814 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



March 17. 1004. 



commencing. At tlie present time every 

 inch of the ground has Been edvereii with 

 from three to sixteen inches t)f good 

 black loam, as necessity required, and 

 lawns of moS-s'y grass have aj)peared in 

 places which were clay mounds. 



East of the Agriculture building is 

 located the rose exhibits in this sec- 

 tion, six acres in extent, being contrib- 

 uted by many nurserymen. Adjoining 

 this is a section given up to conifer ex- 

 hibits. Directly north of the north main 

 entrance to this building is located the 

 floral clock, which has a dial of 100 feet 

 in diameter. This dial will be planted 

 with flowering and foliage plants. The 

 minute hand is fifty feet long, and last, 

 but not least, will keep time, the minute 

 hand moving six feet every minute. The 

 mechanical working of this clock will 

 be revealed by doors in the tower opening 

 at each hour. It will also strike, marking 

 the hours and half-hours. Electricity * 

 will make it possible to see the time by 

 this floral feature after darkness sets, 

 for 2,000 lights are dispersed over the 

 dial. 



On the west side of the Agriculture 

 building, north of the center, will be 

 massive beds of cannas, gladioli, cala- 

 diums and dahlias, in extent from 400 

 feet to one-half acre. South of the cen- 

 ter on the west side of the Agriculture 

 building, on a two-acre tract, will be 

 located the wild flower section, these 

 flowers varying from nymphaeas to opun- 

 tias. Fall flowering perennials will be 

 prominent in this planting, also the 

 beautiful autumn foliage. 



Returning to rose gardens, we will 

 journey south adjacent to this section. 

 On the south are collections of shrub- 

 bery and specimen lawn trees. Farther 

 south, northeast of the conservatory and 

 southeast of the Agriculture building, 

 the aquatic sections are located, the 

 larger being one acre in size and 800 

 water plants will be used, mostly nym- 

 phceas. The space between the Agricul- 

 ture and Horticulture buildings will be 

 given over to formal treatment. Flower 



THE GULLETT ESTABLISHMENT. 



We present this week two views of 

 the greenhouses of W. H. Gullett & 

 Sons, rose and carnation growers, of 

 Lincoln, 111. One illustration shows a 

 partial exterior view ; the other shows 

 two new iron gutter carnation houses, 

 the one nearest the camera being the 

 Lawson house in full crop. Gullett & 

 Sons' place consists of twenty-two houses 

 and about 80,000 square feet of glass, 

 mostly devoted to the production of cut 

 flowers, which are shipped principally to 

 the St. Louiu market. The firm has some 

 very fine fancy carnations, Adonis, Pros- 

 perity and Enchantress, as well as most 

 of the good standard sorts, and grows 

 some fine Brides, Maids, Meteors, Perles, 

 Ivory and Golden Gates; also two houses 

 of American Beauties. 



THE GLADIOLUS. 



The following is an extract from a paper re- 

 ceutl.y read, before the New Jersey State Horti- 

 ;ultural Society by Arthur Cowee, Berlin, N. Y. 



While I do not claim to be an author- 

 ity on the gladiolus, I do lay claim to 

 being the most enthusiastic growc-r in 

 the country, and I think justly so, too, 

 for annually I have thio confirmed by 

 amateurs, seedsmen and professional 

 growers who visit my fields, leaving 

 them reluctantly and always with the re- 

 mark that they have never seen better 

 quality and in such quantity. 



Being an enthusiast and having ex- 

 perimented with almost every known 

 type of this flower, with varied results, 

 naturally I have found some strains so 

 much superior to others that I am con- 

 strained to more especially refer to them. 

 It is an acknowledged fact among all 

 growers of summer flowering plants, 

 shrubs and bulbs, be they professional or 

 amateur, that there is no flower grown 

 which requires so little attention and 

 care, and so limiterl a capital commen- 

 surare with tlie results, as the _,;l idiohis. 

 Althougti it is a llcwer which is espe- 

 cially adapted for indoor blooming after 

 the buds are well developed in the gar- 



i'.: 



Ill 



iniH»Bisi i«"i)«jT="1Si 'jinuii 



■ ^v^^<» ■ aw^pc/ratK.:^ 



Carnation Range of W. H. Gullett & Sons, Lincoln, III. 



beds will embellish this portion of Agri- 

 culture hiU. On the terrace north of 

 the Horticulture building will be placed 

 the foreign exhibits. A terrace 500 feet 

 long, with promenade along entire length, 

 will be treated formally. 



PlEKRE, S. D. — The American Mush- 

 room and Greenhouse Co. has been 

 licensed to incorporate with $300,000 cap- 

 ital stock. 



den, still a most maguificent display can 

 be secured by planting en masse or by 

 the use of this flower as a background 

 for continuous blooming dwarf annuals. 

 With a succession of from two to three 

 plantings about two weeks apart, there 

 would be no lack of bloom during the 

 entire season in our northern climate, and 

 with more plantings, our flower loving 

 friends in the south and warmer climates 

 could prolong the blooming season. 



When but a boy on the farm I be- 

 came especially interested in the glad- 

 iolus, noting the many attributes which 

 combined to make it one of the most 

 popular and valuable of flowers. Little 

 did I think, however, at that time that 

 there were such possibilities in the de- 

 velopment of the size and beauty of the 

 flowe^, strength of spike, vigor and vi- 

 tality of corm as has been accomplished. 

 From the common red varieties, with a 

 few inferior light and mixed colors of a 

 few years ago, have been realized by the 

 hands of the skillful scientific hybridists, 

 thousands of the largest and most 

 gorgeous colored flowers, and in some 

 strains the small flower of a few years 

 ago is now the exception. 



With the idea of securing the highest 

 quality possible, naturally, without the 

 knowledge since obtained, I turned to 

 the high-priced European and American 

 novelties as a basis for a large collection. 

 Many of the former, however, for the 

 first one or two seasons, would produce 

 magnificent results, but afterward, owing 

 to some unfavorable climatic conditions, 

 or to supposed improper breeding, such 

 varieties would show deterioration not 

 only in the size of flower, but in the size 

 and strength of corm as well. 1 have 

 spent in one season as much as %1,000 

 upon one variety, paying for the same in 

 the neighborhood of 50 cents each for 

 the corms, to find three years after but 

 thirty bulbs left. A most magnificent 

 flower and well arranged upon the 5pike, 

 but not of suificient vitality to prosper 

 even under the favorable conditions 

 which my fields afforded. This same va- 

 riety, protected and coddled like a sick 

 child, has been retained by a few grow- 

 ers. 



Then, too, the multiplying qualities of 

 most of the novelties of both foreign and 

 domestic origin have been so meager that 

 it would take many years to increase 

 them suflBciently so as to place them 

 -within the reach of .other than the 

 wealthy. Whereas, with the new hybrids, 

 the reproductive qualities have been 

 strengthened so that not only quality 

 but quantity is as readily secured, there- 

 by placing them within reach of the 

 masses. 



I remember very well my first experi- 

 ence with that old red variety, Brench- 

 Icyensis, which is generally considered to 

 be a very rapid multiplier, but which, 

 ■ompared with some hybrids with which 

 I am most familiar, is very slow indeed. 

 It is unusual to find more than 100 

 cormels attached to this old variety, 

 while upon the new hybrids it is quite 

 the rule to find hundreds, and these, too, 

 from bulblet planting. 



It is not to be wondered at, therefore, 

 that many growers of this queen of flow- 

 ers have become discouraged and dis- 

 gusted with its cultivation, after having 

 secured at high prices varieties bearing 

 the name of some distinguished person 

 or place, and at the same time a most en- 

 ticing description, to find that these 

 lauded varieties are chance hybrids, the 

 work of bees, butterflies, etc, and not 

 the result of the work of the careful hy- 

 bridist, with whose extended experience 

 and knowledge of the proper selections of 

 parent plants, these same hybrids or their 

 counterparts could be secured, and of 

 such vitality and vigor that the liability 

 of deterioration would be remote, com- 

 pared with the chance hybrids which 

 in most strains are the rule rather than 

 the exception. In making the above 

 statement I do not wish to be understood 

 as taking the position that all named va- 



