August IT. 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



:2l« 



^ 



I JAMES VICK'S SONS, Rochester, N. Y. 



I 



5 BEST QUALITY FALL BULBS 



It is to your advantage to place your order early. Send us a list of your wants and we will quote you rock-bottom 

 prices. Copy of our Florists' Bulb Catalogue will be sent free upon request as soon as issued. 



Vick's Superb Pansy Seed 



All the best varieties in separate colors. 



VICK'S SUPERB MIXTURE, the best strain from .ill the leading named sorts: 



!s ounce, 85c; V ounce, $1.60; ounce, $6.00. 



I 



REVIEW OF THE SWEET PEAS 1907. 



We were unable to say much about, 

 the newer varieties of sweet peas last 

 year (1906) on account of the extreme- 

 ly wet and otherwise unfavorable 

 weather. This year (1907) has been 

 much more favorable, and through the 

 kindness of Howard M. Earl, of the 

 Fordhook trial grounds (Messrs. W. 

 Atlee Burpee & Co.), at Doylestown, 

 Pa., who very hospitably etitertained 

 the writer and Mr. John Burton on 

 the 11th ulto., showing us over the 

 farms and loading us with many oour- 

 tr-sies, we are enabled to give some 

 interesting notes; 



Henry Eckford, as has already been 

 noted, while a be.autiful color is hard 

 to get at its best, as the flowers burn 

 so badly in the sun. To get the true 

 color effect, sbading must be resorted 

 to. Ordinary cheese cloth or tiffany is 

 quite satisfactory for this purpose. It 

 is an inten."ely bright, shining flame 

 colored self, of good size and attrac- 

 tive form. 



Queen Alexandra produces a flower 

 of very fair size, of excellent form, be- 

 ing widely expanded and graceful. It 

 is far superior to Scarlet Gem but to 

 s:)me does not api)ear quite so capti- 

 vating as King Edward VII., which is 

 larger and bunches more gracefully. 

 Queen Alexandra might be called a 

 "fadeless Scarlet Gem." The color is 

 very intense and it does not fade. 



Sybil Eckford is not of a sufficiently 

 strong color to appeal to one as some 

 of the other varieties do. The effect is 

 a rich apricot with a blush shading. 



The foregoing were the throe sensa- 

 tional importations of last year, and 

 our impartial opinion of same, as will 

 be noted, is rather conseiTrative. We 

 will now take up some of the other 

 new varieties. Watkins & Simpson's 

 list first: 



E. J. Castle is a flower of the type of 

 Gladys Unwin, a rosy carmine self 

 similar to John Ingman. but several 

 shades lighter. Mrs. Alfred Watkins 

 does not seem to be fixed as to color 

 as there are at least four different 

 shades of pink. The flowers are quite 

 siiTiilar in character to Gladys Unwin. 

 Frank Ewlby is rather disappointing, 

 the color being too undecided — a sort 

 of rosy lilac lavender shade — neither 

 one thing nor another. Nora Unwin 

 is a pure white, almost identical in 

 form with Gladys Unwin. 



On the whole there does not seem 

 to have been any decided advance in 

 the foregoing list. We will now take 

 a look at Eckford's new ones: 



^gnes Eckford, soft rose standard 

 with white wings suffused with rose. 

 A thrifty grower, the stems invariably 

 producing three flowers. Mrs. Collier 

 is disappointing as the color is no 

 deeper than that of Mrs. E. B. Ken- 

 yon but it is of a different form. This 

 variety might be described as a cream 

 or pale lemon Dorothy Eckford. It was 

 introduced simultaneously by Eckford 

 and Dobbie. Earl Cramer comes very 

 true but unfortunately it burns badly 

 under our hot sun. Standard a purple 

 maroon; wings pale purple bordered 

 with maroon. Large size, form slight- 

 ly hooded and wings partly curled. 

 Horace Wright is almost a self color; 

 standard claret, wings light indigo. A 

 fine variety for bunching where a dark 

 shade is desired. Very different from 

 Brilliant which is ui;doubtedly the best 

 dark color in cultivation. Queen of 

 Spain is a shell pink on a cream 

 ground. It comes both in the hooded 

 and the open form. 



Some of the other new varieties 

 worthy of mention are as follows; 



Enchantress, a variety of recent in- 

 tioduction from England of tlie Coun- 

 tess Spencer type and together with 

 Paradise (another Countess Spencer 

 ^election) is similar in shade to what 

 is known here as "true" Countess 

 Spencer. But — and here is an import- 

 ant "but" — both Enchantress and Para- 

 dise produce flowers of enormous size 

 and good color, and either of them will 

 become popular with florists for both 

 inside and outside culture. White 

 C!ountess Spencer; we were soriT' not 

 to have seen this variety (so called 

 temporarily). It is described as a flower 

 of enormous tize, pure white, with the 

 wavy effect of Countess Spencer inten- 

 sified — to say nothing of the immense 

 spread of the wings which thoroughly 

 cover the keel. Helen Lewis is an- 

 other of the Countess Spencer type. 

 Standard crimson orange. wings 

 orange rose. Bunches well and worthy 

 a place among the elect. 



We have omitted to mention a very 

 pretty one introduced last year named 

 Beacon, a very good one. the standard 

 cherry red on cream ground, the wings 

 cream occasionally suffused crimson; 

 also last but not least, George Herbert, 

 one of the largest of the Countess 

 Spencer type — exceeded in size only by 

 the "White Countess Spencer." Stan- 

 dard carmine rose, wings rose pink. 



The foregoing notes should be read 

 in connection with and in continuation 

 of our articles of 1905 (issue of Julv 

 29th) and 1906 (issue of Aug. llth). 

 G. C. WATSON. 



Headquarters for 



PLANT STAKES 



CANE STAKES 



Long selected stock, thin and wirj-, 

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Southern ...8 .„ ^ .. 

 Japanese ...6 to 7 ft 



per ]ii(i per IWKi per 5iiO<> 



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75c. 5-50 25-00 



STEEL STAKES 



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4 " . .88 8.16 



No. 8 Steel Wire Qalvanized 



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per 100 PIT lootl per loo per lu>'* 



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 3K " -• .9i 9.00 6 ■' .. 1,60 15.50 



MICHELL'S RELIABLE HOSE 



Made expressly for hard usage 



Ask most any florist about it. 



3 Ply per foot 12c. 4 Ply per foot mMc 



I Our A dvance Price List of Bulbs is Ready. | 



HENRY F. MICHELL GO. 



IOI8 Market Street 

 PHILADELPHIA - - PA. 



Look through the Buyers' Directory 

 and Ready Reference Guide. You 

 will find some good offers there als*. 



Christmas Fiowering 



Sweet Pea Seed 



DIRECT FROM ORIGINATOR. 



Christmas Pinl<, Florence Denzer, white 1-4 lb 



75c: 1 lb. $2,00. 

 Hrs. E. Wild, new carmine red, 2 oz. 75c; i 4 lb. 

 $1.50. 

 These popular Florists' Sweet Peas hara 

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Also 10 ^ew Varieties offered for the first time, 

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Ask for Descriptive Price List. Tbea* 

 new varieties will be ready in September. 

 Sweet pea Directions wltli every order. 



ANT. C. ZVOLANEK 



Bound Broolc, NEW JERSEY 



