228 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Decembek 24, 1903. 



of extreme old age. In general it may 

 be said that roses sold better than last 

 year because 'the average price was a 

 little lower, that carnations sold slower 

 because the prices were higher and that 

 bulb stock went well because everyday 

 prices prevailed. 



Various Notes. 

 The Chicago Florists ' Club will hold a 

 series of meetings in the various sec- 

 tions of the city, north, south and west, 

 between January 1 and February 17, the 

 exact dates and locations to be announced 

 later. All persons in any way engaged iu 

 the trade are requested to be present, 

 especially employes who are not members 

 of the club. 



At the last club meeting W. X. Eudd 

 invited the craft to "picnic" at his 

 place on Friday, December 18, and many 

 accepted, but only a small party showed 

 up at the appointed hour. Those who 

 absented themselves missed a veiy pleas- 

 ant afternoon. Phyllis, Mr. Rudd's new 

 light pink, was, of course, a center of 

 interest, for the variety always shows 

 up strong. He has a large planting of 

 an imnamed white seedling of 1898 w-hieh 

 came in for general approval. It has 

 never been staged at a flower show, and 

 it may not be an exhibition variety, but 

 it looks to be a first-class money maker. 

 There is a red, with an exaggerated 

 stem that may be exhibited next year. 

 Mr. Rudd says White Lawson is in every 

 way better than the parent and certain- 

 ly the plants on his place bear out his 

 statement. 



The $50 premium money donated by 

 Peter Eeinberg and Wietor Bros., for 

 last week's? Florists' Club show, was dis- 

 tributed as follows: $20 to Garfield 

 Park Floral Co., $10 to J. A. Peterson, 

 $5 to W. L. Palinsky, $5 to Kalous 

 Bros., $10 to Chicago Carnation Co., each 

 of whom had a meritorious exlubit. 



One well-known carnation grower, al- 

 though not a large one, says he finds it 

 profitable to put a union label on every 

 carnation bud as soon as it shows color. 

 The little rubber band eflfeetually pre- 

 vents the calyx from Dursting, does not 

 retard development and is quickly cut 

 off when bunching the flowers. 



John EeJtmeyer has a range of seven 

 houses at St. Louis and Foster avenues, 

 all devoted to carnations and doing well. 

 His Enchantress are particularly good. 

 Randall handles his cut. Mr. Reitmeyer 

 was one of tlie first greenhouse builders 

 north of town, but has given up con- 

 tracting altogether. 



J. F. Klinmier says that from 5,000 

 carnation plants, his cut lately has been 

 700 a week, where in October and early 

 November he got twice as many. 



A handsome Christmas present came 

 to John Steinmetz, one of the ti"avelers 

 for W. W. Barnard & Co., in the shape 

 of a nine-pound son, arriving December 

 21. 



Harry Eowe has the decoration at Rec- 

 tor's for New Year's eve. 



Klehm's Nursery was in with a very 

 big cut of Liberty for Chi-istmas. 



The stockholders in the Flower Grow- 

 ers' market will hold their annual meet- 

 ing January 2. 



Mrs. Stollery comes down each morn- 

 ing with a nice lot of plants, including 

 peppers, azaleas, poinsettias and bulb 

 stock in pans. 



The secretary of staie at Springfield 



has licensed the incorporation of the 

 Chicago Florists' Bowling Club. It is 

 stated that the appUeation was made 

 by two members and others without au- 

 thoritv from the club. 



OUR FLORISTS' CLUBS. 



In a recent issue of the Gardeners' 

 Magazine, London, William Falconer, of 

 Pittsburg, writes in part as follows: 



' ' In most all of the big cities of the 

 United States the florists and gardener? 

 Iiave wiiat are known as florists' clubs, 

 (.ne iu each city. The club meets once 

 a month and discusses timely horticul- 

 tural topics. These clubs, when properly 

 handled, do much good; they bring the 

 members into close acquaintance, and all 

 become familiar with the newest and 

 best varieties of plants to grow, and the 

 best paying and most progressive meth- 

 ods of cultivation and construction, etc. 

 These clubs are not beneficiary societies 

 in any way. 



"As I have for several years been 

 president of The Pittsburg and Alle- 

 gheny Florists' and Gardeners' Club, I 

 will tell you something about what we do, 

 and this may be suggestive in inducing 

 you to go and do likewise. We hire a 

 small hall one night a month. Our an- 

 nual dues are $2 a year, just enough tu 

 ))ay our expenses. AVe meet at night 

 from 8 to 10, but it is often 11 before we 

 get through, and our meetings are well 

 attended, bright and interesting. Rout- 

 ine business is brief, and long discussions 

 are disallowed. A special subject, as 

 the rose, carnation, palms, house decora- 

 tions or the like, is taken up for consid- 

 eration and discussion at each meeting; 

 it is announced at the previous meeting, 

 and all come prepared to handle it, and a 

 special exhibition of the subject is made. 

 For instance, if it be roses, the several 

 growers of roses send in a few of their 

 choicest flowers, and a letter of request 

 is sent out to the uttermost ends of the 

 country to the raisers of new varieies or 

 growers of special kinds for exhibits of 

 their roses and a few notes about them. 

 This brings together a most instructive 

 display. No papers are prepared or 

 read. A busy gardener or florist has no 

 time to prepare a paper; besides, the 

 very tliought of ha\-ing to prepare and 

 read a paper would scare some of our 

 very best growers clean out of our club. 

 But the most diffident cultivator will an- 

 swer questions as fast as j'ou ply them 

 at him. 



"The president takes the chair and 

 gets through the routine business as quick 

 as possible. Now we come to the subject 

 of the evening, viz., Roses. The stand- 

 ard sorts are taken fh-st, and one variety 

 at a time is placed on his table. These 

 American Beauties were grown by John 

 Smith. John is asked the condition of 

 his crop, when he planted them, how far 

 apart, how deep the soil, the composition 

 of his soil, about temperature, ventila- 

 tion, training or tying, second crop, mil- 

 dew, red spider, fertilizers, etc., and John 

 will answer each question pointedly and 

 promptly. Then the chairman will ask 

 other growers pointed questions as re- 

 gards their experience and practice, and 

 there will be an explanation of differ- 

 ences in treatment or marketing or crop- 

 ping. There is no hesitation or dull- 

 ness; sometimes three or four men try 

 to speak at once. The Beauties are 

 passed and removed, and on to the table 

 come Meteors, and after them Brides, 

 Testouts, and so on, each one in its turn. 



Then come the new varieties, and the 

 way they are torn to pieces sometimes 

 makes one sorry they ever appeared. But 

 it is a critical audience and an honest 

 one. 



' ' For each month we select a seasona- 

 ble topic and all of our local daily news- 

 papers report these meetings, and they 

 also ai-e noted in our horticultural or flor- 

 ist papers. And once a year, in the sum- 

 mer-time, we have an outdoor picnic." 



Vegetable Forcing. 



Chicago, Dec. 23.— Radishes, $1 to 

 $1.25 per 100 bunches. Lettuce, head, 

 30 to 50 cents tub. Cucumbers, 50 to 

 60c dozen. 



C.^NANDAIGUA, N. Y. — Duucau Rhind 

 & Son grow grapes and vegetables as 

 well as roses and carnations. They also 

 have a large stock and fruit farm. 



The English horticultural journals are 

 taking favorable notice of the pure cul- 

 ture method of making mushroom spawn 

 practiced by Paul Swanson, Chicago. 

 The French growers have had good re- 

 sults by this method, and the English 

 papers ' have frequently advocated its 

 trial in that country. 



FUNGUS IN LETTUCE. 



If it were not for the attacks of 

 fungus, the growing of lettuce under 

 glass would in most cases be an easy 

 matter, but as it is, it requires constant 

 care and watching to ward off, or keep 

 the diseases in check. Much trouble may 

 be avoided by keeping the plants in as 

 healthy a condition as possible, as a 

 healthy plant is not nearly as susceptible 

 to the attack of any disease as a plant of 

 weakened vitality. "But as a healthy man 

 is not immune from contagion, no more 

 is a healthy plant immune from a fungous 

 disease if the spores of fungi are 

 brought in contact with it and the at- 

 mospheric and other conditions are suit- 

 able to the development of the fungus. 



The first step toward the prevention 

 of the trouble is to see that the house 

 gets a thorough cleaning before crop- 

 ping is begun, so that no spores will be 

 left hanging around. No decayed ma- 

 terial or rubbisli of any kind should be 

 left under the benches. All old soU 

 should bo taken out and the benches 

 given a thorough washing with hot lime, 

 or a spraying with copper sulphate solu- 

 tion before the new soil is put in. 



It is short-sighted policy to try to 

 raise a crop from old soil rather than 

 go to the trouble and expense of put- 

 ting in fresh material. The old soil may 

 look all right and one might think that 

 the addition of fertilizers would renew 

 its worn-out qualities, but the chief 

 danger is from its having been subjected 

 to the influence of summer weather and 

 having become more or less dry and 

 powdery, after which condition fungus 

 is almost certain to develop as soon as 

 water is applied. If any one wants to 

 prove this let him apply water to soU 

 that has been severely dried, and he will 

 be surprised to see how quickly the soil 

 will become covered with minute fungus. 

 Let him sow small seeds in it, and he 

 will find that no sooner are the seedlings 



