December 19, 1901. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



us 



House of the New Rose Ivory (White Golden Gate) at the Establishment of the American Rose Co., Washington, D. C. 



HOUSE OF NEW ROSE IVORY. 



The accompanying engraving is from 

 a pfiotograph of a house of tlie new white 

 rose Ivory (White Golden Gate) at the 

 establishment of the American Hose Co., 

 Washington, D. C. The photograph was 

 taken in October. 



The house illustrated is 202 feet long 

 and 62 feet wide and contains about 10,- 

 000 blooming plants on benches. 



CEMETERY IMPROVEMENT. 



A lady reader of tbe Review expresses 

 a wish that some articles w-ould appear 

 in the Review with new ideas on ceme- 

 tery decoration and improvement. We 

 think that there are journals published 

 that do devote time and space to that 

 special subject. Perhaps the American 

 Association of Cemetery Superintendents 

 have an "organ" in which they ventilate 

 ■ their views. They are generally a very 

 able lot of men and many of them have 

 decided views on cemetery management 

 and some few whom I know have quite 

 advanced ideas. 



Floriculture is by no means the most 

 important part of cemetery management, 

 but it is an important part of their 

 adornment. Our local Forest Lawn Cem- 

 etery, and it is one of the most beauti- 

 ful in the country, is managed on the 

 lawn system. Flowers or flowering 

 plants are only allowed in iron and rus- 

 tic vases and in that I believe they are 

 right. If every one was allowed to cut 

 up the sod and plant what they liked 

 it would be a dreadful mix-up and un- 

 sightly jumble. Neither do I believe 

 that flower beds on individual lots are 

 to be commended. The well kept grass and 

 judicious planting of flowering shrubs 

 are much better. If all flower beds could 

 be planted with uniform excellence and 



good taste it might be bearable, but it 

 never would be done, so some might be 

 pretty and others a fright. 



The beauty of a cemetery does not 

 depend on the lavish use of flowers and 

 sliowy flowering bedding plants, quite 

 to the contrary. Its beauty is in its un- 

 dulating surface, its broad and well kept 

 roads, the green lawn, the handsome 

 trees, and wherever possible groups or 

 individual shrubs. The statues and 

 tombstones are the ugly and objection- 

 able features of our leading cemeteries 

 and tlie wealthier the people who own 

 the lots the more the place is disfigured. 

 The management of the cemetery are the 

 people who can do most and in a proper 

 way to make our cemeteries beautiful 

 places to visit. I used to visit our cem- 

 eteries very often and would like to 

 again, but I never gave a thought to 

 those who have gone before. What's 

 the use? But I admired the trees and 

 landscape features and the gold fishes 

 in the ponds. 



Now, my idea of a cemetery, and I 

 believe cemeteries of the future will be 

 so, is that they should be beautiful gar- 

 dens until cremation is the accepted 

 thing. Cemeteries will be a necessity, 

 but let them be cheerful, beautiful spots. 

 Abolish all stones, both large and small, 

 just a marker to designate the owner of 

 the lot. Let all graves be even with the 

 surrounding grass, let the management 

 plant flowers and shrubs and ornamental 

 grasses in profusion, let the very best 

 of the art of landscape gardening be 

 displayed. A soldier's plot or the fire- 

 man's lot may have a fine monument ; 

 that would not make it a stone yard, as 

 many parts of our cemeteries now are. 



A western cemetery superintendent 

 who called on me this summer was de- 

 cidedly progressive in his ideas. He 

 said they had devoted one hundred acres 



to a new system, which was that 

 no tombstones of any kind would 

 be allowed. If a person (I mean those 

 alive) objected to that they need not 

 buy a lot in that part; and this super- 

 intendent was making this portion as 

 beautiful as he could. To use liis own 

 words, he was going to make it "a 

 botanical garden." It seemed a novel 

 idea at first but I believe he is right. 

 Make the cemeteries beautiful and inter- 

 esting. Remove as much as possible all 

 reminders of what they are. The ceme- 

 tery authorities arc, however, the peo- 

 ple to do this. It must be done with 

 a well defined plan and design and they 

 can do much more than the great ma- 

 jority of superintendents attempt. 



All we outside florists can do is to 

 add some patches of color here and there 

 where allowed. I don't think a carpet 

 bed of alternantheras, etc., is any more 

 becoming on a lot than the tall granite 

 shaft I saw in Greenwood cemetery, 

 which was finished off with a gilded 

 top. Possibly this shaft marked the rest- 

 ing place of a bullion broker. 



William Scott. 



FREESIAS. 



Some excellent pots of Freesia refracta 

 alba were to be seen last winter and 

 though this flower is not at all uncom- 

 mon these plants caused considerable 

 comment, being exceedingly well flow- 

 ered and dwarf and they were quickly 

 bought up by the retailer. 



In the growing of the freesia as a pot 

 plant, to have it dwarfed and stocky as 

 well as covered with bloom, requires 

 some little care and judgment. The main 

 points are to keep them in a cool, sunny 

 place near the glass and give as little 

 water as possible until the flower spike 



