146 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



acknowledged authority on dry goods^ 

 wet goods and green goods, including 

 garden sass. Early mornings before 

 the average man began his labors I 

 used to fertilize the flowers, and 

 speaking of that the cucumber, like all 

 its family, has not perfect flowers; 

 the male and female flowers being 

 separate individuals and I had always 

 been taught and still supposed that 

 without the natural agencies of in- 

 sects or wind the flowers had to be ar- 

 tificially fertilized. Mr. Fancourt re- 

 marked it was not at all necessary. 

 Without fertilization the cucumber 

 would develop to its full natural size 

 but bear no seed. Is he right? I would 

 like to hear from some professors on 

 the subject for I am not certain he is. 

 If it is so then there were many hours 

 spent in vain. 



I have only asked for the illustra- 

 tion of these "'cucks" and my remarks 

 to show that in case of a failure there 

 are several ways of utilizing your 

 glass. WM. SCOTT. 



HELIANTHUS ORGYALIS. 



The sunflower family, like that of 

 the old woman who lived in a shoe, is 

 a very numerous one, considerably 

 over fifty species being known, chiefly 

 indigenous to North America. Cook 

 County, 111., possesses fourteen species 

 in its fiora. A few are found in Chili 

 and Peru. The common annual sun- 

 flower, H. annuus, originating in the 

 western United States, is now largely 

 grown in Russia for food, its seeds 

 being used. Nearly all the varieties 

 bear the common name sunflower in 

 some form, even to the zig-zag sun- 

 flower (H. flexulosus). the main de- 

 parture from this rule being the "Can- 

 ada potato" and "Jerusalem arti- 

 choke." applied to H. tuberosus. Of 

 the numerous flowers mentioned by 

 Shakespeare, the sunflower is not 

 among them. Being pre-eminently an 

 American flower, it may not have been 

 common during his time. Still, he 

 does not mention such flowers as the 

 fox-glove, forget-me-not, the snow- 

 drop or the lily of the valley. 



The species illustrated, Helianthus 

 orgyalis, is a native of Texas, and is 

 known as the graceful sunflower. It is 

 one of the tallest of the family, grow- 

 ing eight to nine feet, in tall, slender 

 shoots, bearing long, willowy leaves. 

 It blooms in October on slender side 

 shoots, the flowers a deep lemon-yel- 

 low, with dark centers. A well-grown 

 plant will produce spikes of bloom 

 four feet long. This species can be 

 used very effectively in groups if 

 placed in a sheltered position, where 

 the winds will not break them down. 

 It is a hardy perennial. 



BELLEROPHON. 



AMONG CHICAGO GROWERS. 



Stollery Bros. 

 In addition to their chrysanthe- 

 mums, noted elsewhere, Stollery Bros, 

 will this year bench about 8000 carna- 



tions including 3,500 Argyle (their own 

 seedling), 1500 Daybreak, 750 Jubilee 

 and 500 White Cloud. They have 

 dropped McGowan which was former- 

 ly one of their most profitable sorts. 

 Of the new sorts they have from 100 to 

 250 each of Gold Nugget, Kathleen 



%'^ 

 .^^ 



y 



Helianthus Orgyahs. 



Pantlind, Evelina, Red Jacket, Bon 

 Ton and Oneida. They also have about 

 500 second year seedlings of their own. 

 From September 1, 189G, to January 

 1, 1897, they kept a record of the re- 

 turns from their carnations by variety 

 and found that during this part of the 

 season the returns per square foot of 

 bench surface were as follows: Mc- 

 Gowan 23 cents, Argyle 20 cents, Scott 

 17 cents. Daybreak 15 cents, Albertini 

 ISVi; cents. They would keep up the rec- 



ord regularly but find it very difficult 

 to secure returns by variety from the 

 commission houses, most dealers sim- 

 ply reporting sales of "carnations" re- 

 gardless of the variety. 



In 1895 they got a record for the full 

 season and it showed total returns of 

 54 cents per square foot of bench sur- 

 face for McGowan, 46 cents for Alber- 

 tini and 41 cents for Daybreak. 



In 1895 they also secured a record of 

 returns from their roses. Of American 

 Beauty they had 320 plants occupying 

 490 square feet of bench and these pro- 

 duced 0,100 blooms, the returns from 

 sales making an average of 88 cents 

 per square foot of bench. Cusin was 

 then grown and the returns were 51 

 cents per square foot. Bridesmaid 49 

 cents, Whitney 48 cents, and Bride 39 

 cents. They were surprised at the dif- 

 ference in the results from Brides and 

 Maids as they seemed to produce about 

 equally well. 



One year Cusin had a big lead on all 

 the rest, producing returns of $1.10 

 per square foot of bench. They later 

 abandoned Cusin to put in Morgan and 

 Morgan didn't pay at all. They now 

 grow only one house of roses — Brides 

 and Maids — simply fortheir local trade. 



They are growing about 400 poin- 

 settias this year, having a little room 

 not occupied till Christmas. The plants 

 are now being shifted into 3-inch pots 

 and the new soil rammed very tightly. 

 The firm potting is to keep them dwarf 

 and hard so as to preserve the lower 

 foliage and prevent their becoming 

 "leggy." In the old country Mr.Stol- 

 lery had poinsettias for Christmas 

 that were in 5-inch pots, only 18 in- 

 ches high and with bracts 22 inches 

 across. He will try to produce some of 

 these here and believes they ought to 

 bring a good price. 



They have some local trade in bed- 

 ding plants and geraniums are an im- 

 portant feature. They are very favor- 

 ably impressed with Alphonse R'card. 

 much the same color as Bruant but a 

 better and larger flower. They are 

 anxious for something to take the 

 place of Bruant which has given much 

 trouble by the plants coming blind. A 

 row of the dwarf geranium Mars is 

 now wonderfully showy. The flowers 

 are salmon pink bordered with white 

 and are produced in great profusion. 



The grasshopper plague is upon 

 them. Countless numbers of them are 

 making their appearance. They eat the 

 carnation flowers and buds and most 

 anything else that comes in their way. 

 Lately they have developed a taste 

 for palms and the leaves of some have 

 been sadly damaged. Does any one 

 know how the pest may be successful- 

 ly combatted? 



No new glass is being added at this 

 place but work has been started on a 

 new office which will have a cellar be- 

 neath, the cellar to be used for cooling 

 the fiowers after cutting. 



August Dresscl's. 



August Dressel is one of the veteran.'; 

 of the craft, having been In the bual- 



