APRIL 13. 1S99. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



497 



when shifted your benches will soon 

 be again crowded and the hot bed is 

 a great relief. There is no need of 

 three feet of stable manure, as we 

 used to make up to grow cucumbers 

 in a temperature of SO degrees. If 

 there is 18 inches of manure well 

 trodden down it will be plenty and 

 last long enough to keep the plants 

 growing far better than a greenhouse 

 bench till warm weather arrives. 

 There are many plants that are far 

 better done in the hot bed than in 

 the greenhouse and several that can't 

 be grown satisfactorily without them. 

 Verbenas, lemon verbena, achyranthes, 

 coleus, sweet alyssum, all the varie- 



years ago, and we have saved our own 

 seed annually since, selecting the best 

 formed and best colored spikes. 

 There were many spikes much larger 

 than the dimensions given, but the 

 size mentioned is large enough for 

 our trade. We think it pays, for by 

 the first of May it is about gone and 

 the space is used for bedding plants. 

 We retail it at one dollar a dozen 

 spikes. If you do not need the room 

 badly, when warm weather arrives a 

 great growth occurs and although not 

 of quality sufficient to sell by the 

 dozen, yet is remarkably useful to 

 mix in for "green" among cut flowers. 

 WILLIAM SCOTT. 



Mignonette. 



gated and sweet scented geraniums, 

 alternantheras and many others. The 

 zonale flowering geraniums should not 

 be put in the hot bed, for they make 

 too rank a growth to the detriment of 

 their future bedding usefulness. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



MIGNONETTE. 



The illustration of mignonette is a 

 portion of a bench, 3 feet 6 inches 

 wide, grown in five inches of soil. 

 The spikes would average about eight 

 inches of flower with nine or ten 

 inches of stem. The seed was sown 

 middle of August and the plants 

 thinned out to one foot apart. We 

 began cutting at Christmas, but not 

 in great quantity until the middle of 

 February. The temperature during 

 the very cold weather was very low 

 some nights, but a little above freez- 

 ing. The soil is a heavy loam, with 

 about a sixth of rotted cow manure 

 and some bone dust. 



The variety is the strain that Mr. 

 John May sent out seven or eight 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



The supply has largely increased, 

 but good stock is holding up well in 

 demand and prices are reasonable con- 

 sidering quality. Poor stock suffers, 

 however, and some lots go at very 

 low figures. The above applies to 

 roses, carnations, etc. As to lilies, the 

 story is unpleasant. The market is 

 swamped with them, and prices are 

 down to nothing. If a consignor gets 

 anything over express charges he is 

 considered in luck. Evidently there is 

 a lot of lilies that were too late for 

 Easter. Aside from tulips, which 

 move very slowly, if at all, other bul- 

 bous stock has picked up considerably 

 and seems to be doing rather better 

 than at Easter time. 



The wholesalers all agree that it is 

 a mistake for growers to increase 

 their consignments of bulbous flowers 

 at a holiday time, excepting lilies, of 

 course. Of Romans, daffodils, tulips, 

 narcissus, etc., there is rarely more 



sold for a holiday than at any other 

 time. The great mass of the retail 

 customers at holiday times are holi- 

 day buyers only and know nothing 

 but roses and carnations. And the 

 country florist who has shipments 

 from the city nearly always has a 

 good crop of bulbous flowers himself 

 for a holiday. Much more satisfactory 

 returns will be secured by the grower 

 for the wholesale market by bringing 

 in his bulbous flowers a few at a time 

 and sending in a regular and continu- 

 ous supply, extending the season over 

 as long a period as possible, and send- 

 ing in no more for a holiday than at 

 other times. 



Smilax is now almost an unknown 

 quantity in the market, and absurdly 

 high prices are obtained for very in- 

 ferior stock. The heavy call for smi- 

 lax is probably due largely to the 

 great scarcity of other greens, espe- 

 cially common ferns. 



Club Meeting. 



At the meeting of the Florists' Club 

 last Friday evening the reports on the 

 Easter trade indicated a universally 

 satisfactory business, though there 

 was some mourning over the lily sit- 

 uation. Some of the retailers noted 

 quite a little falling off in the call for 

 lilies on the part of customers, but it 

 was the general belief that the reports 

 in the daily papers prior to Easter 

 were mainly responsible. The whole- 

 salers took the growers to task for 

 not keeping them fully informed as to 

 what they could supply for Easter, so 

 as to enable them to give intelligent 

 advance quotations. Had this been 

 generally done many more lilies could 

 have been shipped to outside custo- 

 mers. One retailer noted also less call 

 for lily plants, though price asked 

 was moderate. Hyacinths and daffo- 

 dils in pots seem to have moved as 

 freely as anything. 



There were displayed at the meeting 

 some of Harry Balsley's new style 

 pots, as noted elsewhere in this issue. 

 There was also a vase of seedling 

 carnations grown by James Harts- 

 horne, containing many promising 

 sorts, especially among the reds. And 

 a bunch of sprays of Acacia parodoxa 

 was shown by Jos. Reeve, who be- 

 lieves this Acacia will be a factor as 

 an Easter plant. 



At the next meeting, April 21, Prof. 

 Caldwell, of the University of Chicago, 

 will read a paper on "The relation of 

 bacteria to soils and plant nutrition." 



Various Items. 



John P. Tonner is building two new 

 houses, each 20x100, and rebuilding 

 three old houses at his place In Gale- 

 wood. All his glass is now devoted 

 to carnations and Meteor roses. He is 

 also erecting a fine new residence. 



The Horticultural Society of Chi- 

 cago held its quarterly meeting at the 

 Sherman House last Saturday after- 

 noon. 



John C. Moninger Co. is working 

 overtime on orders and say the spring 



