48 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



.1 1 ! N B 15, 1899. 



benches certainly for rose and carna- 

 tion benches; 6x2 is a good size for 

 all benches where soil is going on. 

 Many a bench of plants has been 

 ruined by the boards or planks being 

 too close together, affording poor 

 drainage. You will find that unless 

 the lumber is very wet when laid the 

 boards swell a good deal when the 

 moist soil is on them, and therefore a 

 three-fourths inch space should be al- 

 lowed between the planks when newly 

 laid. 



Cypress is the best of all material 

 for benches as well as for the rest of 

 the house, and expensive as it may be 

 it would be a saving over pine or hem- 

 lock in ten years. I have no idea what 

 rough cypress is worth per 1.000 feet. 

 The nearest to cypress in quality that 

 we can get in the north is taoarax, so 

 called, which, like cypress, to which it 

 is closely allied, is a deciduous conifer. 

 The cypress is Taxodium rlistichum. 

 becoming now a favorite ornamental 

 tree for our lawns. The tamarax 

 (American larch) is a very similar 

 tree, both in appearance and texture 

 of wood, and the large Canadian rose 

 growers found out several years ago 

 the long lasting qualities of this wood 

 when subjected to the first class rot- 

 ting conditions that exist in our green- 

 house benches. All growers who can 

 get larch should use it in their 

 benches. 



Butted Glass. 



How pleasant it must be for those 

 who have butted glass to renew it 

 entirely and give the house a good 

 coat of paint! And yet you cannot 

 over paint. A cypress bar may last 

 forever without paint, but you must 

 paint, not only for appearance, but for 

 light. It is light you are after. Where 

 the glass is butted you can remove it 

 readily, paint every speck of wood- 

 work, wash the glass and relay it in 

 half the time you can paint the sash 

 with the glass lapped and puttied; and 

 then, .aiter the stretching and scorch- 

 ing and tension of rubber necks, it is 

 only a poor job. 



A bright young gardener came here 

 last spring, with knowledge, energy 

 and a lot of love for his business. 

 There are only a few of that sort born 

 each year. His great success with 

 roses and carnations fulfilled our ex- 

 pectations of his ability. He listened 

 to an older man about butted glass 

 and a few months ago when we met 

 he said: "I am so glad I took your 

 advice about butted glass. It is grand. 

 I would never dream of going back 

 to the old putty system." All of which 

 shows that Mr. Gunther is a very pro- 

 gressive young man. And still you 

 hear good old men chuckle and shrug 

 their shoulders and say: "No, no; it 

 won'i do." The windows in the ark 

 were lapped and bedded in putty, and 

 so the conservatives say that is good 

 enough. WILLIAM SCOTT. 



G ee ihouse Flowers. 



Very often during our visits to "the 

 palaces of the rich we come across 

 vases of pretty greenhouse flowers 

 such as we never see on the market. 

 How grand they look too, and what a 

 contrast their delicate, graceful lines 

 and sprays are to the everyday flowers 

 we see so much of. Then there is the 

 beautiful effect such flowers usually 

 give. I'm afraid there are many of us 

 who would not be content unless we 

 could put a lot of wire and common 

 greens on them, and tie them in a stiff 

 bunch; that's how we often spoil 

 things. Yes, to be sure, most of the 

 delicate greenhouse flowers would be 

 worthless in our cut flower markets, 



where the dirty Greek and street ped- 

 dlers of every hue and kind are per- 

 mitted to and have a mania for hand- 

 ling all the flowers. Only such flowers 

 as will the least show the effect of 

 rough hands and dull brains are the 

 most valued by many. But there are 

 others — the artists who continually as- 

 pire for greater beauty, and who often 

 have to seek outside the market for 

 materials for their refined trade. 

 There are a great many classes both 

 in our trade and in our artist's, also a 

 vast amount of differences of opinion, 

 still the most of us recognize certain 

 standards. Many florists are satisfied 

 with the everyday run of flowers and 

 trade, others there are who continu- 

 ally look for the new and uncommon, 



and mind you, there is an ever-in- 

 creasing demand from the best class of 

 customers for choicer and rarer 

 flowers, and to the greenhouse we 

 must look for them. 



There is not such a great variety to 

 select from at present. Orchids are 

 not over plentiful. Cattleya Mossiae 

 are still obtainable, and they are the 

 choicest flower you can get for all col- 

 ored designs or bouquets, especially for 

 bridesmaids. White orchids are al- 

 most confined to Odontoglossum cris- 

 pum. That and valley go well. Epi- 

 dendrum vitellinum majus (the ver- 

 milion orchid) is a grand thing for 

 high color effects; its racemes of 

 orange scarlet flowers are beautiful. 

 Brassia verrucosa (the spider orchid) 

 is a most peculiar flower; a spike or 

 two will give a charming touch to a 

 vase of mixed flowers. Odontoglossum 

 citrcsmum with its long spike of 

 lemon colored flowers is fine for vase 

 or basket. Dipladenias are very beauti- 

 ful for centerpieces or baskets; it is 

 best to use only the finest adiantum 

 foliage with them; they are extra fine 

 when used in contrast with allaman- 

 das. that is on alternating tables; both 

 these flowers snould be arranged 

 loosely and not flat. Passiflora caeru- 

 lea and P. princeps, the blue and scar- 

 let passion flowers, especially princeps. 

 are splendid for mirrors or white 

 background (nick them with a knife 

 in the back of the flower and they will 

 keep open.) Keep common flowers and 

 greens away from them. Stephanotis is 

 l he finest white flower out now, and is 

 the choicest you can offer where 

 white flowers are wanted. Gloxinias 

 will give you almost any color you 

 may want in flowers. It's a pity they 

 are so easily bruised, but if put in 

 small vases or bottles and arranged 

 among ferns they make a most effect- 

 ive table decoration. The only diffi- 

 culty with such flowers is their di- 

 versity of color and short stem; group- 

 ing is the safest plan for colors, and 

 rigid formality of height can be avoid- 

 ed by covering the bottles with green 

 and having them at irregular heights. 



Brilliant colored caladiums are use- 

 ful for many forms of decorative 

 woi'k; a group of them will look fine 

 almost any place where discordant col- 

 ors are far enough away from them. 

 Swainsona is for funeral work, though 

 sweet peas outplace it now. Last week 

 a very high-toned New York florist 

 made six bridemaid's bouquets of 

 Swainsona alba; they were well made, 

 but lord save us, each weighed about 

 ten pounds and the girls who had to 

 suffer were very small too. Heavy 

 hand bouquets are brutal affairs; have 

 more mercy and less wire. A basket 

 of well pitchered nepenthes hanging 

 in the window or suspended from 

 some high place makes a most inter- 

 esting item in any decoration; we 

 wonder why they are not more ex- 

 tensively used. Curiosities, especially 

 beautiful ones, are the things which 

 cause the most attraction, and your 

 work should always be attractive. A 

 few fronds of greenhouse ferns, no 



