Dkcembek lid. r.mi. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



157 



didn't suit my book. I reckoned then 

 as I could corral the plants from the 

 bank, anyway. Well, when I get near I 

 see as each plant had a long stem or 

 root hangjfi' down into the water; the 

 stems was about the thickness o' my 

 thumb, and blest if it didn't look as 

 though them plants had all heaved out 

 an anchor, or thrown out a line for a 

 day's fishin'. While I watched 'em them 

 stems begin to move up out o' the water. 

 I couldn't believe mj- eyes as I see them 

 curling up like a watch spring, but I 

 felt like it was a pipe dream for sure 

 when I see the plants twist them cur- 

 lin' stems around like they was green- 

 house hose and begin to sprinkle them- 

 selves!" 



There was a momentary pause, while 

 Jaggs tamped down the dottle in his 

 pipe with a scientific finger. The boss's 

 parrot, hunched up on a pile of wire 

 . frames, opened one cynical eye and re- 

 marked, '"Lor' bless us," whereat Tommy 

 relieved his feelings by firing a crust 

 at Polly, who subsided into muttered 

 profanity. With an air of beaming can- 

 dor Jaggs continued. 



"Talk about the wonders o' nature — 

 them orchids just about captured the 

 whole bakery. When they gets a bit 

 thirsty they lowers this here suction 

 tube and fills it wath water; then coils 

 up, twists around and sprinkles their- 

 selvcs as good as any hired man could 

 do it. The natives tell me as when one 

 o' them orchids needs a bit o' topdress- 

 ing it just reaches out with this here 

 trunk and grabs a bit o' sphagnum, but 

 I never see that, and o' course, it's likely 

 as some o' these chaps ain't as careful 

 o' the truth as they might be. I like 

 to see a thing for myself afore I tries 

 to tell people about it." 



"Don't seem to me as I recollect seein' 

 a notice o' them self-feedin' orchids in 

 the Kew Bulletin," remarked Tommy. 



"No." said Jaggs, "after the sort o' 

 ■ luck I had it warn't likely as I was 

 goin' to tell some brand new hanky-pank 

 botanist as would take all the credit 

 his own self. One o' these days," con- 

 cluded Jaggs, as he opened the potting 

 shed door and lit out for his peaceful 

 dormitory. "I'll tell you a bit more about 

 Celebes — somethink as'll improve your 

 minds a bit !" 



HOWARD'S STAR PETUNIAS. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph of some flowers of the 

 new strain of petunias that originated 

 with A. B. Howard & Son, Belchertown, 

 Mass. As will be noted, a peculiarity of 

 the strain is a clearly defined star in 

 each flower. 



It is really remarkable what Mr. How- 

 ard has done with the petunia. Many 

 of the colors are as deep and rich and the 

 texture as velvety as in the finest pan- 

 sies. The ground color is generally dark 

 crimson maroon with violet veinings, the 

 stars being light bhish pink and some al- 

 most white. 



The strain illustrated is now being in- 

 troduced, but Mr. Howard has a number 

 of seedling variations that he is working 

 on that are "even more interesting. We 

 confess that the fiowers we inspected 

 were a decided surprise to us. Such a 

 patient, careful and conscientious worker 

 as Mr. Howard is assuredly entitled to 

 much credit, and we have pleasure in 

 thus publicly recognizing it. 



Readers will confer a favor by send- 

 ing M] items of trade interest. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



The regular column is replaced 



this 



week by a description from headquarters 

 of one of the most interesting places 

 near this city, and the regular writer 

 first wants to say he hopes you all had 

 a prosperous Christmas and that the 

 New Year may prove a happy one. 



Fhil. 



The Floral Exchange's Place at Edgely, Pa. 



The rose growing establishment of 

 Edgely was founded back in the '70s at 

 the summer home of Dr. E. Morwitz, 

 and has been under the management of 

 Mr. D. Fuerstenberg since its inception. 

 It is now an incorporated company, with 

 Mr. Fuerstenberg as president, Henry 

 C. Geiger, secretary, and Harry Simp- 

 son, superintendent. From a small be- 

 ginning the place has now grown to 

 thirty-six houses, many of them of 

 large size and embodying the newest in- 

 ventions and labor-saving appliances. 

 The firm has won a great deal of notice 

 by the very wide house, single span of 

 54 feet, built last year, 307 feet in 

 length, and where the roses are planted 

 in the field without anj' artificial drain- 

 age or extra preparation. The house is 

 a great success and the firm are now 



try days must be a great consolation to 

 the firm, for all the bunkers around the 

 boilers are kept running over and a re- 

 serve pile of nearly 1,000 tons is piled 

 up outside. No danger of a coal famine 

 there. 



From coal to ice is a natural jump, 

 and adjoining the coal heap is the new 

 ice house just finished, where 2.50 tons 

 of ice, cut from a lake excavated imme- 

 diately in front of the house, supply 

 all the cooling material needed for the' 

 great shipping list of the year. This 

 thought leads us to the complete ship- 

 ping department, where everything is 

 handy and where the cooling room is as 

 near perfection as one can expect, the 

 walls alwaj's being so dry that you can 

 strike a match on the wooden linings. 

 This department is lighted by acetyline 

 lights and we noticed that extensive ex- 

 periments are being made with this light 

 in several houses to determine if any- 

 thing can be done to overcome the bad 

 effects of cloudy days in winter time. 

 These experiments have been going on 

 for a -short time and it is yet too early 

 to report as to the results. 



The firm is fortunate in possessing a 

 fine spring of water, very copious and 

 in which the temperature never varies 

 from .58 degrees, summer or winter, en- 



Howard's Star Petunias. 



planning for another house still wider 

 than the one just built, which will use 

 35-foot bars and be 64 feet wide. The 

 great saving in heating pipes of such 

 a house, together with cheaper construc- 

 tion and advantage of cheaper working 

 and better growing atmosphere, make a 

 house of this type very desirable. 



There are many things of great inter- 

 est to the grower on this place, where 

 the low situation has made it dilBcult to 

 secure the best return of condensation, 

 though now the boiler house, with its 

 four enormous marine boilers and its 

 complete system of pumps and receiving 

 tanks, etc., works perfectly and is one 

 of the most interesting places of the es- 

 tablishment. The coal pile in. these win- 



abling them to syringe the houses direct 

 from the spring at all times of the year. 

 Lately they have added a fine soup 

 kitchen, if we so may call it, where a 

 mixture of rich cow manure and water 

 is brewed and applied to the plants with 

 excellent resiilts, as the rather porous 

 nature of the soil of the ' beds on the 

 ground admits of good drainage. 



The demand for the Queen of Edgely 

 has far exceeded the ability of the firm 

 to supply, though four large houses are 

 planted to it and this coming year 50,- 

 000 feet of glass will be added to grow 

 the Queen and a few more Beauties. As 

 per the trade reports in the journals, 

 the Queen of Edgely is bringing in Bos- 

 ton and Philadelphia exactly the same 



