AUGUST 24, 1S99. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



319 



Elevated Rosehouses. 



The basement, 34x120 feet, is well 

 lighted from windows in the side 

 walls, and makes a roomy potting 

 shed and place for storing soil, pots, 

 etc. Through a wide doorway we can 

 drive into it and dump soil; and have 

 had two two-horse teams and wagons 

 inside at once. A horse and cart 

 would require less room for turning; 

 but as we are building another house 

 that will cover the large door, we will 

 lay a tramway to the street, and with 

 a strong light dumping car, we can 

 distribute material where we want it, 

 and save room. W. T. BELL. 



Franklin, Pa. 



THE SWEET PEA. 



From a personal point of view I 

 certainly must take exception to the 

 statement made in the Hartford, 

 Conn., notes as per page 224 of your 

 issue of August 3rd, where it goes on 

 to state there is ground for the opin- 

 ion of many prominent sweet pea 

 growers that the flower is deteriorat- 

 ing in the United States because the 

 exhibition of the Connecticut Horti- 

 cultural Society was not as good as in 

 former years. If you will write to Mr. 

 Chas. H. Larrowe, Cohocton, N. Y., 

 and ask him about the deterioration 

 of the sweet pea I think he will tell 

 you that while the season was against 

 them this year there is no evidence 

 of any weakening of the constitution 

 of this flower. 



For some reason or other the grow- 

 ers in the New England States are 

 rather sore on the sweet pea question 

 and I cannot understand this, for in 

 the mail of the house I represent I 

 find some days a letter from New 

 England complaining of some trouble 

 with sweet peas to about three or four 

 received from every other section of 

 the country speaking in the highest 

 terms Of praise of the growth of the 



vines and sizes and quality of blooms. 



Only to-day the house received a 

 letter from Mr. Chas. A. Banister, In- 

 dian Orchard, Mass., in which he 

 states that from seed purchased of us 

 and which was sown on April 4th he 

 began to pick blooms about the mid- 

 dle of June and that his vines have 

 given an immense amount of fine, 

 large, rich colored, long-stemmed 

 blooms and are still quite vigorous 

 and blooming freely and that his at- 

 tention has been attracted very much 

 by the fact of the unusual vigor of 

 the vines and that some that he meas- 

 ured of the most stocky ones showed 

 a growth of 5% ft. from the ground. 



The sweet pea, aside from its value 

 as a commercial flower, is too fine a 

 thing to be treated this way just when 

 it is reaching the height of its popu- 

 larity. HOWARD M. EARL. 



Philadelphia, Pa., August 14th, 1899. 



HOLLYHOCK. 



LFrom the Florists' Manual, b.v William Scott.] 



This stately plant is seen in the 

 large grounds of the millionaire and 

 in the small piece of garden that the 

 farmer or his wife devotes to "posies." 

 It is handsome anywhere, and it is 

 particularly suitable for a border 

 whose background is a hedge or belt 

 of trees. There appears to be an in- 

 creased call for them of late. Some 

 years ago the hollyhock disease dis- 

 couraged many would-be growers of 

 this old favorite, but little is now 

 heard of the disease, and we have seen 

 no trouble from it in several years. 



Hollyhocks are of very easy culture 

 and few plants will pay for the labor 

 with an equal amount of flowers and 

 fine effect. If they required the same 

 care and labor that a dahlia does, 

 there would be less excuse for not 

 growing them, but they do not. When 



once planted out, they will take care 

 of themselves, only requiring one stout 

 stake to support their main stem and 

 tying as they grow. 



The best strain if allowed to remain 

 without transplanting for four or five 

 years will deteriorate in quality and 

 revert back to the single-flowered 

 form. Little regard is now paid to 

 named varieties, because the best 

 strains give you all the desirable col- 

 ors and the finest flowers; in fact, 

 plants less than one year old give the 

 finest flowers. Plants that have flow- 

 ered and are carried over winter are 

 hardy in our ordinary winters, but 

 should be protected by some litter 

 placed around the plant and a few 

 evergreen boughs over them. 



Where the winters are not so severe 

 seed is sown in May or June out of 

 doors and the young plants trans- 

 planted into beds, where they remain 

 all winter in the open ground, and 

 are planted out and sold the following 

 spring. This is all right for the man 

 with a catalogue trade, but is not the 

 way to produce the finest plants and 

 flowers. 



Sow in flats or in the cold-frame in 

 early August. If you have no other 

 accommodation, you can transplant 

 four or five inches apart in the frames, 

 and in the three or four months of 

 severest winter weather protect with 

 glass, and transplant to their perma- 

 nent position as soon as the ground is 

 dry in the spring. Still better, trans- 

 plant from the seed beds into flats or 

 2-inch pots and in October shift into 

 4-inch pots, keeping them plunged in 

 the cold-frame till very cold weather, 

 and then winter them in a very cool 

 house. A violet temperature, or less, 

 will do. Don't defer planting till you 

 put out your tropical bedding plants, 

 but get them into the border as soon 

 as you can work the ground. The 

 latter method is the one I have seen 

 followed with the very grandest re- 

 sults. 



Hollyhocks like a heavy soil, dug 

 deeply and with plenty of animal ma- 

 nure worked in. If the spring is dry, 

 they should receive a soaking twice a 

 week. As fine hollyhocks as I have 

 ever seen were planted in a stiff clay, 

 into which was dug a lot of cow ma- 

 nure. They want a good stout stake 

 to keep the wind from blowing them 

 over, and sometimes when the side 

 shoots are loaded with flowers they 

 will want supporting to the main 

 stem. 



Chafer's strain was for years the 

 best obtainable, and is, I think, still 

 offered by some of the leading seeds- 

 men. 



When the plants are small, as a pre- 

 ventive of fungous diseases they can 

 be dipped into a pail of the ammonia- 

 cal solution. 



The best strains now embrace colors 

 from the darkest maroon (almost 

 black) through beautiful shades of red 

 and pink, yellow and pale straw, to 

 pure white. Three feet apart is close 

 enough to plant them, and if strong 

 plants, more room is better. 



