160 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



JANUARY U, 1900. 



this careful selection you must not 

 expect to get what you want, for often 

 the opposite color or growth is the re- 

 sult. 



The best time to put the pollen on is 

 early in the day. I hybridize alto- 

 gether by hand; going to the pollen 

 plant, I carefully cut out the stamens 

 ■containing the pollen and carry it to 

 the variety I have selected to cross, 

 and there I carefully brush the pol- 

 len against the pistils. As soon as I 

 select the mother plant. I put a tag 

 to the flower, and on this the name 

 of the seed parent, and as soon as 

 I fertilize the pistils I put the name 

 of the pollen parent under the other 

 name, and the date they were crossed. 

 Tagging must be done "carefully If we 

 want to know the parents of our seed- 

 lings. 



In a few days after fertilizing the 

 pistils you will notice the seed pod 

 beginning to form, and in seven or 

 eight weeks this will have ripened, 

 and then you take it off and sow it 

 at once, always being careful to get 

 the right label on the pot. In three 

 or four weeks the seedlings will ap- 

 pear, and then they must l>e handled 

 very carefully, for they damp off very 

 easily and the snails are very fond 

 of the young plants. When they are 

 large enough I transplant into flats 

 or thumb pots, and then handle them 

 as I would young carnations, only that 

 after I plant them in the field I do 

 not cut them back, for it is desirable 

 to have them bloom in the field, as 

 this will save the trouble of housing 

 a few hundred absolutely worthless va- 

 rieties. I like to cross my varieties 

 as early as possible, so that I can 

 have the young seedlings ready early 

 in the spring to plant out doors. 



As soon as the plants begin to form 

 buds the seedling grower will become 

 anxious, and he can hardly keep him- 

 self from breaking open the calyx of 

 some of the most promising appearing 

 buds, so as to see what color they are. 

 Many times have I been disappointed, 

 for the most promising buds have the 

 ugliest colors. 



Those seedlings that I think worthy 

 of another trial I label by numbers, 

 putting this number in a book kept 

 for that purpose and beside the num- 

 ber I put the parent variety's name 

 and a brief description of its color 

 and any other distinguishing feature. 

 From the labeled varieties I take cut- 

 tings, always being very careful about 

 the labels. These cuttings I handle 

 the same as those of old varieties of 

 carnations. 



I believe all seedlings ■ should be 

 tried three years before the grower 

 makes any claim of superiority over 

 existing varieties, and as I have only 

 tried my seedlings for one year, I 

 cannot brag on any of my varieties. 

 As every father thinks his children 

 the best, it is the same with seedling 

 growers, and I have two varieties, one 

 a white and one a red, which, if they 

 prove to be good growers and free 

 bloomers and always have the same 

 flowers as the first was, I believe that 

 I, too, will have a "world beater." 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. 



The program and schedule of pre- 

 miums for the 9th annual meeting of 

 the above society has bsen issued. The 

 meeting and exhibition is to be held 

 in Morgan TTatl, Buffalo, N. Y., Feb. 

 15th and 16th next. 



An attractive program for the meet- 

 ing has been arranged, and the exhi- 

 bition will be on a larger scale than 

 ever before. In addition to the awards 

 for new varieties, and these include 

 many valuable specials, there is a 

 generous list of cash prizes for well 

 grown blooms of standard sorts. In 

 Class A first prizes of $12.00 and sec- 

 ond prizes of $6.00 each are offered 

 for vases of 100 blooms In white, light 

 pink, dark pink, scarlet, crimson, yel- 

 low variegated, white variegated, and 

 any other color. In Class B prizes of 

 $6.00 and $3.00 are offered for vases of 

 .50 blooms in similar divisions of color. 

 In class C introductions of 1899 are 

 called for and 2.5 blooms each are 

 named with prizes of $3.00 and $1.50.- 



The Lawson gold medal, valued at 

 $60.00. will be awarded for the best 

 100 blooms, any variety and any color. 



Copies of the program and schedule 

 may be had by addressing Albert M. 

 Herr, Sec'y, Lancaster, Pa. 



Regislrat on. 



Mr. James Allen, gardener to A. C. 

 Lambert, Paterson, N, J., registers — 

 '"Belle Vista," a cross between Scott 

 and Daybreak, in color, a light pink, 

 petals large and broad, a clean, strong 

 grower; habit and growth resembles 

 Scott, and it is a very free bloomer. 



J. E. Sibley, registered by Philip 

 Heilig, should be J. C. Sibley. 



THE FAKIR AND OTHERS. 



My dear friend Charley's Uncle: 1 

 read your kind remarks in the Flo- 

 rists' Review and meant to have long 

 ago sent in some comments on them. 

 I note your general dislike for the 

 (Greek) fakir. One would know that 

 you have never done business in a city 

 like Chicago, where there are a million 

 or more flowers to be sold each day. 

 As I have said in my notes, you could 

 not run a commission business here 

 without the fakirs. 



As a matter of fact there should be 

 a time set for that class of trade 

 known as the street men, but the 

 Greek with the corner stand often 

 handles better flowers than a great 

 many retail florists and pays more for 

 them. As a commission man, I for 

 one must say that we only represent 

 the stock, and it cuts no ice with us 

 who buys it so long as he pays the 

 price, and I will repeat that I have 

 often seen stock sold to fakirs at 10 

 to 20 per cent more than a florist was 

 willing to pay for the same grade, 

 and the florist could use but a hun- 

 dred or two, while there was more 

 than that many thousands to be dis- 

 posed of. 



Have you ever seen a buyer in I lie 



retail trade that was not always com- 

 plaining about the price? If so, you 

 have seen more than I, and I have 

 been in the commission business a few 

 days at that. 



You were right in regard to the 

 grading of stock and the proof of it 

 is that you see those that do grade 

 have big places and live up-to-date, 

 whereas those thai don't grade have 

 a struggle to get along. 



In regard to our line not being in 

 the commercial world. I will again 

 have to differ with you. The fakir 

 again. He seTIs cheap flowers, never- 

 theless he makes flower lovers. The 

 cheap florist sells the medium class, 

 and he makes lovers of flowers. The 

 aristocratic florist (as you call him) 

 sells the swell trade, and he makes 

 flower buyers. Now with that you 

 have made the flower a thing of value 

 to the people, and anything of value 

 is commercial. 



CHARLEY'S AUNT. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM TIMOTHY 

 EATON. 



The wonderful white chrysanthe- 

 mum illustrated herewith is called 

 "Timothy Eaton." A dozen flowers 

 were sent to me about December the 

 first. The same flowers had been at 

 two exhibitions and had been packed 

 and unpacked seveial times and had 

 been cut fourteen days. With the ex- 

 ception of a slight discoloring of the 

 bottom petals they were perfect and 

 were the largest, finest and heaviest 

 chrysanthemum flowers I have ever 

 seen. After arrival in our city they 

 were in good order for another week. 

 So much for their keeping qualities, 

 which I should think are hardly 

 equaled in any variety. 



The foliage is fine, something like 

 Jerome Jones, and close up to the 

 flower. The stem is the stoutest I 

 have ever seen, and as the photograph 

 will show as stiff as the proverbial 

 poker. In fact in leaf, stem, substance 

 and keeping qualities I am not aware 

 of its equal. 



The flowers were of uniform size, 

 but the average of several measured 

 was 21 inches over from stem to stem 

 and 23 inches in circumference; but 

 these measurements give you little 

 idea of its immense size and sub- 

 stance; by the side of fairly good Ni- 

 veus and Jones they made the latter 

 look like carnations. 



The picture will show better than I 

 can describe the style of flower. It is 

 full, but not crowded: no vestige of 

 an eye but a round, deep, beautifully 

 symmetrical flower, and pure white. 



Timothy Eaton took the first prize 

 at Toronto for best six white, a spe- 

 cial as the best blooms in the show, a 

 silver cup for merit and a first class 

 certificate, and it would, I feel sure, 

 have done all this at any show on the 

 continent. 



In justice to Mr. Miller, Sr.. I must 

 repeat what he toUi me about their 

 culture, which was that these won- 

 derful flowers were cut from plants 



