416 



1 'he Weekly Florists' Review* 



MARCH 8, 1900. 



ing; we never saw better or quicker 

 work (lone; the flowers are counted 

 and roughly tied in fifties by the pick- 

 er; afterwards rebunched and single 

 violet leaves are used for foliage. We 

 wonder who has the record for quick 

 gathering and bunching; here they 

 calculate that one person can do over 

 1,500 a day. 



The single violet, Princess of Wales, 

 growing here, is very fine; the flowers 

 are as large as small pansies and the 

 stems a foot along. The California 

 looks insignificant alongside of them. 

 It is by far the best of all single vio- 

 lets. 



Several hundred thousand Freesias 

 are growing here; Mr. Jensen has been 

 cutting freesia flowers since Dec. 

 16th. Daybreak is the only carnation 

 grown and they have given much sat- 

 isfaction. Immense quantities of lilac 

 are being forced, and violet plants for 

 Easter will be in good condition. D. 



DENVER, COLO. 



One notable feature in February was 

 the lecture given to residents of Den- 

 ver by Landscape Gardener Samuel 

 Parsons, Jr., of New York. A number 

 of prominent people and professionals 

 were present. The subject was "Amer- 

 ican Landscape Gardening and Beau- 

 tifying of Homes," and was well han- 

 dled by Mr. Parsons to the satisfaction 

 of all, except the professionals, who 

 expected to hear of something more 

 extraordinary in that line. The west- 

 ern nurserymen should send him a 

 vote of thanks for aiding them in cre- 

 ating a demand for shrubs and low 

 trees; the florist and tree trimmer, 

 however, was not benefited thereby. 



It is not my object to criticise the 

 lecturer, but climatic conditions 

 often change a mans notions, and the 

 tastes, surroundings and experiences 

 are so varied that it is impossible to 

 suit everybody by imitating nature, 

 especially when it is at the cost of 

 comfort and convenience of the people 

 With whom we have to deal. 



The Swiss. German and French 

 styles of landscape gardening all have 

 their beauties, and the last named will 

 surpass any for convenience and com- 

 fort, especially in smaller parks in 

 cities, and it is more suitable to the 

 surrounding architecture. 



It is very true many Colorado people 

 trim their trees too much; there are 

 reasons for it. which Mr. Parsons has 

 not had time to study or experience. 

 One of these reasons why Colorado 

 people trim their trees is the high 

 winds, and to leave the trees in their 

 natural shape would often mean disas- 

 ter within a few years. Another rea- 

 son, which Mr. Parsons has not consid- 

 ered, is that all trees which, when 

 transplanted, were improperly pruned 

 or cut squarely off, have not their nat- 

 ural .shape, and after a time look more 

 or less dilapidated, and they will not 

 stand a heavy snow, while the leaves 

 are on, without splitting to pieces. 



The crippling of trees is not done by 

 tree trimmers, but by tree butchers. 



By imitating nature around the city 

 residences one may make a very fine 

 picture, and it has long been advo- 

 cated, but whether it will fill the pock- 

 ets of the florists is another question, 

 and it is a good thing that different 

 people have different tastes, which 

 was clearly shown by the smiles of the 

 audience when Mr. Parsons preferred 

 the Cottonwood, which has long been 

 condemned here, to the maple, which 

 is the most beloved and cleanest shade 

 tree in the west. ' 



A continuous row of trees on each 

 side of a walk does not make a good 

 landscape, but the people at large find 

 more comfort walking in the shade 

 than by looking at a fine landscape in 

 the broiling hot sun, and it looks very 

 queer, but we cannot help sticking to 

 the English style, which has nearly 

 crowded the French out of existence. 

 Of course, the florist will stick to the 

 flower beds every time, and will let 

 the next generation imitate nature as 

 they please. F. A. HAENSELM.A.N. 



WASHINGTON. 



Since the beginning of Lent business 

 has taken a tumble. Dinners and 

 luncheons of all kinds have stopped, 

 but, owing to scarcity of good stock, 

 prices keep up to the standard, with 

 the exception of bulbous stock and vio- 

 lets. 



Prices: La France, 10 to 121^ cents; 

 Gates and Meteors, S to 10 cents; 

 Maids and Brides, 6 to S cents; Perles, 

 6 cents; tulips, 1 to 4 cents; jonquils, 

 2 to 3 cents; Romans, 1 cent; valley. 4 

 cents; carnations, IVi to 3 cents; smi- 

 lax, 20 cents; asparagus, 50 to 75 

 cents. 



One of the most brilliant occasions 

 of the season was the marriage of the 

 daughter of the British embassador, 

 which took place last week. The hand- 

 some decorations at St. John's Church 

 were executed by J. L. Loose, and 

 those at the residence were arranged 

 by Shine & Davidson. 



Our ex-president, W. F. Gude, was 

 presented on Valentine eve with a 

 handsome valentine in the shape of a 

 bouncing baby boy, which makes No. 

 3. Keep it up, Will. 



Holland has been well represented 

 during the past week. 



Wm. Crawford, of the Grant Place 

 Flower Store, reports business good. 

 F. H. KRAMER. 



CINDERS FOR DRAINAGE. 



Subscriber asks for information 

 about cinders for drainage for rose 

 bed. 



I have a solid middle rose bed. In 

 June, 1898, I removed part of the fill- 

 ing and put in 6 or 8 inches of coke 

 cinders or ashes and gave them a thor- 

 ough watering. I then put on 6 inches 

 of rose soil and planted the roses the 

 first of July; strong, thrifty plants 

 from 3-inch pots. They started right 

 on growing fine, and on August 1st 

 were staked with galvanized wire 



stakes that were pushed through the 

 cinders into the earth below. 



About two weeks after staking two 

 or three plants wilted and in a day or 

 so dried up. This went on for a few- 

 days and it began to look desperate, 

 when I saw that the soil on the sur- 

 face around each dead plant was cov- 

 ered with rust. The sulphur in the 

 coke cinders was destroying the stakes 

 and this sulphur action on the stakes 

 in turn was killing the roses. 



I at once removed all the stakes and 

 replanted the bed where plants were 

 missing, and the trouble stopped as 

 suddenly as it began. 



I did not have quite enough coke 

 cinders and filled in about 15 feet with 

 cinders from the furnace without 

 screening, in which the stakes were 

 left. The line was very distinct where 

 the coke and furnace cinders joined. 



I traced some of the roots into the 

 cinders and found them in a healthy 

 condition. So I feel sure that the coal 

 sulphur acted on the galvanized stakes 

 and generated the poison that killed 

 the plants. I have used the coke cin- 

 ders in rose pots for drainage without 

 injury to the plants. 



Connellsville, Pa. P. R. DE MUTH. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 



BUFFALO, N. Y.— Wm. Scott is 

 making a big display of carnations 

 from Corfu. Red .lacket and White 

 Cloud are immense; so are Marie Lou- 

 ise violets. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y.— A fine bed of 

 myosotis may be seen at J. B. Keller's 

 Sons. A very useful fiower; it takes 

 up very little space, being usually 

 grown along the edge of the bench 

 where a path is least used. Chatter- 

 ton Warburton. of Fall River, grows 

 a large quantity in this manner. 



HORNELLSVILLE, li, Y.— W. A. 

 Wettlin has a healthy young stock for 

 spring sales. Carnations have not 

 flowered so good as usual, while the 

 demand has been ahead of any pre- 

 vious season. 



LANCASTER, N. Y.— Those of the 

 convention crowd who visited the 

 plant of W. J. Palmer & Son were well 

 rewarded for making the trip. The 

 sight of Daybreak was one to be long 

 remembered. Although the day's pick- 

 ing had been done and the Buffalo 

 store was supplied with the best 

 blooms, even the casual observer could 

 not fail to be impressed with the enor- 

 mous crops that these plants must 

 yield. 



MONTREAL, QUE.— S. S. Bain was 

 the flrst Canadian to invest in the 

 new ageratum Stella Gurney. Mr. 

 Bain sees a bright future for this ac- 

 quisition. M. 



SYRACUSE, N. Y.— The Central New 

 York Horticultural Society listened to 

 an interesting lecture on "Nature 

 Study" by Mary Rogers Miller on Feb- 

 ruary 27. 



