342 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Januaky 20, 1898. 



am sure, stand comparison with any all 

 round pink in the market, 



A house of Scott and McGowan, the 

 two parents, reminded one more of a field 

 of wheat with their wealth of buds and 

 luxuriant growth. There was also a bench 

 of promising seedlings of which more 

 ivill l:ie heard later. 



Every inch of space is utilized to ad- 

 vantage here and a succession of crops is 

 aimed at. For instance, after the chrysan- 

 themums were cut, Mr. Besold planted 

 out a lot of Harrisii from 4-inch pots and 

 from indications it was a very wise move. 

 Order and cleanliness is the rule rather 

 than the exception here and the boiler 

 room even was as clean as a kitchen. Hot 

 water under pressure is used here and a 

 pressure and temperature gauge are pre- 

 cautions that result in eqnalizing the 

 temperature in tlie houses. 



Among other things, I noted a very 

 fine house of cinerarias that will be in 

 prime shape about Easter. The young 

 plants of Mrs. Frances Joost were very 

 thrifty and free from rust and contrary to 

 a good many varieties, were "breaking." 

 even though in small pots and not 

 pinched. 



It was dusk when I arrived at the Sea- 

 wanhaka Greenhouses, Oyster Bay, and 

 was somewhat disappointed, when the 

 smiling manager, Mr. "Jim" Clark, told 

 me that they did not raise oyster plants at 

 his place. A hurried glance through re- 

 vealed a well appointed ]dace, and a 

 house of excellent cyclamens. Big .stocks 

 of "soft stuff" are raised here. Besides 

 a nice collection of ferns and small palms, 

 there were some handsome baskets of 

 Asparagus Sprengerii, and a small bed of 

 Asparagus plumosus, from which Mr. 

 Clark said he had gathered over 35,000 

 seeds. A good paying crop, I should 

 think. B. 



HORTICULTURE IN HOLLAND. 



Illustrated Lecture by John K. M. L. Far- 



quhar Before the Massachusetts 



Horticultural Society. 



John K.M. L. Farquhar, of Boston, gave 

 a lecture before the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, January 15, on "Hor- 

 ticulture in Holland." The stereopticon 

 illustrations added much to the lecture, 

 of which the following is an abstract: 



Holland presents to the horticulturist 

 many interesting features of her own. For 

 two hundred years she has supplied the 

 nations of northern latitudes with bulbs 

 from which to raise flowers to brighten 

 their conservatories in winter and their 

 gardens in spring, and she has estab- 

 lished a constantly increasing business, 

 the monopoly of which seems assured to 

 her for ages so come. Her exports of 

 bulbs and nursery stock now aggregate 

 five million dollars annually. 



Such elaborate flower stores as we have 

 in Boston are not found in Holland. As 

 we pass through Rotterdam or Amsterdam 

 we see a flower market where a few men 

 and women do the business, the flowers 

 being chiefly of the more ordinary kinds, 

 brought there in the morning and sold at 

 low prices, and by noon the business is 

 over. Dutch horticulturists devote most 



of their energy to supplying the wants 

 of other nations, their home trade — es- 

 pecially in cut flowers— being exceedingly 

 small. 



In Holland we find no such gigantic 

 greenhouses as may be seen on large 

 estates in England, such as Chatsworth 

 or Zion House, hardy trees, shrubs, vines 

 and herbaceous plants being more gener- 

 ally depended on for landscape decora- 

 tion. This policy we find successfully ex- 

 emplified in Boston's new parks. Many 

 of the residential streets and even the 

 narrow business streets of Rotterdam 

 have valuable space devoted to trees — 

 more, I think, than our citizens would be 

 willing to allot under similar conditions. 

 Haarlem is the largest city of North 

 Holland, and the trade center of the 

 bulb-growing district. If we proceed by 

 steam train from Haarlem by way of 

 Vogelenzang we pass through extensive 

 bulb fields, towards the Lake of Haar- 

 lem. There is, however, no Lake of 

 Haarlem now; only a great canal, sur- 

 rounded by seventy square nules of low- 

 land that fifty years ago was lake. liere 

 on the western side of the canal we find 

 the finest hyacinth ground in Holland. 

 The soil is of various kinds — peat, clay 

 and sand; the la.st being what is chosen 

 for hyacinth culture. It is prepared by 

 giving it a heavy application of cow ma- 

 nure, which is brought to the fields in 

 boats from Leyden, Amsterdam or Rot- 

 terdam. 



Hyacinths, narcissuses and tulips are 

 set in trenches six inches deep; crocuses, 

 scillas and snowdrops in trenches three 

 inches deep. Before the cold sets in all 

 the planted fields are thickly covered 

 with reeds, which grow along the edges 

 of the canals, and are cultivated in the 

 north of Holland for this purpose. Great 

 care is taken to prevent frost from reach- 

 ing the bulbs, for as they are planted 

 early in autumn they soon make long 

 roots, and frost reaching the bulbs would 

 raise them up and detach them from 

 their roots. Spring flowering bulbous 

 plants are rapid growers, requiring a 

 large supply of nourishment, and unless 

 their roots are well developed in advance 

 of the top and kept in good condition, 

 they will be unable to furnish the needed 

 food, and failure, or partial failure, will 

 result. 



Large growers are prepared to furnish 

 from four to five hundred sorts of hya- 

 cinths. Now, we prefer the single varieties, 

 and the list of sorts is not as long as 

 formerly. The propagation of hyacinths 

 is by offsets, which form at the base of 

 the bulbs. The largest bulbs are cut 

 across the base several times or hollowed 

 out, to increase the number of offsets 

 which are formed. More of the single 

 pink variety. Norma, is grown than any 

 other. One grower's trade requires So,ooo 

 of them annually, the product of about 

 two acres. 



The average grower must cultivate in 

 all about four hundred and fifty varieties 

 of tulips. Of these about four hundred 

 are varieties of the ordinary garden 

 species. Tulipa Gesneriana was intro- 

 duced to western Europe from Turkey 

 in 1554. Tulips are propagated by off- 

 sets, each root producing two, or some- 

 times three, salable bidbs, and perhaps 



one or two of smaller size, which require 

 another season's growth before they are 

 fit for market. They are also easily raised 

 from seed, the seedlings coming at first 

 self-colored; while they remain so they 

 are known as breeders. These have been 

 made very popular recently under the 

 name of Darwin. After a few years of 

 culti\ation they break aw-ay from their 

 original color. If a white tulip comes 

 striped or marked with another color it 

 is called a Byblcemen. Of this class the 

 rose or red-tinted BybUemens known as 

 "roses" are perhaps the most desirable. 

 A tulip having a yellow ground marked 

 with another color is called bizarre. 



In the early part of this century tulips 

 having variegated flowers were most es- 

 teemed. To-day such self-colors as Gold 

 Prince, the beautiful rose-carmine Proser- 

 pine, Vermilion Brilliant and the white, 

 yellow and scarlet Pottebakkers are most 

 esteemed. There are, of course, excep- 

 tions; the most conspicuous is the noble 

 Keizerkroou. crim.son with a wide edge 

 of yellow. The tuli]) has become with us 

 the most popular of the spring flowering 

 bulbs. We use from a million and a half 

 to two millions here in New England 

 annually. 



Daffodils are now receiving more at- 

 tention from hybridizers than any other 

 class of bulbs. Although the largest and 

 finest bulbs come from Holland, they are 

 extensively grown in England, Ireland, 

 the Island of Guernsey and France. Ja- 

 panese lilies are seldom grown in Holland; 

 the Dutch dealers find it cheaper to im- 

 port them from Japan. 



The bulbs are lifted by hand, as spades 

 or forks might injure them. They are 

 carefully laid in baskets and conveyed by 

 boat to the warehouses, where they are 

 carefully dried and counted out into bags. 

 When needed for shipment, buckwheat 

 chaff is put in to prevent bruising. The 

 value of bulbs exported annu.ally from 

 Holland aggregates three million dollars, 

 the United States taking about ^300,000 

 worth. 



On the southerly side of the Lake of 

 Haarlem are the nurseries of Boskoop. 

 We see in these nurseries mauy plants 

 which are not hardy enough to survive 

 our winters, for many of which there is a 

 large demand from F;ngland. The vis- 

 itor to Boskoop, if going from Haarlem, 

 will find it most convenient to make the 

 journey by steamer in the great canal, 

 lined on each side with interesting and 

 picturesc^ue scenery. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOWS. 



[Head biforc tilt St. Louis Florists' Club 

 by F. J. FiUinore.] 



Shall we have another Chrysanthemum 

 show is the question. I will answer it in 

 the first place by asking, what are we 

 here for? If merely for routine business 

 there would not be nmch attraction. We 

 assemble here, I think, as a kind of re- 

 union once a month, but with alway-s the 

 main object in view, of holding a show, 

 not for chrysanthemums alone, but for 

 almost every variety of plant and flower 

 that can be had at that season of the year 

 to make a creditable display. 



I am sure that there are very few grow- 



