JO 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mat 29, 1902. 



the place over to Messrs. Huntington & 

 Page again. 



Baur & Smith are the first in the mar- 

 ket with asters. 



The June meeting of the State Flor- 

 ists' Association, which is to be held on 

 the 3d, should be well attended. Some 

 changes are to be made in the by-laws 

 and every member should be present to 

 lend his counsel in putting them into 

 better shape. A. B. 



ONCINNATL 



Heavy Wind and Hail. 



The heavy rain storm, briefly spoken 

 of in my last week's notes, proved to' be 

 one of the most destructive that has 

 visited these parts in many years, 

 amounting almost to a cyclone. The 

 wind blew at about 60 miles per hour 

 and had a twist to it that uprooted trees, 

 moved houses from their foundations, 

 and took off roofs. This storm was also 

 accompanied by hail. To cap the climax 

 a heavy hail storm made itself felt Sat- 

 urday afternoon, and as a result, many 

 florists are without a good pane of glass 

 on their place. The storm seemed to run 

 in a streak, conung from the southwest 

 and extending over a territory of about 

 a mile and a half. 



The Murphy settlement was right in 

 the middle of this and they were all 

 very badly wrecked. Wm. Murphy suf- 

 fered the most, his loss amounting to 

 about 15,000 out of 20,000 feet of glass. 

 The roof of Ms bam was also badly 

 damaged and boards were blown out of 

 the sides. Owing to the strength of the 

 ■wind carnation plants in the field escaped 

 with but slight loss. The wind blew 

 them over almost flat upon the ground, 

 so that the hail did not have the chance 

 to split them as it could have done 

 had they been standing erect. 



Mrs. E. J. Murphy's plant is almost 

 a total wreck, the hail breaking almost 

 all the glass on the place, some three 

 or four thousand feet. Besides this a 

 large number of hot bed sash that wero 

 piled up out of the way were totally 

 ruined, the hail coming with such force 

 that it went right through them from top 

 to bottom of the piles. 



Mr. C. C. Murphy escaped with about 

 half of his place. The hail broke all 

 the glass on one side, but the other es- 

 caped. Loss about 2,000 feet. 



Mr. Ed. Murphy was damaged to the 

 extent of about 2,000 square feet. 



George Murphy ran in luck and his 

 loss can be replaced with two or three 

 boxes of glass. He was just on the edge 

 of the hail belt and has reason to con- 

 gratulate himself. 



Mr. Ed. Schuman lost about 300 panes 

 of glass, also having a lucky escape. 



None of the above carried any hail 

 insurance save Mr. Wm. Murphy, so 

 the loss in their cases is total, with no 

 chance for remuneration. This is surely 

 an object lesson for hail insurance. 



Mr. C. Sunderman's barn was blown 

 down and R. Witterstaetter suffered the 

 loss of a shed which was a total wreck, 

 but it did not hail enough to hurt them. 

 Mr. Eentenschoer and J. W. Eodgers 

 were also in the hail belt but suffered no 

 loss. 



Other Items. 



Business during the past week was the 

 worst of this season. There was prac- 

 tically no demand and only the very best 

 stock brought anything like a fair price. 

 Great quantities of very poor stock was 



to be seen everywhere and it had to 

 be sold at any price. Eoses are getting 

 awfully small and the price is in pro- 

 portion. Many carnations arrived in 

 such poor condition owing to having been 

 sprinkled when packed that they were 

 absolutely worthless. It is strange that 

 growers can not learn to keep water off 

 of carnation flowers when packing them 

 for shipment. It is right to put wet 

 paper and a little ice on the stems but 

 protect the blooms from water and above 

 all don't sprinkle them. 



Paionies were damaged some by the 

 heavy storm, but there will be quite a 

 quantity of them for Decoration Day. 

 Orders are coming in for that day quite 

 lively, and as we have cooler weather 

 with a consequent shortening of supply, 

 it would look as if very fair prices would 

 be realized and a first class business be 

 done. Sweet peas are still coming in 

 slowly and are in good demand. 



The heavy storms did considerable 

 damage in the parks, Eden park suffer- 

 ing the most. The damage amounts to 

 several thousands of dollars and was 

 mostly in walks and roads that were 

 washed away and flower beds ruined. 

 When you consider that 2^2 inches of 

 water fell in thirty minutes time you 

 can judge what damage could be done. 



There is a very large demand for bed- 

 ding plants and many florists are from 

 one to two weeks behind with their or- 

 ders. 



Martin Eeukauf, of Philadelphia, was 

 a caller. C. J. Ohmer. 



FROM OUR ENGLISH EXCHANGES. 



The Gardeners' Magazine. 



Affinity of Pelargonium and Gera- 

 nium. — In discussing the wonderful de- 

 velopment and improvement made in 

 scarlet perlargoniums since the intro- 

 duction of P. inquinans in 1714, the Eer. 

 Professor G. Henslow recently remarked 

 that the wild plant has a small scarlet 

 flower, with petals like windmill sails, 

 having great gaps between them ; where- 

 as the present plant has a flower with a 

 perfectly circular outline. This is an 

 attempt at reversion to regularity, which 

 all irregular flowers originally possessed, 

 thereby approximating to a geranium, 

 which has a perfectly regular pentamer- 

 ous flower of five sepals, five petals, ten 

 stamens in two whorls of five each, and 

 a pistil of five carpels. Five honey- 

 glands are symmetrically situated on the 

 floral receptacle; whereas in pelargonium 

 a long tube at the posterior side of the 

 flower, running down the stalk, contains 

 the honey. There are only seven perfect 

 stamens; so that, under cultivation, the 

 flower of a pelargonium tends to reac- 

 quire the character of geranium, from 

 which, or some similar form, it was prob- 

 ably descended. 



An Interesting Graft. — At the meet- 

 ing of the Horticultural Society of Prus- 

 sia, Herr Lindemuth submitted to the 

 members some interesting examples of 

 grafting in which the scion had exer- 

 cised a marked influence upon the stock. 

 In one case he had grafted a wall-nower 

 upon a red cabbage, and at the base the 

 plant produced the growth of the wall- 

 flower vrith a cabbage sprout, and at the 

 top a head of the red cabbage. In an- 

 other instance, Herr Lindemuth grafted 

 a petunia on the upper part of Nieotiana 

 glauca, and the scion grew vigorously 

 and bloomed profusely, producing a very 

 pretty effect. M. Winter, of Bordighera, 



has also grafted petunias on the species 

 of nieotiana mentioned, which forms a 

 shrub in the district. 



Diseased Eoman Hyacinths.— The 

 bulbs are attacked by a parasitic disease 

 known as Bacterium hyaeinthi, or the 

 Hyacinth Bacteriosis. The yellowish 

 mucilage swarms with bacteria, and is 

 quite able to spread the disease. When 

 in growth the hyacinth leaves give evi- 

 dence of the attack by the presence of 

 small yellow spots caused by mucus in 

 the leaf tissues. This disease is very 

 common in Holland, and has been very 

 prevalent in England this year. Change 

 of crop and the destruction of all in- 

 fested bulbs will bring about a better 

 state of things. 



Hardy Trailing Plants for Vases. — 

 A few suitable subjects suitable for 

 planting against the rims of large vases 

 are Arabis albida, Coronilla iberica, the 

 common Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia 

 nummularia), Oxalis corniculata. Phlox 

 reptans, Pratia repens, Saponaria ocy- 

 moides, and the various hardy vincas. 

 Silene penduJa is a useful iiardy annual 

 for the purpose, and there are a few 

 sedunis and saxifragras that might be 

 pressed into service. 



Lilacs. — The cultivation of lilacs is of 

 the simplest, but they must not be left 

 wholly to themselves as is so frequently 

 uone. They will grow freely under ad- 

 verse conditions, but they do not, as a 

 rule, bloom satisfactorily when left to 

 themselves, as a forest of suckers rise 

 from the roots, and these hinder the 

 proper development of the growths which 

 produce the flowers. The chief point is 

 to keep the plants free from suckers, 

 and that may be done by chopping them 

 off during the season of growth, or by 

 removing them with a fork and a knife 

 during the winter months. As you have 

 allowed the suckers to grow unchecked 

 for two or three years we would advise 

 you to proceed at once with their re- 

 moval. The simplest course will be to 

 lift them with a fork having short stout 

 prongs through long use, and then cut 

 them off as near to the parent plant as 

 possible, using a sharp knife for the pur- 

 pose. We recommend this course of 

 procedure in the interest of flower pro- 

 duction, but in the case of grafted 

 plants it is absolutely necessary to pre- 

 vent the growth of the stock crowding 

 out that of the scion. 



Gloriosa Superba. — Few climbing 

 plants have a more beautiful appearance 

 than Gloriosa susperba when well grown 

 and trained up the pillars or along the 

 rafters of the stove. It is a tuberous 

 plant, and strong tubers should be ob- 

 tained to start with. It is also essential 

 when potting up the tubers in early 

 spring to place them in fairly small pots 

 until well started into growth, and then 

 shift them on into larger receptacles as 

 the smaller ones become filled with 

 healthy roots. A compost I have found 

 to suit the gloriosa consists of two-fifths 

 loam, one-fifth each of peat, leaf-soil, 

 and dried cow manure, with a small 

 quantity of charcoal broken small and a 

 liberal sprinkling of silver sand. The 

 temperature of the ordinary stove will 

 suit the plants well, but if they can be 

 plunged in a hotbed in the propagating 

 pit to start them so much the better. 

 .Slugs are extremely partial to the young, 

 tender shoots, hence watchfulness is nec- 

 essary, the evening being the best time 

 to trap the depredators. Avoid over- 

 watering the plants until roots are ac- 



