640 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



MARCH 17, 1S9S. 



oud hand wrought iron pipe under any 

 circumstances. The life of this Ivind 

 of pipe is short enough at the best, 

 and the paint on the pipe under con- 

 sideration will so retard the radiation 

 as to necessitate the use of consider- 

 ably more pipe to secure the same re- 

 sults as new pipe, and thus raise the 

 cost almost to that of new pipe. 



H. W. GIBBONS. 

 New York. 



Park, and is a relic of the exposition 

 of '81. Many of the plants planted at 

 that time are now of great size, and 

 under the care of the untiring and well 

 versed superintendent. Mr. Jules Fon- 

 ta, whose picture in characteristic 

 pose, together with some views of the 

 park, is presented in this issue. Mr. 

 Fonta is a gardener of the old school, 

 first serving a period in the business 

 in France, from which country he 



Horticultural Hall, Audubon Park, New Orleans. 



carnival, stopping off en route to the 

 City of Mexico. He expects to be 

 home by April 1. W. M. 



TEA ROSES FOR PROFIT. 



[Extract from a paper read before the Chicago 

 Florist Cliilj, March til, by Mr. Fred Hills. J 



To be a successful rose grower one 

 must have confidence in his own Judg- 

 ment. Always willing to take advice 

 from his neighbors and from the trade 

 papers, but carefully weighing It be- 

 fore putting it into practice. 



In growing roses tor the Chicago' 

 market, they should, in my opinion, 

 be planted at equal intervals from the 

 middle of June to the end of July, the 

 successive plantings being to avoid s& 

 far as possible the evils of cropping. 

 Go over the plants every two or three 

 days and try as nearly as possible to 

 pinch out an equal number of buds 

 each time. By planting at intervals, 

 and careful pinching cropping can be 

 largely done away with. At our 

 places this year the cut of roses varies- 

 only about 30 per cent. That is. when 

 the crop is on we cut 30 per cent more 

 roses than when the crop is off. 



Every grower aims to get his flowers 

 in when prices are good. In my opin- 

 ion the best way to do this is to pinch 

 off all buds till about September 20, 

 then leave all shoots that will make 

 fairly good flowers and pinch oft the 

 poor ones. 



In this way we get quite a number 



NEW ORLEANS NOTES. 



Ushered in with lovely, springlike 

 ■weather, the carnival of Mardi Gras 

 was a splendid success, the coffers of 

 the florist and decorator coming in 

 for their share of the business, for 

 while the Queen of Flowers is bloom- 

 ing out of doors, the demand for choice 

 stock grown under glass was even 

 greater than in former years. Virgin's 

 Beauties were in big demand, and any 

 other good thing brought good prices. 

 Decorations were on an extensive 

 scale, both Messrs. Virgin and Cook 

 having all they could attend to of the 

 large jobs, while the balance was pret- 

 ty evenly divided among various mem- 

 bers of the craft. 



Owing to the mildness of the season, 

 vegetation is far advanced, and while 

 danger of frost is not past, still noth- 

 ing serious is now looked for. The 

 usual quota of mosquitoes are per- 

 chance harbingers of spring. They are 

 pretty busy. 



The magnificent palms, for which 

 this city is noted, are in full growth. 

 Beds of pansies and roses are in full 

 bloom. M. Niel. Reine Marie Henri- 

 etta and Lamarque vie for honors with 

 the capital stock being grown under 

 glass by Mr. Virgin, who last summer 

 built some rose houses, and has met 

 with decided success in this new line. 

 He will enlarge the place next season. 



There are several private collec- 

 tions of choice plants, but really only 

 one public greenhouse in the city, well 

 named the City of Palms. Horticul- 

 tural Hall is situated in Audubon 



] ;,- >^ >:**! Jll^''.v' 



-^■- %|.:ir- 



W' 



Mr. Jules Fonta, Supt. Audubon Park, New Orleans. 



came to this city and embarked in 

 business before the war, at which time 

 75 cents was paid for a geranium in a 

 4-inch pot; a heliotrope of same size 

 brought a similar figure. The care of 

 Audubon Park is his first public 

 charge, and the many advances made 

 in the march of improvements testify 

 to the wisdom of his appointment. 



I met Mr. J. M. Gasser, of Cleveland, 

 who with his family was taking in the 



of flowers in October when there is 

 some demand. Through the first two 

 weeks in November we pinch off 

 nearly everything so as to throw the 

 crop well into December. The dull 

 weather we usually get at that time of 

 the year will carry the crop over 

 Christmas. The first two weeks in 

 January, when prices are low, the crop 

 will be light, and will increase with the 

 market till Lent. Again prices are 



