208 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



JULY 2S. 1898. 



Strong bowling team can be gotten to- 

 gether. 



John Burton has said positively he 

 is going and a number of othei-s are 

 understood to have arranged to be of 

 the party. It is hoped those who think 

 of going will communicate with the 

 committees at once. 



Planting at Horticultural Hall. 



Thomas Mingey, a skillful and thor- 

 ough horticulturist, has been for twen- 

 ty-two yeare superintendent in charge 

 of the greenhouses and grounds at Hor- 

 ticultural Hall in Fairmount Park. Un- 

 der Mr. Mingey's care the place has 

 advanced from a rough beginning to 

 be one of the very best in the country. 

 In view of this fact a description of the 

 varieties of bedding plants grown and 

 how they are grouped may prove of in- 

 terest. 



The chief point of attraction to vis- 

 itors, Mr. Mingey thinks, is the cacti 

 bed. This is large and of original de- 

 sign, planted with alternantheras. sed- 

 nms and Echerverias Californica, 

 metallica. sanguineum and secunda 

 glauca as a groundwork for the cacti. 

 The large croton beds, one on each 

 side, now magnificently colored from 

 the heat, are edged with red alter- 

 nanthera. 



The opposite side of the circle con- 

 tains two festoons of three loops each, 

 the loops being sixty feet in length 

 and quite narrow but of vaning width. 

 These loops are planted in their broad- 

 est parts with an oval of Achyranthus 

 Lindenii edged with Stevia variegata 

 and consist through their entire length 

 of Coleus Verschaffelti edged with Co- 

 leus Golden Bedder; the balls from 

 which the festoon is suspended are 

 made of crotons. These crotons lend 

 a particularly rich effect to the whole. 



Of geraniums about 30,000 are grown. 

 La Pilote ranks first, then come Bru- 

 ant and Ernest Lauth. a rather dwarf 

 double and red in color. Madame Thi- 

 baut is the only pink grown; it does 

 splendidly here. For white Swan, for 

 variegated Mrs. Parker. 



About 40.000 Coleus are planted. Be- 

 sides the two named Queen Victoria is 

 used in moderate quantity. Aurea 

 nana is the yellow alternanthera, but 

 for red paronychioides major is al- 

 most discarded this season, its success- 

 ful rival being a numbered seedling 

 obtained about three years ago from 

 Dreer's. It looks something like p. 

 major, but is of stronger growth and 

 better color, evidently an acquisition 

 of real merit. 



The cannas are a feature. All the 

 novelties have been tried. Italia, Aus- 

 tria, Burbank, etc., ad infinitum. It 

 comes to this. Columbia is their best 

 bedding canna, Madame Crozy, Eldo- 

 rado, Florence Vaughan and a new sort 

 for edging taller varieties called, I 

 think, Primo. are the kinds extensive- 

 ly used. Philadelphia is freer than 

 Columbia, but the truss is not so large. 

 Besides the above Pyrethrum aureum. 



Acalypha musaica, eranthemums and 

 ageratums are used in quantity. 



In combinations. La Pilote is edged 

 with Swan. Bruant. though having 

 beautiful truss, is only used in very 

 large beds. Thibaut is much planted 

 alone; Swan and Parker both solidly 

 and as borders. Two rich beds of can- 

 nas are planted in the parterre, one of 

 yellow, Florence Vaughan with Eldo- 

 rado outside; the other of red, Madame 

 Crozy, with Columbia, both beds edged 

 with acalyphas. 



The water lily pond is really beauti- 

 ful. The Egyptian lotus, Nelumbium 



F. W. Bruggerhof. 



speciosum, is in bloom in the center. 

 Victoria regia has made a leaf, but is 

 not yet in bloom. The water is get- 

 ting warm for the hardly liles, which 

 are going out of flower, the tropical 

 varieties succeeding them. A feature 

 of the pond is the hardy French Mar- 

 liacea seedlings. They are fine. Water 

 hyacinths are growing at the edge. 



A change has been made in the cen- 

 tral circle of the main hall. Some 

 large palms and bamboos have been 

 taken out and replaced by a number 

 of remarkably well colored caladiums. 

 These caladiums, with their back- 

 ground of tropical foliage, present a 

 very striking appearance. Alocasia 

 Jenningsii makes an effective edging 

 elsewhere in the main hall. 



Notes. 

 . George Anderson should have been 

 credited with 43.000 feet of glass in- 

 stead of "some 3.5.000." 



H. A. Dreer Co. has a pretty bench 

 of Caladium arg>-rites. 



H. H. Battles had a very tasty win- 

 dow arrangement last week. 



Robert Crawford expects to make 

 some store and greenhouse alterations. 

 The case for dried flowers must go; 

 it is a relic of the past. 



Pennock Bros, have taken their sec- 

 ond story greenhouse down and thrown 

 the space into one long conservatory. 

 They are also altering their show win- 

 dow. 



W. J. Baker is receiving some nice 

 carnations for July, also some outdoor 

 grown. He reports a good demand for 

 white. J. W. Y. 



NEW YORK. 



Among the Wholesalers. 



"It is a long summer that has no 

 turning," is the proverb the wholesal- 

 ers have adopted, and so an air of in- 

 difference rules the street and for the 

 nonce prices don't rule; in fact, prices 

 for flowers have been "nothing to 

 anything" for a long time and busi- 

 ness has been as flat as the prover- 

 bial flounder, with the end not in 

 sight yet. Some retailers are not even 

 carrying ice in their boxes, much less 

 flowers, but all this is anticipated and 

 the disappointment is not so great af- 

 ter all. 



Asters are coming in a little more 

 freely, but the quality is not so very 

 high, prices ruling from 2.j to 75 cents 

 per 1<H). Sweet peas scarcely realize 

 1 cent a bunch. All rose stock is in- 

 different, though from some quarters 

 a little good stock is sometimes seen. 

 The air is redolent with the odor of 

 the golden banded lily of Japan. 

 Various Notes. 



I was surprised on walking down 

 the lower part of the city recently to 

 see the King of Fakirs in the horticul- 

 tural line selling on the sidewalk 

 some small, very ancient tuberoses, 

 labeled the New England Tuber-Ru- 

 gosa, 36 colors on one plant, only J 

 cents apiece. This same man has all 

 kinds of hardy stuff for sale during 

 the winter months, and many a fairy 

 tale he told me till he discovered I 

 belonged to the "4th estate." 



Mr. J. H. Troy, of the Rosary Co.. 

 and family, who till recently were 

 summering at New Rochelle, have 

 gone to the mountains on account of 

 the serious illness of their only child. 



Mr. Thomas Brennan, with Cleary 

 & Co., has gone on a vacation for 

 a couple of weeks. Meantime J. P. 

 C. is the "lonesomenest" man in town. 



Mr. J. J. Hess, of Omaha, has been i 

 visitor in the city during the week. 

 He came east to see his brother off to 

 the old country and incidentally to 

 look up some of his old friends. It is 

 fifteen years since Mr. Hess visited 

 New York and was surprised at the 

 many changes, but Mr. Hess, like the 

 city, has grown a good deal since 

 then, which makes one ask like the 

 old Romans, "What meat doth this 

 our Caesar eat that he has grown so 



