1939: Horticulture

In 1939 horticultural enterprise throughout most of the United States was handicapped by one of the worst seasons in recent history as far as the weather was concerned. A late spring and early summer drought of unusual severity was followed, after a brief period approaching normalcy, by one of the most prolonged droughts which most living gardeners can remember. In fact this late summer and autumn drought extending into the winter and the new year is one of the most serious problems facing horticulture in 1940.

Despite this handicap, 1939, however, was decidedly a year of marked progress. Attendance at the big spring flower shows, now featured in the largest cities from coast to coast, broke all previous records. In New York the International Flower Show, which now commands a bigger paid 'gate' than any other event held in the Grand Central Palace during the year, was viewed by nearly 250,000 persons. The number of seed and nursery catalogues issued exceeded all previous records. At both the New York and the San Francisco World's Fairs, horticulture was given a degree of prominence never before achieved at expositions of this kind.

Other indications of increased interest in horticulture are the facts that two of the leading periodicals in this field reached new all-time highs in circulation as did also the number of garden pages in newspapers and the space devoted to this subject. A leading general-purpose garden book passed in sales the 230,000 mark — something never before achieved in horticultural literature.

One of the outstanding trends in horticulture during the past year has been the continued and revived increase in interest in indoor gardening, which, always a fascinating hobby, has again become quite fashionable. As a result many of grandmother's old favorites for the indoor and window garden have again come into demand and a considerable number of other plants not previously used for this purpose have been 'discovered' and made available.

New Plants.

In the development of new plant material, 1939 has not given us quite so many outstanding improvements as some recent years, but in other ways it has been highly significant. Most important is the continued and increasing success of American hybridizers and seed and plant growers in wresting from Europe the leadership in this highly specialized line. If the war abroad continues, this advance will unquestionably be extended.

Rose.

During recent years American hybridizers have invaded one section of the broad field of plant improvement in which they had previously done little: that of the rose. Such hybridizers as the Brownells of Compton, Rhode Island, and M. H. Horvath of Painsville, Ohio, are giving us new types and hardier varieties, developed especially for American conditions. The late J. H. Nicholas of Newark, N. Y., some of whose creations are still being introduced, worked particularly with the Floribundas, new varieties of which created a sensation at both the New York and San Francisco Fairs during 1939.

The All America Selections Committee (which during recent years has helped to focus attention on outstanding new varieties) during 1939 extended the scope of its activities to include roses.

Sweet Pea.

While receiving comparatively little publicity, perhaps the most important introduction among garden plants for 1939 was a new early flowering type of sweet pea adapted to outdoor culture, which promises to restore the popularity of this lovely flower once so universally grown, but of late years abandoned by many gardeners because of difficulties in the culture of modern types in many sections where fairly cool summers are not experienced. This new type, known as Spring Flowering (to distinguish it from the existing Winter Flowering or Florists' and the Summer Flowering types) has been put out in three colors for 1940, but a wider range will be available next year.

Marigold.

Another new flower of particular interest introduced to the public in 1939 is a marigold called Tetra. This is the first flower to be made generally available resulting from the new technique on the part of the hybridizer of employing colchicine (a drug made from the autumn crocus) in breaking up the normal cell structure and chromosome count in plants. Tetra is an artificially induced break in the marigold resulting in a tetraploid formation in place of the normal diploid formation, producing larger flowers, stockier growth and darker foliage. All of these 'induced' characteristics are transmitted in the seed, the progeny remaining tetraploid.

Gladiolus.

A flower which holds promise of great importance both in itself and for the future is the first really fragrant large flowered gladiolus, developed as a result of seven years' work by Dr. Forman T. MacLean of the Boyce Thompson Institute of Yonkers, N. Y.

Patenting.

In connection with plant breeding it is interesting to note that the patenting of plants, first looked upon as an experiment of doubtful advisability by many professional breeders, has now been pretty generally accepted and many new plants are being protected under this law. Roses so far, are far in the lead.

Scientific Applications and Innovations.

Hydroponics.

In the field of science as applied to horticulture, the hullabaloo of the last couple of years over 'soilless' plant culture and its unlimited possibilities has largely died down. This has been due first to the fact that growing conditions in most sections of the country are quite different from those in southern California, where the growth of plants in water by means of nutrient plant food solutions was first publicized; and, second, to the absurdly exaggerated and dramatic claims concerning it made by uninformed persons. The growing of plants in sterile mediums, such as sand and gravel, by means of feeding with nutrient solutions, proves more practical under most conditions and apparently will be more useful to commercial growers under glass than to the amateur who is always seeking a royal road to success in plant culture.

Vitamin B₁.

Undoubtedly the biggest sensation during 1939 was the highly dramatized announcement of the results allegedly achieved by the application of Vitamin B₁ to growing plants. Highly colorful descriptions of 'daffodils as big as dinner plates' and full grown trees transplanted in the blazing sun without the wilting of a single leaf paved the way for a storm of discussion pro and con which still rages. This story also originated in southern California, which seems to be establishing for itself a horticultural reputation that will leave the uncurbed imaginations of the movie producers in the shade. Scores of reputable scientific investigators from all parts of the country have found little or no evidence to support the claims for the newest 'miracle' in the world of horticulture.

Tear Gas.

Of far more importance to the practical gardener, though hardly a line has appeared about it in the popular horticultural press, is the increasing use being made of the discovery that tear gas can be used for the thorough sterilization of soil, to be employed for garden seeds and growing plants, thus providing a very satisfactory solution to one of the oldest of the gardener's problems.

Colchicine.

Colchicine, already mentioned in connection with the development of the new marigold Tetra, seems destined to play a fairly important part in the field of hybridizing although it is not likely, as at first claimed, to revolutionize completely the work in this field, which is quite as much an art as a science.

Trends in Horticulture.

As to general trends in amateur horticulture, there have been no startling changes. Among the women's garden clubs, which play such a tremendously important part in gardening in America there is a growing feeling, which has I think crystallized a little more during the past year, for what may be termed a 'return to horticulture' — that is, the placing of more emphasis on growing more things and growing them well as compared to the espousing of movements and causes and the art of flower arrangement as something entirely divorced from flower culture. Significant, too, is the growth of the men's garden club movement which is now established on a country-wide basis and shows every sign of vigorous progress.

The European war has to some extent revived the interest in home vegetable growing, this despite the fact that governmental agencies have done nothing to encourage it for fear it may mean increased competition with commercial growers — a theory that is, to say the least, open to debate. See also BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY; BIOLOGY; BOTANY; CHEMISTRY.