Mav 5, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



J257 



The Principal Range at the Establishment of Wietor Bros^ at^Rogers Park.'Chicago. 



Varieties and Benches. 



After having made the decision to grow 

 a house of violets you have to make ymiv 

 choice of the kinds that you will grow. 

 Two things, if you have grown them be- 

 fore or handled them from other grow- 

 ers, will influence you greatly in this de- 

 cision. First, the kind which your cus- 

 tomers desire and. second, those that do 

 best with you. This second reason i 

 of course, know nothing about until you 

 try them, if ycu have not previously cul- 

 tivated them. I caimot tell you what is 

 best for everyone to grow, but I may be 

 able to mention some things that may heln 

 your decision. If you don't know what 

 your trade 'wishes and have not before 

 grown any, I would advise planting a 

 fair quantity of all the varieties. This 

 will give you an opportunity to ascertain 

 which kind your customers prefer, and 

 the kind that they do not want at all : 

 also the kind that likes your soil and 

 treatment. You will always find that dif- 

 ferent places have their preferences. 

 Your city or town may wish nothing but 

 single, your next town cares only for 

 double, and still another town will make 

 a decision between doubles, either choos- 

 ing the light and refusing the dark, or 

 contrary wise preferring the dark, though 

 you may find the lighter much the easier 

 to grow. But one thing you will find will 

 never work well, no matter how nice thev 

 are, and this is the two together. The 

 light or Lady Hume Campbell alway> 

 shows to a disadvantage, as JIarie Louise 

 or Farquhar alongside of it make it look 

 faded. 



If you expect to grow some pot phmt* 

 for your holiday trade, aside from those 

 you "have for cut flowers, you will find 

 T^ady Campbell far ahead in many ways : 

 Longer stems and stiffer. holding the 

 flower up out of and above the foliage 

 much better than the ilarie Louise; fra- 

 grance stronger: will stand a higher tem- 

 perature and make a larger, stronger 

 plant and the individual flower is larger 

 and more rounded. As a usual thing the 



general grower has better success with it 

 than with Marie Louise for cut flowers 

 for the same reasons, yet some places 

 absolutely refuse to buy it on any terms 

 on account of its lighter color, no matter 

 how well grown. Early in the season yo" 

 will always appreciate having some sinp-'" 

 ones, even if you have no use for the 

 flower, as they then furnish you witli 

 much better leaves for bunching than do 

 the doubles. 



If you have plenty of stock to fill your 

 house of your own. all right, but if not 

 it is time that you purchased some, so 

 as to get what you want and the best 

 that there is to be procured. Make a lib- 

 eral estimate, so as to have plenty, more 

 than you expect you want. As with all 

 plants, something will happen to sor^" 

 of them, even with the best of care, and 

 they will have to be replaced as soon a« 

 noted. 



You will also have to decide if you will 

 grow them on benches or in a solid bor- 

 der. We always prefer the latter, still 

 I know of those who always use bencli"s 

 but this is not suited to us at all. the 

 reason being, I think, that it is a light, 

 gravelly loam. However, here is another 

 case of where I would advise you to trv 

 both ways for yourself. Nevertheless, 

 it is safer to grow in borders, as a rule, 

 and I would only try one bench. If it is 

 possible to do so have your border at 

 least two feet above the paths, for the 

 ease of working at them. They also like 

 to be near the glass. We also consider 

 narrow borders much better than wide, 

 for several reasons, the greater reason 

 being the better grade of flower, this ap- 

 parently giving them more circulation of 

 air. 



In making up your borders be sure and 

 have ample drainage, good coarse cinders, 

 ashes or crushed stone, anything of this 

 kind, putting the coarsest at the bottom 

 and growing" finer as you come up to the 

 soil line, in ordeT that your soil may n"« 

 wash down into same, leaving space for 

 six to ei^ht inches of soil on top. You 



will also find it a good plan to get this 

 all ready for the soil, water it heavily 

 and let it settle a few days before cover- 

 ing it with the soil, so that you may level 

 up hollows that are quite apt to result 

 after a time. R. E. Shuphelt. 



THE WIETOR ESTABLISHMENT, 



The wonderful development of the cut 

 flower industry in the vicinity of Chi- 

 cago in recent years has attracted the at- 

 tention of the whole world, arousing the 

 interest of all. the admiration of some 

 and apprehension of others, even to the 

 extent that the president of the S. A. F., 

 at the Milwaukee convention, pronounced 

 a warning to the craft against over- 

 building. Of all the establishments which 

 have spread out so remarkably, none has 

 made a more rapid growth than that of 

 Wietor Bros., at Rogers Park. Chicago. 

 It was just ten years ago, on April 1, 

 1894. that this establishment first began 

 in the cut flower line. Prior to that 

 time there had been twelve small houses 

 in which Henry Wietor was growing 

 vegetables most successfully. But th^ 

 saw a wider field in cut flowers and added 

 another six small houses and went into 

 roses and carnations. At tliat time they 

 Iiad possibly 50,000 feet of glass, today 

 thev have three immense ranges with a 

 total of between 700.(100 ami 7.50.000 

 feet of glass. The accompanying illus- 

 trations give as near an adequate idea 

 of the immensity of the establishment 

 as is possible with a camera. 



All the houses are devoted to cut flow- 

 ers, practically roses and carnations. 

 Beauty, B.ride. Maid. Liberty, Meteor, 

 Golden Gate and Ivory are the principal 

 varieties in roses and of these there are 

 many thousand plants each. They also 

 grow La France and Kaiserin for _sum- 

 mer crops and have a few other varieties 

 in small quantity. They have found it 

 wise to narrow down their list of carna- 

 tions to some dozen of the leading varie- 

 ties, of each of which they have man" 

 thousands, insuring a large cut daily of 



