U2 



The Weekly Florists* Review* 



Decbmbbb 19, 1901. 



Needn't put ribbons on the others; put 

 them in white or green pot covers or 

 jardinieres, and stick a spray of holly 

 in to season it. It is more of a question 

 what you have to sell than what you 

 have to buy at this reading, but almost 

 anything in fair condition has a chance 

 to move if it is fixed up right. 



The plant basket trade will be very 

 large, and in this class of work small 

 plants of every description can be 

 worked in. What we call Parisian plant 

 baskets will sell well. They are small 

 handle baskets filled with growing 

 plants, some green, some bright, with 

 bow of ribbon on the handle. Plant 

 baskets can be made up in an endless 

 variety of styles. Some fine baskets 

 bring as high as from $25 to $50 in New 

 York and it isn't the value of the ma- 

 terial, it i§ the artistic arranging. Fancy 

 baskets and ribbons run up into money. 

 It is necessary to have some such stock 

 but a vast amount of cheap, plain bas- 

 kets and ribbons can be worked off at 

 Christmas and they cost very little 

 where business methods are used. As 

 with greens the plant department should 

 be if possible kept apart from the cut 

 flower section for it is next to impossible 

 to keep a cut flower table clean where 

 plants and soil are being continually 

 moved and nothing lessens the value or 

 beauty of flowers so much as dirty sur- 

 roundings. In a great many cases 

 sphagnum moss can be used instead of 

 soil and many plants need not be taken 

 out of the pots. Small ferns, Pandanus 

 Veitchii, IJracaena terminalis, Ardisia 

 crenulata and such are excellent for bas- 

 ket work. IVERA. 



A SIMPLE WREATH. 



The engraving shows a simple form of 

 the wreath that can be made very ef- 

 fective at comparatively little expense 

 for material. 



Galax leaves, roses, sword ferns and 

 a little ribbon were used, and the effect 

 was very good. 



The wreath lends itself to great va- 

 riety in the way of arrangement and we 

 would be glad to receive other photo- 

 graphs of simple forms showing these 

 variations. We feel sure such pictures 

 would prove interesting and instructive 

 to many. 



The engraving is from the photograph 

 of a wreath arranged by Mr. C. A. Sam- 

 uelson, Chicago. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Carnations and Lettuce. 



Max writes : "Would you kindly tell 

 me what is wrong with my carnations? I 

 have a patch of Floral Hill and Jubilee 

 in my lettuce house; the flowers don't 

 open fully and they die down in a short 

 time after showing color. I keep the 

 temperature from 58 to CO degrees for 

 the lettuce. Is that too high for the 

 carnations?" 



In reply would say that 58 to 60 de- 

 grees is certainly too high a temperature 

 for any carnation to do well in, and pos- 

 sibly that is the main reason why his 

 carnations are acting the way he de- 

 scribes. However, if all other conditions, 

 such as soil, water and ventilation are 

 proper, the only bad effect we would 

 expect would be Small blooms and weak 

 stems, but as I do not know the condi- 

 tions under which they are growing I 

 cannot suggest any other cause. If Max 

 cannot grow his lettuce in 55 degrees 

 he had better not plant carnations in 



the same house, and even at that tem- 

 perature they will want a heavy soil 

 and lots of ventilation to keep the stems 

 strong. 



Calyx Bursting. 



"A Subscriber" would like to know: 

 "What makes the calyx on the carnation 

 break and how can it be stopped?" 



The bursting of caly.xes is a source 

 of worry to the carnation grower during 

 these mid-winter months and it takes con- 

 stant watching to keep them from split- 

 ting. Perhaps the most frequent cause 

 is an inegular temperature, which if 

 the variation is severe enough will cause 

 almost any variety to burst. Robbing 

 the plants of all the young shoots or 

 feeding in strong doses will also affect 

 them in the same way. We give our car- 

 nations very little food between Dec. 1 

 and March 1 and if we do deem it nec- 

 essary it is given in very weak doses 

 and at wide intervals. We think that 

 a well enriched soil with a mulching in 

 the fall is enough to carry almost any 

 carnation through the winter and since 

 we have adopt^ this practice we find 

 the percentage of bursted calyxes much 

 smaller than before. 



The hardest job we find now is to 

 maintain a steady uniform temperature 

 throughout the winter. When the nicr 

 eury one morning stands at 54 degrees 

 above zero and within forty-eight hours 

 it is 14 degrees below zero it is likely 

 to test your heating apparatus and un 

 less you have it in pretty good shape 

 the houses are likely to drop a few de- 

 grees below their mark. While some 

 varieties burst much easier than others 

 there is no variety that can be said to 

 be absMutely non-bursting under any 

 and all circumstances, neither can any 

 particular style of calyx be said to sjilit 

 less frequently than any other. 



I recall an article in one of the trade 

 papers a year or two ago saying tha» 

 the Albertini calyx never bursts and that 

 Mrs. Bradt has the same calyx and would 

 therefore not burst. I cannot recall ever 

 seeing a bursted calyx on Albertini but 

 I have seen hundreds, yes thousands, of 

 split calyxes on Mrs. Bradt, and so has 

 every one who has grown that variety. 

 Then again it has been claimed that a 

 variety that will push the bloom well 

 above the calyx will not birrst, which is 

 also a mistake. E. Crocker does this to 

 a remarkable degree and yet one of its 

 few faults is that it will burst some, 

 while America turns its petals just above 

 the calyx and it never bursts for us. 

 The general make up of the bloom, full- 

 ness, etc., have as much to do with this 

 particular fault as the calyx has and it 

 lays entirely with each variety whether 

 it bursts or not. and you must lea,rn 

 each variety and handle accordingly. 



Those who grow seedlings know this 

 to be a fact and it is interesting to watch 

 a bench with perhaps a hundred or more 

 varieties planted on it and see these 

 generally accepted ideals knocked into a 

 cocked hat. and you may perhaps see a 

 dozen different shaped calyxes, each 

 bursting no more than the other unless 

 the bloom is too full or some other cause 

 exists to cause it to burst, and each can 

 be made to burst if circumstances are 

 favorable. 



The Christmas Crop. 



It would be too much to expect a com- 

 mercial grower to not raise the tempera- 

 ture of his cut flower house in order 

 to force out a few hundred more blooms 

 for the holidays when the prices are just 



about doubled and every one of your 

 customers expects you to treble his regu- 

 lar order and you are expected to cut 

 them off the same plants too. When you 

 come to think of it is it any wonder 

 that many a house of carnations is 

 ruined by over forcing and many a thou- 

 sand blooms are kept a week longer than 

 they should have been kept in order that 

 all orders may be filled? It takes a 

 strong will to resist these temptations 

 although we all know that we will be 

 much better off in the end if we stop 

 within reason. 



If the weather is cool and especially 

 if it is cloudy you can save up your 

 blooms in good condition for a week or 

 perhaps ten days, if you are careful and 

 work it right, jlost of the white vari- 

 eties can be left on the plants until a 

 day or two before you want to send 

 them in, but you must be careful with 

 the pink and red varieties. Most of the 

 reds \vill fade out some if left on the 

 plants too long, especially if the sun 

 strikes them strong, and they should be 

 picked as soon as they are fully devel- 

 oped. Some of the pink ones improve 

 in color with age while others again 

 \iill suffer by it and you should cut them 

 so they will be at their best at market- 

 ing time. Those that fade badly should 

 be picked as soon as developed wliile the 

 others can be left on the plants a few 

 days longer to advantage. All the pink 

 ones will keep their color best in a half 

 dark cellar and should be cut as they 

 open. 



Grade them as you put them away so 

 they will not have to be handled so much 

 when you are getting out orders, as each 

 handling makes them worth just a trifle ' 

 less, besides the few you break every 

 time you sort over a jar full of them. 

 Lots of time will bo saved, too, when 

 you are filling orders as you can put your 

 hand on first or second grade any time 

 without stopping to select them. Place 

 the stems in cool water of about 45 to 

 50 degrees and have your storage room 

 the same temperature. The air should 

 always be pure and fresh but let no 

 draughts strike them. 



When packing them up to ship them 

 in don't let the rush cause you to handle 

 the blooms carelessly. Many a good lot 

 of blooms that should have brought the 

 top price is forced dmvn into second or 

 third place by being packed carelessly 

 so the blooms get bruised. 



A. F. J. BAtns. 



CARNATION ESTELLE. 



The accompanying engraving is from 

 a photograph taken November 1 of a 

 house of Estelle carnation at the estab- 

 lishment of Mr. William Murphy, Cin- 

 cinnati, O. The house contains 10,000 

 plants which were planted in on Sept. 

 1 last. 



This variety, which is one of the best 

 scarlets on the market at the present 

 time, originated with Mr. R. Witter- 

 staetter. It is a good, steady bloomer 

 and has a very brilliant color. For a 

 commercial variety it is A No. 1. 



C. J. Ohuer. 



In response to our request Mr. Murphy 

 lias favored us with some notes on the 

 culture of Estelle, whicn we print below: 



In propagating take well hardened 

 wood from base of blooming shoots. It 

 requires a few degrees higher tempera- 

 ture to root these than some other varie- 

 ties; 55 to 58 degrees in the sand bed is 



