December 32, 1901. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



73 



Wreath of Winter Berry and Star of Scarlet Immortelles. 



. In midwinter one does not care to see 



roses advertised at C cents when they 



cost more to buy if we run out of stock. 



Dixon 111. 0. L. Baird. 



We are with you. We are glad our 

 friends in Champaign. 111., have spoken. 

 They voice our sentiments to a dot. 

 About a year ago a leading wholesale 

 florist of Chicago shipped a C. 0. D. 

 package to one of our customers in this 

 city (but "not in the trade.") This box 

 consisted of 800 carnations, as fine ones 

 as. were then grown. They were billed 

 out at the lowest point of that shipper's 

 Holiday Price List, cheaper by 2 cents 

 than we paid same date to same house. 

 How do you like that? 



While we did a little decorating with 

 plants, etc., we were ignorant of the fact 

 that the customer was expecting to de- 

 light his friends with real Chicago floral 

 souvenirs. But he did not, however, for, 

 alas, they went wrong and when they 

 arrived three days late we were the first 

 parties notified by the express company. 

 That's where we got next. They were, 

 being, of course, refused, sold by express 

 company for a song. 



Of course we got hot, but after the 

 mercury fell a few degrees contented our- 

 selves watching for a recurrence of same 

 when we would and will do some free 

 advertising. It is needless to say we 

 have ordered elsewhere since, although 

 the price current continues to come. 

 Cottage Greenhouses. 



Litchfield, lU. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Varieties to Propagate. 



One of the main questions confronting 

 us about propagating time is what vari- 

 eties siiall we grow next year and how 

 many of each variety, and should we 

 discard some old standby and grow some 

 of the new ones instead? We need just 

 about a certain proportion of white and 

 so many of each pink and red and this 

 must be divided again between the sev- 

 eral varieties we have of each color, and 

 it takes considerable study and calcu- 

 lation in order to have your stock just 

 what you want it to be. You must study 

 each variety, just when it is at its best, 

 so you will have a steady supply right 

 through tlie season and never be with- 

 out a good crop of each color on some 

 variety. If we have found no new vari- 

 ety which we think good enough to dis- 

 place any of the older ones it is an 

 easy matter to make up our list as we 

 always have last season's experience to 

 guide us, and if our proportion of each 

 color was right then it will likely be all 

 right this season. 



And if a certain color sold poorly and 

 another was continually scarce he would 

 be foolish who would not displace the 

 one with the other, etc. Last year we 

 had a fine bench of Mrs. Bradt and at 

 first it sold well, but people seemed to 

 tire of the fancies, and fine as the blooms 

 were it was always a drag on the mar- 

 ket, and so this year we have only a few 

 hundred plants. The public taste in this 

 city seems to run toward solid colors and 



among these it seems pink is the favorite 

 for decorations, etc., although we have 

 never had a surplus of good scarlet. 



In white we shall still hold onto Flora 

 Hill for spring, summer and fall bloom- 

 ing, as it is ahead of anything else at 

 that time, and onto White Cloud as our 

 main mid-winter white, while we give 

 some of last spring's novelties further 

 trial in larger quantities than we are 

 doing this year. A visitor a few days 

 ago remarked that as long as White 

 Cloud did as well for us as it is doing 

 this season we are not greatly in need 

 of a better white. However, we are look- 

 ing for an improvement on White Cloud 

 in various ways. The growth might well 

 be more upright, the blooms would be 

 prettier with a light fringe and it does 

 not stand warm weather very well. But 

 in spite of all these faults it is a grand 

 variety and pays him who knows how 

 to handle it about as well as any other 

 variety. 



In red we have decided to grow the 

 three leaders. Jubilee on account of its 

 color, in which respect it is still unsur- 

 passed. Crane on account of its produc- 

 tiveness early in the fall, and America 

 because it beats them both after Dec. 1. 



In pink E. Crocker is again demon- 

 strating that if it is handled properly it 

 beats anything we have ever had as a 

 money getter. The blooms are always of 

 fine size and color, while the stem can 

 hardly be improved upon. Our benches 

 look like wheat fields at present and 

 there is no sign of a let-up during the 

 season. About 55 degrees at night and 

 not too much feeding we consider essen- 

 tial in growing this variety. Mrs. Law- 

 son is fine in size and productiveness but 

 it is always a stiff, coarse bloom. It 

 sells well nevertheless and brings the top 

 price right along, so it pays to grow it if 

 you are willing to do it right. The Mar- 

 quis is again on our doubtful list, with 

 the chances against it. We had fine 

 plants to house this fall and they took 

 hold nicely, but it does not seem to 

 thrive like Crocker, which is planted 

 next to it. The stems are still rather 

 short and the blooms a little better than 

 Joost and unless it improves wonderful- 

 ly in the next few weeks it will have to 

 go. We have seen it on several places 

 and all are just like ours. Perhaps the 

 easiest one to manage of all the carna- 

 tions is Mrs. F. Joost and if the blooms 

 were about one-half larger it would out- 

 strip anything we have as a money mak- 

 er. Even small as it is compared with 

 Lawson and Crocker it pays mighty well 

 where a Scott grade bloom can be used 

 to advantage. 



Triumph is still a fine variety with 

 some growers, as was proven by a vase 

 of 100 blooms at the fall show. Scott is 

 still grown in large quantities, and so is 

 old Tidal Wave and its red sports, but 

 we can see no money in them, as the 

 blooms are not wanted except as a last 

 resort. 



Genevieve Lord does not seem to have 

 caught the popular fancy and we never 

 took a fancy to it either on account of 

 its light edge. If it haxl an even color 

 all over the bloom it would be very pret- 

 ty indeed. 



Among the fancies Mrs. Bradt still 

 holds the lead and when propagated ear- 

 ly and kept going right along it is indeed 

 hard to beat. Olympia makes a better 

 plant, a prettier bloom and a longer stem 

 and was claimed to be much freer, but 

 somehow not many growers have been 



