230 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Uecemhek 30. 1897 



tions anil that heaviness of >iuild that 

 appeal to English exhibitors so much and 

 of which his earlier gains gave so much 

 promise. The best of M. Calvat's most 

 recent gains are unquestionably Director 

 Liebert, a fine globular bloom, having 

 grooved and curly florets, large in size 

 and deep lilac-mauve in color; NI. C. .S. 

 Jubilee, a charming addition, solid, com- 

 pact and finely incurved, color silver 

 pink, reverse inside florets lavender 

 pink; Mme. Ferlat, a noble new white, 

 .solid'and massive with incurving florets; 

 M. M. de Louvrex is a fine new yellow; 

 Souv. Rosette, big solid, incurving, with 

 pointed florets, plum colored; Mme. X. 

 Kev Jouvin, very pretty incurving bloom 

 with broad grooved florets, deep rosy 

 pink and slightly hairy; Werther, rich 

 purple amaranth; Souv. de Molines, 

 crimson bronze, tipped and reversed in 

 gold; Princesse de Galles, a fine large 

 white with great length of flortt; Mme. 

 A. Rousseau, Mme. G. Bruant, Iserette, 

 Mile. Lucie Faure, large fine whites; 

 Topaz Oriental, fine pale yellow; Mme. 

 Deis, white; Fee de Champsaur, long 

 white florets. Ah these are this year's 

 novelties." 



C. Harman Payne's Dec. 4th Report 

 savs: "It is never .safe to prophesy, es- 

 peciallv in chrysanthenunns, but if I am 

 not mistaken in my estimate of these 

 novelties, Mile. Lucie Faurf , .Mme. Fer- 

 lat and Mile. L. Zede, will occupy the 

 foremost position when the 1S97 novelties 

 are fully distributed. Mile. Lucie Faure 

 is a most superb novelty of Jap. incurved 

 type. The florets are of great length, 

 good substance and deeply grooved, color 

 of the purfst white; will probably rank 

 as one of Calvat's best. * * * M. G. 

 Chavanne is a closely built Jap. incurved, 

 broad florets, color rich and golden 

 yellow." 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 



Retrospection. 



This is the season of the year when the 

 florist looks up his stray "mum" notes 

 and settles on what varieties he will grow- 

 next vear. It is not a bit of use keeping 

 a lot of varieties that are of a delicate 

 constitution. Many fine kinds are. I 

 know, indifferent growers, but anything 

 unsatisfactory and unremunerative should 

 be dropped from the list. There will 

 still be plenty of fine material left, and 

 this yearly weeding out, this survival of 

 the fittest, is a necessary operation in 

 order to keep up with the times. 



It mav cost many a sigh of regret to 

 have to drop an old favorite like the (jueen, 

 sa^-, but the Queen must go. Many 

 growers still hang on to it, but one sees 

 very few in Jersey. That eye will not 

 conform to the florist's ideal and mu.st go. 

 Such is greatness. Yellows seemed to 

 have the call this year; good deep yellows 

 that look yellow at all times and do not 

 change to a sickly white when they come 

 in contact with an electric light. Such 

 had a ready sale, though we did well with 

 Miss G. Bramhall. U is pale, but its 

 form is superb, and it was a winner every 

 time we exhibited it. To get it just to 

 perfection for showing it should be put 

 in a cool, almost dark,' cellar for a few 



davs before the show. The petals will 

 close up tight in the center and the con- 

 tour and finish of the bloom is unsur- 

 passed. Many growers find that Kram- 

 hall has a weak' Heck, but there is noth- 

 ing weak about it with us, and we can 

 say the same of Mrs. Robinson, which fact 

 causes the carping critic to remark that 

 it is onlv because of our lime impregnated 

 water that we are not troub ed in this 

 respect. Let him carp. He may be 

 right, though it ought to be an easy mat- 

 ter for any grower to give his plants a 

 dose of lime water now and then. 



Mrs. Robinson is our early white sure. 

 Some growers claim they cannot get a 

 good percentage of fine flowers from it, 

 but with us no variety was so uniforni, 

 and out of six times exhibited by us it 

 was six times a winner. The fact of a 

 weak neck is generally the result of 

 planting too closely. While we cannot 

 these davs afford to waste any room, 

 crowding is oidy a robbing Peter to pay 

 Paul policy, the results of which are 

 painfully apparent in every flower store 

 during the flowering season. What use 

 is a six-foot stem if it is literally dragged 

 up? No wonder even the flower hangs 

 its head with shame at such an unnatural 

 policy. The "mum" is a mighty long- 

 suffering plant or it would not flower at 

 all, and'when the worm does turn once 

 in a while, at once a storm of protest 

 arises and such and such a variety is no 

 good, because after it had been kicked 

 around all summer and abused in every 

 way, it failed to do well. 



I sav, give your plants a chance, broth- 

 ers, and get the sun and air through 

 them. We would not like to have to 

 guarantee flowers of exhibition finish in 

 every detail of foli.ige and stem (and we 

 would not like to grow any other kind) 

 with less space than nine inches between 

 the rows and eight between the single 

 stemmed plants, with the exception, per- 

 haps, of varieties of the Philadelphia 

 tv-pe. We have planted Mrs. Robinson, 



Zulinda, Dean Hole, and Miss G. Pitcher 

 a foot apart each way with splendid 

 results and trusted to the higher price to 

 pav us for our lack of quantity. We can 

 get the lop price while all around us 

 small flowers are thick as "Autumn 

 leaves in Vallambrosa," or any other 

 old place. How many of you got $$ a 

 dozen for Robinson? We did, and we 

 had others, lots of them. Season of '97, 

 fare thee well! C. Totty. 



NEW CHRYSANTHEMUM "MERRY 

 CHRISTMAS." 



We have received from Messrs. Fred. 

 Dorner & Sons Co., Lafayette, Ind., four 

 blooms of this magnificent late white 

 chrysanthemum. It certainly is a beauty 

 and the blooms were remarkably fine for 

 so late in the season, being equal in 

 quality to some of the standard mid- 

 season sorts, and we have never seen a 

 purer white flower. 



The.se flowers were cut on Christmas 

 dav and the plants were growing in the 

 same house with the earlier varieties. 

 When the earlier and mid-season varieties 

 were already half open .\-erry Christm s 

 was just -showing the first sign of buds, 

 showing that it is naturally very late. 

 1 There is certainly a place for such a 

 splendid flower that can be cut in quantity 

 for Christmas sales. 



PINK rVORY AND MRS. PERRIN. 



Replving to your corre.spondent I will 

 say that tnere'is little to choose in the 

 he'ight of Pink Ivory and Mrs. Perrin. 

 What little there is may be to the advan- 

 tage of Pink Ivory, but complaints are 

 rile all over the country that it came 

 streaked this year, in some cases revert- 

 ing liack to the parent. 



It has been a very unsatisfactory year 

 for pinks of all shades; Helen Bloodgood 

 has been away off, and it would seem that 

 the ideal pink is still to come. 



C. TOTTV. 



DENDROBIUMS FOR MARKET. 



The dendrobium is by no means difii- 

 cult to grow, and will present much better 

 returns for the trouble bestowed upon 

 them than is generally supposed. The 

 variety Wardianum is very floriferous and 

 will throw from twenty to thirty large 

 flowers from every good' psuedo-bulb you 

 mav put upon the plant— aid, of course, 

 all smaller growths will flower propor- 

 tionately. They are easily flowered at a 



season when such flowers are appreciated 

 —that is Christmas to Easter- at which 

 tinte you mav expect from eight to ten 

 cents per flower. Note the attention and 

 space required for a hundred 6-inch pols 

 of dendrobiums, capable of producing a 

 hundred flowers to the pot, and that of 

 the same number of American Beauty 

 roses. 



Nobile. alreadv a great favorite la the 

 market, and so easily handled, is, I be- 

 lieve, the cheapest dendrobium in com- 



