'OCTOBER 6, 1S98. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



489 



•eating place I visited in Frankfort was 

 ■the "Palmen Garten" (or Palm Gar- 

 '\en). Tliis. I tliinli, is one of tlie tin- 

 ost landscajie effects that I have ever 

 seen. The bedding of- plants was dont 

 on a perfect scale; it was wonder- 

 ful the way the many carpet bedding 

 designs were kept trimmed by a larire 

 force of gardeners. Carnations, helio- 

 tropes, and other flowers are brougnt 

 to great perfection here, p?pecially th? 

 roses. A wonderful sight was a Crim- 

 son Rambler Rose twined abcut an old 

 ■lead tree which served as a trellis tor 

 it. It stood fully fifteen feet high anl 

 was covered with magnificent clusters 

 of bloom. The head-gardener intorm- 

 •ed me that this plant had over 2,0l)il 

 open flowers on it at that time. An- 

 other notable and new sight for me 

 was Clematis Jackmanii trained in the 

 sliape of large umbrellas. Tlie entire 

 tops were a mass of ricli purple 

 blooms. 



Leaving Frankfort, I went to Erfurt, 

 in Germany, which is the great seed- 

 ifrowing di.s-trict. It took me three 

 days to go over Mr. E. Benary's ex- 

 tensive grounds to carefully inspect 

 antl note specialties most interesting to 

 't)ie seedsman. The greatest care is 

 'taken here with every variety of seed 

 grown and the force of employes is 

 immense. One special feature that at- 

 tracted my attention was the trans- 

 planting of carnation seedlings — four 

 men planting diagonally four rows at 

 one time. The foreman, on my inquiry, 

 told me that the work is much better 

 and more quickly done by that pro- 

 cess of planting. Every known flower 

 and vegetable is grown here, but I 

 must omit going into details. After 

 spending nearly a week in this location 

 I visited Berlin. Most interesting in 

 the horticultural line was the "Thier- 

 garten," a beautiful natural park, kept 

 in excellent order. 



From Berlin I traveled into Switz- 

 erland. The most beautiful place I 

 visited there was Luzerne, the garden- 

 spot of the Republic. Plants and 

 flowers are here in great abundance, 

 principally on the quays, where they 

 flourish in excellent health, and every- 

 thing is carefully attended and watch- 

 ed constantly. 



The next place on my list was Paris. 

 Notable here are the gardens of Lux- 

 embourg, which join the palace of the 

 .same name. These are quaintly laid 

 out in the old style. A large part of 

 the gardens is terraced, and along the 

 terraces are set, at intervals, statues 

 of famous French Queens cut in white 

 marble, giving the gardens a very rich 

 effect. Carpet bedding is done in pro- 

 fusion and is pleasing to the eye, espe- 

 cially looking down from the terraces. 

 The gardens of the Tuileries are mag- 

 nificent and cover large tracts of 

 ground. One of the most noticeable 

 effects in Paris is the long Boulevard 

 of the Champs Elysees, lined on both 

 sides with most magnificent trees, 

 which are trained and trimmed in such 

 a way that they have the appearanc" 

 of a long arbor. Tliey are trained in 



a lateral effect, branching out on the 

 sides only and not arching or covering 

 the drive — this was certainly worth 

 seeing, and I shall never forget the 

 general effeet of this system. Pass- 

 ing through this magnificent avenue, 

 which is terminated by the beautiful 

 Arc de Triomphe (or Triumphal Arch), 

 we reach the Hois de Boulogne (or 

 Boulogne Woods), tlie fashionable 

 promenade and drive of the Parisians. 

 There are two large ;;nd beautiful 

 lakes in this park; along the drives aro 

 seen gay parties enjoying to the full- 

 est extent the grand landscape. My 

 next trip took me to Versailles, the 

 palace of the French kings, about 

 fifteen miles from Paris. Here the 

 gardens and fountains were the most 

 famous in the world, but they are not 

 kept up as well as they should be. 

 One of the gardeners told me that the 

 appropriations were very much re- 

 duced lately, but the grounds are stiil 

 on a grand scale. Directly in front of 

 the palace is a large lake, called the 

 "Swiss Water." This lake was dug, 

 made and filled witli water by the 

 Swiss Guards in 4.S hours to please 

 the whim of a French Queen. These 

 grounds are especially noted for their 

 great number of handsome fountains, 

 which I was informed cost the govern- 

 ment 10,000 francs ($2,000) every time 

 tliey are played, whicli, however, only 

 takes place once a month, the flrst 

 Sunday of every month, when the 

 Parisians turn out in great masses. 

 Limited time prevents me from giving 

 a more detailed description of thij 

 paradise. 



My next trip was to tlie seed estab- 

 lishment and tr;al grounds of Vilmo- 

 rin & Co., at Verrierres, about 2i» miles 

 from Paris. This is also tlie residence 

 of the Vilmorin family, a stately old 

 mansion surrounded by large woods 

 and well kept grounds. After partak- 

 ing of a most sumptuous and enjoy- 

 able breakfast with the Vilmorin fam- 

 ily we started on an inspecting tour of 

 their vast trial grounds and ware- 

 houses. Most notable in the trial 

 grounds were tests of every variety of 

 aster, petunias, phlox, verbenas, sweet 

 peas, and every other species as far as 

 the eye could reach. Gladiolus forms 

 quite a large percentage of the grounds 

 where every known variety is on test. 

 Many of the points whicli were ex- 

 plained to me by Mr. Vilmorin were 

 of great value, making my trip most 

 pleasurable and profitable. Leaving 

 Verriers I accompanied Mr. Vilmorin 

 to the horticultural exhibition which 

 was being held in Paris; the display 

 was principally made up of asters in 

 great quantities, also other annuals. 

 Strange to say, the gardeners and flor- 

 ists have the same familiar healthy 

 appearance as they have in Philadel- 

 phia, and I almost felt that I was at 

 one of our own exhibitions here in 

 Horticultural Hall; the only difference 

 was that they all spoke tlie French 

 language, and that I could not under- 

 stand nor speak at all. 



After leaving Paris we sailed for 



home, and after a pleasant voyage was 

 delighted to find myself once more 

 with my good friends in the City of 

 Brotherly Love. The only unpleasant 

 feature about my trip was the request 

 from the chairman of the Essay Com- 

 mittee (Mr. Watson) that I should pre- 

 pare and read a paper before your club 

 on "European Notes." and tell you 

 what I saw across the water. Of 

 course, I find since my return home, 

 tliat there was more which I did not 

 see than that I did see. If this paper 

 is not all that you expected to hear and 

 has not interested you, do not blame 

 me. but fix the blame on Mr. Watson, 

 who is entirely responsible. 



OUR PRIZE COMPETITION. 



Following is another batch of en- 

 tries in our prize competition in labor 

 saving devices or methods useful to 

 florists: 



No. 21. For Washing P.ilnis. 



No. 21 is for washing palms, dracae- 

 nas, etc. It is a finger and thumb 

 made of chamois skin, with a string 

 attached to fasten it around the wrist. 

 Dip the flnger and thumb in the water 

 or solution to be used, take hold of 

 the leaf near the stem, thumb above 

 and finger below, and draw the hand 

 out to the end of the leaf. In this way 

 you can remove all scales and dirt 

 from the leaf much quicker than with 

 a sponge. You can hold the leaf with 

 one hand and wash with the other. 

 I. 



No. 2'.;. Deviir lor Cutling Paper. 



No. 22 is a simple but valuable de- 

 vice for cutting newspapers, etc., into 

 sizes useful for wrapping plants taken 

 out of pots for shipping. It is a box 

 two feet square and four inches deep, 

 with a space a quarter of an inch wide 

 sawn out across the middle of the bot- 

 tom. Lay the paper upon the box' 

 with the place where it is to be cut, 

 over the open slit. Then with a thin- 

 bladed knife cut the paper across 

 throug'h the opening. A pile of paper 

 one-fourth to one-half inch thick can 



