908 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



Makch 24. 1904. 



AT THE COTTAGE GARDENS. 



To one who has never visited the Cot- 

 tage Gardens, or to one even whose vis- 

 its have not been made for a year or 

 two, the great carnation factory is a 

 revehition. Added to it all now comes 

 the rapidly developing nursery business, 

 which promises in time to become an 

 even more interesting and profitable ven- 

 ture than the carnation industry. In 

 the big house of carnation seedlings are 

 some of tlie grandest flowers I have ever 

 seen. Many of them are certain to be- 

 come popular favorites and money mak- 

 ers when disseminated. To describe and 

 particularize them all would take a book 

 as large as Mr. Ward's fine work, The 

 American Carnation, for which by the 

 by, he tells me there is a constantly 

 growing demand. Among the new flow- 

 ers of especial beauty and merit are: 



No. 564-02, n Lawson pink wltli a SO-inch 

 stem, a 3'>-iiich flower and one that never 

 bursts its calyx; very prolific No. 2504-02. 

 4>4 inches, a Lawsou pink with a 4S-inch stem; 

 a' flower exactly like Prosperity. No. 2528-02. 

 a 40-inch stem, SVi-inch Bower, brilliant rose 

 pink; as free a bloomer as Harry Fenn. No. 

 660-02. a beautiful white. 3% -inch flower, 24- 

 inch stem, perfect calyx and good bloomer. No. 

 067-02. white seedling of Harry Fenn. 3>i-inch 

 flower, as free a bloomer and of the same habit. 

 No. 2621-02. immense white with a slight fram- 

 ing of crimson, very strong 30-inch stem, the 

 stem measuring a quarter of an inch through; 

 a splendid bloomer. No. 2651-02. white, the 

 Lawson type and as perfect stem and calyx; 

 profuse flowers average 3%-inch. No. 2653-02. 

 a white. 3-inch flower, very free and fragrant; 

 will surelv be heard from. No. 100-01. a deep 

 lavender and quite a novelty. No. 303-01, the 

 large scarlet, a halt interest in which has been 

 sold to tbe Thompson Co. No. 211-01, an intense 

 crimson flower 3'i to 4 inches. No. 234-01, a won- 

 der being deep crimson with 4-inch flowers and 

 stems over four feet. No. 217-02. brilliant 

 crimson. Gomez shade. 4-inch flower. 3%-foot 

 stem. No. 222-02. very similar to above and 

 as fi-ee a bloomer as Harry Penn. No. 228-02. 

 a grand fliwer which Mr. Ward calls "a crim- 

 son Prosperity. " average SM to 4 inches and 

 stems four feet; a certain acquisition. No. 401- 

 01 a delicate flesh pink of the Enchantress 

 shade, a perfect keeper and shipper, as free 

 as Morning Glory. 3% inches and over; a 

 beauty. No. 716-03. a clear lemon yellow with- 

 out a trace of scarlet, crimson or pink, flowers 

 averaging over four inches. A. flue novelty and 

 likely to be a permanent addition to the new 

 introductions. A flower three weeks on the 

 plant was still deliciously fragrant. It bears 

 no pollen and has an imperfect pistU. No. 

 556-02, a fine rose pink. 4 to 414-inch flower, 

 deep, with large calyx, does not burst; re- 

 sembles a chrysanthemum in form. No doubt 

 of its brilliant future. 



Mr. Ward has 7.5,000 carnation plants 

 in benches and in 2i4 and 3-inch pots, 

 every one of which will be used for in- 

 door planting and not a plant in the 

 field for their own use. The houses 

 filled with the established varieties are 

 in splendid condition, an average of 

 15,000 flowers a week now being cut for 

 the wholesale market, all of which arc 

 handled and disposed of by .John Young. 



Mr. Ward is cutting from four crim- 

 son varieties. The President. Harry 

 Fenn, Octoroon and Gov. Roosevelt; 

 from three light pinks. Enchantress, Al- 

 pine Glow and Mrs. Thayer: from four 

 dark pinks, Lawson, Ethel Ward. Flor- 

 iana and No. 508; from three whites, 

 Mackinac, Lorua and Gov. Lowndes; 

 from three scarlets. Gov. Bliss, Christ- 

 mas Eve and Adonis; from one yellow. 

 Golden Eagle, and from two novelties. 

 Judge Hinsdale and Prosperity. Mr. 

 W^ard considers Enchantress his best 

 paying carnation and says of Lieuten- 

 ant Peary that it is a grand white re- 

 sembling Lawson. 



Two large houses here are devoted to 

 Begonia Gloire de Lorraine, 6,000 pots 

 and baskets being planned for to supply 

 the Cliristinas demand. Tn one of the 

 propagating houses are .50.000 to 60,000 

 evergreen cuttings, over seventy different 

 varieties, all rooting nicely and includ- 



ing every popular evergreen grown iu 

 America, and many rare varieties. 



Three fumigating houses have been 

 erected, one of which is very large and 

 with capacity for the handling of trees 

 twenty-five feet in height. A most per- 

 fect system for generating gas for the 

 purpose has been established and every- 

 thing betokens far-sightedness and foun- 

 dation for future trade of unlimited 

 proportions. 



The nursery proper consists of eighty 

 acres, nearly all of which are already 

 planted to ornamentals, many trees in 

 size indicating years of growth and all 

 of which are to be devoted to this class 

 of stock. Imports of evergreens are 

 already arriving and over 50,000 will be 

 planted this spring. 



Mr. Ward is a great believer in the 

 wisdom of planting strong, large, well- 

 grown stock. A peach orchard set out 



The Enchantress Cup. 

 (Won at Detroit by W. K. Partridge.) 



hist year, of trees five years old, is an 

 illustration of his faith, the trees al- 

 ready being of bearing size and covered 

 with buds. A handsome sight is a block 

 of 1.000 Colorado blue spruce three to 

 six feet high. There are many rare 

 sjiecimens of Japanese evergreens. There 

 are forty acres of woodland full of nut- 

 liearing trees, where azaleas, rhododen- 

 drons and ground-cover plants will be 

 grown and from the highest part of 

 which a view of the ocean and many 

 miles in every direction stretches out 

 before one 's enchanted vision. - On this 

 highest plane some day Mr. Ward will 

 build a home that will vie with any on 

 Long Island iu healthful and beautiful 

 surroundings. J. Austin Shaw. 



Roanoke. Ixd. — A. iiiller is the suc- 

 cessor to George Stump. 



Syracuse, N. Y. — The plants at the 

 greenhouses of Henry Morris and the 

 personal property in his store downtown 

 were sold March 14 by the trustee in 

 bankruptcy. The property was bid in 

 for ^(i'lO by John Bates. The business 

 \\\]] be contiiincd. 



"PECKY" CYPRESS. 



Progressive florists are always on the 

 lookout for the best building materials 

 and recently many of them have been 

 taking up ' ' peeky ' ' cj^press for bench 

 lumber, those who have used it having 

 found it to resist decay much longer 

 than pine or hemlock. The appearance 

 of the lumber is against it as it looks 

 as though it were wormy or decayed, 

 the defects resembling large worm holes 

 which run with the grain and not 

 through it, and florists who first com- 

 mence using it will have to take it on 

 faith and from what the experience of 

 others has been with it. 



The department of forestry at Wash- 

 ington has not been able to determine 

 satisfactorily the cause of "peck" in 

 cypress. It seems to be a little pocket 

 or cavity in the heart of the tree which 

 is filled with a dust-like substance, pre- 

 sumably caused by \ermiu or a chem- 

 ical action that has taken out of the 

 wood a certain substance that leaves 

 this sawdust-like deposit. If it were 

 not for this defect the lumber would 

 be practically clear heart cypress and, 

 as it is free from sap, it will resist 

 decay as long as any known wood. It 

 has been used in the cities of New Or- 

 leans and Mobile for years for drain 

 ]ilank and all underground work, owing 

 to its lasting quality. 



I understand that the average life of 

 a bench in a greenhouse when built of 

 pine or hemlock is about three years. 

 I am satisfied that a bench made of 

 "pecky" cypress, if used for this pur- 

 pose, will not decay in fifteen to twenty 

 Tears and possibly longer. Messrs. Bas- 

 sett & W^ashburn. at Hinsdale, 111., have 

 been using "pecky" cypress for bench 

 frames and sides since they first built 

 their greenhouses and have benches that 

 have been in use eight years or longer 

 that show no signs of decay, and I am 

 sure will bo pleased to give full in- 

 formation as to their experience with 

 "pecky" cypress. There are other 

 greenhouses in the vicinity of Chicago 

 where 1-ineh "pecky" cypress has been 

 used for five years or more, and the 

 benches are still in use and do not show 

 decav. I am pleased to state that I 

 have" sold 400,000 feet since last fall 

 to be used in the construction of green- 

 house benches in this vicinity. 



If anyone would like to have further 

 information regarding this lumber, we 

 could get letters from the city engineers, 

 regarding their experience with it in 

 gutters and underground work. In put- 

 ting in the new drainage system in New 

 Orleans they have used "pecky" cy- 

 press for ail of the drain work under 

 the streets and in excavating in Canal 

 street in December last, they dug up a 

 cypress coffin that was almost in a per- 

 fect state of preservation which they 

 figure had been interred 1-50 years. 

 There was a coffin made of ash that 

 was near it, but this had almost en- 

 tirely disappeared, simply the outlines 

 being left and a few small pieces oi 

 the wood. We can cite you to any number 

 of instances of the lasting quality of 

 cypress, notably the wooden boxes in 

 which the mummies were enclosed in 

 the pyramids, some of them at least 

 4,000 "years old. Chambers' Encyclo- 

 pedia states that the old wooden doors 

 of St. Peter's at Rome were made of 

 cypress and were in use 1,100 years. 



