972 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



MAT 26, 1898. 



short notice for all their customere, 

 and frequently had to decline late or- 

 ders. It may not happen very often 

 that such conditions occur, but ai'e 

 we not often apt to neglect available 

 opportunities to prepare for such 

 emergencies, especially in the spring, 

 when so much work is on hand, in- 

 side or outside, and minor items are 

 lost sight of? If we have a patch of 

 evergreen candytuft planted out any- 

 where in the garden and would set a 

 sash frame over it, banking up the 

 sides if this be thought advisable, 

 about March 1st, or, in fact, at any 

 time before they are ready to bloom, 

 we get the flowers out weeks ahead of 

 the regular outdoor crop, and the 

 snow'-white flowers are a great help, 

 not only when there is a genei'al 

 scarcity, but they are useful at all 

 times. When fairly out, the sash may 

 be removed entirely and then the bed 

 will last in a perfect state for many 

 weeks. The flowers need not be cut 

 all at once, or as soon as well devel- 

 oped; they are Just as good four 

 weeks later if left on the plants. 



An advantage, which must not be 

 underestimated, is that this same bed, 

 without replanting, is good for ten or 

 fifteen years, perhaps longer if well 

 taken care of. After flowering, the 

 bed should be gone over, shearing the 

 plants back severely and evenly, and 

 to encourage vigorous growth for the 

 coming year's flowering, a top dress- 

 ing of rich compost will be of great 

 benefit. The ordinary evergreen spe- 

 cies, Iberis sempervirens, is the earli- 

 est, blooming outdoors and unprotect- 

 ed in May with us, but we can have it 

 in flower early, or under adverse con- 

 ditions, by the middle of April under 

 this simple protecting treatment. The 

 broader leaved and more compact 

 growing I. correaefolia is considerably 

 later, but its flowers are broader, 

 larger and more flattened. It is very 

 useful for working up in designs in its 

 time, but requires some artificial heat 

 10 bring it out early. 



Another plant which will submit ad- 

 mirably to the frame treatment and be 

 in" full bloom even sooner than the 

 candytuft, is the white Arabis alpina. 

 The flower heads are rather larger 

 than those of the iberis, but more 

 loosely arranged. Its lasting qualities 

 are good, and we consider it very serv- 

 iceable material for design work. It 

 requires replanting every third or 

 fourth year, but is a very free bloom- 

 ing plant, desirable for all purposes, 

 and does invariably well in all locali- 

 ties and in all soils, poor or rich, sand 

 or clay. Protecting frames, set over 

 a bed of hardy plants in early spring, 

 are recommended for bringing out the 

 flowers a few weeks ahead of their 

 regular time. The fringed June pinks, 

 for instance, can be advanced without 

 difHculty for Decoration Day, also 

 some of the early aquilegias, cam- 

 panulas and other things suitable for 

 cutting, which, under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, would not begin to bloom 

 until the middle of June. 



I am quite sure that the average 

 florist, who, being situated in a me- 

 dium sized town or city, dependent 

 largely on what he can grow on his 

 own place, can in this manner pro- 

 vide an ample supply of desirable 

 flowers for Decoration Day, while 

 without the use of the frames it would 

 be difllcult and perhaps very expen- 

 sive for him to obtain sufficient stock 

 to satisfy all his customers. 



J. B. K. 



PLACE OF A TOPEKA FLORIST. 



The engraving shows the establish- 

 ment of Mr. James Hayes, Topeka. 

 Kansas, the leading florist in Topeka, 

 a city of fine, broad streets, and it is 

 one of the neatest, most substantial 

 and best arranged places the writer 

 ever saw. 



The rose house is three-quarter span, 

 20x125 feet, running east and west. 

 The north wall is S feet high and the 

 south wall i feet high, built of stone, a 

 most substantial piece of work. The 

 palm house is between the shed and 

 rose house and is 20x24 feet. The 

 plant houses are 18x75 feet, running 

 north and south (three of them). The 

 entire ground occupied by these three 

 houses w-as excavated to a depth of 

 4 feet, and a solid stone wall built all 

 around the outside to 18 inches above 

 ground, on which rest the gutteis. 

 and the center walls are also of stone: 

 in fact, it would be impossible to have 

 houses more substantially built. The 

 boiler pit and potting shed are well 

 built and very convenient. The stable 

 is also on stone foundations, with good 

 cellar underneath, and contains twj 

 good horses, two Jersey cows, room for 

 one buggy, one phaeton, one delivery 

 wagon, and one light cart for deliver- 

 ing in muddy weather. Everything is 

 housed and kept in good repair. H.s 

 son, a young man going to college, is a 

 great pigeon fancier, and has some 

 very fine and rare birds. 



The residence is the second one built 

 by Mr. Hayes, the first one having been 

 burned to the ground some three 

 years ago one very cold night, but very 

 fortunately was insured for $2,000. The 

 present one was built at a cost of over 

 $3,000, and from the cellar to the attic 

 is most substantially built, containing 

 nine rooms and a bath room. The 

 residence and greenhouses stand on 

 four acres of ground, with not a dollar 

 of incumbrance on the whole place. 

 Mr. Hayes was until some ten years 

 ago a private gardener, receiving his 

 training in some of the best places in 

 Great Britain, coming to this country 

 some twenty years ago. 



Everything done by Mr. Hayes in his 

 compact little place is done well. No 

 nook or corner is wasted; here and 

 there are found a stephanotes, a 

 rhyncospermum, a bougainvillea, a 

 clerodendron, etc.. and which are use- 

 ful and most profitable for floral design 

 work, of which he has an excellent 

 trade both at home and from the sur- 

 rounding country. He told me that he 

 was going in for that grand gem, the 

 eucbaris, something every florist tb.nt 

 does a retail business ought to grow. 



The photograph shows Mr. Hayes' 

 wife and daughter and two sons; his 

 wife, an excellent lady, is of great help, 

 making up all design work, and an ex- 

 cellent hand at selling, while his 

 daughter attends to the store in the 

 city, a charming, refined young lady, 

 with a natural taste and love for flow- 

 ers. The old man — for such I call 

 him, as the black whiskers are getting 

 streaked with gray — is as good as they 

 make them; in fact, a truer and more 

 honorable man never lived. Every- 

 thing about the place does him credit 

 and shows unmistakable evidence of 

 refinement and prosperity S. 



OUR LONDON LETTER. 



I Frt.di a Lnnii<:>ii Ltirii'spundent. j 



A Pink Flowered Rambler Rose. 



I think that the new rose named 

 Psyche, shown by Messrs. Paul & Son 

 lately at the meeting of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society and certificated, 

 will prove a pretty companion to the 

 well-known Crimson Rambler, as it is 

 the result of a cross between this va- 

 riety and a rose introduced by the late 

 Henry Bennett, named Golden Fairy. 

 The plants were, of course, from un- 

 der glass, but we noticed the same tree 

 clusters of from 15 to 25 flowers, so 

 conspicuous in Crimson Rambler, only 

 in the hybrid the color is tender rose, 

 with exquisite little buds of a deeper 

 shade. These should be welcome for 

 boutonnieres. If Psyche proves as 

 vigorous and free in the open garden 

 as Crimson Rambler, we shall thank 

 Messrs. Paul warmly for its introduc- 

 tion. 



A Big Primrose. 



One of the largest forms of the com- 

 mon primrose I have seen is named 

 Evelyn Arkwright. and raised by Mr. 

 J. H. Arkwright. Hampton Court, 

 Leominster. From what 1 can see, it 

 well retains its character, as the leaf- 

 age is remarkably robust. The flow- 

 ers are produced on a long stalk, clear 

 yellow and fully two inches across. 



Deutzia Parviflora. 



This is a shrub I advise everyone to 

 get who wishes to vary the flowers 

 of the greenhouse early in the year. 

 It seems to respond well to artificial 

 warmth. The fiowers are of purest 

 white and borne in neat clusters. It 

 has not long been introduced from 

 China, being sent to the Imperial 

 Botanic Garden at St. Petersbuig, 

 then to your Arnold Arboretum. It 

 was first put into commerce in Eu- 

 rope through Prof. Sargent, who sent 

 roots of it to Lemoine, of Nancy, 

 France. It blooms very early, and is 

 in every way a pretty dwarf shrub. 

 The Royal Horticultural Society did 

 well to certificate it. D. Lemoinei is a 

 hybrid between D. gracilis and D. 

 parviflora, and a very beautiful shrub, 

 also with white flower clusters. 



I notice that a new yellow arum is 

 praised for the size of its spathes, but 

 one wants to know a novelty of this 

 kind well, so often size occurs through 

 high culture. 



