SEPTEMBER 1, 189S. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



365 



Willis N. Rudd, President-EIect Society of American Florists. 



Mr. Doyle uses a lot of specimen 

 palms, hydrangeas, etc., in beautify- 

 ing his own grounds, and he is very 

 proud of his well-kept lawn and sur- 

 roundings, which are a credit to both 

 himself and his able foreman. 



W. A. Bock's. 

 Cambridge can well be called the 

 home of the famous Boston fern, for at 

 W. A. Bock's we again found it in pro- 

 fusion. Three houses were devoted en- 

 tirely to it, there being about 5,000 

 plants in all stages of growth. In one 

 house, with a nice lot of palms, mostly 

 kentias, we found a fine lot of an old 

 favorite, in 5-inch pots, Pteris argy- 

 raea, and a lot of small ferns for 

 dishes. Mr. Bock also devotes one 

 house to carnations, Scotts, McG-owan 

 and Mangold being his varieties, and 

 the plants in the field look fairly well, 

 considering the excessive wet weather. 

 Another house is used for roses, prin- 

 cipally Brides and Bridesmaids grown 

 for his home trade, of which he has 

 'considerable. A house of young palms 

 in 4's and 5's look very promising, as 

 also a house of chrysanthemums grown 

 for flowers. Mr. Bock forces quite a lot 

 of azaleas, hydrangeas, etc., for East- 



er, and has a fine lot of both hydran- 

 geas and small ficus planted in the 

 open ground. He is also a large grow- 

 er of bedding plants, which he uses to 

 follow the Easter crops of azaleas, hy- 

 drangeas and lilies. P. 



WILLIS N. RUDD. 



We present herewith an excellent 

 portrait of Willis N. Rudd, President- 

 EIect of the Society of American Flo- 

 rists, from a photograph taken last 

 week. 



Mr. Rudd is the youngest man who 

 has been selected to act as the chief 

 executive of our national society, be- 

 ing only 38 years of age. He was born 

 near Chicago and acquired his educa- 

 tion here and in the east, having fin- 

 ished with a course at Cornell Uni- 

 versity, Ithaca, N. Y. He was en- 

 gaged in various pursuits till 18SG 

 when he became superintendent of Mt. 

 Greenwood Cemetery, near Chicago, 

 and secretary and director of the asso- 

 ciation that controls it. A range of 

 commercial greenhouses was erected 

 on the grounds soon after he took 

 charge and this department became the 

 most attractive one to him. It was 



not long before the fine quality of the 

 chrysanthemums and carnations from 

 this place began to attract attention, 

 and they have held attention ever 

 since. 



He has always taken an active inter- 

 est in the affairs of the trade and his 

 marked abilities and thorough good 

 fellowship have won him many friends. 

 For a number of years he has acted as 

 superintendent of the annual exhibi- 

 tions of the Horticultural Society of 

 Chicago, and has been an important 

 factor in bringing about the success to 

 which they have attained. 



He has been a member of the Exe- 

 cutive Committee of the S. A. F. sev- 

 eral years, was for a number of years 

 chairman of the Chicago Committee of 

 the Chrysanthemum Society of Amer- 

 ica, and was last year President of the 

 American Carnation Society. 



AMONG PHILADELPHIA GROWERS. 



Edwin Lonsdale, 

 Edwin Lonsdale has 30,000 feet of 

 glass at Chestnut Hill. This is a 

 Beauty place par excellence, two- 

 thirds of the space being devoted to 

 that rose. The aim is for extra long 

 stemmed blooms. With that object the 

 latest house is constructed with six- 

 teen foot sash bars. They are all prac- 

 tically east and west, even span and 

 mostly with ground beds. These 

 ground beds are made of concrete, 7 

 parts ashes and 1 of cement, finished 

 off with sand and cement, in the pro- 

 portion, I think, of five to one. The 

 sand and ashes being on the place the 

 cost of material— cement— for beds in 

 the newest house, 175x26, was only 

 ?20. This house presents a very neat 

 appearance, with four walks (one at 

 each side) and three ground beds. 

 These beds were occupied last season 

 by Beauties in their second year; they 

 were dried and cut back in the sum- 

 mer and made very strong growth. 

 Mr. Lonsdale, however, has replanted 

 this season entirely with young stock. 

 He considers the old stuff good if given 

 fresh soil and plenty of heat and water 

 but feels more confidence in the 

 young plants. Kaiserins on own roots 

 are producing strong canes. 



Adiantum Farleyense occupies one 

 side bench, grown to fives and sixes. 

 Of orchids, cypripediums, cattleyas 

 and dendrobiums are seen in num- 

 bers. One section of a house is de- 

 voted to chrysanthemums, chiefly 

 Major Bonnaffon, Ivory, Mrs. Jerome 

 Jones and a lot of novelties. These 

 chrysanthemums are to be followed by 

 early struck Beauties in pots. Palms 

 and crotons are grown to specimens 

 of great size, for shipping the former, 

 arecas and kentias, the latter a num- 

 ber of standard sorts. There are some 

 big flowered begonias of Vernon type, 

 also fuchsias and geraniums. "Have 

 you anything especial to say Mr. Lons- 

 dale?" I asked. "Tell them I am still 

 experimenting," was the reply. The 

 system is steam. The fuel buckwheat 



