444 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



August 28, 1902 



cloth will evidently last for several seasons. 

 I wcaild stron;;l.v advise florists to give tliis 

 meth(.;d a trial and 1 am sure they will he 

 well repaid ir. the finer blooms obtained. 



In dahlias a few of our growers have beeu 

 growing Staudyrd Bearer with good success 

 Mild have never beon able to fill the demand for 

 this variety. This is one of the true cactus 

 type, flowers of brightest scarlet, and seems 

 to quite capture the ladies' fancy. You hear 

 exclamations of delight wuerever this variety 

 is shown. It succeeds very well here, flowering 

 cohtinually. and, unlike most cactus dahlias, the 

 flowers are born nn long stems and therefore 

 prove a good So ists*- fluwer. a fine companion 

 to the furegoiiig is Mrs. Peart, also a true 

 cactus dahlia; color, creamy white; a very 

 satisfactory sort- A htting companion to the 

 preceding two, but of the decorative dahlia 

 type, is Grand Duke Alexis, of large size and 

 distinct form; color, pure white delicately 

 tinged with pink; it proves a fine selling flowcp*. 



No report from the District of Columbia 

 would be complete that omitted mention of the 

 great work being done by the Department of 

 A;,'rii_ulture for the benefit of the florist. I am 

 indi'hted to Prof. A. F. Woods, Pathologist an.l 

 Physiologist of the Bureau of Sted and Plant 

 Introduction. Department of Agriculture, for 

 the following synopsis of the work of the 

 department on th^ neraatoid of the rose and 

 violet. 



For the past year the pathologi.sts of the de- 

 partmtnt h;ive been endeavoring to find some 

 method of figuting the eel- worm, or nematoid. 

 After testing a great many substances sup- 

 posed to kill these worms, it has been found 

 that the best material to use is a diluted solu- 

 tiou of formaldeliyde, about one per cent solu- 

 tion being sufficient to very quickly kill an' 

 nematoid touched by it. On extensive ex- 

 periment in the treatment of the root nematoid 

 of roses carried out by Mr. J. Louis Loose of 

 Washington, in accordance with the directions 

 furnished by the Department, was very success- 

 ful. The treatment was made on February lutn. 

 including pli.nts of several va ieties. namely. 

 The Bride. Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, Mme. 

 Abel Chatenay, Nephetos, American Beaut.v , 

 Liberty and Meteor The solution was made np 

 on a scale of four pounds of the commercial 

 formaldehyde to fifty gallons of water. Fif- 

 teen thousand plants were treated, requiring 

 about 2iiU pounds of formaldehyde, costing 18 

 cents per pound. TLe mlxtu e was applied with 

 a hose connected to a f<)rce pump. While at 

 first all the young feeding roots that the 

 plants had, as well as the nematoid galls ana 

 nematoidea in the soil were killed, the treated 

 plants soon grew out of the set-back and formed 

 fine, new feeding roots, while the untreated 

 plants remained stunted and diseat'ed. 



For bud nematoid of the violet, they have 

 found that this nematoid is aiso very easily 

 killed by formalin, although it is not practic- 

 able to use formalin on the plants. About all 

 that can be done in order to nght this pest la 

 to carefully throw out of the stock every plant 

 showmg any sign of bud nematoid; it should 

 be pulled out and destroyed, otherwise the 

 disease will spread from plant to plant. It 

 (Toes no good t > cut out the diseased pan. 

 Nematoid is easily killed by drying and it Is 

 therefore suggested that houses in which the dU- 

 Ciise has appeared he run rather d.y, especiallv 

 permitting the surface soil to dry and keeping 

 it in the form of a dry mulch. Heavy shading 

 is undesirable in cases where the disease has 

 appeared, ;.-> under such conditions nematoidea 

 getting upon the surface of the soil and on 

 exposed places on the leaves will not be de- 

 stroyed, whereas, if they are exposed to the 

 sunlight they are likely to become dried up 

 and die. 



I iim very glad to be able to say that at a 

 meeting of the florists of the District of Colum- 

 Dia held on the Slst of July, the Florists' Club 

 of Washington, D. C, was once more brought 

 to life and started on what we all hope will 

 l-e a long life of usefulness and prosperity for 

 the good of Ihe trade in general, and welfare 

 of its members in particular. 



PETER BISSET. 

 State Vice-Preiident for the District of Co- 

 lumbia. 



Northern Ohio. 



To the President and Members of the S. A. P". 

 and O. H.: 

 Another year has passed around since the 

 Society of American Florists met in convention 

 at Buffalo, N. Y. I, as your state vice-presi 

 dent for northern Ohio, am pleased to say that 

 with the florists about here this year has been 

 a prosperous one, and the twentieth century 

 opens with prosperity for the florists who are 

 alive and up-to-date, and wno keep pace with 

 the times. \*ou can easily tell the flurist who 

 Is not prospert'US by his surroundings. Enter 

 his establishment, and we find everything topsj- 

 turvy— old wire designs lying around, broken 

 glass, old boards, piles of broken pots, etc. His 

 make-shift of a desk is covered wiih old papm-s. 

 letters, books, catalogues, etc., and all this 

 <x»vered with dust and cobwebs, and with barely 

 room enough on which to write an order when 

 he gets one; tools lying about; with no special 

 place for them, they are dropped wherever the 

 person using them happens to he, and the next 

 one wanting the tools will have to spend half 

 of his lime hunting for them. This kind of « 



place reminds one more of a second-class junk- 

 shop than a prosperous greenhouse establishment, 

 and indicates a slovenly, shiftless business man 

 We have many such in our ranks, and I hope 

 if any of this cla^s i cad these lines they will 

 take the hint that they are meant by these 

 remarks to profit by the same, ahd will try to 

 bring themselves and their business up to the 

 standing at which they ought to be in tho 

 commercial world — in the foremost rank. For 

 is he not the cultivator of the beauties of na- 

 ture? Therefore he should by his surroundings 

 r.how the truth of this, and that he appreciates- 

 the fact that the florist business is one of the 

 most elevating and refining oC all occupations. 



There was a marked increase in the demand 

 for first-cluss flowers during the holidays. Nolu- 

 ing was too good, and stock brought an equiva- 

 lent price. Thi holiday business, in fact, the 

 florist business during the whole year, has beeu 

 niuch better than formerly. I think I can 

 with safety say that there has been an aver- 

 age increase of 25 per cent over that of any 

 previous year. 



At a Farmers' Institute held in Tiffin by 

 the Agricultural Society of Seneca County, unaei 

 tlie auspices of the St^te Agricultural Depart- 

 u:ent. an article on floriculture was delivered by 

 your humble servant, in which particular stress 

 was phiccd on beautifying the grounds surround- 

 ing farmers' h-mes. Among other things men- 

 tioned were rose beds, in which the plants from 

 the benches of our ruse houses wei-e recommend- 

 ed. This proved very fruitful. We succeeded 

 in selling about 2,500 of Bride, Bridesmaia. 

 Golden Gate, Perle des Jardins, which paid 

 very well for the time it took to get up the 

 addi-ess before the Institute. We sold the plants 

 at the rate of 15c. each, whether one or more 

 was taken; and selling the number we did in 

 so short a time, it paid much better than throw- 

 ing the plants on a heap and burning them up. 

 1 have made it a point to inquire as to the 

 result, and universally the buyers are wey 

 pleased, as the roses are blooming p ofnsely. 

 This sale of stock which is usually considered 

 worthless assisted very materially in replanting 

 our rose houses for the coming season. 



There is an increased demand for perennials, 

 especially among the farming community. 



The season was very backward, cold and rainy 

 weather prevailing, which, when it did let up. 

 brought the work all into a bunch. Everybody 

 wanted their bedding done first. The inc eased 

 demand for porch and window boxes, hanging 

 baskets and general bedding, made the florist 

 who had a good deal of thi.t kind of work to 

 do e.-cert himself in order to please all his ens 

 tomers. The demand has beeu so b isk with 

 most of the florists in this section that by the 

 first of July they were all pretty well sold out 

 of bedding st< ck, getting better prices, and hav- 

 ing less trouble to collect outstanding accounts. 



TliLse of the craft who more or less exten 

 sively grow cut flowers have at this date nearly 

 all of their rose houses planted, and some are 

 ranking preparations to house carnations. So far 

 as I have heard, the carnations in the field are 

 looking well, with few exceptions, where they 

 were planted on low land, and were covered 

 with water caused by the overflow of streams 

 swelled beyond their capacity by the rains. In 

 such places the growers are losing some plants 

 by stem-rot. With me. the overflow took 

 the «oil from one end of the field, leaving tne 

 plants upon stilts, as it were, and burying them 

 at the other end. so that after the water had 

 receded one conld see only an occasional leaf 

 sticking through the mud. These had to he un- 

 covered, and the surplus soil hauled back to 

 where the water had brought it from and put 

 around the pl.mts from which it was taken. 

 Doing this work promptly and carefully, my Icsm 

 was but slight. Had the sun shone my loss 

 would have been greater; but for three days fol- 

 lowing this severe rain storm the weather was 

 floudy, so thar the plants which had their roots 

 exposed did not suffer. I lost a few plants 

 which were covered with soil too long; we 

 conld not handle them until the water hail 

 drained off. which was a slow process in some 

 parts of the field, and the plants n tted. 



Quite a number of florists about here are 

 very much troubled with thrlps on their roses 

 and carnations, principally the latter; we never 

 before have known the test so destructive as 

 this season. 



LEWIS ULRICH. 

 State Vice-Presidfiit fur Northe-U Ohio. 



New York, East. 



To the President and ISIembers of the S. A. F. 

 and 0. H.: 



As state vice-president, it i;; again my priv- 

 ilege to make a report of the work of the past 

 year. 



Generally speaking, trade has beeu satisfac- 

 tory in all lines connected with the florist's 

 business. 



Among the greenhouse builders , business is 

 now brisk. While there has been a considerable 

 increase in the building trade over last year, 

 there Is very little difference In New Y'ork State, 

 the increase being elsen here. In our section 

 no commercial greenhouses of any consequenci- 

 are being erected, but in New Jersey several 

 contracts have been given < ut for large ranges. 

 The product of these will be shipped to the 

 New York market to be scdd; in fact, most of 

 cur r'scs come from New Jersey. This season's 

 building among the private estates has been 

 an exceedingly busy one. 



There is no likelihood of a leduclion in build- 

 ing material, but it looks very much as If there 

 will be an increase in wrought and cast iron 

 and steel, and all articles made the efrom be- 

 fore the end of this year. While the price of 

 glass was down a little, it is uuw rumored prices 

 will be advanced considerably. 

 , In cut flowers the fall trade was very good 

 until the chrysanthemums arrived; tbeu busi- 

 ness slackened up considerably. Thanksgiving 

 day turned out the same as usual, with plent> 

 of flower.s, and quantities of chrysanthemums, 

 priceri being fair. Chrysanthemums this season 

 were cheaper than ever before, and the supply 

 lasted far into December. 



Large quant ites of Boston ferns and rubbef 

 plants were sold last year, some being disposed 

 of very cheap. 



Christmas trade was satisfactory. .On thai 

 day the cut flower business was very slow until 

 after midniglit, then it improved, with a rush 

 for h'lgh-grade stock, which brought exception- 

 ally good prices, a few choice Bridesmaid roses 

 bringing 75c. each. American Beauties were 

 overstocked and prices we e lower than last 

 year. 



The supply of carnations was satisfactory, 

 the fancy grades bringing high figures. 



Christmas greens were cleaned up ia most 

 places. 



The plant trade, which exceeds the cut flower 

 trade at Christmas, wls very heavy. Poinsei- 

 tias, azaleas, Lorraine begonias, peppers, aucu- 

 bas. dracaenas, ardlsias, heaths, orchids, ano 

 crotons were in evidenee, and sold well. Oranges 

 and imported hollie.s found a ready sale. 



nie demand for fruiting plants seems to be 

 on the increase. 



New Year's trade amounts to a good Satur- 

 day's busiress, no preparation being made now 

 for this holiday. 



The Ea ster trade, which was the best on 

 record for the plant grower, experienced a 

 set-back through the rain on the previous Fri- 

 day and Saturday. 



Lilies cleaned out well at good prices, as did 

 azaleas. These two plants exceed all the others 

 combined in quantity. There was the usual 

 number of genistas, Crimson Rambler roses, 

 hydrangeas, lilacs, rhododenarons. bougainvll- 

 leas, hybrid rr ses, acacias, hyacinths, daffodils, 

 lily of the valley and violets in pots to be soid. 



There is not much to be said about the cut 

 flower trade, as most of the stock had beeu 

 held back, and no reasonable offer was refused, 

 .ilthougli the better qualities of roses and car- 

 nations Sold well. 



There were cartloads of violets shipped, some 

 of which had been held back for weeks, and 

 sold fov .$1.(10 per 1,(100. After the weather 

 cleared and tlie sun came out, and the retailers 

 felt it would remain so, good violets were called 

 for and found to be the scarcest article to be 

 had. 



Bulbous stock, cut. was a complete drug. 



The florists' supply dealers speak encourag- 

 ingly of the business they have done, and frou> 

 all reports it is on the Increase. 



The auction houses have been well attended 

 this year. While the prices were not up to 

 those of lii&t year, the number of plants sold 

 exceeded that of all previous years, and the 

 outlook is very encLuri'ging for a good fall 

 business. The demand for salvias seemed to be 

 in the lead, with named cannas a good second. 



Tlie seedsmen reiwrt a b isk spring busines.^. 



There appears to he a special demand for 

 shrubs and h^irdy plants; also seeds cf the lat- 

 ter. 



In suburban gardens the tendency is to plant 

 s-hrnbs and hi.rdy herl)aceons plants which do 

 not require to he transplanted each year. Thi: 

 iir(i«pects for the fall seem bright; advance or- 

 ders are being placed more freely for all lines 

 of bulbous stock, and in most cases at higher 

 prices than formerly. 



The demand for hardy lilies has been espe- 

 cially noticeable; amongst these are all the 

 :»ative lilies of Califm'uia. 



The retail trade has had its share of pros- 

 perity. The Bridesmaid is stiil the most popu- 

 lar and best-selling rose with them; American 

 Beauties aud orchids are in greater demand with 

 the leadinc florists. Lily of the valley was in 

 large demand, but the sale of general bulbons 

 stock is falling ofl^ with first-class houses. 



The demand for cut carnations has greatly 

 increased, good people refusing to buy the cheap- 

 er varieties. 



Rose growers have had a good, steady sale 

 for their stock; while prices were not so high 

 as in former years, they were firmer through- 

 out the season. New' plantings are doing well. 

 Some rose men are growing American Beaut; 

 extensively this yer.r, as that rose was in brisU 

 demand the past season. 



Carnation uien have passed through one of 

 the best seasons that they ever had, and are 

 now preparing for a better one. The stock iu 

 the field is looking very fine, and by this time 

 most of the houses are planted. The varieties 

 that will be grown extensively next year will 

 be Mrs. Lawson. Gov. Roosevelt. Wra. Scoti. 

 Corna. Harry Fenn, Vioia Allen. .T. H. Manley, 

 G. H. Crane, Mornii'g Glory. Golden Beauty, 

 Mrs, Bradt, Prosperity. Floriana, Flora Hill, 

 Lizzie McG iwan and White Cloud. 



Some men who have experimented plant Ina 

 direct into the greenhouses have been success- 

 ful in getting a full g owth. The carnation 

 center fnr the East is now on Long Island. 



Violets have maintaiced a good price through- 



