i'BBEUAnY 11, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



551 



the florist, whatever his particular line 

 may be. 



The Christmas Story. 



Without trespassing too far in the di- 

 rection of special questions, which I have 

 purposely avoided in this paper, let us 

 for a moment turn to that most vital 

 problem of the cut flower industry, the 

 distribution of the produce. At the re- 

 cent holiday time we learned from sun- 

 dry suburban and country papers that 

 the scarcity of flowers for Christmas was 

 unprecedented. "On Christmas eve there 

 was not a rose or carnation of any kind 

 to be purchased in the city," was a sort 

 of stock item all along the line. Why 

 is it that we find florists reporting a 

 holiday famine in towns within an hour's 

 ride of New York city, while growers' 

 cellars and wholesalers' refrigerators are 

 bulging with unsold stock and, perchance, 

 the curbstone stands in the city heaping 

 with flowers of varying ages at a few 

 cents a bunch? 



In reply to that question we shall 

 avail ourselves of the Yankee's birth- 

 right and answer by asking another: 

 "Why a higher price on flowers at 

 Christmas?" 



If Jostled, Move Up. 



I take it that, in a profession so com- 

 prehensive in scope, no necessity exists 

 for long-continued overproduction on 

 any special line. If fortune be unstable 

 our will is free. Wlien you find your- 

 self overcrowded and jostled in your 

 specialty, just watch your opportunity 

 and move up. There is always room 

 at the top. No place is so well con- 

 ducted that some material increase in ef- 

 ficiency is impossible; no plant or flower 

 now popular is so universally well grown 

 that somebody cannot do it still better. 

 The list of good subjects as yet in ob- 

 scurity, that may be made popular, i^ 

 practically unlimited and there is abun- 

 dant latitude for talent and industry in 

 the establishment of improved strains 

 of scores of things that have thus far 

 scarcely been touched. 



As wealth and refinement increase, the 

 demand for conservatories grows apace ; 

 well grown stock for the filling of such 

 places, in the hands of a well managed 

 concern, is as good as government bonds. 

 So rapidly has this fever for beautiful 

 home grounds and gardens spread in this 

 country that the call for choice planting 

 material far exceeds the stock available 

 here and even foreign sources are being 

 rapidly denuded. Only a few days ago 

 a friend, desirous of constructing a rose 

 garden, complained to me of inability to 

 procure the stock he required. Choice 

 lilacs on their own roots, well grown 

 conifers in reliably hardy varieties, nur- 

 sery-grown kalmias, and similar things 

 are wanted. Where are they? Where 

 can the stock for one substantial plan- 

 tation of hardy rhododendrons, or for a 

 house of foreign grapes, or good plants 

 of the finer peonies, in a business way, be 

 found ? 



The Need of Brains. 



Every sign points to a glorious open- 

 ing for the immediate future for the in- 

 telligent gardener with high aspirations 

 and a determination to excel. There is 

 scarcely a line, no matter how unpromis- 

 ing it looks, that will not respond in a 

 profitable way when you put brains into 

 it. While it is true that the worst 

 bowler on the alley may sometimes make 

 the first ten-strike in the game, and that 

 the chance hybridizer may turn up a 



Calanthe Veitchii. 



carnation or a chrysanthemum that will 

 sweep the field, yet it is a safe proposi- 

 tion always that in the long run the ex- 

 pert will distance the common throng. 

 The young man who takes up horticul- 

 ture as a calling today, if endowed with 

 common sense and zeal, will not be con- 

 tent to settle into any branch, however 

 lucrative for the moment, which oifers 

 the novice an even chance to locate at 

 his elbow and become a dangerous rival. 

 Think you that Peter Fisher lies awake 

 nights fretting over the possibility of 

 somebody showing up to skim the cream 

 off his carnation milk? Tom Roland 

 can sell ten times as many Lorraine be- 

 gonias as he can produce, year after year. 

 M. H. Walsh hasn't seen rose hybridiza- 

 tion run into the ground just yet, and 

 Tom Butterworth will be a centenarian 

 before he sees a flower-factory able to 

 compete in his specialty of orchid grow- 

 ing. Numerous similar illustrations of 

 my point might be cited and will no 

 doubt come to the minds of all. 



BALTIMORE FLORISTS SAFE. 



On Sunday and Monday, February^ 7 

 and 8, the city of Baltimore was vis- 

 ited by the most disastrous conflagra- 

 tion which has visited any city of the 

 world since the great Chicago fire. Two 

 square miles of the citv were destroved, 

 entailing a loss of $125,000,000. The 

 territory burned was principally the 

 wholesale district and a telegram from 

 W. B. Sands, dated February 10, says, 

 "No florist even damaged." 



CALANTHES. 



We are always much interested in 

 Mr. Scott's "Seasonable Hints," which 

 are ever practical and helpful, just 

 what the busy gardener and florist 

 needs. We read with special interest 

 his orchid notes in the last issue of 

 January. In speaking of calanthes, Mr. 

 Scott makes some statements which 

 would lead us to suppose that his meth- 

 od of culture for these beautiful and 

 popular winter blooming orchids is de- 

 cidedly out of the common. His re- 

 marks refer, we presume, to Calanthe 



Veitchii, for he states this to be the 

 most popular species. 



Mr. Scott says: "They are, or soon 

 will be, out of flower. When started 

 the latter part of September or Octo- 

 ber they begin to make the growth, 

 which will form the bulb for another 

 year." Does Mr. Scott make a habit 

 of starting his calanthes as late as Sep- 

 tember and still get flowers for Christ- 

 mas? We read further, "after the 

 flower is cut, growth must be encour- 

 aged and continued until the bulb is 

 fully developed, which may be the mid- 

 dle of April." May we ask Mr. Scott 

 what growth is to be encouraged, see- 

 ing that Calanthe Veitchii is deciduous 

 at its flowering season and that the 

 bulbs are also fully matured? What 

 good object is to be attained by giving 

 liquid manure "from now on for the 

 next few months" to flowerless and 

 leafless bulbs? 



We would like Mr. Scott to more ful- 

 ly describe the culture of calanthes. 

 We have always found it necessary to 

 start them about the end of March in 

 flats and pot as soon as gi-owths were 

 about two inches long. We have found, 

 in addition, that it took some seven or 

 eight months to flower our bulbs, for 

 we rarely have any open before 

 Thanksgiving and still have some 

 spikes to cut. Now, if Mr. Scott can 

 assure us that by giving liquid manure 

 for a few months longer and then rest- 

 ing our bulbs ' ' in any warm comer un- 

 til September and kept absolutely dry" 

 we may still achieve good results, what 

 a saving in time and worry can be 

 made. 



New discoveries of startling moment 

 are being frequently made in this stren- 

 uous age. Having taught us how to 

 grow and flower calanthes in three 

 months, cannot you wave the wizard's 

 wand. Brother Scott, and induce the 

 fractious cattleyas, Iselias, odontoglos- 

 sums, phalfenopsis and kindred spirits 

 to vield to your magic touch? The or- 

 chid cultivators will then place you on 

 a far higher pinnacle of fame than the 

 discoverers of wireless telegraphy and 

 radium. W. N. Craig. 



