224 



The Weeldy Florists' Review. 



and loose flowers, as yoii know, have 

 their drawbacks. A bow of ribbon is al- 

 ways in order on steamer flowers, for 

 apart from such helping to be distin- 

 guishable out in the river as a last sa- 

 lute, they are often valued as souvenirs 

 by the voyager. 



The New York Market. 



There has been and always is a great 

 scarcity of flowers during July and Au- 

 gust in New York. No amount of per- 

 suasion seems to be able to induce grow- 

 ers to supply that want. It is true that 

 summer trade is believed to be uncertain, 

 but the fact remains that there is a 

 steady demand for any kind of good roses 

 and sooner or later growers must awaken 

 to that fact. At the present time, of 

 course, Kaiserin is the best white rose 

 we have, and the business could scarcely 

 get along without it. They are selling 

 all the way from 75 cents to .$3 per doz- 

 en. A few fairly good Beauties are ob- 

 tainable and the best bring $9 in the 

 highest circles. 



A most popular class of flowers this 

 .summer are the various colored centau- 

 reas; the blue corn flower is the ideal day 

 boutonniere; they are tied very compact 

 in order to keep longer and are not made 

 as large as heretofore. This flower is 

 also a favorite with the ladies, for whom 

 they are also tied rather close together, 

 the stems trinmied and one or two flow- 

 ers hanging downwards. 



Carnations are getting scarce, but 

 there promises to be a great flood of 

 them next season, so much so that many 

 are of the opinion that last season's un- 

 precedented prices will never again be 

 realized. It is true that Lawson, Eoose- 

 velt and Prosperity will have ceased to 



be wonders by next winter, but the fact 

 remains that there will always be a mar- 

 ket for and good money returned for 

 quality. Any one who can produce qual- 

 ity in any florist's necessity need not 

 fear to spread himself. 



Some very fine Cattleya Gigas are seen 

 and it is a great pity we cannot get such 

 magnificent blooms in winter. Tlie de- 

 mand for them now is only spasmodic. 

 More of them could be used in such places 

 as Newport, but the trouble is it is never 

 safe to push them unless you have tliem 

 in your ice-box. We all know to our sor- 

 row how indifferent the grower and 

 wholesalers are to the dreads and heart- 

 breaking fears of the retailers when 

 booking orders for such doubtful stock. 

 All they need to do is to send word at 

 the last moment that they cannot sup- 

 ply you, or if they do, they always raise 

 the price. 



We have never .seen so many lilies on 

 the market during summer before. They 

 often prove a godsend and are always 

 good for the principal trade, which is 

 funeral work, during these hot days. 



]VEI!.\. 



FUNERAL DESIGNS. 



We present hercHidi nrji imhj- 11..111 

 photographs of two d.-ijn- :ii\.ni'j'.\ \,\ 

 Mr. W. E. King. EaM s.nii;. ( hi/, i .,] . 



for the funeral of the lau- i''. li-.f^r , 



Esq., of that city. 



The flowers used can be readily idcii 

 tified in the pictures, excejK u- ' 

 orchids in the star suspended from the 

 round arch. The flowers in the base of 

 this design are lily of the valley. The 

 square arch was five feet high and the 

 round arch with suspended star w.is a 

 little higher. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Sweet Peas. 



Seeing some wonderful sweet peas to- 

 day reminds me that a hint to growers 

 of these beautiful flowers M'ould be to 

 tell them how necessary it is in this 

 \-ery hot weather to keep them well wat- 

 ered. Tliey should iml ,,iily !„■ s.i;iki'.l. 

 at least twice a wcil., Iml I'lirv :iir miv 

 liable to be troulilc.l wuli ir,i .|,i,lri s'u 

 that in addition to wadiiiiL: liny ^hniilJ 

 be constantly syringed. 



Another very important thing is not to 

 allow them to go to seed. They will 

 quickly go out of flower if the old flow- 

 ers are allowed to remain on and bear 

 seed. Keep them picked off even if 

 you have no particular use for them. 



Gladiolus. 



Another important flower to use tliis 

 time of year is the gladiolus. I am 

 aware that there are a good many so 

 situated that they cannot water their 

 fields of gladiolus. More is the pity. 

 It will help them wonderfully if you 

 can irrigate them. 



Lilies. 



One of the most useful flowers we liave 

 just now are the .Japanese lilies and 



they will be for the next six weeks. Al- 

 though these flower very well outside, 

 when grown in pots they should be in as 

 cool a house as you have with a heavy 

 shade; then the flowers will come larger. 



Alteroantheras. 



The weather is too hot to attempt any- 

 thing in the way of propagating. I have 

 seen people attempt to propagate geran- 

 iums in early August, and during a very 

 cool time it might succeed, but in such 

 seasons as this it is little use. Leave 

 all propagating till the first of Septem- 

 ber. There is just one plant that it is 

 well to attend to now and that is the 

 little alternanthera. I know that some 

 growers, or those that avow vcrx lar;;(l\ . 

 lift the old plants luf.-i.- li.nd fm-l 

 comes and divide thcui in ilir s|iiiiiL'. m; 

 take cuttings otT. I think a lirtlci- ].lan 

 is to put the cuttings in dining the 

 month of August. 



^\■e prepare flats with one inch of ligld 



quite thickly and keep them 



wet. They will root almost 

 days in any position as Ion 



few 



they 

 are kept wet, and will make good plants 

 before cold weather and can be kept in 

 almost any greenliouse. If in a low 

 temperature they need less water, but 

 you do not want these plants to grow: 

 you just want them to exist during 

 winler. The most difficult variety to 

 winter is paronychioides major, whicli 

 must have a good high temperature and 

 little water duriii'.' the dark days, bul 

 it's a long while till winter. The thing 

 is, propagate what you want now while 

 tne weather is hot. 



Carnations. 



I do not like to trespass into another 

 man's domain, especially when that de- 

 part nirnt i< ns well handled as carna- 

 liiiii, :nr In Mr. Baur, but I should 

 liKr f.i jii-l -ay that my experience last 

 \i'ai \\a~ ihai the earliest planting paid 

 inui h tlir hr-;i. It was some time before 

 I riaiM liiii(\c I. .at the first week in 

 .\n;.i\i-l 111 cMii the last week of July 

 wa.s [\n: riyliL time to plant carnations. 

 Twenty years ago we used to plant tlic 

 last week of September. Then we put 

 it forward to perhaps the first week in 



|o~i 



(luce days of August. They were Ethel 

 ('nicker. ivLarquis and Mrs. Lawson, am. 

 liny certainly paid us the best of any. 

 1 believe if we could get every carna- 

 tion planted before the 10th of August 

 we would be doing well. We have not 

 sunered for rain in this part of the 

 country. The carnations are larger than 

 usual. Many of the varieties are as 

 large now as they were last year two 

 months later. 



There seems to be a wide difference 

 of opinion about Ethel Crocker. A son 

 of mine thinks we ought to plant it 

 again, and we have some very fine plants, 

 if it is worth putting in. Last year it 

 gave us some very fine flowers during 

 October and November, but from the last 

 of November till April it was very shy 

 and we got few till May and June. Then 

 auain it was almost our best carnation, 

 surpassing in size the Marquis, with 

 splendid stem, but that is not when we 

 want carnations. Mrs. Law'son was, witii 

 us, altogether the finest carnation and 

 most profitable. I am almost nshamed 

 to say that out of 10.000 planls in four 

 houses, for weeks in the winda wr did 

 not average more than 300 ilnwers a ihiy 

 off all the varieties, while l>y a lanfnl 

 count if it had been lO.onii Mr-, l.mv 

 son plants we would ha\.' Ih.ii |ii(l,iiiu' 

 1.200 a day. Of course I am awarr llial 

 you must have a variety but anyone 

 who does not get a stock of these will 

 make a mistake. 



Mignonette. 



I told you a week or two ago to sow 

 your mignonette in the house where you 

 air uoilur to grow it. Look out for wood 

 Ih. anil slugs. The little plants are easi- 

 ly iliMinrcd by these pests and instead of 

 liaving one or two of the fine plants 

 which you want they will take them 

 all. Arsenic and granulated sugar 

 spread along the edges of the bench will 

 destroy the wood lice. Air slacked lime 

 will do much to keep the slug down. 



Herbaceous Plants. 



If you raise any herbaceous plants ymi 

 maj- have sown in the spring any species 



