78 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



December 12. 1901. 



BEGONIA GLOIRE DE LORRAINE. 



Bv Joseph Reeve. 

 [Read before the Chicago Florists' Club Dec. II.] 



This beautiful and now popular plant 

 first eame to us surrounded with mys- 

 tery and difficulties affecting its cultiva- 

 tion, but we have all succeeded in grow- 

 ing it well this season and hope to be 

 able to rest and propagate our own stock 

 another season. 



We may learn something by looking 

 up its parentage and the experience of 

 those who are growing it well from their 

 own cuttings. 



Begonia Gloire de Lorraine is the re- 

 sult of a cross between B. socotrana 

 and B. Dregei, one parent coming from 

 the hot sandy island of Socotra and the 

 other from the Cape of Good Hope, one 

 forming semi-tubers and the other a 

 fleshy, globular tuber. This indicates 

 that it should be subject to great heat 

 and then again cooler treatment at stated 

 periods. Also that like all plants form- 

 ing eyes or scaly tubers it must have 

 sufficient growth to enable it to store up 

 its strength in the formation of the eye 

 or scaly tuber, which is to be the future 

 plant. 



As to soil, we all know that begonias 

 flourish best in a compost of good, sweet, 

 sandy loam, free from manure or fungus 

 and enriched with leaf mould. Perfect 

 drainage and always sufficient moisture 

 without sogginess is essential during the 

 growing period. These requisites, coupled 

 with light shading and good ventilation, 

 have given us the great measure of our 

 success this seasoB. 



My experience has been that from 

 March 17 to June a temperature of 52 

 degrees, giving as little water as possi- 

 ble, the plants being gently shaken out 

 and started in a brisk heat in May, 

 shaded during starting-up time, was fair- 

 ly successful. 



Here is what one of the best English 

 authorities (Robert Mcintosh, cardener 

 to F. Cobbold, Esq., Felixtow, England, 

 and fellow of the Koyal Horticultural 

 Society) says: "We grow Begonia 

 Gloire de Lorraine rather e.xtensively, 

 and give it a rest by withholding water 

 and keeping it in a temperature of 40 

 to 50 degrees for two to three months. 

 Then it is introduced into a brisk heat, 

 causing it to throw up a number of 

 young shoots, which root very easily. By 

 withholding water I mean giving the 

 plant just enough to keep it alive. With 

 some gardeners here it blooms right up 

 to the period it is placed in heat in this 

 climate." 



BUFFALO. 



The past two weeks has seen a better 

 style of business. Several good wed- 

 dings and a few prominent buds emerg- 

 ing so sweetly into society have called 

 for many flowers. I notice a good many 

 prominent notices of deaths have been 

 accompanied by the stereotyped append- 

 age, "Flowers gratefully declined," but 

 that no longer counts and we often no- 

 tice that our best orders are on these 

 occasions. 



On the whole I would say that chrys- 

 anthemums have gone rather slowly 

 this year- — not quite as good as last 

 year — although fine flowers now find a 

 ready market. There is not much to 

 beat old Lincoln for yellow just about 

 now, and another old favorite, Maud 

 Dean, for late still holds the fort. 



There are not too many good roses 

 coming into town. Carnations are 

 cleaned up regularly every day. These 



certainly bring a better price, both to 

 the wholesaler and retailer, than they 

 did three or four years ago, even for the 

 same quality, and that is very encour- 

 aging. John Esler would say this is 

 accounted for by our high tariff, but I 

 don't think it's that or our annexing 

 Porto Rico. I think the taste for flow- 

 ers has grown a little faster than the 

 supply. Violets are much too scarce to 

 be healthy. Black aphis and spot must 

 be getting in their work pretty gener- 

 ally over a large section of the country. 



Those who live on the sunny plains of 

 Long Island or the verdant fields of 

 Chester county, Pennsylvania, will be 

 surprised to read of zero and below in 

 northern and western New York, but 

 so it is, and now again we are saving 

 fuel and walking in mud. 



Since tbe convention met here I don't 

 believe a Buffalo bowler has handled a 

 ball, except the bowling fiend, George 

 McClure, who would rather bowl than 

 go to church. But there is talk among 

 the boys of getting together and really 

 trying to shoot, so after New Year's we 

 are going to have a good tournament and 

 they arc coming out here to my little 

 farm, where there is plenty of room. 

 Billy Kasting says if he can't hit the 

 targets he will fire at the Empire State 

 Express as she flys by our southern 

 boundary at a mile in 35 seconds. There 

 is an advantage in coming here, as the 

 targets will ?ost nothing. Instead of 

 Peoria black birds we are going to use 

 the Balsley bottomless pots. We have 

 found at last a profitable use for them. 

 The only trouble will be that expert 

 shots like Louie Ncubeck and Dennis 

 O'Connell are apt to send their charge 

 through the bottomless part and get no 

 credit for a "dead bird." 



I regret to say that for two months 

 past our genial and popular Capt. James 

 Braik has been a great sufferer with in- 

 flammatory rheumatism. At last ac- 

 counts he was well on to health. It 

 must hurt awful for a man of Jimmy's 

 temperament to have to stay indoors. 



We had a very interesting call from 

 Mr. C. W. Ward. He found" his way to 

 this forlorn village, where we could the 

 better talk carnation lore. Any ideas 

 that you have about carnation culture 

 that have not already been fermenting in 

 Mr. C. W. W.'s more than active brain 

 must be most remarkably original, and 

 you must explode it quick or it will be 

 a fossil. All carnation growers owe 

 much to the experiments, research, time, 

 money and energy that Mr. Ward has 

 devoted to bis adopted flower. 



Mr. S. S. Skidelsky was also here, the 

 independent drummer who will sell you 

 anything but bores you about nothing. 

 He was principally looking to the inter- 

 est of the Mrs. Nelson carnation, which 

 he controls, and if it is as good every- 

 where as it is here he has a winner. 

 W. S. (Corfu, N. Y.). 



BOSTON. 



Trade Conditions for Dec. 2 7. 



A holiday is always an oasis in the 

 midst of a desert here. There is a jour- 

 ney of at least a week through a very 

 barren land, both before and after. And 

 this week was no exception otherwise 

 than for its exceeding dryness. I heard 

 several representative retailers say they 

 rarely do, a poorer business even in the 

 summer weeks. Consequently buying 

 was languid and results to the grower 

 were disastrous because contrary to all 



prophesies nearly all kinds of material 

 was plentiful. 



Chrysanthemums are holding out won- 

 drously, proving that many were holding 

 back in hopes of realizing last year's good 

 prices at this date. Pinks became over 

 plentiful. Violets took a drop in price 

 but sold out very cleanly. Narcissus and 

 hyacinths arrived in great numbers and 

 from the amount of stevia coming in one 

 might think it was being cut from every 

 bush by the roadside, and jonquils have 

 put in a plea for recognition. Prices on 

 everything but red roses have been very 

 reasonable and the wholesale ice chests 

 have been running over with good things 

 because quality on everything is now first 

 class. 



Signs of Christmas are around, par- 

 ticularly the wholesale places and several 

 of the large retail stores in other lines 

 of trade have already put up their deco- 

 rations. The prettiest one I ever saw for 

 interior work is at Filene's where three- 

 foot twigs, dipped in white wash, have 

 been woven into hen wire, so fastened up 

 as to give the appearance of a net work 

 of snow covered branches over a pathway 

 in the woods. 



Various Items. 



Another feature causing poor trade is 

 the smallpox scare for which there seems 

 to be good foundation. Naturally it pre- 

 vents some social events and lessens at- 

 tendance at ethers. There are no cases 

 yet heard of that particularly frighten 

 the florists, but a daily paper tells of a 

 florist who has lately worked in Hyde 

 Park being taken to the pesthouse from 

 off the streets of Boston. And it devel- 

 ops he was very recently in the Park 

 street market after a couple of letters 

 that were waiting for him. Vaccination 

 is quite general among us and from the 

 cosmopolitan character of the crowd, par- 

 ticularly at Park street, it would seem 

 as though we need it if anyone does. 



In connection with ilr. McMulkin's 

 start for himself much comment is made 

 from the fact that all the employes, five 

 in number, at Galvin's Back Bay store, 

 gave two weeks' notice of leaving, to 

 enter the employ of their old foreman. 

 Not being in the habit of temporizing, 

 Mr. Galvin instantly shortened this two 

 weeks to two minutes, and took personal 

 charge of the store. New employes are 

 advertised for but so far as I know at 

 present no changes have been made except 

 the employment of Maurice Hambro at 

 the Tremont street store, to make up for 

 the removal of a salesman or two to the 

 other place. The aggregate of evidence 

 is that all want to see the new firm 

 prosper but object to anything detri- 

 mental to the immense business being 

 done by Mr. Galvin. 



John Forbes is still at the city hos- 

 pital but is doing nicely and would prob- 

 ably be out except for the fact that the 

 institution is quarantined because a case 

 of smallpox got in there. John should 

 have purchased a 'three-star-ring lucky- 

 box" while they were in the market. 



R. Miller, manager of the Exeter Rose 

 Conservatories away up the Merrimac, 

 passed through Boston a few days ago 

 on his way to inspect the work of others 

 in his line in New York. Pennsylvania, 

 and in the region, of Chicago. He makes 

 New Hampshire produce a first class red 

 rose of any kind and evidently means to 

 keep up the standard. 



At a recent election in that city E. N. 

 Peirce was re-elected alderman of Wal- 

 tham in a three-cornered campaign. 



J. S. Manter. 



