6J6 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



MARCH 10, 189S. 



W. L. Keller, of J. B. Keller's Sons, 

 is at present in New York on a visit 

 to his uncle J. M. K.. of Bay Ridge. 

 Novelties in Easter stock he is after, 

 Ijut it is doubtful whether he will find 

 what he is looking for. 



George J. Keller all at once comes 

 out now with the finest lot of Agathea 

 coelestis we have seen yet. He kept 

 his plants hidden away in a frame un- 

 til last week and intends to get all of 

 them in for Easter. They are nice lit- 

 tle stocky plants in 5-inch pots, now 

 full of buds and there will be no trou- 

 ble to dispose of them, for they are 

 really splendid. He also has the fines; 

 lot of late cyclamen; just right for 

 Easter. They were kept back in a very 

 cool house and are now profusely cov- 

 ered with buds. 



Harbingers of Spring. 



On the southern slopes in Highland 

 park we noticed last week, that the 

 little snowdrops are out almost in full 

 bloom. In their protected situation 

 they have been in tlower usually very 

 early, but this is to my knowledge the 

 earliest date since the establishment of 

 the parks. Quite a generous quantity 

 has been planted additionally last fall 

 and it can plainly be seen that the pub- 

 lic appreciate the efforts of our untir- 

 ing superintendent, for visitors are de- 

 cidedly numerous in this park when- 

 ever the weather is pleasant, though 

 the snow has not disappeared yet from 

 the northern and eastern slopes nor in 

 the deeper ravines of the grounds. 



K. 



BOSTON. 



Club Meeting. 



At the last meeting of the Florists' 

 Club the members listened to a very 

 interesting discourse by Mr. Emil 

 Mische on the Royal Gardens at Kew, 

 England, which brought out consider- 

 able discussion. A vote of thanks 

 was tendered the lecturer. 



Mass. Hort. Society. 



At the weekly exhibition there were 

 only a few displays. R. & J. Farquhar 

 showed a fine new variety of narcis- 

 sus; Peter B. Robb. of Whitinsville. 

 a good variety of Cattleya Trianae; 

 Mrs. E. M. Gill, of West Medford, a 

 fine plant of Agathea coelestis, an old 

 plant, but one worthy of more geneial 

 cultivation. 



At the monthly meeting there was 

 quite a discussion as to whether the 

 society should move or remodel. A 

 project was mentioned of building a 

 large glass structure on Boston Com- 

 mon by permission of the city govern- 

 ment. Further action will be taken at 

 the next meeting. 



The Market. 

 There has been a heavy increase in 

 the supply, which has also improved 

 in quality. Ruling prices are about as 

 follows: ' Beauties, $8 to $50; Brides, 

 Maids. Meteors, $4 to $12: Perles and 

 other varieties, $2 to $5; carnations, 

 $1 to $2; Harrisii and lor.giflorura, $6 



to $S; narcissus, Romans and valley, 

 $1 to $2; violets, 25 to 60 cents per 

 100. 



Various Notes. 



Recent visitors were J. E. Killen, 

 representing C. H. Joosten, New York, 

 and several Holland bulb growers. The 

 latter say that the crop of hyacinths 

 was light, but that narcissus and oth- 

 er bulbs are plentiful. 



Mr. Carl Blomberg will deliver a 

 lecture on aquatics before the Flor- 

 ists' and Gardeners' Club of Newport 

 March 23. C. H. J. 



The FLORISTS' Review 



G. L. GRANT, Editok and Manager. 



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Copyright 1898. 



REPLY OF A BOSTON EDITOR. 



One of the unpleasant things a park 

 superintendent has to meet is the fleree 

 criticism of the uninformed when the 

 superintendent finds it wise to thin 

 out existing plantations of trees and 

 shrubs. And unfortunately these cri- 

 ticisms are often made the basis of a 

 sensational article by one of the local 

 dailies which still further misleads the 

 public. We are pleased to note that the 

 Boston Transcript has set a good ex- 

 ample in such cases, as evidenced by 

 the following inquiry and answer that 

 appeared in its issue of Jan. 31 last; 

 To the Editor ot the Transcript: 



Will you please inform me who is this 

 man Pettigrew who is ruining the beauti- 

 ful park with his axe? And is there no 

 asylum in Boston for idiots? G. E. 



Mr. J. A. Pettigrew is the chief execu- 

 tive ot the Board of Park Commissioners 

 of the city of Boston and superintendent 

 of Boston parks. He was superintendent 

 for many years of Lincoln park in Chi- 

 cago, which was practically made by him, 

 and lost his place because he incurred the 

 displeasure of Governor Altgeld. Imme- 

 diately after leaving Lincoln park he be- 

 came superintendent of parks in Milwau- 

 kee, Wis. At the end of a short time he 

 was chosen to fill the more important 

 place of superintendent of the parks of 

 Brooklyn, and from Brooklyn he was 

 brought a year ago to Boston. He is a 

 conservative, cautious, economical man, 

 with executive force and a practical 

 knowledge of trees and their cultivation, 

 road-building and the general necessities 

 of park management. He is the ac- 

 knowledged head of his profession in the 

 United States, and since he has been in 

 Boston he has been asked to return to 

 the charge of Lincoln park in Chicago, 

 to become superintendent of the parks of 

 Buffalo New York, and ot the parks of 

 the borough of Manhattan in Greater 

 New York. During the year he has been 



in Boston he has savecl his salary ten 

 times over by systematizing park work 

 and cutting off needless expenditures. As 

 long as Mr. Pettigrew remains in his 

 present position and is supported by hia 

 commissioners the people ot this city need 

 feel no anxietv about their parks.— Editor. 



SUB-WATERING. 



The essay by Prof. Arthur, read at 

 the convention of the American Car- 

 nation Society and published in our 

 last issue, has attracted much atten- 

 tion from progressive growers. One 

 of the greatest drawbacks to the pro- 

 posed new method is the expense of 

 lining the greenhouse benches with 

 zinc to secure a watertight bottom. 

 Mr. Washburn, of Bassett & Wash- 

 burn. Chicago, is contemplating the 

 experiment of lining some benches 

 with the stiff blue clay subsoil to be 

 had in his vicinity at Hinsdale. His 

 idea is to line the benches with the 

 clay, then place in a layer ot cinders 

 and broken bricks, and over this a 

 layer of Jadoo, upon which is to be 

 laid the soil. The cinders and broken 

 brick would have the merit of cheap- 

 ness and the Jadoo would keep the soil 

 from packing among the bricks, and at 

 the same time act as a quick absorb- 

 ent. He intends to experiment on the 

 lines above described and the results 

 will be looked for with interest. 



CHEAP FUEL FOR GREENHOUSE 



HEATING. 

 From the number of letters I am 

 now receiving from florists in all parts 

 of the country, I think the above ques- 

 tion might be of interest to the many 

 readers of your valuable paper. 



We are now well on in the second 

 winter that I have used exclusively 

 clay and hard coal screenings in about 

 equal parts. Clay wet to about the 

 consistency of tempered clay for mak- 

 ing stock bricks, slack and clay well 

 mixed and used as mixed. In starting 

 fires a few shovels of coke or soft coal 

 is thrown into the furnace, or, if nei- 

 ther of those are at hand, a few sticks 

 of wood, old blocks or anything that 

 will take fire. As soon as the above is 

 well started a thin layer of the mix- 

 ture is put on, it is then left for one 

 or two hours when it is well started 

 and giving off heat; the furnace is 

 then filled with the mixture and there 

 is nothing more to do for ten or twelve 

 hours, when it is again filled up and 

 left till ready to clean out forty-eight 

 hours from time it is started. My boil- 

 er has two distinct furnaces, one of 

 which is taking care of the boiler 

 while the other is burning up, or one 

 bright fire at all times. 



I find several florists have been try- 

 ing my mixture in an ordinary boiler 

 with more or less success, less as a 

 rule. Any one who would like to try 

 it should start the fire in the usual 

 way, say with hard coal, and get up a 

 strong heat; before the coal begins to 

 get dead fill up the furnace with the 

 above described mixture, it will dead- 

 en the heat for some time; when it 



