SEPTEMBER 7, 1899. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



369 



Show Houses of A. W. Steincke & Son, Detroit, Mich. 



A few thousand pansies are always 

 needed by us in the spring and com- 

 mand a good price for use in vases in 

 our cemeteries and private grounds, 

 and the field grown pansies are not 

 early enough or good enough for that 

 purpose. When the farmer-gardener 

 begins to ship in his pansies by the 

 wagonload in baskets we are sold out, 

 or ought to be, for we cannot compete 

 with his prices. The trouble and la- 

 bor of covering a few thousand with 

 sash for the coldest winter months 

 will pay well, and if there is no profit 

 in it, it will be cheaper than having 

 to run around to look for them, and 

 you often look in vain. 



Bojvardias. 

 If you grow any bouvardias, and 

 they are worth growing, they should 

 be lifted at once. Unlike carnations 

 they want to be lifted with a good ball 

 of earth or they will wilt for many 

 days. If the glass over them is not 

 shaded put on some temporary shade; 

 a little mud and water will do, but 

 shade for ten days and moisten down 

 paths and sprinkle the plants freely. 

 If any of the young green tops wilt 

 badly, just nip off three or four inch- 

 es; they will break and be in plenty 

 of time for December flowers. Remem- 

 ber the bouvardia is a tropical plant 

 and should always be up to 60 de- 

 grees at night, and after the holidays, 

 to produce a second crop, another 5 

 degrees is all the better. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



CHICAGO. 



Club Outing. 



The last outing of the Florists' Club 

 for the season was enjoyed last Thurs- 

 day. It was a trip to Joliet on the 

 invitation of the Chicago Carnation Co. 

 The party numbered 72 and had a spe- 

 cial car on the Rock Island train leav- 

 ing the city at 11:45 a. m. Cherry Hills 

 Station, three miles this side of Joliet, 

 was reached at 1 p. m., and the party 

 was at once led to a pretty grove 

 where tables had been placed for the 



serving of an elaborate lunch, which 

 included cantaloupes and sweet corn 

 grown on the place, and that corn will 

 always be a sweet and tender memory. 

 It had been cooked in a huge camp 

 kettle immediately after being gath- 

 ered and was what corn should be and 

 not what it generally is when served 

 on the average table. After the in- 

 ner man (and woman) had been thor- 

 oughly satisfied the carnation houses 

 were inspected. Three new houses are 

 now being built, of which two are 

 22x200 and one 22x100. When these 

 are completed there will be a total of 

 12 houses, of which 10 are 22x200 and 

 2 are 22x100. The carnations are al- 

 ready all planted in, except in the un- 

 finished houses, the planting having 

 been done mostly in July. When the 

 new houses are filled they will have 

 benched for the coming season: 8,000 

 Mrs. Bradt, 5,000 Frances Joost, 4,000 

 G. H. Crane, 3,500 Chicago (Red 

 Bradt), 2,500 Mrs. Jas. Dean, 2,000 

 Gold Nugget. 2,000 Maceo, 1,000 White 

 Cloud, 1,000 John Young. LOCO Evelina, 

 500 Jubilee, 500 Argyle, 600 Genevieve 

 Lord, 300 Flora Hill and 250 Gomez, as 

 well as smaller quantities of the newer 

 sorts on trial and 2,500 second year 

 seedlings of their own in about 60 

 varieties. 



As to the profitableness of the va- 

 rious sorts, Mr. Jas. Hartshorne, who 

 is in charge of the growing depart- 

 ment, says Bradt stands at the head 

 with them, as the flowers not only 

 bring top price but their record of pro- 

 duction per square foot of bench sur- 

 face is high. They do not produce 

 such a very large number of flowers 

 per plant, but the plants take up little 

 room and can be placed much closer 

 together on the bench than those of 

 any other variety. 



Next to Bradt he places Frances 

 Joost, which he finds to be decidedly 

 the most profitable pink sort. Gold 

 Nugget stands third as a producer of 

 the yellow metal, while Jubilee and 

 Argyle are about equally strong for 



fourth position. John Young stands 

 fifth and is their most profitable white. 

 With them Flora Hill has been quite 

 unsatisfactory as a revenue producer, 

 and stands near the foot of the list. 

 In sixth position he places Evelina, 

 and for seventh place Armazindy, Vic- 

 tor and Flora Hill have about equal 

 claims. 



In some discussion of this question 

 Mr. Hartshorne emphasized the fact 

 that his conclusions were based upon 

 accurate records kept of the actual 

 returns in cash per square foot of 

 bench surface, and that unless such a 

 record was accurately kept a grower is 

 very apt to be misled as to the profit- 

 ableness of a variety. Often a carna- 

 tion may produce the most flowers 

 during the course of a year, but if 

 they come at periods of gluts, or qual- 

 ity poor at the best selling seasons, 

 their average will be poorer than that 

 of some other sort that may be pro- 

 ducing more hard dollars on the av- 

 erage. The results of such an accu- 

 rately kept record are often surprising 

 and at variance with impressions re- 

 ceived during the season. 



We noted that quite a number of 

 the field carnations were growing in 

 pots plunged in the soil outside. 



Mr. Thompson, as well as Mr. Harts- 

 horne. spared no effort to make the 

 stay of the visitors a pleasant one, 

 and considerable time was devoted to 

 a trip over the country estate of Mr. 

 H. N. Higinbotham, who owns about 

 4,000 acres of land here and whose 

 country home is beautifully placed in 

 the midst of hundreds of acres of lawn 

 and effective shrubbery and tree plant- 

 ing. A large park is now being laid 

 out and the natural advantages are 

 very great. 



Before the party took the train for 

 home at 6:30 p. m., a hearty vote of 

 thanks to the hosts of the occasion 

 was passed by a unanimous vote. 



Among the out of town visitors were 

 Miss Watson, with the Memphis Floral 



