484 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



OCTOBER 6. 



aims to make his glass turn out as 

 large a share as possible of what his 

 trade demands. In his section of the 

 city the call is mainly for designs for 

 funerals, weddings, etc., and but few 

 loose flowers are sold. 



With him, as with others, the car- 

 nation is well to the fore, and for the 

 coming season he has benched 2,500 

 McGosv-an, 1,500 Tidal Wave, 1,000 each 

 of Scott and Daybreak, 500 Alaska 

 (this variety will probably be dropped 

 after this season), and 100 Flora Hill. 

 He also grows about 500 Garfield, these 

 to be sold as pot plants. 



He is greatly reducing the space de- 

 voted to roses, believing that he can 

 buy cheaper than he can grow them. 

 He has a house or so, more as a show 

 than anything else, and his plants in- 

 clude quite a few Perles, because this 

 rose is demanded by his trade and it is 

 now often difficult to secure good 

 Perles in the market. He has dropped 

 Meteor entirely, as with him it mil- 

 dewed all the time, probably from in- 

 sufficient heat. He also has a few 

 Brides and Maids to piece out and to 

 satisfy the people that these roses are 

 actually grown on the place. 



In chrysanthemums he grows about 

 1.000 single stem flowers, his leaders 

 being Mrs. Jerome Jones, The Queen, 

 Bonnaffon, Whilldin and white and 

 pink Ivory. Other sorts grown include 

 Mrs. Robt. Craig and Gretchen Buett- 

 ner. He finds Mrs. Craig quite useful 

 in design work. It is weak in the 

 neck, but that doesn't count in the 

 way he uses it. And again it is very 

 late, considerably extending the sea- 

 son. The Queen is one of his very 

 best sellers, going even quicker than 

 Jones. He grows 100 to 150 chrysan- 

 themum plants in 6-inch pots, but says 

 there is no money in them. He sells 

 some of them, uses others in decora- 

 tions and cuts the Dowers from the 

 remainder. 



His sales of palms, rubbers and ferns 

 have very greatly increased of late 

 years, and the demand seems to be 

 still growing. In palms he buys young 

 stock and grows them on. The call 

 has changed several times as to vari- 

 ety. Last year there was a run on la- 

 tanias, but this year Kentia Forsteri- 

 ana is selling best, even better than 

 Kentia Belmoreana. The people seem 

 to like the greater height for the 

 money. Areca lutescens goes very 

 well when small, but not so well When 

 larger. He had a small lot of Areca 

 Bauerii and they sold very well, but 

 with him Livistona rotundifolia and 

 the phoenices do not sell at all. 



Pandanus utilis has sold well with 

 him this year, and the people seemed 

 willing to pay a good price for a nice 

 plant. 



He used to buy his rubbers, but will 

 in future grow the bulk of what he 

 needs, and the sales of this plant are 

 continually increasing. He had splen- 

 did success in propagating rubbers 

 this summer. He made ordinary one- 

 eye cuttings and put them right into 

 soil in 2-inch pots, the latter part of 



May, and they were placed on a shaded 

 bench in the palm house. After being 

 three or four weeks in pots they were 

 planted out in some old hot beds, just 

 about as you would plant geraniums. 

 No shading or other protection was 

 given them. For about two weeks they 

 stood still, then they began to grow 

 fast, and by September 5 they had 

 made eight to ten fine leaves. They 

 were then potted and taken inside. A 

 finer batch of young rubbers one would 

 not wish to see. In making the cut- 

 tings the cut was made at a joint and 

 there was but one eye to each cutting. 

 They struck roots in three or four 

 weeks, and he didn't lose 10 per cent, 

 of the cuttings. When outside the 

 plants that were most exposed to the 

 sun grew the fastest. 



The Boston variety of the nephro- 

 lepis is the best selling fern with him, 

 though the old exaltata is not far be- 

 hind. He grows all he can of both 

 sorts, planting out on the bench and 

 potting the runners when they have 

 about three leaves. Adiantum cunea- 

 tum in pots also sells very well with 

 him, and a bench of this fern supplies 

 the indispensable fronds for design 

 work. The Pteris serrulata type of 

 ferns doesn't sell very well, and when 

 the plants get largo they are quite un- 

 salable. He has just thrown out sev- 

 eral hundred large plants. 



Araucarias of moderate size are find- 

 ing quick sale of late and he has been 

 surprised at the wiliingness of certain 

 customers to pay the rather stiff prices 

 that must be asked. Cyperus alterni- 

 folius is as popular as ever. 



In begonias his best sellers are niet- 

 allica, argentea guttata and rubra, in 

 addition to quite a variety in the Rex 

 section. Vernon and Erfurtii don't go 

 well with him. 



In bulb stuff he grows quite a lot of 

 the miniature Dutch hyacinths, find- 

 ing these much more useful in floral 

 work than flowers from the larger 

 bulbs, and they can be brought in 

 earlier, too. Of these he grows 3,000 

 white, 1,000 lavender and 1,000 yellow. 

 Of the large bulbs he grows about 

 1,000 named and 500 mixed for sale In 

 pots, the colors of the named sorts 

 ijeing mainly white and light blue. The 

 blue ones sold well last year. In tulips 

 he grows 5,000 La Reine and 5,000 of 

 various other sorts. Of Romans he 

 will have 6,000 and of Von Sion 1,000. 

 He will also have 3,000 treesias, partly 

 to sell in pots, but mainly for cut 

 flowers. 



Of callas he has 500 plants and finds 

 use for all the flowers produced. About 

 July 1 he lays the 6 and 7 inch pot 

 plants down outside in the shade 

 where they remain till August 1, when 

 he shakes off the soil and removes the 

 small bulbs which are planted in 

 boxes, and the old plants are then re- 

 potted into 5-inch pots. About October 

 1 they are shifted to 6 or 7 inch pots, 

 placing a potsherd over the drainage 

 hole and a handful of fresh cow ma- 

 nure in the bottom before putting in 

 the soil. He begins to get flowers by 



the latter part of October, and by his 

 method of treatment gets flowers that 

 are smooth and of medium size and 

 with a small stem, which makes them 

 more available for use in design work. 

 After the holidays he gives the plants 

 an occasional dose of liquid cow ma- 

 nure, but doesn't change the pots 

 again till after the next annual resting 

 period. The calla makes its best 

 flowers in comparatively small pots, 

 and Mr. Held has no use tor the big, 

 coarse, wrinkled blooms that are pro- 

 duced by plants that are planted out. 



The tuberose is still a factor in his 

 business and he grows about 2,000 

 bulbs, handling them in three differ- 

 ent batches. The first lot of 800 is 

 placed in boxes about February 20 (in 

 boxes that previously held Romans), 

 and after receiving a good watering 

 they are placed right on the heating 

 pipes under the benches, as they must 

 have lots of bottom heat to start them 

 off quickly. About a month later the 

 plants are cut out of the boxes, a little 

 square of soil with each, and planted 

 out on the bench about six inches 

 apart. In this way he gets flowers by 

 the latter part of May. The second 

 batch is planted in boxes the same 

 way, but instead of being placed on 

 the heating pipes are put in a hot bed 

 and they bloom in August. The third 

 batch is planted in boxes, a little far- 

 ther apart than the others, and flower 

 in September. They bloom outside in 

 the box, but if cold weather comes the 

 boxes are carried into a greenhouse. 

 This is the advantage of having them 

 in boxes. 



Among other things he finds very 

 useful are about 75 plants of the v^hite 

 Swainsona (which begins to bloom 

 about April 1), and about 300 6-inch 

 pots of stevia. 



He grows quite a batch of the com- 

 mon myrtle (Myrtus communis), as he 

 has considerable call for bridal 

 wreaths of myrtle. The myrtle is also 

 in good demand for some celebration 

 of the Jewish church which takes place 

 shortly after the holidays, and three- 

 leaved ones are in especially brisk de- 

 mand for that occasion. 



He is reducing his stock of cannas, 

 as he finds he cannot compete with the 

 department stores that have of late of- 

 fered this plant at ridiculously low 

 rates. He sells a lot of cinerarias, 

 primulas, pot hyacinths, etc., in 

 April, but as soon as the weather per- 

 mits the advent of the peddler on the 

 streets he is no longer in it. He is 

 practically out of the bedding plant 

 business. Says that in the spring there 

 is a peddler around for about every 

 house with a yard to plant, and he 

 can't meet their prices. 



Still he grows quite a bunch of pan- 

 sies. He sows the seed about Septem- 

 ber 1 and the seedlings are later 

 pricked out in boxes. He plants out 

 in frames about October 1, and lets 

 them freeze pretty solid before cover- 

 ing with the sash. Then over the 

 sash he scatters a little coarse litter 

 to prevent any chance of the sun 



