460 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



VIOLETS. 



These notes are not -written with the 

 idea of imi)arting •nnsdoni to the old vio- 

 let grower, but with the hope that now 

 and then we may give some ideas gained 

 from several years' experience in violet 

 growing that may help the novice to at- 

 tain success. 



As I mentioned a short time ago, the 

 taking of stock for next season should 

 now be well under way and the balance 

 needed should be hurried up. If possible, 

 propagate twice as many as you will 

 need, so that you can fill your house with 

 your choicest stock and still have enough 

 left to grow outside to entirely refill the 

 house if for any reason those planted in- 

 side do not grow as you wish and you 

 have to throw out a part or all of them. 

 As a usual thing, this surplus stock will 

 find a ready sale to the less fortunate 

 grower who finds liimseif short or has an 

 extra house that he suddenly concludes 

 to fill with violets, and as the prices gen- 

 erally run, such stock should pay for its 

 care at least, and it is worth much as an 

 insurance against having to purchase 

 stock yoiu-self. 



Do not take cuttings from plants that 

 at this time show small flowers and weak 

 stems, with poor, light coloring, and that 

 have made a rapid soft growth. It is 

 time and labor thrown away, the results 

 are so unsatisfactory. 



All such runners as have struck roots 

 into the soil before removing from the 

 plants can at once be pricked out in flats 

 of soil without any further trouble. Those 

 that have struck without going into the 

 soil (air struck) will have to go into the 

 sand to root, and the aerial roots should 

 all be trimmed off, as they are too hard 

 to be of any use, even though to look at 

 they seem to be all right. 



If you find yourself short of room in 

 yom- propagating bench, you can make a 

 *ery good substitute of ordinary flats, 

 boring four to eight holes in the bottom 

 to insure good drainage. Cover the bot- 

 tom over with moss, say half an inch 

 deep, enough to keep the sand from run- 

 ning thronjti : fill ivitli c.uul and put your 

 cuttings ill ilr . , I.I I iiiil; them in a cool 

 place witln '1,1 t.... i,,ii. i, draught, and you 

 will find th;ii ti,,v hik,- tlie place of the 

 propagating bench voi-y nicely. 



Do not make the mistake of leaving 

 them in here too long, as they should be 

 treated the same as if rooting in the usual 

 bed, and be pricked out in the flats of soil 

 as soon as struck. 



It sometimes happens that you have to 

 put the flats where they get a stronger 

 sun in the middle of the day than is de- 

 sirable at first, and you must take care 

 to shade properly with papers, taking 

 the precaution to see that they do not 

 lay down flat on top of the plants, per- 

 mitting no circulation of air underneath, 

 for this is nearly as bad as nothing, per- 

 haps quite. Some tall labels in the cor- 

 ners of the flats are good to keep the 

 paper up. 



We have been growing Farquhar (as 

 well as Marie Louise) now for a good 

 many years and in that time it seems as 

 though it had changed in many respects. 

 The first year or two we grew it we de- 

 clared (as many othei-s have) that there 

 was not a particle of difference between 

 it and Marie Louise. We even thought 

 the latter the better, if there was any 

 difference. But as we grew it more it 

 seemed to grow out of its tendency to 



spotting so much easier than the Louise 

 and the flowers are generally much larger 

 and borne on much longer stems. We 

 have this season come to the conclusion 

 that its tendency to give "bullheads" is 

 caused by too low a temperature, and 

 also perhaps to too rich a soil. The lat- 

 ter opinion is held to more by my fore- 

 man than by myself. But on one thing 

 we agree, and that is that Farquhar 

 wants a temperature several degrees (just 

 how many we have not settled to our 

 satisfaction) higher than Marie Louise. 

 As a result we intend the coming season 

 to give the warmest border to Farquhar 

 and the coolest to Louise. 



We have not mulched for several years, 

 thinking that on the whole it tended to 

 help rotting in a damp spell more than it 

 did any good otherwise, and yet a grower 

 called recently who thinks it is the only 

 way to do. He grows good violets and 

 we consider ours fair, yet we are follow- 

 ing different methods. But our soil is 

 heavier than his and he may need the 

 mulching to maintain a more even de- 

 gree of moisture. R. E. S. 



TODAY AND,,TWENTY YEARS 

 AGO. 



By Edgar Saxdebs. 

 [Read before the Clilcag-0 Florists' Club. Mar<-li 1.) 



In some respects to me it does not 

 seem so long ago, but how few of the 

 old guard are still in the harness, and 

 what a change, my countrymen, has come 

 over the, scene. 



Twenty years ago — let's see, who and 

 what did we have in the florists' way in 

 Chicago in the year 1880. In many 

 respects the difference now and then is 

 magical indeed, in the flowers used, the 

 general make up of them, and things 

 generally. 



Twenty years ago we had no Florists' 

 Club, no florists' directory, no bowling 

 club, no quartette, no liveried driver and 

 tiger, with a fashionable turnout, no 

 fakirs, no hello, and no trade papers. 

 It is just about that long ago that I as 

 one of the first starters in this city, re- 

 tired from the field as one of your com- 

 petitors, to make room for others to 

 follow. 



How many florists had we then in the 

 business, what did they grow, and how 

 different from our own times? Let me see 

 — our city then numbered .503,185 souls; 

 it is now nearly fniir timr^ that number. 

 The city pro] II I i'\i,.il Imi thirty-seven 

 square miles. II \ Isr, I Imh' were then 

 inside the eit;. 'ini:^ ^ixtycme florists' 

 firms, liiiiM, I I I 1. -.• doing business as 

 retailei n ii, nlral part and one 

 whole-. I I 1 I I I hmrtccn, by the way, 



then di'l III, , i,;iiii iif the trade of that 

 day in lluwcrs. This is all changed. 

 What those in the center now sell, ex- 

 clusive of the fakir, is but a drop in the 

 bucket, so to speak, of all the flowers 

 that are grown and sold in this city. 

 Shipping cither into the city, or out of 

 it, was then but an infant as compared 

 to now. It would be hard to say how 

 extensive a field Chicago's supply comes 

 from, and harder still to say where Chi- 

 cago flowers are not shipped to. 



Besides the sixty-one florists in the 

 city limits twenty years ago, there were 

 forty-three firms in nearby towns, a to- 

 tal of, say, 104 firms, as I make it. 

 Last year my computation was 377 firms 

 in the city, and 140 outside, a total of 

 .517, all kinds. If that is correct, in 

 ISSO for every 4,338 inhabitants there 



was one florist firm; in 1900, one for 

 every 3,477; less difference after all than 

 I had imagined. 



Twenty years ago one commission 

 house had just started, and peddled the 

 few flowers sent in among the retailers 

 for a customer. Now we have from 

 fifteen to eighteen wholesale houses 

 alone, to 500 and odd growers and re- 

 tailers, but the buyers now do the 

 hustling. Here is a remarkable change 

 indeed. So much so, that 50,000 roses 

 or carnations could easier be picked up 

 today for a rush order than 500 could 

 twenty years ago. No longer than twen- 

 ty years ago an establishment with 5,000 

 feet of glass was respectable, a range of 

 ten houses 20x100 worth going to see; 

 double that, a big place indeed, with lots 

 of the smaller ones, still heating with 

 old fashioned flues, and houses glazed 

 with 7x9 and 8x10 glass. 



Now, any one with less than 50,000 

 feet of glass is not in it; a quarter to 

 a half million feet is the idea. The big 

 eight who wholesale their own cut easily 

 go 2,500,000 feet of glass, lumped to- 

 gether, and mostly in roses and carna- 

 tions at that. Why, the money paid 

 for coal by one of these giants alone 

 would be a handsome take of the big- 

 gest of those of twenty years ago. 



Of the fifteen firms credited to the 

 central part of the city twenty years ago, 

 viz.: J. C. Vaughan, John E. Bohan, 

 W. D. Chandler, James Farrell, Au- 

 gust Gutzloe, Albert J. Hovey, Mrs. 

 C. Krick, C. J. Kruger, Charles Reis- 

 sig, Edgar Sanders, Fred A. Schiller, W. 

 T. Shepperd, and R. S. Watson & Co., 

 not one is left in the original business 

 in this year 1901. In the outskirts there 

 are a very few originals; as a rule, they 

 are all new, the big ones, the oldest but 

 a decade old; several even less than ten 

 years old. 



What did they grow twenty years ago? 

 For one thing, not now seen, white bal- 

 sams ran a close race with carnations, 

 the old double white primula an import- 

 ant feature; eaiiielli.i il.iwi i^ also still 

 in the ring. Dislmliii , niKiiinns not 

 thought of for ten \ . ,i i - .i 1 1 1 i : . \ ery bud 

 expected to perfect i llms.i. and good 

 sales at that. Tuberoses grown exten- 

 sively nearly all the winter, a highly 

 profitable crop at ."? to 5 cents per flow 



Emma, La Purite, Astoria, etc., followed 

 by Hinze's white and red, Hinsdale, King 

 of the Crimsons, and others, all orig- 

 inated as late as 1876 and 1877 and had 

 barely got a foot-hold in the trade 

 twenty years ago. All told, up to 1880 

 there were raised and named seven in 

 whites, eight in reds, seven in pinks, six 

 yellow, and four while variegated, two 

 maroons and >>u:- i(,l -jiiped. The next 

 decade, ISsu i, l-'m i hero was brought 

 onto the 111,11 ' i;|i",,iiils of 125 new 

 sorts. lie.L'ii.iiiiiy, liiurver, in 1884 the 

 coming carnation tide may be said to 

 have had its origin, with thirty-two new 

 sorts; 1885 dropped to eight only; 1880 

 ran up to 37; the two following years 

 10 and 18 respectively, out of the total 

 for the decade of 132 sorts. After 1890 

 new sorts fairly rolled in; 1892, the ban- 

 ner year, is credited with 57 sorts, and 

 still it goes on ; many are called, few are 

 chosen; you pay your money and try 

 your luck. Hinze's white stayed with us 

 until a very few years ago, and good 



