FEBRUARY 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



305 



Lawson anti the sensational features 

 surrounding it, Melba would be the 

 talk of the season. Its beautiful shell- 

 pink color, size, stem and form leave 

 nothing to be desired. 



The improvement of the carnation 

 within five years is truly wonderful. 

 The price per dozen which some grow- 

 ers said certain varieties should bring 

 at retail five years ago seemed then 

 absurd to many people. Now it does 

 not, and I cannot see why a dozen of 

 many of the finest varieties, which we 

 have so lately hart the pleasure to see, 

 should not bring as high a price as a 

 dozen Meteor or Bridesmaid roses. 



Considering the storm which, it ap- 

 pears, has affected the whole east, the 

 exhibition was gorgeous. We missed 

 the veteran E. G. Hill, and others, but 

 great credit is due to the many who 

 did get there with their exhibits, and 

 in most cases apparently none the 

 worse. We look forward to Buffalo's 

 convention to surpass all previous 

 ones. Geographically it will suit all 

 and we promise every facility to make 

 it so, and good behavior from one who 

 will most likely have to help in some 

 humble capacity, 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



SIDE LIGHTS. 



A subscriber from far away Oregon 

 writes: "I want to build a house 20x 

 60 feet north and south in length. 

 Would it be necessary to have win- 

 dow lights on the east and west side 

 walls, roof three-quarter span?" It 

 would be the height of folly to build 

 a house with ridge running north and 

 south, three-quarter span. The houses 

 which are approved by many of our 

 best growers are always built running 

 east and west and the long slope to 

 the south is to obtain more sun. If 

 your house must run north and south 

 then let it be equal span. The side 

 lights are of great value, and whether 

 It be plants or flowers you intend to 

 grow. IS inches of glass on both the 

 east and west side will make the side 

 benches of much more service. The 

 side walls may be 4 feet 6 inches, of 

 which 18 inches should be glass. I 

 say should because it is not an actual 

 necessity but a great advantage and 

 will repay in a few years the extra 

 expense that the side lights cost. 



WM. SCOTT. 



LILIES. 



A subscriber says: "Please give 

 treatment of Easter lilies so as to get 

 the largest blooms. Should the pots 

 he sunk or plunged in the soil of the 

 bed and should liquid dressing be 

 used? If so, how often and how- 

 much?" 



If the lilies are in a liberal sized 

 pot, say, one plant in a 6-inch, and 

 they are not forced at a great he.'it, 

 there is seldom any occasion for either 

 plunging or liquid manure to be used. 



Large flowers are not so desirable: a 

 medium sized firm flower that has been 

 grown in a temperate atmosphere, say, 

 60 degrees at night, is all you want. 

 If the pots are small and the plants 

 are suffering for root room, give them 

 liquid manure. It will help to keep 

 the foliage fresh and green. Half a 

 bushel of cow manure in 50 gallons of 

 water is a safe and good liquid. Lilies 

 now want a daily watering and the 

 liquid can be given three times a week 

 or every alternate watering. If again 

 they dry; out very fast I would not ad- 

 vise plunging in soil, but to keep down 

 evaporation from the pots you, can, if 

 it is necessary, plunge the pots in to- 

 bacco stems, spent hops (best of all), 

 tan bark or any easily handled mate- 

 rial you have. W. SCOTT. 



ISfEW YORK. 



Weather Conditions The Market. 



We tried to reach your office last 

 week, but could not, on acount of the 

 great mountains of snow between us. 

 What a climate this is, today it is 60; 

 last Tuesday is was 6 below zero. The 

 terrific storm of last week was the 

 severest New York has ever suffered. 

 Every florist's window was a sheet of 

 frosted glass: every street was 

 jammed with snow, many of the drifts 

 reaching a height of 6 to S feet; traffic 

 and trade paralyzed, and more par- 

 ticularly the florists' trade. Important 

 dinners and other society functions 

 requiring the services of floral artists 

 had to be put off: shipments of flow- 

 ers were frozen up in snow banks 

 along the Hudson and in Jersey. Very 

 few flowers reached New York on Feb- 

 ruary 13, and there were none at all 

 on the 14th, Lots of violets were or- 

 dered for Valentine's Day, but ne'er 

 a one was obtainable, except those left 

 over for days. It is impossible at pres- 

 ent to estimate the amount of damage 

 done by this storm and spell of arctic 

 weather. Reports of greenhouses be- 

 ing blown down or stock frozen are 

 numerous, and the havoc among ten- 

 der shrubs is very great. 



This week, however, we are having 

 very mild, sunny weather, and in con- 

 sequence all kinds of flowers are most 

 abundant, bulb stock especially. 

 Prices are considered low — very low; 

 but then it is only consistent for them 

 to be so during Lent, and perhaps this 

 year (taking into consideration all the 

 drawbacks) is just as good as other 

 years. The florist's business is a good 

 one. It would be a grand one if it 

 had not so many fakirs in it. Dis- 

 honesty and unlimited credits are the 

 chief curses of our business, and not 

 low prices, and who is at fault? 



The principal carnationists of this 

 section are well pleased with the re- 

 sults of the Carnation Society's con- 

 vention recently held at Philadelphia. 

 They report the quantity and quality 

 of blooms shown as very fine. 



New York Gardeners' Society. 

 The New York Gardeners' Society's 

 exhiliition of carnations given at 

 their rooms February 11 was, con- 

 sidering the weather, a great success. 

 Wm, Duckham won the Ward prize 

 with fine blooms of Blush, Mrs, James 

 Dean, John Young, Gold Nugget, Mrs. 

 G. M. Bradt, New York, Gen. Maceo, 

 Alba Superba, and Wm. Scott. G. M. 

 Hay won the society's prize with a 

 collection of magnificent flowers, and 

 Wm, Scott captured the Donlan prize 

 with a very fine white seedling. 



The Florist Club. 



Of course, we are late in speaking 

 of the Florists' Club dinner, but a 

 right good thing is always in order, 

 Mr. Editor, and the club's dinner this 

 year was one of the most enjoyable 

 ever held. It was given at Morello's, 

 on February 9, and in the very room 

 where, long years ago, on similar oc- 

 casions we had the great pleasure of 

 listening to those famous departed 

 apostles of floriculture, Peter Hender- 

 son, Wm. Elliott and Charlie Ander- 

 son, convulse the boys 4vith wit and 

 story. Sixty sat down to dinner this 

 year, and even at this late date we 

 hear nothing but praise for the en- 

 joyable time arranged by the dinner 

 committee. The music was under di- 

 rection of Professor Turner and ev- 

 erybody got what they wanted: songs 

 were sung and stories were told by 

 most of those present. The flowers 

 on the tables were magnificent, and 

 Lawrence Hafner deserves great 

 credit for the manner in which they 

 were arranged. 



There was no meeting of the Flor- 

 ists' Club on Monday, the 13th, the 

 weather being too bad, and for the 

 same reason the bowling match be- 

 tween New York and Flatbush flor- 

 ists did not take place. This match 

 will, however, be played on Monday 

 afternoon, March 13. There was quite 

 a large gathering at the alleys Mon- 

 day night, the '20th. It was an off 

 night for champions: still, the fun 

 scores were very high. Following is 

 a fair average of the games: 



Man.la 137 153 



Leuly 153 160 



Hafner 123 132 



Trae-ndly 112 123 



V.'emer 74 



Plumb 150 120 



Burns 145 132 



O'Mara 142 148 



Eunyard 112 113 



Donlan lis 122 



Davis 89 107 



Various Notes. 



There is one Greek florist less in 

 New York. Ferrantos was his name. 

 He was shot by one of his fellows 

 last week. Brigands in Greece — flor- 

 ists in New York. No wonder the 

 business has gone to . 



Sickness is very prevalent among 

 the wholesale florists in this city. The 

 most serious case is that of Thomas 

 Young, Jr., who is very dangerously 



