SKPTEMBKR : 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



409 



RIVERTON, N. J. 



The writer was one of the last to 

 leave Omaha, with pleasant recollec- 

 tions of the convention and incidents 

 connected therewith, and whilst the 

 majority had shaped their courses 

 homeward, ineUuling ardent Billy, 

 from Pleasant Hill, I dropped down to 

 .Tndianapolis, where I met the enthu- 

 siastic Anthony Wiegand, who was 

 held back wholly owing to the heat. 

 Could the have carried one of his splen- 

 did bay trees along to shade him, he 

 woud have been content. His stock is 

 in excellent shape. He is well pleased 

 with the results of the method he is 

 pui*suing in growing palms. 



Cincinnati was my next stop. Here I 

 met the vei-satile E. G. Gillett booking 

 advance orders for the G. A. R. con- 

 vention. This was one reason why he 

 failed to attend the S. A. F. conven- 

 tion. The rush also kept Messrs. Ball 

 and Mann at home. One item, the 

 handling of some ten thousand spikes 

 of tuberoses, grown by George & Allan, 

 will be a feature during the week of 

 the G. A. R. 



A. Sunderbruch's Sons are busy 

 planting caraations and attending to 

 a promising lot of chrysanths. 



J. A. Peterson cannot resist the 

 temptation of salt water just so soon 

 as the .heated spell sets in so with his 

 good wife hied themselves to Put-in- 

 Bay, where they had a fine time. Now 

 they are back and he is busy putting 

 in red cedar benches with soft bricl; 

 to act as drainage: says it requires 

 but one-half the amount of lumber; it 

 is an improvement. I noted some 

 houses fixed this way and planted 

 early looking remarkaljly well. His 

 chrysanths are fine as usual. He pre- 

 fers soft wood cuttings of poinsettias 

 in preference to hardwood: make 

 much cleaner plants. Farleyense, 

 Pandanus Veitc.hii and fancy dracae- 

 nas are amongst nis many successe;-, 

 whilst the vioiet. Princes.s of Wales, 

 promises to do fully as well as last 

 year, when $5 per 100 was realized for 

 blooms, in the height of the season. 



W. C. Nolan finds all he can do to 

 keep cool and get his stock in shape 

 for fall business, which promises to 

 open up good. 



Dayton was the next stopping-off 

 place. I found H. H. Ritter just re- 

 turned from the East. His doctor ad- 

 vised Atlantic City as a sedative for an 

 overworked system. Incidentally he 

 visited the plant establishments ad- 

 jacent, and, judging by the elegant 

 .'■tock he now has. must have invested 

 heavily. Mr. Ritter has a fine deco- 

 rative business. We missed the genial 

 face of Mr. Ritter. senior, who beamed 

 on us at Providence last year. I was 

 sorry to learn the venerable gentleman 

 has been very ill, but hopes to soon 

 be around again: we echo this feeling. 



'Tis not far to Columbus, and here I 

 met Mr. Knopf, of the Franklin Park 

 Floral Co., who is justly proud of their 

 several houses of roses, which look 

 very thrifty. 



The veteran Maurice Evans has a 



capital lot of DOt chrysanths, which 

 always sell weli with him. The foun- 

 der of the Underwood Bros.' concern 

 had recently returned from the West 

 and has been regaling his boys with 

 stories of the great time he had out 

 there, but did not see anything much 

 better in houses or stock tlian they 

 possess. 



Gus. Drobisch was busy when I 

 called putting up a batch of field 

 grown chrysanths. which sell well on 

 the market. He reports catalogue 

 trade fully up to the average. 



Mr. Danzer, manager of the Floral 

 Department of A. Uvingston's Sons, 

 reports the outlook for the forthcom- 

 ing season a good one. In fact, all 

 with whom I come in contact are very 

 sanguine. 



Arriving home in due course, I vis- 

 ited the Dreer place and found the 

 boys discussing the recent big picnic 

 which passed off so successfully and 

 had many interesting features asso- 

 ciated with it. It was truly a gather- 

 ing of the clans. A crack Italian band, 

 led by a 250-pound drum major, who 

 towered above the procession, a stur- 

 dy Teuton armed with a Martini Hen- 

 ry to keep the immense crowd from 

 falling into the lily ponds, that were 

 also jealously guarded by a stalwart 

 son of Albion, whilst a bonny Hie- 

 lander, dressed in full canonicals, 

 playing "The Campbells are coming" 

 as a processional, filling all with en- 

 thusiasm, which did not evaporate, 

 although much smoking was indulgeil 

 in. 'Twas a gorgeous sight, the dis- 

 play of cannas alone being well 

 ■worthy of the trip, and although a 

 hot time was indulged in. Old Sol 

 being particularly sociable on this oc- 

 casion, all voted themselves vastly 

 benefitted, both mentally and physi- 

 call.v by the outing. M. 



ROCHES! ER. N, Y. 



August is a month of rest for the re- 

 tail fiorist. Trade is then almost at a 

 standstill, though this year the latter 

 part of the month business improved 

 considerably above the average and 

 some of our retailers were quite busy 

 at times. Flowers could be had in ade- 

 quate quantities at all times and qual- 

 ity was good, excepting roses, which 

 were neither very plenty nor very 

 good. None of our local growers had 

 made arrangements for a summer crop, 

 which undoubtedly would have paid 

 them fairly well this season. Some are 

 speaking now of filling a house or two 

 with La France. Testout and Kaiserin 

 next summer, and we hope they will 

 when the time comes, tor there is al- 

 ways a fair demand for .sood roses and 

 it is often impossible to find them on 

 short notice. 



Summer carnations are not any too 

 p'.enty either but this want is not felt 

 so badly for at this season we have a 

 number of flowers which may be used 

 instead. Several farmers in the vioin- 

 ity grow asters by the acre and thus 

 the market is well supplied with all 

 grades early and late, in fact the.^e 



men had their asters in several weeks 

 before our florists were able to cut any 

 of their own. Achillea, phloxes, holly- 

 hocks, lilies and a few other hardy 

 things are now also grown largely by 

 these farmers and they always find a 

 place to dispose of their flowers. The 

 price paid for such stuff varies greatly 

 with the daily demand, but the farmers 

 are willing to take their chances. 



The weather for the past week has 

 been as hot as elsewhere, but stock has 

 not suffered yet, because just before 

 the hot spell set in, we were favored 

 with a very heavy rainfall, which 

 soaked the ground thoroughly, in fact 

 the heat and the moist soil were bene- 

 ficial to all those things which had 

 their foliage burned or damaged dur- 

 ing the rainless summer, and which 

 had just commenced to make new 

 growth. Without the copious rain, 

 this new growth, being so soft, might 

 have suffered again, especially on the 

 young shrubs in nursery rows, which 

 are starting off vigorously now; many 

 of them had not made more than a few 

 inches of growth since planting time. 

 A good rain on Labor day cooled off 

 the atmosphere and at the same time 

 improved the condition of the soil. 

 K. 



HARDY FLOWERS FOR CUTTING. 



Mr. D. S. Heftron, Washington 

 Heights, 111., has for years made a spe- 

 cialty of hardy flowers for sale in the 

 Chicago market. In response to an 

 inquiry he names the following as the 

 most profitable sorts for this purpose. 



Spiraea Van Houtteii he finds admir- 

 able for early spring. The florists find 

 ready and profitable use for the long 

 sprays in vase work and among loose 

 flowers, and many pick off the little 

 clusters, stem them and use in design 

 work. The flowers last very well and 

 have become quite popular with Chi- 

 cago florists. 



The fragrant double syringa (Phila- 

 delpbus coronaria flare pleno) holds 

 its flowers well and is very useful as 

 a cut flower. The double sort holds 

 its flowers much better than the single 

 one. The florists use it in much the 

 same way as they do the spiraea. 



The German irises he has found pro- 

 fitable and good sellers. He has some 

 fifteen varieties, and finds tbe white, 

 vellow, and very dark varieties sell the 

 best. 



Gladioli also seM well in their sea- 

 son and are profitable, fhough more 

 apt to be overdone. 



Hydrangea paniculata grandiflova 

 has been a feature with him for years 

 and has been a very profitable crop. 

 The plants are cut hard back each 

 yeai- and made to produce four to six 

 very large heads on long stems. These 

 always bring a good price. 



SARATOGA. N. Y.— The annual flo- 

 ral festival was held Sept. 6. The dec- 

 orations and parade were on a grander 

 scale than ever before. There was a 

 grand ball in the evening. 



