Society any one system, such as li ne or cross and other members came to see our breeding, in our hyb ridiz ing. We were plantings. 'IVe had made several trips not out to prove any theories, we just to the Sass Gardens where the seed­ wanted res ults. We often used our lings interested us still more than the own seedli ngs crossed with good named named varieties. Having learned about vari eties, as this gave us combi nations pollination at the Sass's. we made a few not used by other breeders and thus crosses and got a nice crop of seed. more chance of something new and dif­ W hen our first seedlings bloomed, we fe rent. We fo und the Sass i rises the were disappointed as they were no bet­ most useful parents and used so many ter than their parents. It was not as of them that 'Whiting irises have a defi­ easy as it looked. We bought two hun­ nite Sass fl avor. Not onl y are Sass dred more of the newest and best irises, irises superior to many others in color, including many Sass varieties and size, form and substance, they are per­ seedlings. During the winters we stud­ fectly hardy, with excellent growing ied the parentage records of every habits fo r cold climates. Later we real­ variety we g rew and read everything ized the need of producing strains that we could find on hybridizing and gen­ would grow an d bloom equall y well in ealogy. We learned that good seedlings cold and warm climates, so we com­ came from irises that not only looked bined the hardy strains with the more good but also had good family records. tender ones so much used in Californi.a. Good breeding is important in iris. We A "hardy" iris is one that takes a nat­ chose for parents those irises whose ural rest or dormant period of growth. good quali ties are family traits. \Ve As this peri od comes about fo ur months planned our crosses carefully to com­ after blooming time and lasts nearly six bine many inherent outstanding char­ months, it makes them well adapted to acteristics. \Ve soon noticed a steady cold winter climates. A "tender" iris improvement in the seedli ngs. By con­ usuall y keeps on growing nearly all tinued study and the use of the best year, 111 warm cl imates. In cold cli­ iris from about forty other breeders mates it stops growth in winter, but Th e Society wishes to e,1:p1'ess its gratitude to Mrs. Cha.rles G. Whiting, Ma.ple Valley Iris Gardens, M apletoll, Iow a, for th e loa.n of th e electrotypes that Garden Glm'y P1'oduced th ese color ilhtstmtions, a-nd to Mr. vVil­ Blue Rh'ythl/! hall/. H. Guenther, Artcrafts Engraving Compa.ny, S aint JosePh, M issouri, tal' his e,'CceUent 1Jlall 'b£fa cture of th e elec trotypes and caring for th e details of 1'e pro­ ducing th e -illustratio l1 s fo r th e Society. ED. [89 ] 90 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZINE April 1954 starts again during any warm spell. much larger flowers and all of the This fresh growth cannot stand the seedlings from this cross were large change back to freezing weather so the and well branched. Although 'Sierra plant winter kills, or at least loses its Blue' is from a mesopotamica strain blo0111 points. A good iris which grows and consequently somewhat tender, this and blooms equally well in cold and trait seemed to be recessive when warm climates is bound to gain world crossed with the perfectly hardy 'Miss wide popularity. This goal has not yet Camelia," as all of their seedlings win­ been attained in all colors. The deep tered well here. We named the best one reds, which are ver.y hardy in cold cli­ 'Blue Zenith.' It is large, tall, well mates, tend to bloom themselves to branched and of deep sky-blue color­ death in a warm climate with all year ing, but a white haft and throat detract growth. So there is much still to be from its beauty. accomplished. Next we crossed 'Annabel' with 'Blue Rhythm' is an all climate iris. 'Blue Zenith,' hoping to concentrate Vve believe that this quality was mainly their best features in at least part of responsible for its widespread recogni­ their offspring. The results were be­ tion. After winning an Honorable Men­ yond our hopes as everyone of their tion and an Award of Merit in the thirty seedlings was an improvement American Iris Society, it was chosen over both parents. All were as large, for the Dykes Medal in 1950. That well branched and sturdy as 'Blue Ze­ same year it was given the President's nith,' and nearly all of them showed the Cup as the best iris seen at the Annual smoothness of color tone so characteris­ Meeting of the A.LS., and was also tic of 'Annabel.' Vve found it difficult given an Award of Merit by the Royal to pick the best un.til the very latest one Horticultural Society and the Iris So­ opened. It surpassed all the others and ciety of England, jointly, at the Wisley was narped 'Blue Rhythm.' In spite of Trials. In 1953 it was given the addi­ all of its honors, we do not consider it tional award of First Class Certificate the ultimate blue iris. Vve are still by R.H.S. and LS of England. working for a purer blue, trying to 'Blue Rhythm' comes from four blue eliminate the lavender infusion. This irises each produced by a different hy­ will take time but it will come. bridizer. 'Blue Triumph' (Grinter), Our iris breeding has covered a com­ 'Aline' (Stern), 'Sierra Blue' (Essig) plete range of colors. There were many and 'Miss Camella' (H. P. Sass) , were fine, large, light yellows in commerce chosen by us for use in breeding for when we began breeding, but most of better blues. Several others were also them were tender. Crosses with hardy used but these produced the best re­ varieties, preferably reds or red blends, sults. Not only were they the best blue seemed logical to bring richer colored, irises of their time but their family hardy yellows. 'Happy Days' X 'Ma­ trees for generations back, showed tula' brought us 'Golden Spike,' the steady improvement in quality. 'Blue deepest-toned yellow of its time. 'Ma­ Triumph' X 'Aline' produced many tula' (H. P. Sass) is a red-brown seedlings of pure coloring, tllP best one blend that contributed more than any of which we named 'Annabe1.' Neat other iris to the breeding of \iVhi.ting form and smoothness of color are its irises. 'Rocket,' a still deeper orange better qualities, close branching and yellow, came from 'Golden Spike' X moderately small size its drawbacks. (,Sandalwood' X 'Naranja'). 'Golden ' Sierra BIlle' and 'Miss Camelia' are Hind' X 'Golden Spike' brought 'Cloth April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 91 of Gold.' 'Golden Spike' received an an Award of Merit in 1947 and many A. M. in 1942, 'Rocket' in 1947 and discriminating iris judges still call it 'Cloth of Gold' in 1950. the nearest to true red of any iris. Oth­ The orange tone of 'Rocket' comes ers say its wide popularity is due to its from an overlay of red brown on the smooth, unlined haft, dark beard and falls. Hoping to clear this up, we enameled finish. Spectrum red is un­ crossed it with 'Ola Kala,' the finest known among iris colors and is perhaps Sass yellow. Frona this cross we got unattainable. Surely it would be too many clear, deep orange yellows, three sharp a color to be pleasing among ex­ of which were named. 'Gold Sovereign,' isting iris colors. Still, the cry goes up which received an A. M. in 1953, is the for a redder iris and who can resist most brilliant one, 'Lodestone' the popular demand? 'Garden Glory' X darkest yellow and 'Good Measure' the 'Rocket' brought us a brighter red, largest and perhaps the best. 'Technicolor,' but it lacks the smooth Most of our iris breeding has been haft and glossy texture of 'Garden directed toward rich, pure self colors. Glory.' 'Technicolor' X 'Lodestone' But the warm and lovely blends that gave us a still brighter red now named came along could not be ignored. 'Mel­ 'Pepperpot.' It is not large but its bril­ lowglow,' 'M'irabelle,' 'Lavender and liant color has impressed so many gar­ Gold Lace,' 'Arab Chief,' 'Etude' and den visitors that it will be introduced others were named and found favor as this year as a novelty. well as awards. Each in turn became A few years ago there was much talk the parent of still better irises, both among hybridizers concerning the dif­ selfs and blends. 'Arabian Nights,' ficulty of breeding any improvement however, came from two of our seed­ into amoenas. This term is used for lings which had not been named but irises with white standards and col­ whose parentage records included ored falls or with very light standards 'Matula,' 'Marisha,' 'Amitola' (Sass and deeper colored falls. Pink am,oenas blends), 'China Maid' (Milliken) and were considered a real challenge. We 'Far West' (Kleinsorge). It is the re­ crossed 'Wabash,' a white and purple sult of several generations of selective amoena, with 'Fair Elaine,' a white and breeding with seedlings derived from yellow, hoping to clear the blue from the best productions of other hybridiz­ the purple of 'Wabash' and leave pink. ers. All of the seedlings from this cross 'Three Oaks,' a much warmer, rosier were dull, muddy, bicolor blends, blend, carne directly from 'Matula' X From these we chose the two least ob­ 'China Maid.' Although handicapped jectionable ones and bred them to­ by poor branching, its rich coloring has gether to produce second generation made it a favorite and given it an seedlings. Some of these were still Award of Merit. 'Three Oaks' has be­ muddy but a few were clear amoenas come the parent of many still better or pink and red bicolors of the amoena irises including 'Campfire Glow,' 'Gyp­ type. We named the clearest one sy Rose,' 'Midcontinent,' 'Wood Opal,' 'Rumba Rose.' 'Araby Rose' and 'Mauve Queen.' Although our first efforts toward One of our fondest hopes was to pro­ pink iris were a flat failure, we have duce a good red iris. One of our first never given up the naive belief that it tries for this, 'The Red Douglas' 0. can be done through blends. Choosing Sass) X 'Garden Magic' (Grinter), pink-toned blends that came through brought us 'Garden Glory.' It received our own cros es between yellows and 92 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954 rosy red , and using them with similar did look very pink except in bud. Slow­ blends from other breeders, we began ly but surely they became better and to see results in much pinker blends. pinker and fabulously popular. Vle By using only large, heavily substanced have crossed some of our own pink fl owers for parents, the quality of bloom blends with Hall 's flamingo pinks with as well as the color progressed. 'Mira­ most interesting results. 'Tea Rose,' a belle' crossed with 'Angelus,' an orchid­ sister seedling of 'Three Oaks,' crossed toned pink from Mr. Egelberg, gave us with a Hall seedling gave us a most our first real break. This cross brought unique and very heavily crimped 'Pathfinder,' a very pink blend. It was orange pink iris which we have named named 'Pathfinder' because we felt sure 'Crepe Suzette.' 'Pathfinder' crossed that it would lead the way .to a real with Hall seedlings gave several very pink iris of full form, heavy substa11{:e heavily substanced light-pink irises. and pure coloring. Crossed with 'Shan­ The best one of these we crossed back nopin' (Pillow) , it ga ve two fine, with 'Pathfinder.' This cross has, at large pinks of amoena type, 'May time' long last, brought several deep-toned and 'Thistle Bloom,' and a light pink true pinks. One of them has been self, 'Opera Pink.' 'May time' received named 'Pink Clover.' an A. M . in 1953 . We should be satisfied with the re­ During these years several breeders, sults we have obtained in nearly twenty in clu ding David Hall, the Sasses, Mr. years of hybridizing. Certainly we have Lapham, Dr. Loomis and others, were had far more recognition for our work making interesting strides with light than we ever dreamed of receiving. orange-toned pinks with tangerine But with more good irises to work with beards, variously called 'shell pink,' and the benefit of experience, we shall 'fl amingo pink,' and 'pink bud' irises. go on fo r the sheer joy of seeing what T he truth is that none of the fi rst ones the future has in store for us.

A Virginia Garden In 1 774 1

MARJORIE F. WARNER

Although Fithian's J ourna]2 was the P resbyterian ministry in December, published qu ite a number of years ago, 1774, and was sent out as a missionary and may be known to some of the read­ to Western Virginia and Pennsylvania, ers of this magazine for its hi storic and but was appointed a chaplain in the per onal interest, I have never run Continental army only a short time be­ across any mention of its contributions fo re his death, which occurred in Oc­ to the knowledge of gardening in colo­ tober, 1776. During the period of his nial Virginia. theological preparation, he spent a year Phili p Vickers Fithian was born De­ in Virginia as tutor in the household cember 29th, 1747 ; was a student at of "Councillor" Robert Carter, at Princeton College, 1770-1772 ; entered N omini Hall, W estmoreland County. Fortunately for us, Fithian was a ~ R epr int ed b}' perm ission o f Norman Taylor from th e Journa l of the lntt:rnational G:.trden Club, M arch 1919. keen observer and practiced diarist, 2Philip Vickers Fi thi an, Journal and Le tters, 1767-1774. Ed ited for the Princeton histori c:t ! assocbtion by John who did not scorn to write of many Rogers " 'i1lbms. Princeton, N. ] ., The University Li­ brarY, 1900. trivial matters. H is descriptions of the AprIl 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 93 coun try are often very suggestive, and February, when Mrs. Carter ordered there is an interesting, if slightly ob­ the sowing of lettuce and peas. On scure, account of the arrangement of February 21st he says: "They are be­ the buildings and grounds at N omini ginning to work in t he Garden with Hall, which is unfortunately too long vigor," and on the 24th he notes the for reproduction here. Best of all, he planting of the common garden, peas. had a delightful habit of walking in the On March 16th he walks in the garden garden, and from very early in the year with Mrs. Carter, and remarks : " I t is till past midsummer he gives frequent beautiful, & I think uncommon to see notes of garden operations, fruits and at this Season peas all up two & three vegetables grown, field crops, etc. Inches - \Ne gathered two or three Meager as these comments are in com­ Cowslips in full-Bloom; & as many parison with what we desire to know, violets-The Engli sh H oney-Suckle is they yet afford the best reco rd I have all out in g reen & tender Leaves-Mr. found of gardening in colonial Virginia, Gregory is g rafting some fig - Mrs. and, while the ] ourna,l and L ette1'S is Carter shewed me her Apri cot-Grafts; perhaps chiefl y valuable to the student Asparagus Beds &c." On March 21st of social life and customs, the impor­ he writes: "The peas have grown ad­ tance of the work as a garden document mirably since my last V\Talk; & indeed alone is sufficient reward for its pub­ all the Herbs seem sprouting." lication. The fir st of April he noticed people Fithian arrived at N omiL1i on the plowing their land for planting corn 28th of October, 1773, but does not and tobacco, and even in one field saw mention the garden until the very last women planting corn, though he re­ day of the year, when he walked there marks that it must be early, even fo r with Mrs. Carter, questioning her that locality. U nder the same date he about a row of small slips, and as they says that people hereabouts raise no walked along "she would move the flax, their land generally being too ground at the Root of some plant ; or poor for the purpose, and co ntinues prop up with small sticks the bended that their method of farming is slov­ scions," and, after taking two turns enly and wasteful, planting large throughout the entire garden, they went quantities of land without manuring, out into the Area to see the "Plumb­ working it very hard to make the best Trees." At this time he mentions the of the crop, and after cropping one two Negroes who, he explicitly states, piece of land removing the fences to were "Gardiners by Trade," who were another, leaving the first as a "C0111- constantly employed in the garden mon to be destroyed by ·Winter & whenever the weather permitted, but Beasts till they stand in need of it on February 24th he notes the arrival again to plough." The so il is usually of Mr. Gregory, the "Colonel's Gar­ li ght and sandy, producing in g reat diner," very likely broug ht over from quantities "shrubby Savins & Pines, England or Scotland, who began to unless in the Vallies, (for it is very work with the men who had been in hilly) & near the Potowmack where it the garden all winter, and under date is often vastly ri ch. " On the 7th of of March 7th he says that Mr. Greg­ April he observes : "In every field we ory's wages are a half crown daily saw Negroes planting Corn, or plow­ through the summer. ing, or hoeing," and on the 10th, in The spring gardening operations various parts of the Carter plantation may well have begun on the 8th of the Negroes were digging up the TH E NATIONAL H ORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954 small plots allowed them by the mas­ neig hborhood. July 28th, fi gs were ter for planting their own peas, pota­ just beginning to ripen in the -ga rden, toes, etc. H arvesting began the latter and lasted for some time, as on the part of June ; on the 25th he is in­ 26th of A ugust he gathered fi gs, but formed that peo ple are reaping "not remarks that w hile the ladies seem only R ye but vVheat in the Neigh­ fond of them, he himself "·cannot en­ bourhood ; certainly it is earli er than dure them." The early part of August we reap to t he Northward." July 4th must have been the height of the wa­ was the "H eight of H arvest," while termelon season, and the Virginia the 7th, Colonel Carter speaks of hav­ Negro, then as now, an expert in mel­ ing his own rye mown down. On July ons, for we find " Dadda Gumby," an 14th F ithian "was not a little Sur­ old slave to whom Fithian had shown prised to see Co rn out in T assel," on kindness, off ering him melons from the 19th he reports it as pretty gen­ his own garden. Once Fanny Carter, erall y beginning to tassel ; and on the one of the little g irls, presents the 21st he saw many of the hills in silk. tutor with a half watermelon, and On August 2d, at Mount Airy, the when she was ill, on A ugust 15th, he nearby es tate of Colonel J ohn Tayloe. records making her a g ift of a large he saw corn rank and set thick with muskmelon. ears, "three commonl y on a Stalk," O ther natural products besides fi gs and on Aug ust 13th he mentions were evidently new to Fithian. One "R oasting-Ears." Near Colonel T ay­ suspects that his introduction to the loe's he also noted the onl y fl ax he persimmon occurred on March 6th had seen in the co lony (althoug h he when he "gathered and eat some Pi­ was told that they raised much of it in simmonds from a large Tree whi·ch the upper cOtlnties), about an acre and were exceeding sweet, & agreeable," a half, whi ch they were just pulling and on September 23d he saw "Bar­ on the 2d of August, "exceedingly out berry's, Sloe's. & P omegranates, nei­ of Season." their of which I had seen before." From time to time Fithian notes the F ew allusions to fl owers occur; under fruits and vegetables in season. On date of June 23d, he was "di verted May 25th, on his return from a visit to tho it was a little cruel, to see the New J ersey, he had for supper "an Girls gather the Blossoms of some elegant di sh of Strawberries & Prickly - P ears," probably g rowing cream," and the following day he says wild ; and once, on the 23d of July, he that they now have "great plenty of says that P ri scilla and F anny each Straw berries , some Cheries, Goose­ presented him with a "J esamine Nose­ berries &c." On June 10th he went Gay." with Ben Carter "over to Mr. T urber­ On May 4th-6th, while away on a ville's to gather Cheries, which are brief visit to New J ersey, Fithian there in great plenty." July 2d he sups noted a severe freeze, the eff ects of on "Artichoks, & Huckleberries & which were also felt at Nomini,3 fo r rvI ilk ;" July 4th he mentions ri pe mul­ on June 4th he says : "The Frost of berri es. and on the 6th he writes that the fourth of May has been much th ey have " every Day good F ruit for Dinner. caudled Apples, H urtle-Ber­ 3Letters to the Reverend Andrew Hunter and John Peck, und er d:1t e of June 3d, 177 4 . In the former Fithian ri es with mi lk &c." The huckleberries, writes : Cl The expected produce of Gardens and Peac hes (which were some pl:lI1ters ch ief dependence ) afe not however, were probably not from the only almost w holl y destroy'd, but in ye up per parts of th e province "" hea t and Rye aIe so much cut off that the garden, hut growing wild in the owners think it best to mow it do wn f or fodd er. 1I April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 95

more severe and fatal here than in the Although less conscientious 111 re­ northern colonies-The Peaches here, cording the weather than many except for Farms lying near the Po­ diarists, Fithian gives a very good towmack are wholly destroy'd ... idea of the climatic changes, and con­ And in these lower Counties in many stantly makes observations on other places the Woods appear like Novem­ aspects of the season. On March 11th ber, & the Leaves are actually drop­ he notes "Robbins, & Blue Birds sing­ ping!" He does not write further ing all around us," and on the same about the peach crop, though he states day hears the song of the Mocking on September 22d that " Peaches & Bird; on the 31st "The Plumb-Trees Fruit are omitted at Dinners," imply­ are beginning to blossom," and on the ing that they had been constantly 3'd of April he writes: "The country served up to that time, and on Au­ gust 22d he rode to Squire Lee's begins to put on her Flowery Gar­ (Richard Lee, of Lee Hall, Vvestmore­ ment, & appear in gaity," with apri­ land county), who took the party into cots, peaches, plums, and several sorts his garden, which was large and had of cherries in bloom, remarking in an abundance of fruit, and gave them this connection that the peClich or­ fine peaches, nectarines, etc., and chards of Nomini are very extensive. again on August 25th, at another On the 7th of the month, "\ATe rode neighbor's, they were given some ex­ across the Country which is now in cellent peaches. full Bloom," and again on the 10th, In midsummer he dwells on the he comments on the "Country full of very hot and dry weather, which was Flowers, & the branc'hes full of lovely apparently new to him. June 8th-9th singing Birds." It is a very different the weather was very hot, and June picture that he gives in midsummer, 11th, "No rain has fell here since the when he writes on August 18th: "The 24th of May, & then but a Scanty Face of the earth seems covered with Shower, & most of the time since mocking-birds, but not one of them windy," and from that time on until sing . . . Not a bird, except now & the first of September he records then Robbin-Redbreast is heard to chiefly hot weather, long intervals sing in this Feverish Month." between, or only slight rains, fre­ Fithian did not leave Nomini until quently commenting on the dry ap­ the 20th of October, 1774, but makes pearance of vegetation, and every no allusions to the garden during the shower that fell-after one occurring latter portion of his stay, evidently July 15th he says: "The Corn literally preferring to go farther afield for his looks glad." To those acquainted recreation. On September 19t1: he re­ with Virginia summers, his picture of cords: "Evening after School with dry and dusty vegetation is partiCtl­ Mrs. Carter, & the Girls I took a larly appealing, but it seems equally Walk thro' the Pumpkin & Potatoe natural to read of cool days in the Vines," but more often he would ride middle of June, requiring fires in the to some neighbor's, or "The much Great-House and School-Room; and Frequented Corn-Field," or would go again in July when he notes chilly afoot for a long stroll through the mornings, and on July 25th actually pasture, admiring "The Country em­ finds the day "disagreeably cold." phatically in her goodly Variety!" Modern Varieties of Vegetables

VICTOR R. BOSWELL!

Over a two-year period, during 1944 would better satisfy his desires. The and 1946, I prepared a series of arti­ commonest need has been for plants cles on "Disease-Resistant and Hardy that would increase . food supplies Varieties of Vegetables" that appeared through greater yield, better storabil­ in The National Horticultural Ma.ga­ ity, higher food value, or any combi­ zi/1 e. In those artides I gave a little nation of such qualities. More than early background on the development bare need, however, has been involved of disease-resistant and hardy varieties, in the "improvement" of plants. After then very briefly described or discussed bare needs are met, esthetic considera­ a large number of such varieties that tions become important. Whether or had been developed up to that time. not a new set of qualities represents an The main purpose was to present a sort "improvement" over 6Mer varieties de­ of "catalog" of what was available. pends upon what is needed, and upon Many of the varieties mentioned in what is wanted. It is often a matter of those articles are important in one or opinion as to whether a particular va­ more parts of the country today al­ riety is as good or better than some though others have been superseded by other. better ones. Disease resista17ce. The outstanding It is hardly feasible or even desirable trend in vegetable variety improvement here to review all of the varieties men­ now, and for the past thirty years, is tioned in those articles, or any large the development of new varieties re­ portion of them. Although some of the sistant to specific diseases. This trend more important of those varieties may has been compelled by progressively be mentioned again here, a major pur­ greater losses or threats of loss from pose of this article is to call attention to plant diseases. It has resulted from new varieties of interest that have been real necessity. It is a fight for food. produced in the past eight to ten years. All agriculture is artificial, by defini­ Before taking up specific varieties of tion. It disturbs natural balances. Un­ the several garden vegetables, however, der the economic and social pressures it seems worth while to consider some of today many agri·cultbral practices recent and current trends in varietal or methods are becoming even more developments, the reasons for them, highly artificial or "unnatural," tending and how all these matters affect the to upset natural balance still further. non-commercial vegetable grower. Thus, we encounter more and more troubles with diseases and disorders of S01ll e Trends many kinds. We may confidently expect to see a From the very beginnings of agricul­ continuation of breeding of vegetables ture and of gardening man has sought for resistance to old diseases that are kinds, varieties, and stocks of plants becoming more wide-spread and seri­ that wouild be more productive than ous, and also for resistance to new those already posse sed, and that forms of disease that will appear in the future. lU. S. Department or Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Horticultunl Crops Research Branch . A daptabilit·y to climate. Great shifts [96] April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 97 in population create new problems in production and do not have the fine food supply. These shifts create de­ quality of this or that old h0l'11e garden mands for new varieties that will be sort. suited to new centers of agricultural Such an extreme view is hardly j usti­ production and to some extent to nfW £led although it is true that most efforts centers of urbanization and industriali­ at vegetable variety improvement re­ zation. Wherever masses of people cently have necessarily taken commer­ migrate, they want to take garden crop cial requirements into account. The plants with them, or find new ones that only instances in which commercial and will meet their needs in th~ new cir­ home garden requirements appear to cumstances. be in actual conflict involve the bearing New frontiers are being developed habit or harvest range of various crops. in the North, for example, which call The commercial grower wants to be for new varieties. New mining, power, able to harvest a planting of beans, and agricultural developments in va­ sweet corn, cabbage, lettuce, peas, or rious parts of Canada; new activity in certain other crops, in a single opera­ Alaska; and large new power and irri­ tion, by passing over the field just once. gation developments in some formerly The home gardener, on the other hand, isolated semi-desert or desert areas of usually wants the harvest range pro­ the western United States are intensi­ longed so he can harvest repeatedly fying demands peculiar to those areas. from a single planting. We, in the United States, have been In a commercial variety, high eating little concerned with the northernmost quali ty is no less desired than in a va­ limits of culture of various vegetables riety for home culture; neither is high and have done comparatively little to quality any less desired than high yield. extend the northern limits of any of It should be remembered, however, them. To the Canadian gardeners and that, in breeding new varieties resistant plant breeders, however, this is a major to some costly destructive disease, the fie ld of interest. Our Great Plains area first objective is to get a variety that is still very inadequately supplied with will be productive and 1'easo'n.ably ac­ suitable varieties, as is the comparable ceptable. Remember that this is a fight area in Canada. for food. Early in the course of va­ Slow but steady progress is being rietal developments some compromise made in developing a few varieties with the ultimate in quality often must especially adapted to this or that; ad­ be made. Later, better varieties are de­ verse climate; tomatoes and vine crops veloped that have very high quality as for the plains and intermountain area; well as productivity and suitability for tomatoes, sweet corn, and vine crops mechanized production. Varieties such for the North. Although a great part as 'Topcrop' bean and 'Golden Cross of the supply of most kinds of vegeta­ Bantam' sweet corn are among the very bles may continue to be shipped in to best in eating quality although they such areas, there will be increasing were produced to meet certain commer­ numbers of residents who will want to cial requirements. grow their own. Before we complain too bitterly Adaptability to commercial produc­ about the qualities of some of the mod­ t'ion. Vl1e often hear the complaint that ern disease-resistant varieties . . . before the home gardeners have been fo rgotten we rate them too unfavorably in com­ by the plant breeders, that the new parison with certain old favorites, we varieties are suited only to commercial might be reminded that the old favor- 98 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZI NE Apr il 1954 ites may no longer produce an accept­ doubtless be employed successfull y with able crop. Not onl y the yields but also other vegetables. the quali ty of many old favorites suffe r T he high cost of producing F 1 hy­ seriously from diseases that are now brid seed by the old principles has been prevalent. Under present conditions a real obstacle to its general extension such old sorts are not superi or to the to crops such as tomato, eggplant, pep­ new varieties that have replaced them. per, and cucumber in this country. For several years, however, seed producers S 1I itability for jJ1'oc essing. The in­ in Europe and in the O rient have been creasi ng trend toward foo d prepartion prep3.red and eager to produce such in the factory instead of in the home hybrid seed fo r A mercian growers at has requi red defi nite improvements in pri,ces that would appear mutually ad­ uniformity and in quality of vegetable vantageous. It is surpri sing that A mer­ varieties grown for commercial proces­ icans have not made more use of those sing. Both competition and grading facilities abroad. standards for processed food have con­ H ome garden varieties. Although the tributed to the high quality of varieti es tendency today is for most plant breed­ fo r processing. The best varieties fo r ers to give major attention to vari eti es fresh use or for canning are not neces­ that will meet commercial needs, many sarily the best fo r freezing. Both pri­ varieties are being introduced which vate and public agencies devote much are of in terest mainly to home garden­ attenti on to breeding varieti es specifi­ ers. If a breeder fi nds an outstanding cally fo r processin g. I n this particular home garden sort, he will not hide it fie ld the home gardener profits no less or discard it, but will introduce it. than the commerci.al grower and the Many such introductions, however, fall purchaser of processed vegetables. by the wayside and disappear. They Hybrids. The success of hybrid co rn may make progress very slowly or may and sweet corn started a trend to F 1 entirely fail to win an important place hybrids2 with some other vegetable fo r reasons other than their eating qual­ crops, but it was onl y a start. Appli­ ity or yielding capacity. cation of the principles used in produc­ T o remain in use nowadays, a home ing hybri d corn has been very slow and garden vari ety must be suited to culture very limited in this country with crops over a fairly wide range of conditions. other than co rn because of the cost of U nless its qualities can create demand emasculation of .plants used as fe male fo r a fair volume of seed annually, parents. T hus far those principles have many seed producers are reluctant to been used to a small extent on tomato, produce it. Small lots of seed are ex­ eggplant, cucumber, and squash. The pensive to produce and to handle, re­ disco very of principles and develop­ sulting in li ttle or no profit to the seeds­ ment of methods by Henry A. J ones for man. Some excell en t home garden using cytoplasmic male sterility, as ex­ sorts are poor seeders, require greater emplified in the production of F 1 hy­ expense, or in volve greater hazards brid onions, have greatly increased the than others in producing seed. Seed practical possibilities of F 1 hybrids producers have an understandable lack of many crops. Commercial production of enthusiasm fo r such varieties and of F 1 hybrid onion seed is now well tend to let them slip out of production establi shed. The new principles will unless there is a brisk demand for them. If large numbers of home gardeners 2Tht first general ion seedli ngs raised from a cross of two kinds of plants. demand certain varieties year after April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZI NE 99 year, seedsmen wi ll produce them and dealers. W e also have seed laws whether the varieties are very good or designed to protect gardeners and re­ not. Look at 'Ponderosa' tomato ! You sponsible seedsmen from the conse­ can buy seed of it anywhere, everyone quences of irresponsible seed produc­ knows it, and yet it is not a very good tion and marketing. A very eff ective vari ety. It is just one of those things collaborati on has developed between that caught the fancy of gardeners be­ government control officers and rep­ cause of its size. It is rough, there is resentatives of the seed industry in the much waste in its preparation, it is a U nited States fo r improving seed qual­ temperamental fruit-setter, drops blos­ ity and seed marketing practices. We soms very badly, is highly susceptible may confidently expect both of these to to wil t and other di seases- in short, we continue at hi ghly satisfactory levels. don't recommend it. Seed cata,logs. It was not long ago It is surprisingly difficult to "sell" that the vegetable seed catalog was re­ some very good varieties to home gar­ ferred to in jest, and otherwise, as a deners because the varieties do not ap­ pri me example of printed deceptiveness pear spectacular at a glance. 'Ponde­ and misinfo rmation. P resent trends rosa' is spectacular in fruit size, but conti nue away from that sort of thi ng. not in yield or dependability. 'Wando' To an increasing degree seedsmen are pea, on the other hand, is a remarkably devoting catalog space to the bad points dependabl e variety of high quality­ as well as the good ones possessed by resistant to wilt, to heat, to cold, and the vari eties they li st for sale. We very widely adapted as a home garden now find such statements as: "Not the pea. Still, '\i'v'a ndo' is largely unknown best market type but a vigorous pro­ and making slow progress. Some seed ductive hybrid that stands up where producers report a gradually increasing others fail ," "sus·ceptible to fu sarium volume of sales of 'Wando,' but its wilt," " tends to produce rabbit ears," values are not widely appreciated. It is "not very proli fic," "smooth, strai ght, not spectacular ; it has no "gimmick" blunt-ended fruit but only fair color. that is evident on sight. 'Slobolt' and Often profi tabl e." Yes, we have come a 'Salad Bowl' lettuces are remarkably long way. heat resistant and slow bolting, excel­ Some R eco1'JlL71wnd ed Varieties-New lent home garden sorts released in re­ And Old. cent years, but they are not yet big items in the home garden seed trade. Some kinds of vegetables include It may be that one reason special very widely adapted varieties that can home garden varieties seem scarce is be grown with satisfaction anywhere that home gardeners don't demand that the vegetable is grown. In the those we have in sufficien t volume to fo llowing sections of this article that encourage seedsmen to stock them. deal w ith such crops, no mention is S eed quality. F or many years the made of specific regions or districts fo r trend in quality of vegetable seeds has growing the varieties named. Most been upward, and it is still upward. vegetables, however, consist of varieties Several factors doubtless are respon­ that are much better fo r growing in sible for the generally fin e quality of some parts of the country than in seeds available to gardeners in this others. Special a,ttent ion should be country. given to the varieties recommended for \ lIle have many hi ghly competent and one part of the country in preference to responsible commercial seed producers another. Many fai lu res result from the 100 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZI NE Apr il 1954 choice of the wrong variety for a given Refugee,' F light,' and 'Ranger' are bet­ region, or for the season in which the ter adapted to the northern part of the vegetable is to be grown. Season of country than to the South ; 'Contender,' cul ture is often as important as place a new, very early sort, is best adapted in determining which varieties should to the South, and 'Florida Belle' to be chosen . F lorida. In this article it is feasible to deal 'T opcrop,' a new bean of outstanding only with the more important vegeta­ quality, does best in the northern half bles, and to mention onl y a few of the of the country; it bears most of its pods best or of the more promising varieties in one picking, nearly all in two pick­ of each fo r specific regions or seasons. ings. T hi s feature is an advantage to Failure to mention any specifi c variety the home gardener if one wants to do a does not mean that it is without value big job of canning or freez ing all at 111 one or more areas. once and get it over with. F or the gar­ B eans. Many breeders working in dener who wants many harvests at private seed companies and in public short intervals, many small plantings of research institutions have introduced thi s variety at intervals of ten days a large number of good new varieties should be made. '\ i\T ade' is another new of garden beans in the past ten years­ bean developed in the South, as were and many old varieties are still going 'Contender' and 'Florida Belle.' 'V-Tade,' strong. however, promises to be popular over Pole. Among the old varieties of much of the country. It yields its pods pole snap beans, 'K entucky Wonder' is over a long harvesting season. 'Tender­ the nati onwide and perennial favorite. long 15 ' and 'Improved T endergreen' a other approaches it in general were developed to replace the old va­ adaptability and popularity. 'White riety 'T endergreen' which is highly sus­ Kentucky \ i\To nder,' resistant to certain ceptible to di sease. 'Idaho Refugee,' forms of rust, is the second most im­ 'Flight,' 'Ranger,' 'Contender,' 'Florida portant pole variety. 'McCaslan' is next Belle,' 'T opcrop,' 'Wade,' 'Improved to the 'KentuckyWonders' in populari­ Tendergreen,' and 'T enderIong 15' are ty. 'Blue Lake' is best adapted to the resistant to mosaic. 'Contender,' 'Wade,' Pacific Northwest where it is grown and 'T enderlong 15' are also resistant commercially for processing. T hese to certain strains of powdery mildew. fo ur pole beans become stringy as the Li111a bean. The northernmost States pods become large but they are none­ and di stricts of high elevation are gen­ theless popular . . erally less suitable fo r growing lima Strains of 'Stringless Blue Lake,' beans than the warmer parts of the with resistance to mosaic and to some Mid dle and Southern States. This ap­ forms of rust, have recently been in­ pli es especially to the pole varieties, troduced. 'Rialto,' a stringless bean but is also true for the bush varieties. of the '\ i\T hite Kentucky Wonder' type, The small-seeded varieties are hardier and ·Potomac,' another new stri ngless and more dependable croppers than the pole bean, are both somewhat resistant large-seeded ones under adverse con­ to mosaic and to some forms of rust. di tions. Bush. Since the fi rst mosaic-resist­ Pole. The pole type of lima bean is ant snap bean, '\ i\T isconsin Refugee,' best suited to the southem half of the wa introduced in 1934, at least a dozen coun try. \ i\Te probably have no better better ones have been introduced. Va­ pole varieties than the old 'King of the ri eties of Refugee type, such as 'Idaho Garden' (large seeded) and 'Sieva' April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 101

(small seeded). For growers who do are most popular and productive. No not ob ject to colored seeds, the old variety thrives best in hot summer 'Florida Butter' is a vigorous and pro­ weather. ductive vari ety. Broccoli. Broccoli varieties diffe r Bush. 'Henderso n Bush,' until re­ chiefl y in t im e to harvest and in the cently the only very important small­ character of fl ower heads they produce. seeded bush variety, is still a depend­ T he old well known 'Calabrese' is able one. It is, however, being gradual­ among the earliest. A new early varie­ ly replaced by a few new small-seeded ty, 'Di Cicco,' is popular. T hose who sorts that are either of higher quality or want several small heads instead of that have seeds which remain an attrac­ a large central head should grow tive green color well past the best har­ 'Freezers. ' T hi s variety was developed vest stage. Although these green­ especially to meet the requi rements of seeded varieties are attractive an d pop­ packagin g for freezing. ular, the green seed color can be de­ Cabbage. A succession of yellows­ ceptive as to quality because it will resistant cabbage varieties has been mask over-maturity of the beans. coming from the breeders' hands for 'Clark's Bush' and 'Thorogreen' are more than thirty years. \¥ e now have two small-seeded varieties similar to good res istant varieti es fo r virtually Henderson except that they are green­ every season, region, and consumer de­ seeded. mand-early, medium, late, pointed, T he large-seeded bush varieties are round, fl at, red, green, fo r fresh use, generally considered of better quality for kraut, or fo r storage. than the small-seeded but they require For over-win tering as small plants il1 a little longer season and warmer the field, 'Early Jersey vVakefi eld' and weather. 'F ordhook 242' and 'Concen­ , Charl eston Wakefield ' are the hardiest tt'ated F ordhook' are relatively new and the least likely to form seedstalks varieties that are of excellent quali ty in the spring instead of heading. These and generally more productive than vari eties can be over-wintered success­ the old 'F ordhook' which they are re­ fully under conditions typical of the placing. Chesapeake Bay region where tempera­ Several small, thick-seeded li mas tures occasionally approach zero. Such have been developed in recent years temperatures will kill other common but few of them except 'Triumph' are vari eties. T he two varieties are not coml11only available. T hese can be wilt-resistant. T hey have pointed heads grown in areas where 'Henderson and have lost much of thei r fo rmer Bush' can be grown but which may be populari ty as market so rts, but they can too cool fo r the very large-seeded bush be over-win tered fa rther north than varieties and the pole vari eti es. others. B eets. Beet varieties differ chiefl y Many varieties can be planted in in shape and color of root, with the autumn fo r early spring harvest in the long ones requiring up to ten or eleven warmer half of the country and are so weeks to make a crop in cont rast to grown. Losses are often heavy, how­ only eight or ni ne weeks fo r fl at and ever, either from winter killing or from round varieties. If the normal growing shooting to seed instead of making season is very short or cool, the quick­ heads. growing kinds, such as 'Early \¥ onder,' A very hardy, rOUlld, non-bolting should .be grov:n. 'Detroit Dark Red,' cabbage has been sought for many 'Perfected Detroit,' and similar strains, years with no marked success. 102 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

In the warmer parts of the country minor differences among them, and for a spring crop, early-maturing va­ they are equally adapted to various rieties should be grown in order that parts of the country. The best known they will reach harvest before they are named variety is 'Georgia.' 'Louisiana harmed by hot weather. To avoid be­ Sweet' and 'Vates' are two varieties, ing swamped with too much cabbage at developed in Louisiana and Virginia, once, the home gardener should plant respectively, which are more uniform only a few plants each of three or four and refined than most stocks of varieties that reach harvest several days Georgia. apart. Three good ones for spring plant­ Ca1'rots. The carrot generally does ing, in order of earliness, are 'Golden not thrive 011 hard, tight soils that are Acre,' 'Copenhagen Market,' and low in organic matter or on rocky soils. 'Glory of Enkhuzen.' If the soil is in­ Neither does it do well in areas where fected with yellows, 'Resistant Golden hot dry weather overtakes it. Good Acre,' 'Marion Market,' and 'Globe' stands are very difficult to obtain under should be grown. 'Bonanza' is a new such soil and climate conditions. The midseason cabbage reported to hold average home garden over most of the very well in the garden without burst­ country is not very well suited to cul­ ing after it becomes firm. ture of carrots, especially the longer Cabbage for autumn harvest is dif­ vanetles, although carrots can be ficult to grow in the warmer half of grown. For locations having heavy, the country because it must be sub­ stony or shallow soils that are unsatis­ jected to unfavorably hot weather dur­ factory for long varieties, 'French Forc­ ing the early part of its growth. In the ing,' a round one, or 'Oxheart,' a Middle States, however, some mod­ short one, may do reasonably well. erately heat-tolerant varieties, such as These varieties are also the earliest 'Succession,' 'Wisconsin All Seasons,' and may therefore fit into seasons too and 'Steins Flat Dutch,' can be grown short for the longer season varieties. to reach harvest about frost. Where conditions are reasonably favor­ The storage varieties, such as 'Wis­ able for carrots, 'Nantes' is one of the consin Hollander,' and 'Wisconsin BalJ best for home gardens because of its Head,' are adapted only to the more high quality. 'Chantenay' is also good. northerly States. They require a long 'Imperator' and 'Morse Bunching' are growing season and will not tolerate the main long varieties. long, hot summers. Other late varie­ Sweet corn. The hundreds of names ties, such as 'Lat~ Flat Dutch' and 'Red of sweet corn varieties and hybrids put Rock,' are adapted only to the more us all in somewhat of a dither. Al­ northerly or cool coastal districts. though many of the varieties and hy­ C oUards. It is unfortunate .that col­ brids are very similar to some others, lards, a staple greens crop of the there still are highly important dif­ South, is not more generally known. and ferences among them. To complicate appreciated in the North. It is no less matters still further, the lists of hybrids well adapted to northern gardens than available change rather rapidly. Since to southern gardens. A leafy, non­ many sweet corn hybrids are adapted heading cabbage, it is hardy, grows to a relatively narrow range of condi­ rapidly, is productive and very easy tions, generalized recommendations to grow. Its season of culture and use about hybrids are unsafe. Recommen­ is the same as that of kale. dations should .be based only on actual Few varieties are listed, there are trials in each district where it is pro- April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZI NE 103

TABLE 1 Some of the principal features of some sweet corn hybrids and varieties commonly g rown in the United States Time to I Ear I Rows of I Plant Kernel harvest length kernels height Variety or hybrid I color" I Days Inches N~~1'11.ber Feet SMALL TO VERY SMALL VERY EARLY KINDS, 65 TO 74 D AYS TO HARVEST' 'Earligold' ______Y 73 7 12 6 'Early Surprise" ______Y 72 7 8-12 5 'Golden Early Market'c______Y 73 6Y, 8-12 4Y, 'Golden Midget'c ______Y 70 4 8 3 'Golden Rocket' ______Y 67 7 10-12 5 'Golden Sunshine'c ______Y 74 6Y, 10-12 5Y, 'Marcross' ______Y 74 7Y, 10-14 5Y, 'N orth Star' ______Y 70 6Y, 8-12 5Y, 'Seneca Dawn' ______.__ Y 70 7Y, 12-16 5 'Seneca Golden' ______. ______.. __ Y 72 7 12 5Y, 'Seneca 60' ______Y 67 6Y, 10- 12 4Y, 'Spancross' ______. __ __ Y 70 6Y, 10-12 5Y,

SMALL EARLY KINDS, 75 TO 80 D AYS TO H ARVE ST" 'Carmel cross' ______Y 77 7 12-14 5Y, 'FM Cross' ______Y 80 7 14-16 6 'Golden Bantam'c ______Y 78 6Y, 8 5Y, 'Gokl Rush' ______. Y 77 7 12-14 6 'Midgolden' ______Y 78 7Y, 10-14 6 'N orthern Cross' ______Y 77 7 10-14 6Y, 'T endergold' ______. ______Y 80 7Y, 10-14 6 MEDIUM TO LARGE MIDSEASO N KINDS, 81 TO 89 DAYS TO H ARVEST" 'Aristogold Bantam Evergreen' ______Y 87 9Y, 16-18 7 'CaI umet' ______. __ Y 86 8Y, 10-16 7 'Erie' ______Y 88 9 12-14 6Y, 'Golden Bounty' ______Y 83 9 12-14 7Y, 'Golden Cross Bantam' ______Y 85 8 10-14 6 'Golden Hybrid 2439' ______Y 87 7Y, 12- 16 7 'Golden Security' ______.______. Y 85 8 14-16 7Y, 'How ling Mob'c ______------______W 83 7Y, 12-16 7 'Huron' ______Y 89 9 12-16 7 'Illinois Golden Hybrid No. 10' ______Y 86 7Y, 12-14 6Y, 'Ioana' ______Y 87 8 12-14 6Y, 'Kennebec' ______. ______..______. Y 82 7Y, 12-14 6 'Lee' ______. ______Y 84 7Y, 12-16 6Y, 'Lincoln' __ ._. ______.______Y 83 7Y, 12-16 6 'Oto' ______Y 87 9 8-12 7 'Seneca Chief' ______. ______. Y 85 9 12 6Y, 'Top Cross Maine Bantam' ______Y 83 7Y, 12-16 6 'Whipple Early White'C ______W 84 6Y, 14-18 6 'Whipple Early Yellow'c ______Y 85 7 12-14 7 L ARGE L ATE KINDS, 90 D AYS OR O VER TO H ARVEST" 'Country Gentleman'c d ______W 95 7 (d) 7 'Cowltry Gentleman 8x6'd ______W 95 8 (d) 7 'Country Gentleman (Ill.) No. 13'd ______W 97 7Y, (d) 7Y, 'H oney J une'c ______W 105 8 12-18 9 'Iochief' ______. Y 90 9 14-18 7 'Iogent No. 11' ______W 98 8 (d) 8 'Iogreen' ______W 95 7Y, 20- 26 8 'Narrow Grain hybrid' ______. W 95 8 (d) 8 'Stowell Evergreen'C ______W 95 8 16-20 8Y, 'Stowell Evergreen hybrid 14x13'.______. W 96 8 14-18 8 nDays to harvest are th e approximate number of days from planting to harvest when planted about the frost-free date in a region or season havi ng a monthly mean temperatur e of 70° to 75° F. during most of the grow ing season. Mean grow ing season temperatu res as low as 65 0 will in cre3se the time to harvest by about 15 to 20 days f or most varieties. by indicates yell ow kern els; W, white. cOp en-pollinated vari ety. dNonrowed variety, 104 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

TABLE 2 Some sweet co rn varieties recommended for growing for home and market in several areas of the United States. [The later va rieties adapted to an area are generally preferred because they are more pro­ ductive than eq ually adapted early varieties]

Area Some varieties recommended Extreme so utheast 'Go'lden Cross Bantam,' 'loana,' 'Aristogold Bantam Evergreen,' 'Illinois Golden Hybrid No. 10," 'Golden Security,' 'Erie,' 'Cal umet.' Middle South ...... - - 'Aristogold Bantam Evergreen,' 'Golden Cross Bantam,' 'loana,' 'Golden Security,' 'Golden H ybrid 2439,' 'Illinois Golden Hy­ brid No. 10,' 'Erie,' 'Calumet.' Texas 'l oana,' 'Aristogold BalltaT\ll Evergreen,' 'Golden Cross Bantam,' 'Calumet.' Middle Atlantic ...... 'Calumet,' 'Carmelcross,' 'Aristogold Bantam Evergreen,' 'Golden Cross Bantam,' 'l oana,' 'lochief,' 'Golden Security,' 'Stowell Evergreen hybrid,' 'Country Gentleman,' and 'Coun­ try Gentlen1an' hybrids. N ortheastb e ...... _ ••.•. •••.••• _ .. 'NIarcross,' 'Carmelcross,' 'North Star,' 'Northern Cross,' 'Golden Rocket,' 'Golden Cross Bantam,' 'loan a,' 'Seneca Chief,'d 'Calumet.' e Co rn Belt ...••••...•.••••..•..•..•. •... Same as for northeast area. North Central" ...... 'Spancross,' 'Marcross,' 'Carmelcross, 'Golden Rocket,' 'Gold Rush,' 'Golden Cross Bantam,' 'loana.' Northernmost central and Only small, early varieties are suitable. Nothing later than northeast ...... 'Gold en Bantam' (11,Ot 'Golden Cross Bantam') is recom­ mended. See Table 1. Note: All varieties are 2 t(i) 3 weeks la ter tha.n in warmer parts of the cOlmtry. Western "intermountain."· .. _ 'Marcross,' 'Carmelcross,' 'Seneca Golden,' 'Golden Cross Ban­ tam,' 'loana,' 'Illinois Golden Hybrid No. 10.' Cali fom ia ...... _... _...... 'Golden Cross Bantam,' 'loana,' 'Seneca Chief,'d 'Marcross,' , Carme1cross.' Pacific Northwest _...... 'Spancross,' 'Golclen Rocket,' 'North Star, 'Carme1cross,' 'Seneca Chief,'d 'Golden Cross Bantam,' 'FM Cross.' Note: All varie­ ties 2 to 3 weeks later than in warmer parts of the cOlmtry.

3.Especially in the Everglades. bV nri eties for ' '''est Virginia are in this group rat her than in the Middle Atlantic group. cThe e

\Va originally developed as a cold­ full y. The species IS very widely ha rdy pea for winter culture in the adapted but some good varieties are South but it is gaining popularity else­ rather narrowly adapted, while others where in the country. are moderately wide in their range of P eppers. Peppers should be grown adaptability. In the past twenty years more extensively and used more gen­ about forty new vari eties have been erou I y by the home gardener. Use introduced by breeders in the United need not be confined to a few sli ces in States. Most of these varieties are a salad or to an occasional meal in­ resistant to one or more important dis­ cluding stuffed pepper. Peppers make eases, and half of them are of enough an excellent dish as a "straight" vege­ importance to be on the certified seed table, and they are not very hard to lists. T hey make up over half of the grow. A number of early vari eties, certified seed grown annually in this such as 'Vinedale,' '\iVindso r A,' and country. 'King of the North,' are now available There is no single variety of potato fo r gardeners in the more northerly that is best in all places and all sea­ States and moderately high elevations. sons. When a variety is grown in a For most of the country, 'Califo rnia place to which it is not adapted, its \Ar onder' is generally desired because quality, as well as its yield, is likely to of its nice fo rm. It is, however, perhaps be poor. It is therefore important to a li ttle more sensitive to adversities of know w hat vari ety to grow whe1'e. soil and climate than 'World Beater'­ Broad recommendations of varieties not quite so pretty a variety but often for the home gardener are briefly sum­ more productive than 'California Won­ marized in a current publication of the der' and of very satisfactory quality. U. S. Department of Agriculture as 'Early California Wonder' is often rec­ follows: ommended but it is defi nitely much " In the northern, or main potato­ more sensitive to environment than growing region two types of potatoes 'California \iVo nder.' Under somewhat should be planted: One that produces adverse conditions it may be quite a tubers earl y for summer use and the di sappointment. other, requiring a longer growing pe­ 'Perfection' pimiento is another very ri od, fo r winter use. Both should be fine pepper in those places to which it planted as early as conditions permit. is well suited, but its range of adapta­ Varieties of the first type are 'Irish bility is limited. It is late, seems to re­ Cobbler,' '\iVarba,' and 'Red ·Warba.' quire a longer season, warmer weather, 'Chippewa,' a mid-season variety, usu­ and better soil conditions than the ally gives high yields of high-quality varieties mentioned above. 'Perfection,' tubers. The best late varieties are or improved strains of it, is the variety 'Katahdin,' 'Green Mountain,' 'Sebago,' grown almost exclusively for canning 'Sequoia,' 'Ponti ac,' and 'Rural New as "pimiento pepper." It is of doubtful Yorker No.2.' 'Irish Cobbler' is the superiority in most of the middle third most widely adapted early variety and of the country, and certainly not rec­ 'Katahdin' the most widely adapted ommended for the northern third or late, but other varieties are often pre­ other cool areas. fe rred. In the Great Plains, 'Triumph' Pota.to es. W hite or Irish potatoes can is preferred for summer use and 'Ka­ be grown at some season of the year in tahdin' and 'Rural' for winter. In the any place in North Ameri ca where a Pacific Northwest, 'Russet Burbank' vegetabl e garden can be grown success- (Netted Gem), 'White Rose,' 'Katah- April 1954 T H E NATIONAL H ORTICULTU RAL MAGAZINE 109 din,' and 'Sebago' might be recom­ A bush type pumpkin called 'Chey­ mended for the late crop. enne Bush' produces small fruits some­ " In the South, where one crop IS what similar to those of Small Sugar. planted in early spring and another It is early and adapted to the P lains. about midsummer, varieties are very Vining squashes generally require important. 'Irish Cobbler' and 'Tri­ mo re space than can be spared fo r them umph' have been standard fo r the in small gardens. Of the many good spring crop fo r many years, but they varieties, a few will be mentioned here are being replaced in some sections by because of specific qualities. Where new varieties. In home gardens 'Red there is room for vining squash, the \i\Ta rba,' 'W arba,' 'Katahdin,' 'Chippe­ early little 'T able Q ueen' has long been wa,' and 'Sebago' often out yield stand­ a favori te. More recentl y 'Butternut' ard varieties. F or best results, three has become popular, a small, short, varieties might be grown: 'Red War­ thick-necked squash with a swoll en ba,' very early; 'Chippewa,' interme­ blossom end. 'Butternut' is used in the diate; and 'Katahdin,' late. They same way as 'T able Q ueen,' and is of should be planted as earl y as possible. high quali ty. 'Buttercup,' an older F or midsummer planting 'Irish Cob­ variety, is a small Turban type that bler' and 'Dakota Red' give fair results, was developed fo r earliness and adapta­ but often 'Katahdin,' 'Sebago,' 'Se­ bility to the P lains. Its fl esh is high in quoia,' and 'P ontiac,' a late red-tuber solids, ri chly orange colored and sur­ variety, give higher yield and better prisingly similar to sweetpotato when quality. Spring-crop tubers fo r stor­ cooked. age should not be harvested until the In the South and other areas where plants mature. They should be handled insect pests are especially troublesome carefully and not stored permanently on squash, 'Alagold' or 'Improved Af­ until a firm skin develops." rican Squash' has been reported to have 'Kennebec' is a new blight-resistant real advantages because of its insect re­ variety of rapidly increasing impor­ sistance. It is sometimes classified as tance, chiefly in the Northern States. a pumpkin rather than a squash. 'TabLe It merits widespread trial there and in Queen' and 'Butternut' are fair keepers, bordering districts. and 'Buttercup' and 'Alagold' have ex­ S quash. The numerous bush summer cellent storage qualit ies. squashes are well known, widely adapt­ The squashes with the richest fl esh ed, and generally satisfactory for the are 'Golden Delicious' and 'Boston purposes for which they are grown. Marrow,' two large, late kinds that are Little needs to be said here about them, suitable for growing only in large gar­ except to call attention to F 1 hybrids dens. Because of their susceptibility to and F 2 stocks that have become avail­ insects and di seasees during their long able in recent years. 'H ybrid Coco­ growing period, they are none too well zelle,' 'Zucchini H ybrid,' and 'Seneca sui ted to the southern h ~ lf of the Prolific H ybrid' are three new Fl'S of country. co mmercial origin which resemble their S pinach. R egardless of Junior's al­ parent varieties, 'Coco zelle,' 'Zucchini,' leged antipathy fo r spinach, it continues and 'Early Yellow Prolifi c,' respective­ to be a popular and important pot herb ly. Greater earliness, yield, and uni­ for both home and commercial produc­ formity are claimed fo r the hybrids. tion. It is definitely a cool-season crop. Seed costs t w o to three times as much The savoy type is generally most as that of open-pollinated vari eties. popular fo r home garden use with 110 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

'Bloom dale Long Standing' and its Of the firm or dry type, the 'Big Stem trains best for spring planting and Jersey' and 'Yellow Jersey' are per­ 'Virginia Savoy' for fall planting. The haps best known; the flesh of these is la tter is mosaic ("blight") resistant, not highly colored. Mutations of the but it shoots to seed quickly when Jersey type having very deeply orange­ sown in the spring. The large flat­ colored flesh are now popular, among leaved type is more productive than the them 'Orlis,' 'Rols,' and 'Maryland smaller savoyed varieties and grown Golden.' The last is giving way to mainly for processing. 'Giant Nobel,' 'Sunnyside' in the Chesapeake Bay 'Hollandia' (Prickly VI/inter), and im­ area. 'Ranger' appears rather widely proved strains of 'Viroflay' are all adapted. good. In general, the large flat varie­ Tomatoes. As a home garden crop ties are a little more sensitive to ex­ the tomato doubtless ranks first in tremes of climate or to adverse cultural populmity. As an object of attention conditions than are the savoyed by the plant breeder it is well toward varieties. the top. Although some improvements It is probable that new F 1 hybrids of have been made, little progress has spinach resistant to blue mold will be been made in developing resistance in available commercially in the next few garden varieties to diseases other than years. Experimental hybrids observed fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt. thus far are highly productive. Several varieties now carry the high Sweetpotatoes. Sweetpotatoes are degree of fusarium wilt-resistance orig­ even less generally suited to the small inally introduced in 'Pan America.' garden than are Irish potatoes because 'Southland' for the South and 'Home­ the long trailing vines require much stead' for southern Florida carry it, as space. Furthermore, sweetpotatGes re­ does 'Sunray,' an orange-yellow to­ quire a relatively warm long season, mato, and 'Jefferson,' a scarlet-red one, which largely excludes them from the for general culture. Two new varieties, most northerly states. They are being 'Loran Blood' and 'VR Moscow,' that grown to an increasing extent in the are highly resistant to verticillium wilt warmer districts of Ontario in Canada were introduced in 1953. Both are which lie farther south and are warmer adapted to irrigated districts lying be­ than many districts in the United tween the Rocky Mountains and the States. Sierra Nevada Mountains. The favorite old _sweetpotato variety In the Southern Great Plains, the in the South is 'Porto Rico,' a soft or hot dry air of summer causes the blos­ "moist-fleshed" variety that is highly S0111S of nearly all varieties to drop susceptible to wilt. It is being replaced from the plants, resulting in little or no to some extent by 'Allgold' and 'Gold­ fruitfulness. The little plum-shaped rush,' two new wilt-resistant, orange­ 'Porter' variety is perhaps 1110st tol­ fl eshed, soft varieties. For the small erant to such conditions. 'Western garden a short-vined strain of 'Porto Red' is a new one for that region. In Rico' called 'Cliett Bunch' should have the Northern Great Plains short season meri t where the 'Porto Rico' IS is added to the other adversities of the adapted. plains. 'Bounty' or 'Victor,' 'Sioux,' In the Middle and Northeastern 'Firesteel,' and related sorts have States, the rather firm-fleshed or "dry" been developed for such conditions. sweetpotato has long been predominant, These are all relatively small fruited but it is now yielding to the soft type. and bear over a short season. They are April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 111 not adapted to regions where the large­ does not necessarily mean they have fruited vari eties thrive. less value than certain hybrids, but One of the latest additions to the list they do have characteristics that are of di sease-resistant tomatoes is 'Mana­ different from F 1 hybrids. F 2 seed is lucie,' developed in Florida. It is re­ produced in the same way as that of a ported to have high resistance to fu­ good stock of a conventional variety. sarium wilt, leaf mold and gray leaf Here again, as with the hybrids, expe­ spot; and mild resistance to early ri ence with individual F 2 stocks is lim­ blight, black spot, and certain races of ited and supplies are limited compared root-knot nematode. Other varieties with establi shed conventional varieties, developed for multiple resistance to so that there is little basis for general many diseases either have been unsatis­ recommendations. factory horticulturally or have shown 'Rutgers' is still the most important little resistance to more than two dis­ va riety in the eastern half of the co un­ eases. 'Manalucie' will be watched with try and 'Pearson' in California. There much interest. is little excuse for growing such unpro­ F 1 hybrid tomatoes are slowly in­ ductive and monstrous things as 'Ox creasing in popularity. As with all other heart' and 'Ponderosa.' Among the crops, hybridity as such does not insure earlier sorts, 'Stokesdale' and 'Valiant' superi ority - there are good hyb ri ds are popular and widely adapted but are and poor hybrids. Many seed firms list wilt susceptible. 'Break O'Day' and two or more F 1 hybrids of their own 'Grothen Globe' (a selection from production so that a large number of 'Break O'Day') are medium early and names is developing. These hybrids wilt resistant. have not been tested as extensively as M%sl?1'I1eto'ns. Few readers may be conventional varieties so that there is interested in muskmelons because they little basis for making recommenda­ require more space than is available in tions for different regions. The limited the small home garden. Furthermore, availability of seed of individual hybrids over most of the South and the East, also limits the value of any general rec­ attacks of downy mildew have become ommendations. Until more experience so seri ous that generally only poor has developed, the best recommenda­ yields and poor quality of muskmelons tions for a hybrid are the reputations are obtained. In the Southwest pow­ of the origi nator and of the seedsmen dery mildew 1S rU1l10US to most who offer it for sale. The hybrids vari eties. should be tried generally, but on an ex­ Perhaps the best known of the new perimental or test basis, like any new downy mildew resistant muskmelons variety until known to be superior un­ is 'Texas Resistant No. 1,' since it is der a particular set of conditions. the oldest. 'Rio-Sweet' is also resistant A number of F 2 named stocks of to­ and a little later than 'Texas Resistant mato are also on the market now, some­ No.1.' Both these are somewhat re­ times under the erroneous designation sistant to powdery mildew. They are of "hybrids," sometimes correctly as commerciall y available. At least one simply "F2 tomatoes." By definition, more downy mildew resistant kind a hybrid is the immediate result of a will soon be available. cross, not the generation fo llowing that \AThere powdery milclew is a factor cross. Some of the F 2 tomatoes are un­ and downy mildew is not, 'Powdery doubtedly productive but, of course, are Mildew Resistant No.6' should be less uniform than true F 1 hybrids. This grown. This disease is especially seri- 112 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZINE April 1954 ous in the Southwest. 'Powdery Mil­ duced a few years ago. This tiny three de,,,,' Resistant No. 45' is resistant to to five pound melon has shot into only one of the two known races of prominence, relatively speaking, for a powdery mildew so can no longer be small melon, largely for two reasons: grown where Race 2 is present. It is, ( 1) its truly superi or quality, and (2) however, an excellent variety of Hale the newly increased demand for small Best type that is otherwise widely watermelons by single apartment dwell­ adapted and of high quality. It is well ers and apartment-dwelling families of worth consideration in districts where only two or three persons. The vines powdery mildew is not seri ous. as well as the fruits are relatively 'Iroquois' and 'Delicious 51' are fu­ small, bringing it within range of pos­ sarium-resistant early varieties for the sibilities for home gardens of fair size East and Northeast; 'Honey Dew' and but too small for large varieties. The 'Honey Ball ' are somewhat resistant to variety is also very early. fusarium, not well adapted to the more A somewhat larger and later small humid parts of the country but well earl y watermelon is 'Northern Sweet.' adapted to less humid and irrigated 'Coles Early' is a still larger (fifteen areas. 'Honey Gold' and 'Farnorth' to twenty pounds) early variety for the are two very early melons of Canadian North. origin. Two other new varieties, 'Congo' and The so-called winter muskmelons, 'Fairfax,' have proved highly impor­ in cluding such vari eties as the 'Casaba,' tant because of their resistance to an­ 'Crenshaw,' and 'Honey Dew,' are well thracnose. 'Fairfax' is also resistant to adapted only to the less humid areas of fusarium wilt. These are long melons the country. The winter melons also typically reaching thirty to forty are late, requiring a longer and warmer pounds, not adapted to the more north­ season than is required by the canta­ erly di stricts. They bear over a longer loup type. 'Hale Best,' 'Delicious,' and season than other varieties chiefly be­ 'Honey Rock' are among the earliest cause of their anthracnose resistance. vari eties and recommended for the Gardeners who can grow large melons northernmost districts where musk­ should try them. melons can be grown. The watermelon varIetIes li sted Watermelons. Because of hi gh space above are grown principally east of the and temperature requiremen ts, water­ the Mississippi River. In the West, melons are of even less general inter­ 'Klondike' and 'Klondike R 7' are most est than muskmelons as a home garden popular. The latter is resistant to fu­ crop. Some noteworthy new vari eties, sarium wilt. however, merit attention here. The old 'Kleckley's Sweet' is of ex­ Although small watermelon varieties cellent quality when conditions are fa­ have been commonl y li sted in American vorable, but it is susceptible to wilt and seed catalogs for many years, none of inclined to produce many "gourd­ them attracted much attention until necks" in dry weather. 'Kleckley's No. '~ew Hampshire M idget' was intro- 6' is wilt-resistant. A Garden For America

RAY S. DIETZ 1

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The tremendous interest in garden­ municipality; and the construction and maintenance of public gardens, where ing 011 a national scale has passed the status of being just a fad and :is assum­ the people can see the newest and best ing the proportions of big business. The along with the old reliable varieties public interest which is sponsoring the from which they may choose what they re-birth of horticulture on the home wish for their own use. front also places new demands on pub­ The Park of Roses in Columbus licly supported park systems. It is now Ohio, was planned to fulfill all of th es~ expected that a wide-awake park de­ se rvices to the public, with the accent partment will provide services of a on roses, and to have its influence ex­ horticultural nature such as: reliable tend to the limits of the United States information on local horticultural prob­ instead of a purely local area. If pres­ lems ; demonstrations and lectures on ent plans are completed as intended practical gardening by public employees this garden will be the largest p ubli ~ hired for horticultural work with the rose garden in America. It will include plantings of most of the successful mod­ lSuperint end ent, Division of P:uks :lnd Forestry City of Columbus. Oh io. ) ern roses available on the market, and ll13] 114 THE NATIO AL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZINE April 1954 several of the prominent collections of course on construction methods and historical roses. procedures would provide interesting The best vari eties of the Ray E. reading, but would be too long for in­ Shepherd collection of nationally recog­ clusion in this general article. Let it nized species roses are being propa­ suffice to say that great emphasis was gated for use in a separate and distinct placed on all soil preparation and fer­ position in the gardens. Here the old­ tlity, and that water drainage and walks fas hioned, the rare, and the unusual construction were thoroughly studied. roses of yesterday will be brought to­ A complete color plan for rose plant­ gether for perpetuation where they can ings was made prior to the planting be appreciated by all who are inter­ season so that a harmonious result ested. would be obtained in the use of over The Horvath collection of famous three hundred varieties of modern hy­ roses will also be segregated for dis­ brid teas and floribundas. The use of playas a special interest attraction. tree roses as third-dimensional accents Since a majority of these will be climb­ was included and even in their first ing varieties, it is intended that the col· year of blossom these plants stimulated lecti on will be located on an architec­ great interest among the thousands of tural feature of the gardens. \iVhen the visitors. roses reach maturity, it is expected that In order to broaden the horticultural they will be given the publicity they content of the gardens beyond the deserve. limits of roses and native trees and The basic design of the gardens of shrubs, it is anticipated that a lilac the Park of Roses is formal in nature garden will be established in one of the with as much of the display space de­ meadows adjacent to the rose gardens. voted to rose beds as is necessary, and Approximately one hundred varieties yet with provision fo r easy access to of the highest rated French and do­ all areas on wide walks. A study of the mestic lilacs will be planted in informal plan will convince you that, although groupings on the perimeter of this the scheme is severe in layout, the meadow area. Under-plantings of many ..cale is so large that there is no feel­ types of ground covers and spring flow­ ing of restriction in any part of the ering bulbs will provide a double use area. An excellent setting is provided and interest in this lilac garden area. by gradual changes in elevation from A collection of flowering crabapple one garden to another and the existence trees of the most attractive forms and of mature growth of natural woodlands colors will be located on the northern and hedgerows completely surrounding border of the gardens to more heavily the gardens. Additional plantings of plant out the fence and the proposed trees and shrubs in the form of accents residential area inU11ediately outside of and background plantings have served the fence. With these additions the to direct the long views toward the ter­ Park of Roses will have an extended minating architectural features, and to period of bloom beyond that included enclose in divi dual portions of the gar­ in the fl owering season of roses. den to advantage. Among the future developments in­ Construction of the gardens is still cluded in present plans are two horti­ going on, with additional features cultural endeavors which are especially planned for years to come, but the for the younger generation. A chil­ basic plan and the bulk of the rose dren's garden will be constructed where plantings are now establi shed. A dis- the emphasis will be placed on a com- April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE l1S bination of horticultural training and program. A test garden of considerable recreation. Included in this garden will size and planting area is already de­ be a modern play-form in a small chil­ signed, and soil preparation is com­ clt'en's play area, surrounded by exam­ plete. Test plants of new varieties ple plots of the better known combina­ among roses and perennials will be ar­ tions of annual and perennial flowers, ranged in compatible groups for ob­ Interesting trees and shrubs which have servation. Tests of different types of historic backgrounds or novel charac­ fertilizers, spray materials, mulches and teristics will be planted as named speci­ forms of winter protection will be car­ mens for study and recognition, An ried on as the demand for this infor­ out-of-door classroom area will be mation is made known. Propagators formed out of a combination of lawn and commerical establishments who and hedge plantings and will be avail­ wish to participate in this test program able for public school use upon l'equest. are advised to communicate with gar­ The other development with em­ den officials of the Park of Roses. phasis on youth and conservation will The extent of the success of this be the maintenance of the splendid nat­ venture in publicly sponsored horti­ ural ravine which runs east and west culture remains to be seem. It is no throughout Whetst011e Park in which longer a dream, but a hard-won reality, the Park of Roses is located. Here it and the people who can make it a suc­ is possible to establish a series of wind­ cess by supporting it and demanding ing nature trails among the woodlands its continuance as a public function are and leading to various locations of wild the citizens of Columbus, the State of flower groups, so that nature-study Ohio and all Americans who love organizations and school classes can be beauty expressed in flowers and plants. encouraged to use this area as an out­ You are cordially invited to include a of-door laboratory. If the demand is trip to Columbus in your 1954 vacation evident, a nature study specialist may plans, so that you may see for your­ be employed to organize and direct selves what is being accomplished in these activities as a part of the regular the name of municipal horticulture.

Antibiotics, Pesticides, and Food FREEMAN A. WEISS

Recently there was widely circulated antibiotics in human and animal ther­ in our newspapers one of those peren­ apy. It stated that over seven hundred nial blasts against "chemicals in food" kinds of chemicals are being used in which sensational writers, serving as food production, over a third of which spokesmen for dietary and medical have not been proved safe. faddists, are wont to impress upon the Admittedly, any form of overindul­ the public. It attributed a large por­ gence may have evil consequences, tion of the modern ailments of man­ even such "naturopathic" practices as kind, including those which more con­ sunbathing and sleeping in frigid servative diagnosticians attribute to rooms. The human animal is, how­ various specific disease agents, to the ever, essentially a chemical system; it alleged indiscriminate use of poisonous exists on chemicals and by means of chemicals in food production, and of chemical transformations. It is impos- 11 6 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954 sible to escape the impact of chemicals rected by responsible leaders who are during life or even after death. Since aware of the long term aspects of the many horticulturists are producers of chemi cals-in-foo d question, and who food, in which chemicals are used in demand answers that will stand up un­ growing or processing, and all are users der all scrutiny. Surely, the subj ect is of food , the subject of chemicals in food not being neglected! is approp riate for mention in this col­ T o what extent are claims justified umn, however sketchily it must be that "chemicals" are getting into our treated. \ i\That is of most concern is food ? \i\Te use the term, not in the that it should not be misrepresented to sense of natural components of food, the public, either in unscientific claim s all of which are chemicals of a sort, but or dogmatic denials, that the inc rnsing as something artificially added or in­ use of chemical additives in foo d pro­ advertently introduced and not re­ ducti on does or does not constitute a moved. W e know, for example, that major health hazard. many commonly used food products, In this connection it is reassuring to such as flou r, cereals, bread, market note that thi s subject is receiving the milk, margarine, etc., are now enriched attention of the best authorities in ·crop artificially in vitamin content. W e production, foo d processing, and health know, too, that such chemical treat­ conservation . There is, first of all, the ments have impr oved the quali ty of Food and Drug A dministratiton which these foods in nutritional value, with has the authority-and exercises it rig­ the result that there has been a con­ orously-to determine when any prod­ spicuous decline in the incidence of cer­ uct fo r human consumption is not free tain deficiency di seases in a large seg­ from determinable health hazards. ment of the population. The results T here is the National Research Coun­ have generally been too benefi cial for cil 's F ood and N utrition Board, espe­ any seri ous obj ection to have .been cially its Food P rotection Committee, raised against this sort. of chemical al­ which conducts or supervises far­ tera tion of food. reaching research in this fie ld. There Weare a ware also that the use of are the numerous tasting panels-hu­ antibiotics in other than pharmaceu­ man guinea pigs-to determine by ac­ tical applications, especially in the tual test, instead of suspicion and theo­ feeding of farm livestock, has made rizing, what effects chemical additives great strides in very recent years. and residues have on the ,fl avor and H ere again, the benefits have almos t wholesomeness of foods. There are an­ altogether outweighed the doubts. Such nual symposia on this subject, such as remarkable gains in the health, the that held by the American Association growth rate, and the economi cal use of for the Advancement of Science, and feed have resultedtrom the addition of the recent conference of newspaper food low concentrations of antibiotics (about editors, in which all its aspects are one per cent of the customary thera­ thoroughly reviewed. F inally there is peutic dosage) to the feed of poultry the consideration that the growers of and swine, that the agricultural ex­ crops and processors of food , and also periment stations now generally en­ the manufacturers of fe rtilizers, pesti­ dorse the practice. At the low level of cides, and antibiotics, are consumers of antibiotic administration for growth food, and presumably have a personal stimulation no detectable residue can interest in its wholesomeness. They be found in the meat, and even the have well organizied industries, too, di- residues from the much higher thera- April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 117 peutic levels are destroyed in cooking. clicating marked growth stimulation of There is, admittedly, some question plants that were grown in nutrient so­ about the transference of antibiotics to lutions to which minute quantities of the milk of treated animals, since milk antibiotics were added. Some claims of is often used uncooked, but antibiotics similar growth increases from soil ap­ are not us'ed to any extent in dairy pli cations have been made, but most feeds as yet, except perhaps for calves. experiments with soil applications of Their use in therapeutic doses for the antibiotics have been disappointing be­ treatment of certain diseases of cattle is cause of the rapid breakdown and not uncommon. elimination of these materials from \iVhat have antibiotics to do with hor­ natural soils. In other applications ticulture? Currently, very little, but antibiotics have been shown to have a some suggestive applications have been made and show future promise. A num­ useful role in the control of bacterial ber of bacterial diseases of plants, which disturbances in industrial fermentations in general have been refractory to con­ such as the malting of barley, the pro­ trol by conventional sprays, have been duction of alcohol. and even the brew­ shown to be susceptible to antibiotic ing of beer. therapy. Furthermore, some of the Those who are worried about the in­ antibiotics have systemic effects, acting troduction of antibiotics in their food through the plant from local applica­ may take heart, however, from the cau­ tions. The announcement last year that tious attitude of the Food and Drug experiments had shown the possibility Administration toward such use. It has of preventing fire blight of apple trees thus far refused to sanction the direct by antibiotic foliage sprays, or even use of any antibiotic in food for l1l1- trunk applications, was so gratifying man consumption. Also to be noted is that speculation arose whether this the policy of this Administration might not be the means of restoring against the establishment of any toler­ appl€ and pear orcharding to some of ance for the organic pesticides, DDT the southern and central regions of the and others, which have come into use country from which the hazard of fire in the last decade. Of all these mate­ blight had all but eliminated it. rials, DDT is the only one that has Another suggestive use of antibiotics been shown to persist unchanged and in horticulture is indicated by the strik­ to accumulate in the soil for long pe­ ing improvement in the keeping quality riods. Mention has already been made of green vegetables, such as packaged of the rapid transformation of anti­ spinach, resulting from preharvest biotics, both in animal metaboli sm and sprays or postharvest dips with these in the soil. materials. The effect is due to the pre­ We think it likely that the hazard of vention of bacterial rots. In similar being overdosed with antibiotics is though non-horticultural experiments, greater from the publi c's proneness to a marked improvement in the keeping self-medication with them, or from quality of fish, shrimp, and other sea­ their undiscriminating prescription by food has been obtained by packing the physicians, than from the food supply; catch promptly in antibiotic treated ice. and these sources, be it noted, are Reference has previously been made in largely controllable by individual this column to certain experiments in- choice. FRERES

A New Hybrid Magnolia

BERN ARD H AR KNESS

M agnolia X Slavi 'nii (M. salicifolia X the salicifolia X stellata cr0SS and M. S ou.!angeana) ·hybr. nova. 1 (M. stel­ lwwensis named at Kew Garden for a lata X ?) E. Keiper, ] oU1'nal, New Kobus X salicifolia cross. It is the Y orll Botaniwl Garden, Vol. 48, fi rm belief of M r. Bernard H. Slavin , ( 576), p. 279, Dec. 1947. who has watched the subj ect plant since its first fl owering in 1917, that the seed From the anise-leaved magnolia, parent, a plant of M. salicifolia in Magnolia sahcifolia, there have been H ighland Park, was fertilized by a recorded two other hybrids : M. P1'OC­ nearby Soulange magnoli a. Several toria.na described by Alfred Rehder fo r numbered plants of this cross were preserved and have been propagated

IHybr. nova. inter parentes M . saUci/alia ( Sieb. & since. Herbarium specimens of M. Zucc.) Maxim. X M . Souiangeana, Soul. Ramuil glabri ; gemmae fali i ferae villosae ve l glabrescentes. Folia oblonga , Proctoriana from the A rnold A rbore­ 5-13 em. Jonga et 2.; - 5 em. iat:l. Flores praecoces; sepala tum have been examined and, from 3, bnceolat3 2-3 em. tonga, albida; petab 6-9, obovata, 8-9 em. long:t. their narrow petals and smaller leaves, [ 11 8] April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 119 seem clearly to differ from the Roches·· long. They are white with a pink blush ter plants. No comparative study has near the base deepening on the outside been made of NI. kewensis, also an Ull ­ at the base of the central vein . There controlled cross. are three lanceolate sepals, 2-3 or The hybrid plant is a rapidly-grow­ rarely 4 cm. long, pale green in bud, ing small tree. Its branchlets are glab ­ quickly turning white. The deciduous rous, dull green with red-purple outer bud sheath is dark brown, mem­ spots sometimes completely coalescing braneous, netted with slight to consid­ to cover the upper surface. Its fl owers erable soft white pubescence sometimes in effect suggest lVI . S oulangeal1a. The at or near the base only. Flower buds petals number six, sometimes seven, are at or near the base only. Flower and rarely nine, obovate in shape and buds are densely pubescent and are rounded to acutish at the apex, 8-9 C111 . carried on short stalks 4 mm. in diam-

Flowers of Magnolia 'Slavi1"ls Snowy' AP1'i11952 120 T H E NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954 eter, also heavil y pubescent. Stamens regularly thereafter than the species. have pink midveins towaTds the tips It is proposed to call the hybrid and are suffused red-purple at their group M. X Slavinii, with BHS No. base . The seed coat is yellow becoming 8S selected as the clone, for which the pin kish ; seeds are suspended from an cultivar name 'Slavins Snowy' has elongated green torus. Leaf buds, .oc­ been chosen. The full name of this se­ casionally glabrous, are generally cov­ lection is therefore M . X Slav·inii ered with appressed hairs. 'Slavins Snowy.' The fir st warm spnng weather This magnolia is named in honor of brings Slavin magnolia to its flowering Bernard H. Slavin. during whose long stage. In Rochester freezing weather association with the Rochester Parks, often foll ows but in areas of more con­ this and many other hybrids and seed­ sistent spring weather or in situations ling variations were selected and pre­ where Star magnolia rarely suffers served by hinJ. Recognition of his work browning, this hybrid should be useful. has been accorded in the naming of As has been noted with other magnolia C 01'1VUS Slavinii Rehd., Cmtaegus Sla­ hybrids, it seems t.o reach flowering vinii Sarg., Pinus Mugo f. Slav·iwii size more quickly abd to flower more Hornibr. and Robi.nia. Slav':l1ii Rehel.

The Peony

E. B UCKNER KIRK

On a rough mountainside in prehis­ which the mountain shepherds suffered. toric Greece, a shepherd sat one night Again a faulty chain of cause and ef­ keeping watch over his flock of scrawny fect operated. Peonies only "shoLle" at beasts. Staring vacantly around him, night when the moon was near the full, his eye was caught by a trick of moon­ and the assaults of devils and fears of light-its sheen on the dew-drenched devils notoriously occur in darkness. petals of a nearby clump of peonies. But since the magic power to banish Cause and effect as we know them, evil was associated with the peony, the based on observation and experiment, flower received the credit and even -its were concepts for the far future. The proximity 0~1 a dark night must. have dim slow brain -that received that sen­ brought comfort to many a fearful man. sory impression marveled. 'Here was a The next step may well have been to familiar flower that shol1e by night, that reason that, if this flower was so potent glowed in the dark! At the first oppor­ against devils and evil spirits where it tunity the shepherd told his comrades grew in the ground, a piece of the plant of the wonder he had seen. worn on the person might be equally In some such fashion, down through potent to preserve the wearer from the ages that predate written records, devils and evil spirits wherever he from father to son, from tribe to tribe, might be. went the word that the peony shone in The magic of primitive man, an­ the dark, that it must be of divine ori­ thropology has now shown us, was not gin and possessed of most potent magic. mere superstition and mumbo-jumbo, Quite possibly the first magic that but a legitimate science. However the peony performed was to drive childish the reasoning may seem to us away devils and fears of devils from now, our remote ancestors had soberly April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 121 worked out methods for influencing mice. An Egyptologist has told of find­ transcendental powers with which they ing in the stomachs of little children could not otherwise cope. Not for a who died nearly six thousand years ago mom.ent do I mean that modern man the remains of mice that had been eaten has solved the problem of understand­ by these children just before they died. ing and influencing the transcendental Mice, the Egyptians had observed, -it is still high and far for us to seek, crawled out of the cracks of the mud but its boundaries are different. We left by the inundations of the N ile. have found physical laws that bring Mice, they reasoned, were spontaneous­ such things as most illness, many men- ly generated by the mud and therefore

"The Duke of Lancaster Dines With The King of PD1'tugal." Detail f1'om an illustrated Manuscript, 1387. tal aberrations and even some aspects must contain the very essence of the of the weather under man's control. life-giving virtue of the river itself. 'tf Evil spirits and demons, who can be then a child was ill, what better rem~ placated with animal or herbal offer­ edy could be prescribed than a 1110use? ings, no longer are believed to be the By the same sort of reasoning a primary cause of disease and insanity, flower that shone in the dark must have earthquake, and famine. great and supernatural power. Legends The most vivid description I have and myths ding naturally to a magic read of the way in which magic op­ flower. A plant of such immense po­ erated as the science of primitive man tency was no {ommon thing to be pulled is concerned not with flowers but with up casuall y by anyone who happened 122 THE.NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954 to want or need it- It had to be dug at of lEsculapius, whose pupil Paeon had night for, should a man attempt to do been, that £scul apius plotted to kill so by day, he risked the loss of hi s eyes him. (Probably, as Mrs. Harding re­ by the woodpecker who guarded the marks in her invaluable book on the magic herb. Theophrastus (370-287 peony, the first recorded instance of B.C), "the father of botany," whQ was professional jealousy.) Pluto was so among those extraordinary Greeks who grateful to Paeon for healing him that tried to base their knowledge of nat­ he spared his doctor the usual fate of ural phenomena on facts, characterized mortals by changing him into the this feat of the woodpecker as "far­ flower that bears his name. fetched and irrelevant." One wonders if hi s comment would have been so tem­ perate had he known of the elaborations that time was to add to the digging of Magical attributes, myths and leg-. peony roots. Gerard cites two authors ends are all that we might expect to from Roman times who illustrate these ' find about the peony in the remote past, elaborations. Josephus . (circa 37 -95 so it is at once surprising and delight­ A.D.) thought that those who wanted ful to run across peonies in ancient his­ to gather the plant could do so safely tory. It is a tenuous enough reference, .. only after they had poured a woman's heaven knows, out I for one was urine or menses upon it- lElianus charmed to discover that there was (circa 220 A.D.) claimed that even un­ once a country - a separate national der cover of darkness it was dangerous entity with a king, a government, and for a man to dig peony root- As in the an army - called Paeonia. Whether. case of the mandrake, a hungry dog the land was named for the native must be tied to the plant with roasted flower or the flower took its name from meat set near by so tllat the dog would the land we do not know-probably drag the peony from the ground in his never shall. ~·'i· effort to reach the food. There is ~ tradition that in pre­ These legends lend color to Pliny's Homeric times descendants of the an­ remark that "the paeonia is the most cient Phrygians of Asia Minor, from ancient of them all." And he goes on the neighborhood of Troy, migrated in to say that it still bears the name of him great numbers to Europe. They settled who was first to discover it. north of what is now Greece and, at the As usual, accuracy was not Pliny's height of their power, controlled a forte for, according to Greek mytholo­ crescent-shaped area reaching up from gy, Paeon did not discover the peony the Aegean on the east, and including but was given the potent herb by Leto, the seaboard cove·ring the mouth of the the mother of Apollo. It was tradition­ Struma river, through a bit of modern ally with the peony that Paeon healed Bujo-ariab , alonba northern Greece to that Pluto of the wound he received during western corner where, in the neighbor­ the Trojan War from a "swift shaft" hood of four lakes, Greece, Albania, sped by Hercules. Presumably peony and Yugoslavia now meet. was also among the herbs with which Homer speaks' of Paeonians "with he made a plaster for Ares when the curving bows" from the Axius (Var­ doughty god of war sat whimpering be­ dar) who fought on the side of fheir side Zeus after his flight from Troy Trojan kinsmen. where he, too, had been wounded. Later, during the Persian wars, These successes so aroused the jealousy much of Paeonia was conquered. Herod~ April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 123 otus tells how Darius (circa 521 B.C.) that was primitive man's scien~e .. Be­ di sposed of whole tribes of Paeonians cause of the persistence of that magical by mass migration. Resting in Lydi a aspect of the peony, its medical history (now Turkey) after a campaign, he is far and away the most interesting of was intrigued by a woman he saw. Not any fl ower that I have studied and the only "vas she beautiful, but her industry most amazingly consistent. delighted him. She was walking along Plenty of plants have been credited leading a horse to water, a pitcher on with the same "vertues" over centuries, her head, and spinning fl ax with her but usually the reason they were so free hand. On learning that she was a credited is unclear or has been wholly Paeonian he immediately sent word to lost to us. And, in addition to that, in his military commander in Thrace to the course of time, the original virtue conquer these hard-working people and accorded one fl ower wi ll be confused deport them straightway to Asia. with some other fl ower---'as in the case The part of Paeonia that escaped the of the cornfl ower and the centaury or, Persian inroads was to the west. There over a long period of time, the original in J:l1ountainous country, dotted with value of a plant would be lost sight of lakes, where peonies fl ourish, a fiercely in newer values attributed to it by a independent group of tribes made thei r later age. The more herbals one reads homes. These, according to Herodotus, the more confused the pidure becomes: were built on platforms in the middle -a flower that one has pinned down of the lakes and parents "tied their baby in antiquity as a specific for, say, res­ children by the foot with a string to piratory troubles, may turn up in the keep them from rolling into the water." sixteenth or sevententh century as a A trap door in the floor of every house sure cure for the itch. offered access to an inexhaustible sup­ The peony, of course, was no excep­ ply of food in the form of the fish be- ­ tion to the rule that a plant valuable for low. one ailment might well serve for others. Paeonia was conquered eventual­ In the course of its long medical career ly by Philip of Macedonia and there­ it has been used in childbirth and for after such history as it has had was female complaints (practically every that of a province, not an independent herb seems to have been tried out for state. But it is fun to know something these at one time' or another), stomach about a land and a people who proudly ache', kidney troubles, fevers, sciatica, bore the name of a flower we cherish. gout, dropsy, headache and various It is possible that the ancient Persians other maladies. But along with pre­ named a city for the lily, but Paeonia is scriptions to combat these ills has gone, the only nation of which I have ever in practically all the old medicine I have heard that bears the name of a flower. read, the assurance that peony root or seeds would be effectual in coping with epilepsy and such " related" illnesses as convulsions and "the Incubus we call It may seem a far cry from a prehis­ the Mare" as William Cole descri.bed toric shepherd's simple wonder at a another malady, - or to put it in the moonlit peony to the teething necklace words of a more modern physician of a nineteenth century baby, but the "that disagreeable disease, the night­ extraordinary fact remains that a trace­ mare." able thread runs back through the med­ More than seventeen hundred years ical history of the peony to the magIc before Dr. Meyrick, in his New Family 124 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

H erbal (1790) , referred to nightmare early because Galen, writing in the sec­ as a disagreeable disease, Pliny wrote ond century of our era, speaks as if the that peony "is a preservative against peony had long been used for epilepsy. illusions practised by the Fauni in "I do not entirely relinquish the hope," sleep." he wrote, "that it may have been rea­ Pliny, as the bibliographies at the sonable to rely on it (the peony) to ends of his books indicate, based much cure epilepsy in children, even if used of his information on ancient Greek as an amulet." It would appear that herbals now lost and these herbals had one of the greatest doctors of all time evolved, as all herbals have evolved, falls back on magic as lesser men were from the folk medicine of an earlier to do for centuries to come, but we can­ time. Ancient folk medicine was based not be dogmatic about it. Galen had on the only science primitive man done some experimenting with peonies knew - magic. So we find in Pliny's for epilepsy in an entirely rational writing, as well as in that of his con­ fashion and the word "amulet" in his temporary, Dioscorides, material, now time did not carry quite the sam.e magi­ undocumented, that can be traced back, cal connotation it has today. But that at least by logical deduction, to a folk last phrase, ev en if used as an amulet, medicine of undeterminable antiquity. does suggest a reservation in Galen's Pliny's "Fauni" were the Roman mind. Magic or medicine, he used peo­ version of more ancient Greek devils nies for epilepsy and we can feel sure and evil spirits. Even Dioscorides, at least that it comforted him as a doc­ whose herbal is singularly free of tor to have a specific he could recom­ magic, devotes his last words on the mend. In that respect he was more peony to remarks about its potency fortunate than are his modern proto­ against "bewitchings and fears and types. devils and their assaults ... And it is One voice in ancient medicine, how­ said that sometimes, growing on an hill ever, was silent on the use of the peony where there were devils, it drove them for epilepsy-the greatest voice of all, away." that of Hippocrates. While the father There was only a single short step to of medicine was silent about the peony take from devils and evil spirits that as a specific for epilepsy, he was by no obj.ectively "assault" a man to the sub­ means silent about the illness itself. He jectiye "possession" of a person by wrote a whole treatise upon "The Sa­ devils and evil-spirits. Surely nothing cred Disease" in which, at that time, he less than a demon could be responsible .based his discussion upon the stagger­ for the horrifying writhings and rack­ ing assumption that there were no such ings of the human body in epilepsy or things as "sa:cred" diseases, i.e., dis­ conv. ulsions; nothing less than a devil eases that came from the goels. All dis­ could drive an ' otherwise courageous ease, he held, was a condition that could man out of his beel, sweating ' with he explained as soon as men had accu­ terror. mulated enough knowledge - epilepsy Once that step was taken, the peony along with the rest. " It is not, in my offered an obvious remedy. Had it not opinion," he wrote some time in the been held from time immemorial as fifth century B.C., "any more divine or powerful against evil spirits and the sacred than other diseases, but has a terror by night ? natural cause, and its supposed divine W e do not know exactly when that origin is due to men's inexperience and step was taken, but it must have been to their wonder at its peculiar charac~ April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 125 ter." sometimes as a drug administered 111- That is a simple sentence which any ternally. rpodern reader can accept as an obvious It is probable that peonies had not statement of fact. At the time it was reached England by the tenth century, written it was just as obviously far too fo r I found none in the Anglo-Saxon radical to be believed. A nd the point of leech books that I have read except in view it expressed was based on reason those that are translations from Dios­ that repudiated not only the divinity of corides and Apuleius. In those, of the disease but also the ,charlatans and course, peonies appeared along with witch-doctors who claimed to cure it the numerous other Mediterranean and with purifications and magic spells. The south European plants that posed such early Greek herbalists probably recoi led riddles to northern students in those in horror from this sacrilegious point early innocent days. But by 1161 of view. The Arabian doctors of the Macer's herbal could specify that five great period of Arab medicine knew "greynes of pionye" added to vervaine their Hippocrates well, but they by­ (another magic herb) and gathered passed this dangerous idea as their ad­ with pater 1wsters and aves, would, diction to amulets and magic charms after the patient had been cleansed bears ample witness. Mediaeval physi­ "owt of dedly syne," cure him of the cians ignored it becatlse the Christian falling sickness. church held that men could be pos­ Saints in medieval times were pa­ sessed by devils-and when more ob­ trons of various diseases and, while a viously than in the seizures of epilepsy? number of them presided over epilepsy, When the invention of printing made the most interesting patrons were not ancient classics available to many men, saints, but the three wise men who, some must have read Hippocrates with "when they were come into the house, wonder and delight-a fearful kind of they saw the young child with Mary his delight, because his rational and em­ mother, and fell down and worshipped piric doctrine was as much at variance him." As Dr. Temkin points out in his with the teachings of the Christian fine book The Falling Sickness, it was church as it had been with the old faith probably because they fell down that in the gods of Olympus. Only after they came to .be associated with epi­ the Reformation had freed men's minds lepsy. At any rate they, together with so that they dared to experiment for the peony, figure in a prescription writ­ themselves and draw their individual ten about 1412 by John of Ardene: conclusions did the Hippocratic doc­ "Against Epilepsy write these three trines come into their own. They came names with blood taken from the auric­ with such impact that they were ac­ ular (little finger) of the patient, ­ cepted uncritically, the faulty ideas Jasper-Melchior-Balthazar, and put about "humors" and venesection along gold, frankincense and myrrh into a with the great thinking that makes box. Let the patient say three pater them still wonderful to read in the nosters and III Ave Marias da1ly for twentieth century. the souls of the fathers and mothers of So it is possible to pass from classical those three kings for a month and let medicine to that of the Dark and Mid­ the patient drink for a month of the dle Ages without being surprised to juice of peony with beer or wine .. . find that the peony continued its career and without doubt this remedy never as a cure for epilepsy-sometimes in fails. " The type of magic had changed, straight magical fashion as an amulet, but it was still magic. Certainly it can- 126 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954 not be called medicine. For it was in the latter part of the \Vith the Reformation such mumbo­ seventeenth century and the early jumbo ceased, but the peony remained eighteenth that the "Anodyne N eck­ and, with more old source books in cir­ lace" came into its own. Some time in culation, there was a return to one of the late fourth or early fifth centuries the peony's origin al uses. William Oribasius had recommended that epi­ Turner recommended fifteen black leptics, teething children and pregnant peony seeds for " the stranglyng of the women wear necklaces of beads made. night mare," and Gerard gives the from peony roots. No doubt these had "disease" a fine Greek name-Ephial­ had local popularity here and there tes. The latter also quotes Galen as hi s through all that time, but it remained authority for using an amulet of peony for the flamboyant quacks of the Res­ fo r small children, but thinks that those toration and the foll owing years to seize that "are growne up in more yeares" this "cure." "Miraculous necklaces"­ should be given peony root internally. thus runs an early eighteenth century Parkinson thought it valuable for all handbill-"for children breeding teeth, "Epilepticall diseases" and that the preventing (by God's assistance) fea­ rooL hung "about the neckes of the rers, convul sions, ruptures, chi ncough, yo unger so rt that troubled therewith" ricketts and such attendant distem­ might serve as a preventive. Here is pers." The prehistoric and medieval still magic mixed now with a tendency ideas of preventive magic had raised to use a drug in what we would think their heads once more, even in the face of as more orthodox medical fashion. of the growing body of empiric knowl­ By the seventeenth century, well edu­ edge that was being accumulated by cated doctors ha:d had a chance to read, men with scientific J:n inds. in whatever garbled versions, classical As late as the nineteenth century, medicine, and Culpeper could say that faith in the age-old belief in the value of peony had been found '''by experience" the peony for epilepsy still hung on to cure the falling sickness. William here and there, but there is an indica­ Cole also recommended it, and Burton, tion of the new scientific caution in ~ho naturally included epilepsy among Dr. Thornton's quotation (1810) of a hIS melancholies, stated that "piony Scottish doctor who reported that he doth help epilepsies." Even so great a had dose~1 two epileptics with peony doctor as Thomas Sydenham could in­ root and claimed "that one of them re­ clude peony in a pres·cription for St. ceived a temporary advantage fr0111 its Vitus Dance-a new disease to be sure use." That damning with faint praise but with an association of ideas that i~ may well have been the swan song of clear. However, by Sydenham's time, the peony in medicine. the first doubts had begun to creep in But its magic power was still potent and there were arguments in medical in the minds of simple people. N eck­ circles as to whether or not the efficacy laces made of beads of turned peony of the peony was anything like so great root were hung about the necks of ba­ as the claims that had been made for it. bies until the closing years of the last At long last modern science was beain- . 0 century. Latterly, of course, they were nl11g to take a hand-tentative at first, no more than teething rings. Science but firm later on. The popular idea, had spoken and their value as preven­ however, in the magic value of the tive magic was gone. Gone except, one peony had not, as we shall see, by any can feel quite sure. that here and there means disappeared. a grandmother clasped the beads about April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 127 a baby's neck with a vague memory of doctors. The burden of medical respon­ their protective power that she had sibility they carried staggers us today. learned from her own grandmother. They were expected to be able to cope, Dimly remembered magic or .teething at a moment's notice, with the treat:. rings, their des·cent held true from pre­ ment of illnesses and accidents that historic Greece to the modern world. would send a modern woman straight to the telephone to summon an ambu­ lance. As one r e.:1.ds A Book of Simples, Precisely the same sort of thinking the still-room itself - hitherto only a that kept the peony in medicine as a phrase to me-takes on form and sub­ remedy for epilepsy for so many cen­ stance. To begin with, it involves one turies sen.t it into the still-room books. of those characteristic English abbre­ There it continued in the prescriptions viations that has now become set in the for epilepsy, but was to be found still language, for "still-room" was origi­ oftener in the many remedies suggested nally, of course, the distillery room. In for a "related" and commoner ailment it were kept and used those clumsy -convulsions. alembecs and bain-maries that were Toward the beginning of this century the great-grandparents of our modern an interesting volume was found in the laboratory equipment. With these not library of a distinguished collector. It only perfumes and cosmetic waters was a folio, bound in green, its pages of were distilled, but also many medicinal vellum and its text in manuscript in the preparations as welL handwriting of several different people. On a busy summer morning in. the Experts say the writing covers a period still-room every possible vessel would of about fifty years, from the beginning be pressed into service to distil rose.., to the middle of the eighteenth century, water, on which the lady of the manor but we do not know the name of the kept a sharp eye as she n1easured out family to whom this book belonged. ingredients necessary for the day's Some unknown lady of the manor must work or, perhaps, rubbed a piece of have started it with pride as she wrote saffron to a powder in a very small out her prescriptions and recipes on marble mortar. In the open doorway the fine vellum. Her daughter or two little girls Si:].t on the sill pulling the daughter-in-law took over where she petals from the roses in a great basket left off, no doubt, and then perhaps a set on the ground below them and cut­ member of the third generation filled in ting off the white "nails" of the petals the rest of the pages. Under the title, to leave only the red or pink parts for A Book of Si11l/,ples, this anonymous distilling. Behind them, and across the volume was published in 1908 and room in frortt of the open fire, their should serve as a fair sample of all mother, the chief still-room maid, sat those still-room books that were trea­ slitting earth worms and keeping an sured in every castle, manor and house eye on the snails roasting in the embers of substance in the days when great ~both worms and snails important to ladies were expected to oversee not the efficacy of a cure for jaundice "or only the brewing, the baking, and the Collick in the Stomach." At a big ta­ candlestick making, but activities which ble near the middle of the room, one are now delegated to a whole series of maid was reducing whole cloves to specialists-laundries, dry-cleaners, ex­ powder in a mortar, a chore that terminators, veterinarians, nurses and seemed to her child's play in compari- 128 THE ATIONAL HORTICULTURAL "MAGAZINE April 1954-

son to the jet she had had to pulverize board was an important part of any the day before. At the other end of still-room and one wafts toward it the the table, a third maid rolled pills on a probably vain hope that it contained marble slab - pills designed to over­ not only the rare and expensive drugs come "Vapours of Spleen & Fits of ye but also such exceedingly dangerous Mother" provided they were taken ones as opium and aconite. "when you find the fits comeing" and To return to our anonymous still­ again at bedtime with "a little hysteri­ room book, it contains an especially call water." A vast array of odors rose large proportion of prescriptions for from the crocks and earthenware jars convulsions-so many, in fact, that one in which various herbs, minerals, and suspects this was a particular problem such animal matter as crab claws, harts in the family to whom the book be­ horn, and ivory shavings were steeping longed. There are no less than five in oil, wine, or vinegar as the case that take peony 'in some form or other, might be. and several more besides made up That is a purely imaginary picture without benefit of peonies. There is of still-room activities designed, how­ the "Hysterick Electuary the Lady ever, to point up the substances han­ Gerard's Rect." which includes "sirrop dled there and the equipment used. But of pioneys" and whi·ch purports to have an important part of the still-room re­ cured "both old and young of convul­ mains to be mentioned - the locked sions Hysterick vapours fitts and fall­ cupboard. ing sickness." There is "A Very excel­ The still-room book of the seven­ lent Receipt against Convulsions which teenth century Countess of Kent, Eliza­ cur'd 'one had nine Fitts in a day" that beth Gray, opens with a prescription also includes syrup of peonies among for epilepsy: - "A medicine for the the ingredients, as does another "For Falling Sickness. Take a pennyweight Convulsion Fits." Dried peony roots, of the pouder of Gold, 6 pennyweight powdered, make a medicine to cope of Pearl, 6 pennyweight of Amber, 6 with "Very Stong Fitts or Fitts in pennyweight of Corral, 8 grains of Great People." Finally there is "The Bezar, half an ounce of Piony seeds: Convulsion Water" which takes green also you must put some pouder of a peony roots and is of such frantic com­ dead man's skull, that hath been an plexity that one feels sure it was copied Anatomy, for a woman, and the pouder down by a desperate woman who had of a woman's for a man, compound all already tried everything and was at her these together; and take as much of wits' end. the pouder of all these as will lie upon That she was willing to try anything two pence for 9 mornings together in is witnessed by a revolting prescription Endive - Water, and drink a good which is as innocent of peonies as it is draught of Endive-water after it." of punctuation or spelling. "Take three Now, except for the peony seeds, every drops of cats blood in breast milk or item in this prescription must have cowes of the milk one spoonfull blood come from the locked cupboard-pow­ warm mingle the milk and blood to­ dered gold, pearl, amber and coral, not gether putting thereto a grain of musk to mention bezoar and the "pouder" of and give it to the patient an hour before human skulls, and were not substances the fit if you know at what time it to leave lying casually around a room comes if not then as soon as they find where ignorant and underpaid servants it coming let them drink it. this is might help themselves. The locked cup- aproved." April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 129

Perhaps all families did not have by the company Glutton finds when he such dire need for remedies for convul­ enters the tavern: - Cecely, the shoe­ sions as had this unknown English seller, Wat, the warrener and his wife, family, but in the other still-room books Tim, the tinker, with his two appren­ I have read, similar prescriptions ap­ tices, Hick, a hackneyman, Hugh, a pear that used peonies consistently for tailor, Clarice of Cock-lane who, judg­ both convulsions and epilepsy. So, ing by her address, was no better than throughout informal medical practice she should be, a fiddler, a ditch-digger, as well as through the formal, peonies a rat-catcher and various other con­ held to the reputation that had been temporary working people, the list established for them when medicine ending with a heap of upholsterers and magic were one. (vpholderes an hepe). As a seasoning, peony seed would not have been as expensive as Betty's pepper that had made the long and Peonies in the kitchen do not have hazardous journey from the Far East. so long a story as peonies in medicine But the roots of peony as a food could but it is interesting to find that, while hardly have served as a staple for the they seem to have begun their culinary common man. Only the very rich could career as a seasoning for poor men's afford such a delicacy as an exotic food and drink, they reached dignity as perennial of notoriously slow growth. the fare of kings. So it is on the tables of kings, nobles, Glutton, the personification of one of and prelates that we meet up with the the seven deadly sins in Piers the peony served as a food. PloW1nan, the fourteenth century poem When the Duke of Lancaster gave a by William Langland, starts out for banquet for Richard II in 1387, a hun­ church reeking with good intentions. dred dozen peony roots were among But on the way he passes a tavern the provisions laid in along with "the w here Betty the "brewestere" hails pigges and the maribones, the thousand him and enquires where he is bound. egges and the Appelles." "Peionys" "To holi cherch@," quod he "forto were served at the wedding breakfast here masse, of the Earl ()f Devonshire in 1389. And sithen I wil be shryuen and "Pyionys" were one of the dishes in synne namore." the third course at the coronation ban­ Betty suggests that he try her good quet of Henry IV in 1399 and ale and he puts up a f@eble resistance "peiouns" appeared at the banquet by demanding to know whether or not given after his second marriage in 1404. she has "any hote spices" to season the "Pyions" were on the menu of the drink. Betty replies promptly and feast that celebrated the induction of definitely: John Stafford as bishop of Bath and "I haue peper and piones," quod she Wells in 1425 and, at about the same "and a pound of garlike, date, "pyiouns" were mentioned among A ferthyingworth of fenel-seed ..." the dishes served at a baNquet for one Whereupon Glutton enters the inn as John Chaundeler. morally weak-kneed as he leaves it, We know that at Richard's feast the physically, many hours later. peonies were served "rosted" and per­ That the peony seeds served, along haps with a sauce. At any rate, at a with garlic, fennel, and pepper to sea­ slightly later date we get a receipt for son the fare of the poor is made clear "A Sauce for peiouns.-Take percely. 130 THE ATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZI NE April 1954 oynouns, garleke, and salt and mynce violets, pinks, marigolds and other gar­ smal the percely and the oynouns and den fl owers were used in early cooking grynde the garleke, and temper it with is to read cook-books. I have tried to vynegre y-now: and mynce the rostid take fair samples of these at different peiouns and cast the sauce thereon periods, but I cannot pretend to have aboute and serue it forth. " more than scratched the surface. The Peonies appear in one of the dishes delightful and invaluable Whitney Col­ that may well serve as a sample of the lection in the Rare Book Room in the lengths to which medieval cooking New York P ublic Library boasts over could go in the way of ingredients and two hundred items. At the New York time-consuming methods. " Mammenye Academy of Medicine, of all places, is a Bastarde" dates from about 1430. collection of over six thousand! One T o make thi s dish one pound each quail s at the thought of going 011 from of peony roots, raisins, saunders (pow­ there to other libraries in this coun­ dered sand:dwood ) , pepper and an un­ try, 11 0t to mention those abroad. specified amount of cinnamon were put As a postscript to peonies in cook­ over the fir e in two gallons of wine or ery, I should add that I have tried ale to which a "potelle" of clarified them. I did not have the courage to honey was added. Meant ime, three make a Mammenye Bastarde but I pounds of alm onds were set to steep in " rosted" some roots along with a loin a gallon each of wine and vinegar, for of pork N ow that I have made the how long the receipt does not say but experiment, I can easily see how peony presumably the length of time it would roots can be turned into beads, good take the original pot to boil would suf­ hard beads fo r a baby to cut teeth on. fice. The almonds were then strained n is less easy to understand how the out and the n ut ~fl avo r ed wine and vine­ human stomach can cope with them. gar added to the original mixture. The taste is not too bad, acrid, not en­ Since Mammenye Bastarde was in­ tirely unpleasant, but the texture is 'tended to be "styf," a modern cook is about what one would expect of a piece aghast at the thought of the length of of young tree trunk roasted. The prob­ time required to reduce these fo ur gal­ lem of mastication is so acute that one gallons of liquid, especially over an hardly notices the flavor.l open ·fi re. Eventually, however, that result must have been achieved and then, lest pepper (a pound, remem­ The rest of the story of peonies be­ ber !), cinnamon, sandalwoo d, and longs to horticulture. for I have not honey fail to give the dish enough fl a­ been able to fi nd any evidence that they vor, you "sesyn it uppe" with powdered played any part in folk-lore after that ginger, salt, and saffron. It was served of Greek mythology, nor did they ap­ "alle fl at on a dysshe, alle hote." pear in any of my reading on heraldry So far as my research has led me, or cosmetics. the heydey of the peony in cooking Even though Alexander Necham seems to have been in the fo urteenth could list peonies amO.ng the adorn­ and fifteenth centuries. But my knowl­ ments of a "noble garden" as early as edge of the matter is limited by time 1157, there is little to show that peo­ and eyesight. T here are no cross ref­ nies caught the imaginations of gar- erences in old cook-books, even in those IThe above sec ti on was reprinted f ro m The Bulletin 0/ that boast indices. The only way to the Garden Club 0/ America, by permission of its Ed itor, Mrs. W inthrop H. Battles. (Vol. 4 2, No.2, March find out when, where, and how peonies, 195 4, pp . 3 1.33.) April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 131 deners until the 19th century, for sent over in the mid-nineteenth cen­ N echam's garden, however noble, tury. Since they come from the high could only have been one of the two mountains of the Chinese-Tibetan bor­ kinds of utilitarian gardens that flour­ der where they grow under rugged ished in the 12th century - the physic conditions, it is not surprising that garden and the sacristan's garden, they have never taken kindly to the where that functionary grew flowers to mildness of the English climate. We in decorate the church on feast days and America, on the other hand, have a holidays. number of areas where the rigors of There are a few references ·to peo­ their native habitat can be approx­ nies in Tudor and 17th and 18th cen­ imated. I know a 1 ew Hampshire tury gardens, but it was not until well garden where they have bloomed in after the oriental species began to reach splendor for sixty years, on Memorial Europe and England in the early 19th Day, after winters when the thermome­ century that peonies as ornamental ter often dropped to thirty and not in-': plants came into their own. In 1834, frequently to forty below zero. Maund's Botanic Garden tried to drum up some enthusiasm for peonies. "By the iiberality of the London Horticul­ .,. tural Society many good collections of \!\Then I reached this point, having peonies are now distributed through told al1 I know about the peony, I sat the country; and when space wil1 admit staring out into space across my type­ they should not be neglected .... We writer with a troubled conscience. Tree wish particularly to excite the attention peonies are, according to Reginald of our readers to this genus of plants, Farrer, "par excellence the national from a conviction that, to many, who flower of China," and herbaceous peo­ almost despise the old officinal Peony, nies are beloved only to a slightly lesser a slight acquaintance with a few of the degree. The story of the part these more esteemed sorts would open the flowers have played in Chinese medi­ way to augmented gratification." cine and diet, history and legend is be­ yond my reach, yet it cannot go un­ noticed. But where to begin-and with what? . To follow in the footsteps of Maund The "space" into which I stared is a and venture onto horticultural ground, wall covered with books, those particu­ it does seem to me that we in America lar shelves devoted to poetry. And could afford ourselves greatly "aug­ there under-or rather over-my nose mented gratification" were we to pay was a suggestion. Eunice Tietjehs' an­ more attention to the tree peonies. thology, Poetry of the Orient, Amy When the travel book of a Russian Lowell's and Florence Ayscough's Fi,,­ adventurer, Nievhoff, was translated Flowe9' Tablets, Arthur Waley's One into English in the seventeenth cen­ H~t12dred and Seventy Chinese Poems tury, his story about tree peonies was and Cranmer-Byng's Lute of lade­ dismissed as a traveler's tall tale. But surely one of these would offer a clue. late in the fol1owing century, at the in­ No English or American poet I know stigation of Sir Joseph Banks, speci­ has been moved to lyric expression by mens were actually shipped to England. the peony, but I did seem to remember They failed to thrive, as did the ones peonies in Chinese poetry. the great collector, Robert Fortune, I made a rich haul. I had been quite 132 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

right-there were often peonies in the tinous soldiers were thronging about poems, but best of all there were peo­ the royal tent and clamouring for the nies tied by legend, history and ro­ blood of the favorite. it was the Em­ mance to the golden age of Chinese peror who sent her forth: poetry and to the most famous of Chi­ " . . . . . lily pale, nese love stories. Between tall avenues of spears, to die. The tale concerns an emperor of the Policy, the bane of artists, demanded T'ang Dynasty (712-756 A.D.), who it, and so, for the sake of a thousand "was not a great ruler, but an artist issues and a common front to a com­ sti.fled in ceremony and lost in state­ mon foe, he placed the love of his life craft. . . Poet and sportsman, mystic upon the altar of his patriotism, and and man of this world, a great polo went, a broken-hearted man, into the player, and the passionate lover of one long exile." beautiful woman whose ill-starred fate Then legend is added to history in inspired Po Chu-i, the tenderest of all the tale of the Taoist magician who, at their singers, Ming Huang is more to the Emperor's order, searched the literature than to history." \!Vorlds for Yang Kuei-Fei and even­ Yet history was turbulent in his time. tually found her in Paradise. An ap­ We are sadly aware that the modern pointment was 'made and, over a bridge tragedy of China may surpass the an­ of light, Ming Huan journeyed to the cient one, but Arthur Waley, writing moon where Yang Kuei-Fei awaited in 1917, stated that Ming Huang's was him 1111der a great cassia tree sur­ the most tragic pe.riod in Chinese his­ rounde.d by fairies. It was later ar­ tory. A rebellion broke out that cul­ ranged by the Ruler of Heaven that the minated in a civil war that took thirty lovers should be immortalized in the million Chinese lives. \i\Then the first Tao Li Heaven. flare-up came, the soldiers surrounding If all this seems remote from the the Emperor refused to fight his battles peony, that is not the case at all be­ unless they could execute the Lady cause this mixture of history and ro­ Yang Kuei-Fei, his adored concubine, mance and legend is forever associated whose extravagances and follies they in the Chinese mind with peonies, held responsible for the rebellion. thanks to one of the greatest, if not the Yang Kuei-Fei had been called to the greatest, of their poets. We can take Emperor's attention at a time when the our own leave of the peony in no more old gentleman "was inconsolable from appropriate place than in this land the double deatlis of his beloved Em­ where it has been loved and honored press and his favorite mistress." The so long. girl was young and lovely. Within a ·Cranmer-Byng sets the scene, this short time she became the most power­ time of an incident that happened dur­ ful individual in the Empire as even ing the Feast of Peonies before tragedy the kindly and gentle Po Chu-i realized, overwhelmed the lovers, and the open­ for he describes her as she comes from ing lines of a lyric by Li Po carry peo­ her bath: nies forever into one of the great love " ... her girls attending, forth she came stories of the world. A reed in motion and a rose in flame, " In tbe city of Ch'ang-an, with its An empire passed into a maid's control triple rows of glittering walls with their And with her eyes she won a monarch' s tall towers uprising at intervals, its soul." seven royal palaces all girdled with \ i\T ben the crisis came and "the mu- gardens, its wonderful Yen tower nine April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL lvIAGAZINE 133 stories high, encased in marble, the waters. Here in the evening the fa­ drum towers and bell towers, the vourite reclined, watching the peonies canals and lakes with their fl oating vie with the sunset beyond. Here the theatres, dwelt Ming Huang and Emperor sent his minister for Li Po, T'ai-Chen (Yang Kuei-Fei). Within and here the great lyrist set her mortal the royal park on the borders of the beauty to glow from the scented, lake stood a little pavilion round whose flower-haunted balu strade immortally balcony crept jasmine and magnolia through the twilights yet to come." branches scenting the air. Just under­ She is the fl owering branch of the neath flamed a tangle of peonies in peony, bloom, leaning down to the calm blue Richly-laden with honey-dew.

Concerning Streptocarpus

PEGGIE SCHULZ

Streptocarpus is so beautiful the tocarpus. Since that time the hybrids uninitiated are apt to believe that much have imp'roved in color range and care and skill is required to bring this form to include fl owers nearly as large member of the GESNERIACEAE Family as gloxinias with elegantly waved and into its full glory. Often called Cape frilled margins. Pure white, tints of Primrose, this African plant with its blue and purple, pale pinks, bright gayly-colored gloxinialike flowers and reds, selfs, stripes, and contrasting luxuriant foliage has long been a fa­ throat colors-all are featured in the vorite with English gardeners. There hybrids. are about eighty species and to make Foliage on streptocarpus is a hand­ them easily distinguished gardening some feature. The straplike leaves, dictionaries divide them into three many of which have ruffled margins, dasses: are lightly haired and show well­ 1. Stemless species with one pros­ defined veining. When grown in a trate leaf. The scapes of bell-like flow­ window garden or greenhouse, it is ad­ ers arise from the midrib of this leaf. visable to set large, older plants atop 2. Stemless species with several inverted pots so their luxuriant foliage leaves. is in no danger of being ruined. They 3. Stem-bearing species with oppo­ make excellent hanging-basket plants site leaves growmg III rosette-like for greenhouses or terraces. fashion. Grow streptocarpus in a mixture of Aocording to bota1'lical history, the equal parts of light loam and leaf mold species first introduced had blue or or any rich, porous mixture in which white flowers. In 1886 a species, you have successfully grown other Streptocarpus Dunni, which pro­ gesneriads. If you want to try your duced brick-red flowers, was used to hand at growing these plants from pollinate the blue-flowered S. R exi. seed, you will find them listed in many Progenies of this union were "mauve­ catalogues. Seeds are fine and should purple" and "bright rosy-crimson." be sown atop chopped sphagnum moss, These plants proved that it was en­ partially sterilized sand, or vermiculite. ti rely possible through careful selection Some growers advise sowing the seeds to breed a more colorful race of strep- right into the loamy growing mixture. 134 THE NATIONAL HORT I CULTURAL MAGAZI NE April 1954

Seeds germinate in ten days to two plitting the plants into two or three weeks but some stragglers still come parts. Repot into fresh soil and they along as late as two 1110nths or more. are once more on their merry way. , Vith care you can expect these seed­ Streptocarpus can be propagated lings to flower in approximately a year through leaf cuttings rooted in water, from sowing time. P rick off and pot sand, or any other preferred media. singly into two-inch pots when they They are easily pollinated by remov­ have two good strong leaves, unless, ing pollen from one blossom and apply­ of course, you are growing one of the ing to the stigma of another. The 1110nophyll ous species. These must be long, twisted seed pods (from which potted when the single leaf appears they derive their name) are curious. strong enough to stand the change. Seeds ripen in about two months or Gradually repot streptocarpus until less. they are in fou r- or six-inch pots, ac­ If you are already familiar with the cording to their lodging space. While gorgeous hybrids, you might like to seedli ngs are growing, be sure they are add some species to your collection. kept moist and shaded from the bright S. Dun·/1.i. This species generally sun. If you allow them to dry to the produces but a single stemless leaf. But point of wilting, you are apt to have a tbis leaf can grow to great proportions' batch of fatalities on your hands. -three feet or more. The tubular flow­ Grea.ter· ·success can be ex'pected if ers are brick red. you grow them in temperatures of fifty­ S. Ki1'ki. Heart - shaped, stalked fi ve to si:l;<;ty degrees. Since these tem­ leaves anel cymes of lilac flo wers make peratures ' are not comfortable for hu­ this an interesting plant. mans, do not -expect top performance S. nobilis. Large purple flowers ' out of window-grown streptocarpus. borne above four-inch ovate-cordate You Ca)1, however, make the plants leaves are features of this 'West African thrive and b100111 if you place the pots species. atop pebble-filled trays 0r dishes. Add S. R e%i. Here is a littlcs gem for the water to ,the pebbles out be sure its window garden or the greenhouse ·col­ level' is- below the drainage hole in the lection. A neat grower, it produces a pot. You can expect streptocarpus to rosette of four- to eight-inch long produce two to four flowers at a time leaves. i ' The one and one-half inch when grown in a northeast or east fl owers: in' shades ' of near-white, blue, window. Some amazing results occur or mauve, are striped with a peculiar when you grow thelJl in a cool ease­ shade of brownish purple. The variety ment flu orescent light set-up. I have has blue flowers and 1S a year­ Fertilize these gesneriads biweekly round bloomer. It makes a delightful (twice a 111'onth) with fish emulsion, companion plant for saintpaulias and weak manure tea, or a complete com­ gloxinias. At ONe time this plant was, mercial fe rtilizer. named Didymocarpus Rexi and, though I like to treat streptocarpus as an­ botanists discarel'eel the name in 1828" nuals or, at best, biennials. If you want it is still retained by some growers. to prolong the -life of an older plant S. Wendlandi. This species produces' after it has reached the "shaggy" but a single stemless leaf. The scapes stage, however, do ' so by stripping off of blue-purple flowers rise out of the' the heavy unattractive o\d:er leaves and , midrib 01 the leaf. A Book or Two

L ilacs For Alllerica. Edited by J ohn C. able to note that there are listed in this \i\Tister and committee. American pamphlet, thirty-five nurseries offering Association of Botanical Gardens twenty-six to over fifty varieties each and Arboretums. 1953. 48 pages. (twenty of them offer twenty-five to $1.00, retail ; 10 to 24 copies, $.80 ,fifty varieties). Also of great value each; 25 or more, $.60 per copy. is the lengthy li st of varieties, in which the color, type of flower, origin, and (Publi shed by the Arthur Hoyt Scott American source, are given for each li­ Horticultural Foundation, Swarth­ lac that has been found to be growing more, Pennsylvania, and is available now in America. from that Foundation.) (Library) . This wo rk should give an added im­ petus to lilac growing, for here is all T welve years after the first edition, the information needed by the plants­ thi s, the second edition, appears. Com­ man and, what is more, sources where pletely rew ritten, it includes some nine he may see or buy the varieties he hundred names of lilacs now known, wants. This unique list can be a great and sources where a majority of them asset to every modern plantsman in are being grown in America. In at­ America. tacking this tremendous problem, Dr. Donald Wyman W ister was assisted by a committee of six, but he should be given the credit of doing all the work and making the The Concise Encyclopedia of Favorite tabulation himself. 'Flowe1'$. Compiled by Marjorie P. Ninety-one correspondents went out J ohnson, and Edited hy Montague to their various collections of lila:cs Free. T he American Garden Guild situated all over the country, in the and Doubleday and Company, Inc., course of making this survey, and Garden City, New York. 1953. 256 judged their plants as to color and pages, 10 color illustrations and 106 beauty of flower, annual performance, drawings. $3.95. (Library). type of bush, etc., resulting in a list entitled "Recommended Comnion Li~ Ancl it is just what the title states: lacs and Early H ybrids-lOO varie­ a concise encyclopedia of ( 106) favor­ t i ~;;." To substantiate the selections ite fl owers- and it is a compilation: of for thi s li st, the number of votes for the uses, habit of growth, flowers, foli­ each variety is given. For instance, there age, assets, faults, culture, diseases, etc. , are nine single white lilacs and six for each of the alphabetically arranged dQuble white lilacs in this select list. (of course) plant kinds. Although it Some might suggest that this is too does not contain a bibliography, one many, and it is-for the average horne assumes from the time-honored infor­ owner, but the idea back of this com­ mation, that the compilation is not pilation was to list the varieties in the from original labor-but who cares order of their current popularity. whence M. Johnson "compiled" her - it is of interest to i10te that twenty data, they are very sound and expertly cdHections of lilacs' are li sted in Ameri­ edited. It will be good reference for ca with forty-eight to five hundred and many a lihrary. Katharine B.urton is twenty-one 'va,rleties of lilacs actually responsible for the wash drawings of growin'g-at present. It is equally valu- the individual plants. [135J 136 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

Christmas Idea Baal? Dorothy Biddle great delight to the (Gardener's) and Dorothea Blom. M. Barrows and housewife ! Company, Inc., N ew York. 1953. 221 pages. 120 black-and-white illustrations ; 4 in color. $3.50. (Li­ Wester'JI/, Fruit Gardeni'ng. Reid M. brary) . Brooks and Claron O. Hesse. Uni­ versity of California Press, Berkeley, Since the authors have suggested that California. 1953. 286 pages, 58 text Christmas preparations start months illustrations and 48 chapter heading ahead, publishing in April a review of drawings. $4.50. a book on Christmas decorations is truly the essence of preparedness! Doctors Brooks and Hesse have pre­ This is a what-and-how-to-do-it pared an authoritative handbook for the practical book, the latest work of a home gardener on fruit varieties that mother and daughter writing team. In can be successfully grown in the West­ Part I, "Christmas in the Home," they ern States. The authors divided their give easy and inexpensi ve plans for subject into three sections: 1) appli­ decorating the doorway, hall, living cation of sound horticultural knowledge and dining rooms, suggesting the use of to the production of fruit plants-plan­ three well-planned units of decoration ning the garden; general care of the -a common evergreen (or combination trees, pruning, propagation, etc. ; 2) an of two) , a theme, and a color plan, all A to Z listing of forty-eight varieties to heighten the atmosphere of hospitali­ of fruit trees for this particular area ty. It li sts necessary equipment and ma­ with individual requirements for prun­ terials, and presents new ideas of mak­ ing, soil needs, etc., and recommended ing and trimming big and small trees. varieties; and 3) diseases and pests and The separate chapters on "Color: their control. The Christmas Triad," "Decorating Beverley Farmer is to be congratu­ with Candles," and "Gift-Wrapping lated for the expertly executed line and Christmas Card Displays," deserve drawings which instantaneously relay special mention. the techniques of budding, pruning, Part II covers holiday programs and etc. The format in toto is very pleas­ projects for garden clubs and communi­ ing. The authors are faculty members ties, tours of houses decorated outside of the College of Agriculture and on the and in, and ideas for Christmas sales. staff of the Experiment Station at the Between now and Christmas, think University of California at Davis. up a theme and decorating plan! From the vast number of excellent photo­ graphs and detailed instructions, you Plants In Pots. William H. Clark. can produce a personal creation with a Little, Brown and Company, Boston, minimum of time and expense. Massachusetts. 1953. 202 pages. Margaret C. Lancaster Illustrated with line drawings. $2.95. (Library).

Easter Idea Book. -Charlotte Adams. Elementary without being over sim­ M. Barrows and Company, Inc., New plified, comprehensive without being York. 1954. $3.50. too technical, Mr. Clark's book tells A very helpful reference work for how to satisfy the light, heat, water, another season of the year-will be of food, and air requirements of a host of April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 137 common and unusual plants. He tells Dr. Little, under the direction of .t he how to prepare soils and plant nutri­ U . S. Forest Service Tree and Range ents; how to select the best containers Plant Name C0111mittee, (curren tl y for the plants of your choice; how to chairmanned by Dr. William A. Day­ insure proper drainage. How to prune, ton, Chief, Divison of Dendrology and propagate and transplant, how to give Range Forage Investigati ons), has protection from insects, etc., are all done a splendid job of editing this, the well taken under di scussion. The last Agriculture Handbook N umber 41, better-than-half of the book is an alpha­ which is the culmination of ten years' betical arrangement of the more or less research and compilation. The intro­ standard lot, an d their specified re­ duction speaks well of the entire opus: quirements. Excellent. "***aims to compile the accepted scien­ tific names and current synonyms, ap­ proved C0111mo n names and others in Cli71~ate) Vegetation, and Man. Leonard use, and range of the native and Hadlow. Philosophical Library, Inc., naturalized trees *** primarily a ref­ New York. 1953. 288 pages, illus­ erence for foresters, botanists, students, trated. $4.75. (Library). and others interested in trees *** (but) is the official standard for tree names This book will be of interest beyond in the Forest Service." The reviewer the field of horticulture for it deals with is advised that the Check List was pub­ the principles that govern the climatic lished in a very limited . number so he setting in which we live, the seasons, suggests that you place your order for night and day, and the world distribu­ this monumental reference work with tions of temperature, rainfall and re­ the Superintendent of Documents. lated climatic elements. If the reader \iVashington 25 , D. c., immediately. has children of the age when the ele­ ments of world around us becomes a realization, it will be of considerable Wild Flowers of Western P ennsyl­ help in explaining the basis for our vania And The Up per Ohio Basin. climate. O. E. Jennings and Andrey Avinoff. From the standpoint of pure reading University of Pittsburgh Press,. pleasure, only those who have a good Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1953. Vol. scientific background will be able to do I, 600 pages, flora by O. E. Jennings, more than absorb the basic facts, and with general introduction, numerous the rest will have to be content with line maps and illustrations; Vol. II, the recognition that the mysteries of with 200 color plates from water­ sun, wind and rain which govern our colors by A. A vinoff. $60. the two plant life are established by rather pre- volumes. clse sCIence. J ohn L. Creech Two marvelously executed volumes which will come as both a perusal and a reference treat to anyone who finds Check List of Native and Natumlized enjoyment in the outdoors, no less than Trees of the Un1:ted States (Includ­ to the wild flower hobbyist and the ing A laska) . Elbert L. Little, Jr. botanist of our eastern flora. U nitec1 States Department of Agri­ Published by the Carnegie Institute, culture, Forest Service, Washington, the University of Pittsburgh, and the D. C. 1953. 472 pages. $2.00. Buhl Foundation of Pittsburgh, this 138 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

outstanding work of Dr. Jennings is The Macmillan Wild Flower Book. essentially a .flora of western Pennsyl­ Descriptive text by Clarence J. Hy­ vania and adjacent regions of south­ lander and illustrations by Edith western New York, eastern Ohio, Farrington Johnson. The Macmillan northern West Virginia and western Company, New York. 1954. 480 Maryland. It is based upon collections pages, 232 full-color plates (of 426 of the University of Pittsburgh Her­ wild flowers). $15.00. barium. The handiwork of the late Dr. Avinoff makes up the second vol­ The arrangement of alternating the ume in the fo rm of two hundred mag­ text and the illustrations is interesting. nificent life-size watercolor plates de­ Dr. Hylander's descriptions, etc., cover picting two hundred and fifty-three two pages (facing each other), then wildflowers, and excellently reproduced Mrs. Johnson's full page drawings. The by sheet-fed gravure. The subject for book is a "panorama of the wild flowers each water-color was selected as a liv­ with which nature so generously dec­ ing specimen by Dr. Jennings and each orates the land" and it is very nicely plate is accompanied by a helpful pop­ done. The color work is an accurate ular description of the plant portrayed. portrayal of Mrs. Johnson's brush and Sheet size is about 12 by 14 inches! a very faithful reproduction of the Besides full treatment of the flora works of Nature. The nomenclature is by families and on more or less con­ that of the last edition of Gray's ventionallines, Volume I is prefaced by Manual of Botany; this is splendid in an excellent discussion of the geology, the majority of cases. Taxonomy of soils, physiography, topography, cli­ the plants is reviewed to help the reader mate, and plant geography of this or the searcher to accurately identify specialized region. There is also a his specimens. By all means invest in bibliography and very useful gazetteer this volume. of collecting localities. Somewhat of a'J1 innovation are ' numerous small maps showing the distribution of Vegetable and Flower Seed Produc­ selected species on a 'county basis. tion. L. R. Hawthorn and L. H. Pol­ In connection with these maps and lard. The Blakiston Company, Inc., considering the generous scale of their New York, 1953. 626 pages, illus­ reproduction, one may wonder whether trated. $7.50. (Library). the location dots could not have indi­ cated an actual collection area rather .f - The authors, in the Horticultural De­ than being merely centered for each partment of Utah State College, have county; and in a work of this scope it brought together for the first time a will be normal for other botanists to lTIOst comprehensive array of informa­ find points of minor disagreement in tion of interest to the vegetable seed 0ccasional taxonomic interpretation as producer. They not only describe .the employed by the author or as quoted areas of production and the climatic by him from the writings of others. But and other factors responsible for the such occasional points are insignificant 10 cat i ~)l1, but they also discuss cultural in comparison with the features that practices, spacing depth, fertilization, will demand ownership by all who can irrigation, timing of planting, isolation, afford this flora which ranks among the as well as many other steps in .the finest that 'has ever been devoted to our growing of each of the seed crops. At­ native plants. H T Sk' enry . mner tention is given to harvesting which in- April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 139 eludes season, methods, and yields. The on packaging seeds, treated seeds (for breeding of each crop both as to accom­ seed-borne diseases), coated seeds, and plishments to date and future objectives regulations under which the seed in­ is also discussed at length. dustry functions. The book is divided into four main Because of the detail covered, the sections. The first treats the business book is voluminous, but it is well writ­ of seed growing and gives much of its ten. The general reader is apt to con­ historical background both in this sider the presentation as technical, but country and in Europe. The authors it is difficult to describe a plant other­ ascribe much of the impetus in Ameri­ wise, or to present a useful description can seed production to the two major of breeding without the use of technical wars which isolated the United States terms. The other sections, including from the European sources of supply. those discussing plant diseases and in­ Part I also discusses the environmen­ sect pests and their control, are cer­ tal factors affecting the location of tainly free of technical terminology. the industry in more general terms The authors have freely cited the than those given for each of the specific sources of information and at the end crops. of each chapter list all such citations. Part II takes up each of the vegetable This no doubt materially adds to the seed crops, treating them systematical­ size of this book, but to the serious ly, following a methodical pattern. student it greatly increases its value. Some simplification is attained by W. H. Youngman grouping the crops according to botan­ ical families-UMBELLIFERAE, LILIACE­ AE, etc. The Directory of American H o?,ticul­ Part III extends the same compre­ t~we for 1954. Edited by A. J. Irv­ hensive treatment to the flower seeds, ing. The American Horticultural both annuals and perennials. There has Council, Inc., Ithaca. New York. been much less research work in the 1953. 98 pages. $1.00. (Available production, breeding, etc., of flowers. from the publication office at 1 East The authors seem to have brought to­ 57th Street New York 22, New gether all that is available, however, York.) presenting first a general overall picture and then giving detailed descriptions For the United States and Canada, by kinds of ,flowers. Editor Irving has recorded the amateur Part IV discusses the harvesting and and professional horticultural organiza­ processing (milling) of the seeds, in­ tions-their officers, memberships, ad­ cluding an explanation of the functions dresses, etc. ; arboretums and botanical of the more commonly used machines. gardens; universities, colleges, etc., Seed storage is fully treated-temper­ teaching horticulture; garden centers; tures, periods, humidity, summarizing state flowers and trees; All-American the data available. This section also Selections trial grounds and judges for contains a chapter "Handling and both flowers and vegetables; and a tre­ Marketing" which gives a brief picture mendous amount of other data that are of the relationship between the "con­ absolutely vital to each and every per­ tract" grower and the seedsman. Other son actively working in horticulture in phases are briefly outlined. The tex-t, any branch. This inauguration issue for it is both a text and a reference has as accurate an account of the exist­ book, concludes with brief paragraphs ing data as was humanly possible to 140 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954. gath er AND we sincerely urge all those products, of interest only to farmers listed to keep the Council advised of and food processors. All this changed changes in their organizations. The in 1936 when the statistical part of the success of thi s invaluabl'e reference Yearbooks was relegated to a separate work depends entirely upon YOll--not publication, and the yearbook editors. the A H C ! embarked upon a series of agricultural monographs that have proved to be not only comprehensive and authorita­ Ame·rican TOl1wto Yearbook, 1953. tive guides ·to this most basic of our John W . Cancross, Editor. 1\ lltgers industries, but also works of real liter­ University, College of Agriculture. ary merit. A mere recital of some of New Bruswick, New Jersey. 1953. the titles in this series testifies to the 40 pages, illustrated. $2.00. (A vail­ timeliness and broad scope of the sub­ able from the American Tomato ject matter in this progressive encyclo­ Yearbook Business and Editorial pedia of agriculture: Climate, Soils, Office, 8 Elm Street, Westfield, New Plant and Animal Breeding, Human Jersey.) (Library). Nutrition, Trf.es, Grass. The two Ill0st recent yearbooks, In­ The 1953 yearbook brings together, sects and Plant Diseases, have a special and up-to-date, all data of interest on appeal to horticulturists, and so are ap­ the varieties of Lycopersicum, that propriate to mention in this review col­ is to say, a revised listing of the as­ umn. Mention is about all we can do, sociations actively interested in the im­ as the Insect volume contains 780 pages provements of the tomato industry ; and has 72 color plates, the Plant Dis­ periodicals of interest (in which your ease volume 940 pages and 32 color N H M is not listed-but let u~ watch plates. Even a list of the titles of the their 1954 edition after Boswell's numerous separate articles would re­ splendid paper in this issue of our quire more space than is at our dis­ J oumal !); the new directors of the posal. It must suffice to say that both agricultural experiment stations, to volumes are the work of the foremost which the reader may inquire of his entomologists and plant pathologists in tomato problem; a very extensive this country (the authors are not drawn bibliography, broken down by geo­ from the Federal services exclusively, graphical range; etc., etc., in addition but include specialists from the State to many new general articles. experiment stations and those in in­ dustrial and private employment). Readability and literary competence The Y earbooks of A griculture: 1952, have b€en achieved by professional Insects; 1953, Plant Dieseases. U. S. over-all editing. Almost everything, Department of Agriculture, Wash­ literally from A to Z, of contemporary ing, D. C. (For sale by the Superin­ importance in these branches of science tendent of Documents, Washington and technology, receives some mention. 25 , D. C.) $2.50 each. The illustrations, especially those in Time was when the Yearbooks of color, are an outstanding feature. We the Department of Agriculture were have heard many favorable comments hardly considered literature at all, but about these yearbooks from the horti­ merely statistical compilations with a cultural lay public whid1 is, in the long­ few generalizations about the current run, the most critical of reviewers. state of various crops and agricultural Freeman A. Weiss. April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL :MAGAZINE 141

{Unless our Congress restores the an­ intelligence, and parental " tutoring" of nual appropriation item for this great their young. Institution, one may consider Dr. You cannot mi ss the chapters on bird Weiss' review of Plant D,:sease the songs, also minute in detail. Who but .obituary ·of the next to the last volume such an observer and bird lover as Len ever to be issued. Ed.) Howard could record in this volume the bars of music of many bird songs. Mr. Eric Hosking, one of Britian's B irds As Individuals. Len Howard. finest bird photographers, and of world Doubleday and Company, Inc., New note, has added charm and reality by York. 1953. 216 pages, illustrated. so splendidly photographing birds in $4.00. (Library). many characteristic poses. Our own Roger T ory Peterson has It falls to the lot of few of us, who given readers of this delightful volume .spend our every spare minute birding, a "Foreword" with wonderful descrip­ to have a home so appropriately named tions of "Bird Cottage" and its owner. as "Bird Cottage" from such intimate and in hi s characteristic way has so observations through the years as Len helpfully translated many of her birds Howard has made and recorded in her into species most nearly our own, mak­ incomparable British story. The pleas­ ing the story of greater charm. ure and inspiration are unbounded and This writer considers Birds A s I n­ the scientific side of her stories of real dividu,als the finest story of bird life in value. print today. Every bird lover, shut-in Miss Howard shows that personal or active in the great out-of-doors, approach, even to a pleasant counte­ should read this volume with its many nance and happy voice, has been the lovely stories of our feathered friends, secret in attracting birds to her cottage -unbounded in interest from cover to in Sussex which she claims is as much cover!! ! their abode as hers. Mary G. Van Meter Observations of mating and nesting, sometimes chronolgically recorded, re­ veal marvels of fidelity, jealousy, ar­ The Complete Book of B ulbs. F. F. rogance, sheer indifference, and many Rockwell and Esther C. Grayson. other traits undreamed of in bird life. American Garden Guild and Double­ These nesting stories are entrancing day and Co., Inc., Garden City, New and hold one's intense interest. The York. 1953. 352 pages, illustrated in very minute and constant observations color, halftones and diagrams. $5.95. of her birds are revealed in a fascinat­ (Library). ing "family tree" of one line of her A modernized version of Rockwell's feathered friends returning each year The Booll of Bulbs. Covers most kinds for food , lodging, and nesting. of flowering "bulbs" from Achimenes The author's naming of birds from to Zephyranthes, using the term in the their characteristics makes another de­ popular sense of almost any storage lightful side to her story; their "games" organ except a seed that is planted and traits emphasize the reader's belief dormant and produces a flower. Thus, in bird minds, something this writer by name, not only daffodils, tulips, has firmly believed from her own ob­ crocuses, lilies, dahlias, gladiolus, and servations. Many phases of bird life tuberous begonias are included. but also .are given in this lively story; memory, many "minor" bulbs--over a hundred 1~2 THE NATIONAL HORTI CULTURAL MAGAZI NE April 1954- species in all-are discussed both bo­ read or skipped at will. But there are tanically and horticulturally. Classified always one or two articles that must by culture, they range from hardy to be read with care and pleasure. tender ; from spring-flowering through In this issue Mr. J. Lionel Richard­ summer- and autumn-flowering, to bulbs so n writes at some length of his work for winter bloom indoors. The em­ in raising new varieties, which is of in­ phasis on the minor bulbs - those terest to anyone who may have tried that most grati fy ingly extend the sea­ it himself. Mr. Guy L. Wilson son, color, and way of using, both in the writes of his notes through the season garden and indoors-is noteworthy. and Dr. A. J. Bateman, late of John Counting all these it is less surprising Innes Horticultural Institution, pre­ to be told that, notwithstanding the sents hi s first paper on "The Genetics large development of American bulb of Narcissus," this paper being on production in the last twenty-five years, Sterility. we still import over 450 million "bulbs." Of delightful interest to those who care about beginnings, is the extended The numerous photographic illus­ paper from Charles H . Curtis, who is trations of bulbs in different stages of honored in the dedication of this issue. growth, and especially the diagrams of He has been a member of the Daffodil the forms through which bulbs pro­ Committee for fifty years. gress from dormancy to flowering and back again, go far to dispel the mys­ Guy Wilson deserted his own garden teries of the subterranean life of these long enough to visit the Cel1.tenniaI garden creatures. Other illustrations, Flora, Heemstede, Holland, of which in particular the thirty-one color photo­ Mr. Matthew Zandbergen also writes, graphs. from the authors' gardens, show and presents a paper on "Tulips," how garden pictures can be created by which is a somewhat different field ski llfully composing the many forms from that of his usual writing. But as and colors of spring-flowering buLbs. far as the tulip material goes, the most The final chapter, "The Gardener's interesting paper, short too, is that by Bulb Selector," very helpfully classifies F. V. Wells, "The Polyodorous Tulip," bulbous subjects as to kinds, season, in which he discusses the odors and adaptation, and uses, and li sts recom­ scents of tulips from the point of view mended varieties. of a member of "the perfumery in­ Freeman A. Weiss dustry." There is a new vocabulary in this, in which the names of familiar garden plants are mentioned as well as The Daffodil and Tulip Yea?' Book, chemicals not known to most gardeners·. 1954. The Royal Horticultural So­ One can get many a chuckle trom some ciety, London, England. 1954. 165 of it: viz, the note under "Sibal," pages, illustrated. $1.65, post free. "*** a rather unpleasant fatty odour suggestive of oleic and certain other To anyone who has followed the pub- unsaturated fatty acids." And then lication of these year books for many three cheers for "phenylethyl dimethyl years, the arrival of each new issue is carbinol and dimethyl benzyl carbinol." an event. There is always much that All CHuckles aside, however, this is of little importance to anyone in his book too is a must for the real lover of country, but of importance to the So­ daffodils. ciety and its branches. This can be B. Y. M. April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 143

emphasis on aiding the grower to cul­ Mr. Green writes from his experi­ tivate Philippine orchids by simulating ences with the collections at N orman­ conditions found in these islands. The dale Nurseries in Sheffield and so com­ section devoted to 'hi story deals with pletely covers the details of hundreds. orchid exploration ·and floristic studies and hundreds of these "weird a nd from the latter part of the seventeel).th wonderful" plants that everyone with century to the publication in 1925 of any interest will find this volume a Oakes Ames' valuable work, Enuw/,era­ must-it treats ' each plant with so tion of Philippine Apostasiacea.e and much cultural information that the Orchidaceae. During this period of most modest windowsill gardener will more than two huildred years many find whatever he needs, as will the cold fine horticultural species, including the or heated greenhouse operator in the magnificent Va.nda Sanderiana, were commercial business. The many illus­ discovered in the islands. trations are most helpful for the .be­ The authors, of necessity, treat only ginner in deciding upon· his collection. about a tenth of the thousand or more The edition was printed in Great species known to be indigenous. The Britain. species treated are found in less than half of the one hundred or more genera found in the islands. Nevertheless, Wild Flowers of Am,erica. Edited by these items that are illustrated and H. W. Rickett. Crown Publishers, briefly described were carefully se­ Inc., New York. 1953. 71 pages of lected to include most of the plants of text and 400 color plates. $10.00. horticultural importance as well as to represent the genera most common to Having been acquainted with the the islands. late Mrs. Charles D. Walcott and her The black-and-white photographs fresh, vivid, botanically-accurate water­ used to illustrate the species leave much colored paintings for many years, as to be desired in the way of subject mat­ well as with the first Smithsonian In­ ter, composition and clarity. It appears stitution reproduction of these paint­ to this reviewer that more' care should ings in their handsome portfolio, the have been taken in photographing a perfectionist reviewer is slightly sad­ number of the plates. In very few in­ dened in the reproduction of these stances would it be possible to identify sketches by today's processes. The the plant to species if it were not al­ printer is the same, but, even with the ready so labeled. Some of the speci­ "advances" in modern lithographic men plants selected are poor repre­ presses, color photography, and other sentatives of the species. Fortunately, "newer things" since the 1929 edition the text is well written and admirably appeared after four long years of pro­ makes up for what is lacking in many duction, the first edition remains un­ of the illustrations. excelled. This edition was published in Donovan S. Correll 2500 copies, 500 of which were de luxe, selling- for $500, and the remainder were library editions at $100. Cacti and Succulents. G. Gilbert Green. Perhaps it is wrong to remember The Pitman Publishing Company. with great admiration and compare the New York. 1953.238 pages, with 80 two reproductions of Mrs. Walcott's pages of monochrone illustrations sketches. Mr. Duenewald has, in the and 10 plates in full color. $7.00. present edition, done a very excellent April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 145 job of these 400 plates which are about ing, planting, rotation and edaphic re­ nine .by twelve inches. Dorothy P latt quirements both for the section as a has loaned some of her very good illus­ whole and the indi vidual entities. The trations for this work. Dr. Rickett of book is particularly valuable to the the N ew York Botanical Garden has penstemon grower for rapid identifi­ provided the text-descriptions of the cation of the species and for good flowers, ecology, identification charts, gardening practice. 'glossary, etc., which facilitate identifi­ Gabriel Edwin cation of those plants therein included. This is an authoritative and encyclo­ SuccuJent Pfa.nts. A. Bertrand. Pl,il­ pedic volume and one that should be in osophical Library, New York. 1953. -every home library. 112 pages. 23 illustrations in fu ll color and 39 bl ack-ami-white. $4.75. (Li·brary) . .st~£dies in P el1ste1'1'10 11.' No.1 . Sectioll H abroa.nth us (fo'l'11'lerly of Glabri). This little volume can almost pass R. W. Bennett. Compiled, publi shed, as an introductory guide to the prin­ and illustrated for the American Pen­ cipal groups of succulents. The ama­ stemon Society. 1953. 181 pages, teur interested in this group of plants mimeographed. $2.00. ( Available will find in the first three chapters, from the author, 5607 North 22nd brief notes on the geosraphical distribu­ Street, A rlington 5, Virginia.) ti on and native habi tats of succul ent plants, how they may best be grown, This compilation attempts to present and what their enemi es are. In the re­ 'a treatment of a difficult section of a maining eight chapters one is intro­ particularly taxing genus (Penste1110n) duced to the important plant families in a manner that will be sati sfactory to represented, inclu4ing that of the both the amateur and professional agaves, the lilies, milkweeds, stone­ gardener, as well as to the taxonomi st. crops, euphorbias, and the "mesembs." It is a work that unites the practical Representative genera and species are aspects of gardening with the system­ well illustrated with fine photographs atics of the section. The idea cannot be both in color (with good rendition) too highly praised. On the other hand and in monochrome. The more im­ the execution is not as precise as would portant species are described in the be desired. The taxonomic basis ap­ text with brief thumbnail sketches. parently is sound, although a key to On page 44, it should be noted that the various sections would be desirable an error made a century ago and copied and a complete diagnosis of H abroa.11 - and recopied by various authors again thus directly preceding the key to the reappears : The flowers of A loe ferox specIes. are scarl et or orange and not "greenish­ The line drawings are excellent yellow !" and well placed. The species descrip­ v..r. H. Hodge tions are complete and precise, cov­ ering the needs of both the gardener and professional botanist. The nomen­ The Secret of the Green Thumb. Henry clature is up-to-date and includes full T. and Rebecca T. Northen. The synonomy. \IV ell organized, extensive Ronald P ress Company, New York. and lucid informati on is given con­ 1954. 411 pages, illustrated. $5.00. cerning the methods of watering, clean- (Library) . 146 THE NATIO AL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE Apr il 1954

Under this very beguili ng title, Dr. body of knowledge, an integral part of and Mrs. Northen have assembled an his knowing, but frequently incom­ enormous amount of data, presented municable to others. The reviewer in almost non-technical language, that knows several such, whose successes should offer no difficulties to the curi­ are admirable, even if they are quite ous gardener. They state their case innocent of all knowledge of phloem, and intention clearly enough in the xylem, meristem, mitosis, and so on. Preface. Perhaps the most significant In spite of its 411 pages, there are sentences are: "The gardener must many sections of the book that. the gain a real insight into the nature of reader wi ll wish had been enlarged, but plants and their environment. Only all will give the basis for added knowl­ then will he discover the secret of the edge. Just how much other portions­ Green Thumb." particularly the last four chapters, will O rdinarily this reviewer does not serve the lay reader with hi s immediate like to quote chapter heads but these problems seems open ot doubt, but no show more quickly than any oither page should be neglected except possi­ means the scope of the work under­ bly the plant lists that are not of wide taken and indicate that the book is geographic interest. not intended for the "home gardener" The illustrations, largely borrowed, alone : are well chosen, and widely informa­ Life Story of Plants; Supply Lines tive, but lack unity in presentation as and Operation Centers; Water; Plants borrowed illustrations always must. at Work: Oxyg-en; Food for Growth : The book is not a "garden guide," Sugar: L ight ; Temperature; Soils and but any gardener will be a much better N utrition; Plant Hormones; Seasonal one when he has assimilated this lore Phenomena; Plantin~ and Propaga­ into his or her in tegral knowledge. tion; Flowering; P lant Breeding; The secret of the green thumb will Science Explains Heredity; Insects and never come from any book, however Other Garden Pests ; Bacteria, Viruses, magical, it comes onl y from life itself. and F ungi ; P lants Without Seeds: The B. Y. M. Seed Plants; Evolution; P lant Com­ munities; and Conservati on. There we have it, a whole course .... H ally Check List. Holly Society of \Vithout any intention of being face­ America. 1953. 56 pages. $1.00. tious, it would seem that the book was (Library). (Available from Charles intended chi efl y for th oo~ who do not A. Young, Jr., Holly Society of have a green thumb, and should have, America, Bergner Mansion, Gwynn whether in private life, or professional Falls Park, Baltimore 16, Mary­ and public life! land.) The seri ous omission, which may not be too serious, is that the authors A valuable by-product of currently have not defined "the green thumb." increasing in terest in the genus flex is In common usage-the folk level-the a holly collector's reference in the form "green thumb" is usually offered to of a Preliminary H olly Check List, re­ explain the successes, more or less cently prepared by a Committee of the one hundred per cent of the uninformed Holly Society of America, under the or rather uninstructed. This, like most capabl e chairmanship of Dr. John C. generalizati ons, is a half-truth, for the Wister of the A rthur Hoyt Scott perso n in questi on often has a great Horticultural Foundation at Swarth- April 1954 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 147 more College. It is a listing of the with its thirty-five sweet potato-like seven hundred-odd species and clones roots ! The bulletin is prepared mainly of holly now in cultivation in this coun­ for the non-scientific visitor .to the try with appended information pertain­ Arizona area interested in identifying ing to their botanical classification, those plants of curiosity to himself. It synonomy and origin. Nursery sources contains a key in very easily under­ and arboreta growing a given clone are standable terms which should enable indicated by symbols where such in­ the layman to "run-down" any speci­ formation is available. There are sep­ men at hand. (Some issues of the First arate li sts of botanical authors, dis­ Edition are available at $1.85, cloth coverers and introducers, commercial bound.) sources and holly test gardens, a group­ ing of clones by parent species, a list of unrecognized or doubtful names and The Glenn Dale Azaleas. B. Y. Mor­ a final listing of introduced species and rison. Agricult.ure Monograph No. varieties which apparently do not exist 20, United States Department of in this country. Agriculture, \iVashington 25, D. C. In pointing up information deficien­ 1953. 93 pages, 38 photographic illus­ cies, as well as present taxonomic con­ trations. $.40. (Available from Su­ fusions (with its clonal synonomy to an perintendent of Documents, United occasional sixth degree!), the painstak­ States Government Printing Office, ing assemblage of this booklet may Washington 25, D. C.) stand for more than an indispensable reference for the holly collector. It may This is an account of the new group well serve as a model for other single of hybrid evergreen azaleas known as plant societies seeking order amid their the Glenn Dale Azaleas. They were own taxonomic confusion and needing developed by the breeding work of the a basis for contemplated efforts in the author, B. Y. Morrison, at a time when direction of the registration of new he was head of the Division of Plant names. Exploration and Introdu-ction, United Henry T. Skinner States Department of Agriculture. Mr. Morrison was subsequently director of the United States National Arboretum. A1'1;zona's Cactuses. 2nd Edit,bon. W. He is also editor of The National Hor­ Taylor Marshall. Desert Botanical ticultural Magazine and a member of Garden of Arizona, Tempe, Arizona. the board of editors of The Azalea 1953. 116 pages, with 78 black-and­ Handbook published by the American white illustrations. $1.15. (paper Horticultural Society a year ago. The binding) . group takes its name from the Plant Introduction Garden at Glenn Dale, Director Marshall has recently re­ Maryland. vised his now famous descriptive cata­ The booklet describes some four logue of the species of cactuses native hundred and fifty named clones (horti­ to Arizona, and it is published as his cultural varieties) of Glenn Dale Aza­ Desert Botanical Garden of Arizona leas as to habit, height, foliage, size and Science Bulletin No. 1. The majority color of flower, time of bloom, and par­ of the species listed are illustrated. The entage. most peculiar one di scussed is N eoe­ The Glenn Dale Azaleas are best vansw diguetii (Weber) Marshall, viewed as several subgroups based on 148 THE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954 early, early midseason, late midseason, species and clones used in the breed­ late, and very late blooming periods ing work and an appraisal of their re­ running from the middle of April to spective values in creation of the Glen,n late June in the middle-Atlantic states. Dale Azaleas. Within each such group are dwarf, N ever before, at least among azaleas, medium height, and tall plants and has the story of an outstanding hybrid group been told as fully and accurately. flowers with a wide range of colors. A planting of specimens of the Glenn The varieties vary in hardiness but the Dale Azaleas has been made in the group as a whole has been successful M9rrison Azalea Clonal Garden estab­ over wide areas in this country, and lished at the U. S. National Arboretum possesses a beauty of form, color pat­ in honor of Mr. Morrison's devotion to tern, and size of flower of the order of that Institution over many years. This the tender Indian Azaleas of southern garden is to be dedicated on May 3 of gardens. this year. The booklet includes the story of the Frederic P. Lee

The Maple Bladder Gall

DONALD L. SCI-rUDER

The si lver, or soft maple, is often at­ break, and by the time the leaves are tacked by a tiny mite, Vasates quadri­ an inch in diameter the future site of pes Shiner, which feeds on the foliage the galls may be seen as tiny red areas. and produces small wart-like galls on The galls cannot be shown to cause the upper surfaces of the leaves. The serious damage to the trees, but their galls are first red, then green, and presence causes a great deal of con­ finally black in color. They may occur sternation among homeowners, arbor­ singly or in clusters, often so thick that ists and nurserymen alike, and they the leaves become crinkled and de­ want to prevent their occurrence. formed. Young trees are 1110st seriously In the past, liquid lime-sulphur at affected and every leaf may be covered dormant strength has given excellent with galls. As trees mature they be­ control of this gall-inducing mite when come less and less subject to attack, applied in early April, but a great prob­ with most of the galls being found on lem is presented when the trees to be the lower leaves. The severity of an sprayed stand near a house since the infestation varies from year to year in spray stains siding, stone, brick, cement the same locality and even on the' same and wood. If a time when the wind was tree. blowing away from the house could not The mites themselves are whitish, be found, the owner had to decide be­ or pinkish, in color and over-winter in tween the galls and the staining of his crevices of the bark and possibly in the home. bud scales. The mites migrate upward A l~rge number of effective insecti­ from their winter quarters the latter cides andmiticides have been developed part of April, about the time the buds since World War II. A series of nine­ l Repr inted by pe rmi ssion of Paul E. Tilford, Editor, teen of these materials were applied to Arborist's News, in which or iginal publi ca ti on appe ared April , 19)3, Vol. 18, No.4. a block of eight-foot silver maple trees April 1954 T HE NATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE 149

on April 9th and 11th, in hopes of find­ water use two pounds of fifteen per cent ing a more generally useful control parathion wettable powder, or two measure for the maple bladder gall. The quarts of forty-eight per cent systox, sprays were applied with a small power potasan, or six to seven pints of sprayer operating at a pressure of two malathon. All of the e materials are hundred' pounds per square inch. phosphate insecticides and highly dan­ The effectiveness of these chemicals gerous, and the precautions listed by in preventing the maple bladder galls the manufacturer should be strictly ad­ was rated independently by two ento­ hered to. Malathol1 is the least toxic of mologists on May 21. Their examina­ this group of insecticides, but possibly tions showed four of the materials to be sli ghtly less effective. as effective as liquid and diy lime­ The insecticide selected should be sulfurs in preventing infestations of the galls: parathion, systox (when applied to the trunk and branches), potasan and malathon. All of these materials produced nearly gall-free foliage. The application of eight of the chemi­ cals resulted in foliage that was less heavily infested than the untreated trees, but had more galls than the pre­ viously mentioned materials. They were DN dry mix, metacide, pestox 3, aramite, dimite, sulphenone, TEPP, ovotran and EPN 300. The effective­ ness declined in the order named. Four of the chemically treated pl ots contained trees with just as many, or more gall s, than in the untreated group. These ineffective materials were Mon­ santo's 3897, systox (when applied to the soil only) , Geigy's 338 and TEAP. Terminal growth measurements were made and no differences could be dem­ onstrated as the result of the applica­ tion of any of these materials tested. Apparently there was no phytotoxicity or stunting of growth. applied in the early part of April, just As a result of this one season's work, before the buds break. Thorough cov­ it can be concluded that, when liquid or erage of all parts of the trunk, limbs dry lime-sulfurs cannot be used because and branches is essential. A pressure of the possibility of staining, parathion, of two hUL1dred pounds per square inch, malathon, systox and potasan may be or higher, is desi rable in order to pene­ substituted. In one hundred gallons of trate all cracks and crevices. 150 THE I ATIONAL HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE April 1954

A Durable and Safe Trash Burner

FREEMAN A. VVEISS

A substantial receptacle for burning tier of bricks should preferably be fire­ waste paper, leaves (if you must!), and or four quarts of thirty per cent combustible trash from the house and resistant. The upper tiers are laid with garden can be easily constructed by the perforated bricks, each with two holes handy man, using perforated brick and about one and an eighth inches in diam­ Discarded iron pipe. It has the added eter, such as are now frequently used advantages of being not unsightly (as in the interior of house walls. Five trash burners go), of keeping the con­ bricks long and four wide, giving tents in place before and during com­ ground dimensions of about forty by bustion, and of being easily cleanable of thirty-two inches, provicle a conve­ ashes and noncombustible material. It nient size. will outlast any number of wIre One-inch (inside diameter) iron pipe burners. is preferred; it just fits the holes and will not sag or burn easily even under a hot fire. The pipe is simply cut to length and inserted through the holes of the second tier of bricks. It is ·ad­ visable to set a similar pipe in the top tier across the open front as support for the walls; this should be cenJented in place. An iron grating as a cover can be added if desired, but is not really needed to keep the burning con­ tents in place. The perforations in the bricks provide a good draft so that The accompanying sketch shows green brush and damp leaves will burn how the bricks and 'pipe are assem­ up clean. bled. The base is a con€rete slab about The open front and solid floor make four by five feet, or it can be laid with it easy to shovel out ashes and incom­ old bricks, discarded sidewalk blocks, bustible material, and the pipes can be or broken concrete paving. The lowest removed for more thorough cleaning. List of the Back Numbers of The National Horticultural Magazine Available for Sale, Prepaid Orders should be sent to: Secretary, The American Horticultural Society, Inc. 1600 Bladensburg Road, N. E. Washington 2, D. C. Yols.3 & 4, 1924-26, Vol. 19. 1940, No. I .75 No. *------.25 No. 2 ______.75 Vol. 5, 1926, No .•______.25 No.3 .75 Vol. 6, 1927, No. 2 ______.75 No. 4 ______.75 No. 3 ______.75 Vol. 21, 1942, No. I .75 No. 4 ______.75 No. 2 ______.75 Vol. 7, I92B, No. '--- ______.75 No. 4 ______.75 Yol. 22, 1943, No. 1______.75 No.2 .75 No. 2______.75 No. 3 ______.75

No. 4 ______~ __ .75 No.4 .75 Vol. B, 1929, No. 3 ______.75 Yol. 23, 1944, No. .75 No. 2____ , .75 Yol. 9, 1930, No. 1______.75 No. 3 ______.75 Yol. 10, 1931, No. 2 ______.75 No.4 .75 No. 3 ______.75 Vol. 24, 1945, No. '--- .75 No. 4 ______.75 No. 2 ______.75 Vol. II, 1932, No. '-______.75 No. j .75 No. 2 ______.75 No. 4__ ___ .7!> No. 3______.75 Vol. 25, 1946, No. 2 ______.75 No. 4 ______.75 No.3 .75 vol. 12, 1933, No. 1______.75 No. 4 ______.75 No. 2 ______.75 Vol. 26, 1947, No. '-______.75 No. 4 ______.75 No. 2 ______.75 Vol. 13, 1934, No. 1______.75 No. 3 ______.75 No. 2______.75 No. 4 ______.75 No. 3 ______.75 Vol. 27, 1948, No. 2 ______.75 Vol. 14, 1935, No. 2 ______.75 No. 3 ______.75 No. 3 ______.75 No. 4 ______.75 No. 4 ______.75 Vol. 28, 1949, No. 1______1.00 Vol. 15, 1936. No. '-______.75 No. 3 ______1.00 No. 2______.75 Yol. 29, 1950, No. '-______1.00 No. 2 ______1.00 No. 3 ______.75 No. L ______1.00 No. 4 ______.75 No. 4 ______1.00 Vol. 16, 1937, No. 2 ______.75 Yol. 30, 1951, No. 1______1.00 No. 3 ______.75 No. 2... ______1.00 No. 4 ______.75 No. L ______I.OO Vol. 17, 193B, No. '-______.75 No. 4 ______1.00 No. 2 ______.75 Vol. 31, 1952, No. 2 ______1.00 No. 3 ______.75 No. 3 ______1.00 No. 4 ______' _ .75 No. 4 ______1.00 Vol. IB, 1939, No. '- ______,______.75 Vol. 32, 1953, No. 1... ______1.00 No.2 .75 No. 2 ______1.00 No. L ______.75 No. 3 ______1.00 No.4 .75 No. 4 ______1.00

·One complete issue.