672 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



roses, which until now they have peddled. 

 Another item, not new but not gen- 

 erally known, is that Edward Keid has 

 secured the stock of William Munro, 

 now of Lansdowne, who made such a 

 high reputation for himself with Myers 

 & Samtman, and with Robert Scott & 

 Son. 



Dahlias at Atco. 



I visited Atco last week at the re- 

 quest of Mr. S. S. Penuock, who re- 

 ceives quantities of choice dahlias from 

 there, where I was much impressed with 

 the seventy-one acres of dahlias, their 

 vigor and freedom from weeds. The 

 farm contains four shops and packing 

 houses, two root cellars, besides pot 

 sheds, offices, a number of frames, and 

 15,000 feet of glass, fully equipped and 

 heated by steam, with two steam pumps, 

 windmill, etc., between 200 and 300 acres 

 of land. I cannot give a better descrip- 

 'tion of the place than that written for 

 me by the proprietor, Mr. Peacock, at 

 my earnest request, as follows: 



As I stated, we are growing a million 

 of dahlias on seventy-one acres of land. 

 We plant generally rows four feet apart, 

 and one foot in the row, although we 

 are forced this year for want of land to 

 plant the rows a little closer, and as 

 close as six inches apart in the row. 



I am very sorry that your time was so 

 limited that you could not go over the 

 entire place and note carefully the lead- 

 ing varieties of the particular types. The 

 dahlia exhibition to be held September 

 15 and 16 we expect to be the finest of 

 the kind ever held in this country, and 

 I trust to see you there, when you can 

 get the names of the leading varieties. 

 I will also be very glad to give you anv 

 further information at any time through- 

 out the season, as I believe it would be 

 a good thing for your paper to push 

 dahlias along. As I stated, today, they 

 are practically the only flower at this 

 time of the year, and owing to the great 

 diversity of forms and types, as well as 

 complete ranges of forms and colors in 

 each of those types, they fill all wants 

 between summer flowers and chrysanthe- 

 mums. 



At the present time the show, fancy 

 and pompon dahlias are the most valu- 

 able, as they will carry better and keep 

 longer during the hot weather. We will 

 speak, therefore, of the present need 

 first; a little later, however, as the 

 weather becomes cooler, the decorative, 

 cactus and single dahlias will carry per- 

 fectly and keep in good condition for 

 several days. It is impossible to state 

 which is really the most beautiful or the 

 most useful, as it depends entirely upon 

 individual choice, because, as stated 

 above, there is a complete range of col- 

 ors in every class. In this way the par- 

 ties liking the little bouquet, or pompon 

 dahlias, are treated to fifty to one hun- 

 dred perfect little gems, embracing every 

 color, tint or shade, or combination of 

 shade that is to be found in the large 

 show. These little fellows have long, 

 slender stems. They grow dwarf, of 

 branching habit and are cut in sprays of 

 full open flowers, half open flowers, buds 

 and foliage, making them most graceful 

 and attractive. These are used for ?veiy 

 purpose, and are the favorites of many. 



Then again, the large show dahlia's, 

 when cut on stems from two to three 

 feet long, are invaluable for vases and 

 heavy decorative work. They are also 

 valuable on account of their wonderful 

 formation, with their quilled, cupped and 

 incurved petals. This formation, how- 



ever, is very stiff and formal, and out- 

 side of massing for color effect, etc., are 

 not admired by many, although they are 

 the general favorites in many sections 

 and as a matter of fact outsell any other 

 class, beeause it is the only class that 

 is universally known. This is the origi- 

 nal double dahlia. 



The fancy type is similar to the show 

 dahlia in every way except color. I 

 would say right here that the show dah- 

 lia is an all-around full double flower, 

 of close formation and of solid color or 

 tipped darker than the ground color; 

 while the fancy dahlia is either striped, 

 tipped, margined, or penciled two or 

 more colors, or tipped lighter than the 

 ground color. 



The cactus dahlia, as soon as it is as 

 widely known as the show dahlia, will 

 be the universal favorite. It is an en- 

 tirely distinct formation. The petals 

 are long, generally straight, at other 

 times incurved and presenting the most 

 irregularly regular appearance imagin- 

 able, if this term will be allowed. They 

 embrace a complete range of coloring 

 and there are now a number of striped, 

 tipped and blended varieties. The for- 

 mation of the cactus dahlia is such that 

 the colors show to a much greater ad- 

 vantage than in the show or fancy. Up 

 to the last few years, the cactus dahlias 

 have been indifferent bloomers, except- 

 ing in a few varieties which have very 

 short stems. Lately they have been 

 blooming much more profusely, blooming 

 in fact as early and as profusely as the 

 show dahlias, but their main drawback 

 has been a weak, drooping stem. This 

 has been overcome the last year or two 

 and we now have a few cactus dahlias 

 with strong stems and the flowers face 

 up, and at the same time they have such 

 substance that they will keep as long 

 as show dahlias after being cut. These 

 are the most valuable ones, and I pre- 

 dict inside of five years that the cactus 

 dahlia will be as widely known as all 

 other classes combined. 



The decorative dahlias are intermedi- 

 ate in form between the show and the 

 cactus. They have the loose, open out- 

 line, in many cases irregular. The pet- 

 als are sometimes pointed, sometimes in- 

 curved, and mostly reflexed, although in 

 some cases, like Wilhelm Miller and 

 Grand Duke Alexis, they are quilled. 

 They are of the largest size, especially 

 in such types as William Agnew and 

 Clifford W. Bruton. The color is the 

 grandest. With a very few exceptions 

 they are all self-colored, but clear and 

 vivid among the dark varieties and ex- 

 ceedingly delicate and chaste among the 

 lighter ones. They are extremely early 

 and profuse bloomers and continue in 

 bloom the entire season. As their name 

 would imply, they are the most valuable 

 for decorative purposes, as they are 

 strong, vigorous growers and can be cut 

 on long stems. 



The single dahlias are rapidly gain- 

 ing a wonderful popularity. The color 

 of these is marvelous. There is also 

 as much difference in the color and size 

 as among the other classes. We have 

 the single cactus, the stellate, the show, 

 fancy, orchid-flowered, anemone-flowered, 

 the gloria, French collarette, and many 

 other types or sub-divisions which are 

 generally all classed together as single 

 dahlias. A collection of a few hundred 

 varieties of single dahlias in full bloom 

 is certainly a most beautiful sight. The 

 plants grow in height from one foot to 

 ten feet; the flowers in size from one 

 inch to eight inches in diameter. Im- 



provement in the single varieties the 

 past few years is wonderful. Most of 

 the older varieties of high growth have 

 been superceded by dwarf, low branch- 

 ing, long-stemmed varieties, and these in 

 turn arc now rapidly being superseded 

 by the orchid-flowered or Twentieth Cen- 

 tury class. This last bright colored, 

 mammoth-flowered single is now found 

 in all of the colors. 



Various Items. 



Hydrangeas are about over. C. A. 

 Dunn & Co. were able to fill an order 

 for 1,000 heads of this showy flower on 

 Saturday last. 



John Melntyre says that his house 

 (Edward Reid) had a record-breaking 

 day on fine roses this week, also that a 

 shipment made recently to a far distant 

 point, Niles, Mich., reached its destina- 

 tion in good order. 



W. A. Murray, Atco, N. J., is sending 

 in some very fine white carnations, Queen 

 Louise, to Samuel S. Pennock. 



William Berger, of Germantown, has 

 improved his store and enclosed his of- 

 fice, putting in a Fisher typewriting and 

 billing machine. This machine is very 

 popular in the department stores, prov- 

 ing itself a great labor saver. By its 

 aid bi is are made out in duplicate as 

 fast as sales are made, so that bills are 

 ready at any time for the customer and 

 work at the en! of each month is greatly 

 lessened. 



The September meeting of the Ger- 

 mantown Horticultural Society was held 

 last Monday evening. Peonies and asters 

 were the subjects for discussion. George 

 C. Watson spoke on peonies. He was 

 followed with close attention by those 

 present. 



The Pennsylvania Horticultural So- 

 ciety held its dahlia show on Tuesday 

 evening and kept it open all day Wednes- 

 day. It was the best and most instruc- 

 tive dahlia show ever seen here, and was 

 greatly enjoyed by all who saw it. 



E. G. Palmer had another of his pleas- 

 ant parties to Doylestown last week. He 

 was accompanied by Leo Niessen and 

 Charles E. Meehan. They report Mr. 

 Palmer's new houses in fine condition, 

 well put together and full of good stuff. 

 While describing John F. Andre's place, 

 Mr. Niessen said to the writer: "He 

 has eight houses averaging about 140x20 

 feet, all in Brides and Maids, except one 

 in Beauties. Everything looked well ; 

 tie plants were strong and vigorous, all 

 neatly tied up, beds and walks clean. 

 In fact, you should be happy if your 

 place looks like it; I hope it does." So 

 do I. 



B. Eschner, of the firm of M. Eice & 

 Co., returned last Saturday from a very 

 successful business trip through the 

 south and west. Phil. 



OBITUARY. 



John C. Pickelman. 

 John C. Pickelman, who died at the 

 German Hospital, Buffalo, September 3, 

 after an illness of several months, was 

 well known to older Buffalonians. Mr. 

 Pickelman was 74 years old. In 1854 

 he came to Buffalo and some time after 

 opened Orchestrion Hall with a big green- 

 house adjoining. It was a unique place, 

 frequented by many of the best people 

 in Buffalo. The orchestrion which helped 

 to make it famous cost $5,580. Mr. 

 Pickelman was born in Bavaria, and 

 came to this country when a compara- 

 tively young man. He was particularly 



