638 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



OCTOBEK 9, 1902. 



that two years ago we had same ex- 

 perience directly the plants were housed 

 and established. Always appearing in 

 the same bench and disappearing after 

 .firing, also, the bench being a west side 

 one against a partition, the hot morn- 

 ing sun having full play, while there 

 was practically no sun after 3 p. m., 

 we concluded that the soil remained too 

 wet during sixteen hours' shade and 

 darkness, also that the eight hours' sun 

 being very hot, the two extremes forced 

 this peculiar growth. I thiidc Mr. Baur 

 hit the nail on the head in the last 

 sentence of his reply. 



Geo. S. Osborn. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Early Flowers. 



A look over the plants reveals the 

 fact that three varieties are now in ex- 

 cellent shape for cutting. These are 

 October Sunshine, I^ady Harriet and 

 Miss Alice Byron, and form a very use- 

 ful trio in yellow, pink and white. The 

 buds from which these flowers have de- 

 veloped were all taken from August 9 

 to 11 and therefore have developed in 

 about eight weeks, as date of writing is 

 October 4. 



October Sunshine is a beautiful yel- 

 low and the only fault it has with me 

 is a delicate constitution, which renders 

 it liable to leaf disease. It will come 

 good on any bud, but makes the best 

 flower from buds taken the second week 

 in August. 1 would recommend this va- 

 riety to anyone having a demand for 

 early flowers. 



Lady Harriet is classed as coming in 

 with Robinson, but by experimenting 

 with earlier buds we find it is two weeks 

 ahead of that variety. Lady Harriet is 

 one of the neatest and cleanest growers 

 in the pink section that I have handled 

 for a long while, and unlike nearly all 

 the other early pinks does not show any 

 signs of burning or damping. I unhesi- 

 tatingly endorse it as the best early pink 

 from my own experience. 



Miss Alice Byron is generally cata- 

 logued as a mid-season, but if the flower 

 will always come as clean and perfect 

 from early buds as it is doing this year 

 it may be classed as an early variety 

 and one of the very best at that. It is 

 the purest white in color. 



Drip. 



We are getting considerable rain and 

 so far the weather has been unfavorable 

 for the developing of flowers. A wet 

 October always means loss to those 

 growers who are growing an extra qual- 

 ity grade of flowers. Look over the 

 flowers daily and remove any decaying 

 florets and be careful to see that drip 

 from the roof is not falling into the 

 flowers. This is sometimes an unsus- 

 pected cause of rotting in houses which 

 are not tight in the roofs. 



Overfeeding. 



If you find any buds that look as 

 though the stem had been half severed 

 through by a knife, it is a sign for you 

 to stop feeding. The cause of this par- 

 tial beheading of the bud is the fact 

 that the roots are pumping up more 

 nourishment than the bud can assimi- 

 late, and nature adopts this methotl of 

 checking the flow of sap. This trouble 

 will only be noticed on crown buds, 

 which is easily enough explained. Af- 

 ter a bud is taken there is no more 

 growth, and the only outlet for the en- 

 ergy of the plant is the enlarging and 



perfecting of the growth already made. 

 In the case of terminal buds there is an 

 extra growth to develop, and therefore 

 more outlet for the superfluous energy, 

 though it should be remembered that 

 before the terminal bud appears the 

 crown bud is already at its work of de- 

 velopment and therefore naturally 

 makes the larger flower. 



Watering, 



owing to the constant rains, is just now 

 a matter for watchfulness and discrimi- 

 nation. It is far better to run over the 

 benches every day and water only the 

 dry spots than to water the whole bed 

 whether it needs it or not and trust to 

 luck for the weather to clear and dry it 

 out again. Even with good weather the 

 supply of water can be much reduced, 

 because as the bud nears development 

 far less water is needed than during the 

 growing season. Damping of the paths 

 should be discontinued and every effort 

 made to keep a genial, dry atmosphere. 



Insects. 



This dry atmosphere is very favorable 

 to the rapid increase of black fly and red 

 spider, but if you have fumigated ear- 

 lier, as you should, your plants will 

 now be clean and free from insects. 

 Where black fly is making its appear- 

 ance about all that can be done is to 

 spread tobacco stems thickly through 

 the house. Fumigation when flowers 

 are open is out of the question, and 

 flowers shipped to market in a dirt.v 

 condition mean small prices and, what 

 is almost as bad, loss of reputation. 



An insect that fumigation does not 

 seem to touch is the little brown thrips 

 that secretes himself in the petals of 

 the flower. This little pest seems to 

 suck the coloring matter out of the 

 petals, leaving the skin only, and \in- 

 less destroyed will soon render a flower 

 unsalable. "'By his wcrks shall ye knu'V 

 him," and hand-picking is the surest 

 way to dispose of him. 



Brian Boru. 



THE DALE ESTATE, BRAMPTON, 

 ONT. 



I was once again honored with the 

 position of judge at Toronto's big In- 

 dustrial Exposition, the largest annual 

 fair on the continent by a considerable 

 majoritj'. All Ontario and some of the 

 other provinces should be. and doubtless 

 are very proud of this big exhibition. 

 It is a credit to the energy and patriot- 

 ism of Ontario, for, as I understand it, 

 it is no money making scheme, though 

 self sustaining, and the people go to 

 newer and better buildings, and those 

 being erected now are both architectur- 

 ally and substantially of an exalted 

 type compared to those which have done 

 duty for years. A great improvement 

 is noticeable this year in the absence of 

 dozens of peanut, orange and lemonade 

 stands and other abominations. The.v 

 are kept off the principal roads. An- 

 other improvement will be a more com- 

 modious and handsome structure for the 

 Horticultural Department. As it is 

 at present, plants, flowers and fruits are 

 badly crowded, especially the two for- 

 mer. The show in the cut flower depart- 

 ment was good, but we are sony to see 

 several of the leading firms taking no 

 part in it. It's a great pleasure to 

 meet old acquaintances and we met 

 most of them, and sincerely trust that 

 we left few kicks behind. 



Leavinc our better half Mn our case 



no doubt about it) in care of our old- 

 est baby, I boarded the Grand Trunk 

 railroad train for Brampton, chiefly 

 noted as the home of the now great 

 flower growing establishment, founded 

 and fostered to a good age by the la- 

 mented Harry Dale — a poetical name — 

 a most modest, unassuming, splendid 

 character, whose untimely taking ofif 

 some three years ago was deeply 

 mourned by all who had ever met him. 

 If ever there was a man without an 

 enemy, it was Harry Dale. In the smok- 

 ing compartment of the coach was a 

 most pleasant gentleman, and with him 

 a cute, chattering little girl, whose chip- 

 per sayings sort of paved the way to a 

 talk and the conversation led to flow- 

 ers, and the M. D., as he turned out 

 to be, said "If you want to see flowers, 

 you want to stop off at a little tovm a 

 few miles up the road." "My dear sir," 

 said I. "You allude to the Dale Estate. I 

 know all about it — been there lots of 

 times." I really thought I did, but 

 was mistaken, for it is more than fhree 

 times as large as it was when last we 

 were in Brampton. 



My time was but two hours on the 

 great place and that allowed only a 

 "look in" at many of the houses. 

 Doubtless many things of great interest 

 missed me, but what I did see and what 

 I relate is authentic and can be sworn 

 to. 



Several years before his death Mr. 

 Dale associated himself with Mr. T. W. 

 Duggan. Mr. Duggan is not a florist 

 nor a gardener, but a bright, pleasant, 

 shrewd business man. who ably takes 

 care of that most important end — the 

 business and financial end — and no bet- 

 ter evidence of his management is needed 

 than the size and growth of tne place. 

 He is also one of the executors of the 

 est.ate. 



Mr. Edward Dale is superintendent of 

 the growing. Many of you have met 

 auburn haired, handsome "Ed." If not, 

 go there and you will be surprised at 

 his modesty when he is showing you 

 around this modern nine acres of glass. 

 Unlike many large places I have seen 

 where you had to step over steam pipes 

 or jump over mud puddles in the paths, 

 it is throughout neat, clean and sub- 

 stantial. There are now a total of 

 sixty-nine houses, or 450.000 feet of 

 glass, two-thirds of this erected within 

 three years. There are but a very few 

 of the old-fashioned long-span-to-the- 

 south houses. There is one consider- 

 able range of the short-span-to-the- 

 south devoted to carnations. Mr. Dale 

 admits that was wrong and it will not 

 be long until they are remodeled. 



Although I have seen some magnifi- 

 cent roses grown in these same houses, 

 what would jar you with wonder are 

 eiffht houses, equal span, each 17 feet 

 wide and 840 feet long. It is three acres 

 of glass under one roof, for there is 

 nothing to hide the view of the whole 

 three acres but the posts supporting 

 the gutters. The beds are all on the 

 ground — not solid beds, mind you, be- 

 cause there are only four or five inches 

 of soil on a three-inch tile. The houses 

 are equal span, the walks under the gut- 

 ter, no pipes supporting the ridge or 

 purlins. The roof is supported by a 

 system of i iron trusses and it seems 

 to answer most admirably. The heat- 

 ing pipes are all on the sides of the 

 walks and a little below the level of the 

 beds. Mr. Dale wants no steam pipes 

 more than a few inches from the 



