364 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



SEPTEMBER 1. 1S9S. 



know of no other agency that could 

 cover the surface of the earth with its 

 rich and natural deposit and although 

 many states are now relatively treeless 

 they might, ten thousand centuries 

 ago, have been covered with gigantic 

 forests. 



Gardeners consider the leaves of the 

 oak, beech, maple and elm make the 

 best leaf mold and none better than 

 the first. I have never seen any chem- 

 ical manure used with leaf mold. If 

 we had a large accumulation of rotten 

 leaves I would consider them a valua- 

 ble dressing for any soil, either sand, 

 loam or clay; with a black muck it 

 would, of course, be out of place. To 

 use for greenhouse work it is usually 

 made up in this way: The leaves when 

 first collected are spread out in a bed, 

 any desired length and width and say 



rhododendrons and a host of plants, 

 one-third of leaf mould to two-thirds 

 of loam is of great value. 



I was reminded, a few days ago, of 

 the use of well rotted refuse hops. 

 Twenty years ago we ran after them, 

 bought them at any price and rightly 

 too, for they are as good an ingredient 

 as was ever put in a compost pile and 

 nothing equals them as a mulch. I 

 have grown fuchsias with the help of 

 hops that I would be proud to grow to- 

 day. And solely by a heavy dressing 

 of hops, I grew two acres of big drum- 

 head cabbage. A big pile of leaves 

 should be prepared every fall and a' 

 dozen loads of refuse hops procured 

 annually. Hops mixed with stable 

 manure make the best and most last- 

 ing of those old fashioned greenhouses, 

 the hotbeds. WM. SCOTT. 



Bench of Eocharis Grandiflora at Critchell's, Cincinnati, O. 



6 inches deep. On them put an inch or 

 trifle more of horse or cow manure, 

 then another G inches of leaves and an- 

 other layer of manure and so on till 

 the bed is 6 feet high. This, of course, 

 would be done in November or Decem- 

 ber. If possible to give the bed a good 

 soaking at each layer of manure so 

 much the better for it would greatly 

 hasten decomposition. 



In the spring you should begin at one 

 end and chop down and throw over the 

 whole pile and this should be done 

 every three or four months. The more 

 it is moved the sooner it will be avail- 

 able for use; but it will be nearly or 

 quite two years before you can call it 

 good prepared leaf mould. If you can- 

 not procure animal manure, then use 

 a good loam or sod in the same pro- 

 portion. Chemical manures can be 

 added when you are mixing your heap 

 for immediate use. I have not used 

 Peruvian guano for so many years that 

 the quantity that is advisable is for- 

 gotten, but with bone flour, bone 

 black or super phosphate, a 6-inch 

 flower pot to a wheelbarrow of compost 

 can be used safely. For begonias, 

 fuchsias, ferns of most kinds, azaleas 



EUCHARIS GRANDIFLORA. 



On page 237 of our issue for Aug- 

 ust 4 we printed a description of Mr. 

 B.P.Critchell's method of growing this 

 eucharis and we now present a view of 

 a bench of the plants in bloom in one 

 of his houses. He finds this eucharis 

 very profitable as a cut flower. 



AMONG BOSTON GROWERS. 



F. C. Becker's. 



This week our inclination led us to 

 Cambridge, the home of Longfellow 

 and Harvard college, and we found 

 that the horticultural education was 

 keeping apace with the scientific. Cam- 

 bridge is also the home of the Boston 

 typ« of Nephrolepis esaltata. Our first 

 visit was with the originator, Mr. Fred 

 C. Becker, and here we found the Bos- 

 ton fern in its glory, and from freshly 

 transplanted plants to plants ready for 

 6 and 7-inch pots with a few large 

 specimens here and there. Mr. Becker 

 has about six houses planted to neph- 

 rolepis, and is taking orders and ship- 

 ping every day. These ferns are all 



planted in benches and are potted up 

 or shipped from the benches as to the 

 'requirements of his customers. 



Besides the nephrolepis (his leading 

 crop) he is growing a fine lot of im- 

 ported rubbers, Ficus elastica, about 

 2,500 all told. These were received 

 from abroad when about 4 inches high, 

 and were planted out in the open 

 ground on June 2.5th. Mr. Becker ex- 

 pects them to average 2 feet in height 

 when it is time to house them. Small 

 ferns for ferneries is another of his 

 specialties, and he has them in all 

 sizes. Also a fine lot of Araucaria ex- 

 celsa in 5-inch pots. 



He has also a house devoted to palms 

 of different sizes and varieties, which 

 he uses for both selling and renting. 

 In the same house there is an elegant 

 lot of Selaginella Emiliana, a great 

 favorite in this market. For succeeding 

 crops, to follow the nephrolepis, of 

 which he will in all probability be well 

 cleaned out of by Christmas, he plants 

 about 40,000 bulbs of narcissus and tu- 

 lips and 2,500 Japanese (longiflorum) 

 lilies. Azaleas are another of his fa- 

 vorite crops, especially for the holiday 

 trade. Mr. Becker is also a grower of 

 bedding plants, which make a fourth 

 crop in some of the' houses. He by his 

 favorable location commands quite a 

 local trade in flowers and plants, but 

 his energy is put mostly in catering 

 for a shipping trade for his specialty, 

 the Boston fern. 



W. E. Doyle's. 



About five minutes' walk from Mr. 

 Becker's we enter the v.-ell kept 

 grounds of the old Hovey place, now 

 owned and carried on by our popular 

 retail florist, Mr. W. E. Doyle. Here 

 we found his genial foreman, Mr. D. J. 

 Murphy, busy with a funeral order; 

 but as it was not of the rush order he 

 took the time to show us around. 



Mr. Doyle has nine houses, all 100 

 feet In length, devoted almost entirely 

 to growing fine plants and flowers for 

 his extensive retail business. One 

 house is used for specimens of palms, 

 and I do not think a finer collection 

 can be found anywhere in the country. 

 Mr. Murphy called our attention to two 

 fine tubs of Cycas circinalis, with a 

 spread of fully twelve feet; and four 

 large kentias of the Belmoreana type, 

 which measured fifteen feet in height. 

 In this house he also had twelve very 

 large rubbers, which he uses for prop- 

 agating from, and a fine lot of speci- 

 men Cycas revoluta just throwing a 

 new tier of leaves. Another house con- 

 tains palms in from 7-lnch tc 12-inch 

 pots, for store orders, while the next 

 house is devoted to stove plants such 

 as Pandanus Veitchii, dracaenas, be- 

 gonias, crotons, etc., all in a fine, 

 healthy condition. 



Mr. Doyle does not do much in cut 

 flowers, but has a couple of houses 

 which he uses for bedding plants and 

 bulb stock. He has imported this sea- 

 son about 700 azaleas and 15 pair of 

 bay trees, and has a fine lot of Ficus 

 elastica of his own propagation. 



