48 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Decembbe 4, 1902. 



WINTERING BOX TREES. 



I have about a dozen boxwood trees 

 in tubs that were stored in a green- 

 house last winter and became badly in- 

 fested with red spider. Would it do 

 to plunge them outdoors, covering the 

 roots with strawy manure and this with 

 pine boughs? Have no suitable cellar, 

 and thermometer goes to 20 degrees be- 

 low zero here. A. S. C. 



New Hampshire. 



The Tree Box is quite hardy in cli- 

 mates where the temperature does not 

 go below 10 Fahrenheit, and that only 

 occasionally. It should be cool in the 

 winter months; still a greenhouse where 

 the night temperature was about 40 to 

 45 would winter it very well, and there 

 would be no occasion for red spider, be- 

 cause hand spraying once or twice a 

 week would keep them down. A green- 

 house is too valuable space to be occu- 

 pied witli box trees, sweet bays and the 

 like, and if I had no building adapted to 

 their winter care I should look around to 

 see if I could not find a barn in the 

 neighborhood that did not get too cold. 

 Incidentally I must mention that two 

 years ago I advised a wealthy cus- 

 tomer to keep his sweet bays in his coach 

 house adjoining his stable, which he did, 

 and they wintered finely. 



If no such place is available, then 

 with a little labor you can winter the 

 box trees out of doors. 



Dig a trench in a dry spot a few inches 

 wider than the tubs or pots and deep 

 enough to let the tops of the tubs be a 

 little below surface of ground. Fill 

 in with dry stable litter or leaves be- 

 tween the tubs, which should be as close 

 together as tops will allow. Then on 

 each side with 1-inch boards build a 

 wall a few inches away from the trees. 

 Some clean, dry straw loosely pushed 

 down among the trees will help, 

 and a good lot of hemlock boughs 

 thrown up against the outside of 

 the boards will help to keep it 

 warm. Don't cover the top of 

 this primitive structure until very cold 

 weather sets in, and then it can be 

 hemlock boughs. Wlien you put them in 

 this trench, see that the soil in the tubs 

 is moist or give them a good watering. 

 They will stand the low temperature 

 better if the roots are moist than if dry. 



WiLUAM Scott. 



FORCING SPIRAEA. 



About this time the imported clumps 

 of spiraa will begin to be distributed 

 among the growers, and the treatment 

 given them after their unpacking is re- 

 sponsible for a good deal of the success 

 or failure in forcing. 



As soon as unpacked those that are 

 required for early use should be potted 

 »nd placed either in a frame, where the 

 temperature can be maintained at about 

 56 degrees, or put under a light, airy 

 bench in a house run at that tempera- 

 ture until root action is well started, 

 when they should be placed on a bench 

 where they can have full sunshine and 

 free ventilation with a night tempera- 

 ture of 60 degrees, which can gradually 

 be raised to 65 degrees if the flowers 

 are wanted early. 



To keep up a succession of blooms a 

 fresh batch should be potted every two 

 weeks. With clumps from cold storage 

 a succession of bloom can be had 

 throughout the year. 



As Easter falls on April 12, 1903, I 



the clumps required at that season 

 should be potted the last week of Janu- 

 ary, as they require about ten weeks in 

 a temperature of 60 degrees to fully 

 develop. By growing them along stead- 

 ily at this temperature they develop bet- 

 ter flowers and have more luxuriant foli- 

 age than if they are heavily forced or 

 too much retarded. 



The one great requisite in forcing 

 spiraea successfully is to see that they 

 never on any occasion suffer for want 

 of water, as this is fatal. They are also 

 very impatient of the fumes of tobacco, 

 and should either be grown in a house 

 that requires no fumigating or removed 

 from it during that operation. 



Whilst revelling in an abundance of 

 fresh air, they do not relish a draught 

 and if frequently exposed to it the 

 leaves will get rusty, which effectually 

 spoils the appearance of the plants and 

 detracts very much from their value. 



They succeed well in a compost of 

 three parts fibry loam and one part 

 well decomposed manure, with a 

 sprinkling of sand to keep it porous and 

 sweet. When the flower stems begin to ap- 

 pear they can use with advantage a 

 soaking of manure water once a week. 



The varieties most suited for forcing 

 are Astilboides floribunda, Japonica 

 floribunda, Japonica compacta multiflora 

 and some of the new varieties, such as 

 Gladstone, which when well handled 

 makes a magnificent specimen. 



To successfully store the imported 

 clumps they should be buried in a dry 

 situation and covered with either ashes 

 or sand and should be moistened before 

 being covered. Rises. 



NEW YORK. 



Trade Conditions. 



The week opened with bright, clear, 

 freezing weather. It was 31 J degrees 

 Monday. Everybody looks happier since 

 Thanksgiving and both wholesalers and 

 retailers have much to be thankful for. 

 The prices realized for fancy stock were 

 exceptional for so early in the season. 

 Some grand Maids and Brides touched 

 20 cents. Beauties are ambitious 

 enough to demand $7 per dozen, and 

 some special violets, in bunches of 100, 

 actually refused to budge for less than 

 $3 per bunch, but such values were few 

 and far between. Still the trend of 

 prices is now upward, and there is little 

 danger of any recessions until after the 

 holidays. 



The cnrysanthemum has realized that 

 its days are over. A few of the late 

 varieties still grace the windows of the 

 retailers, but there is a general willing- 

 ness to "speed the parting guest." The 

 orchid maintains its place at the head 

 of the procession. It still seems to be 

 society's favorite at the opera; though 

 now that the violet is disappearing 

 from the street merchant's display, and 

 its value has become prohibitive for 

 general use, immense bunches may again 

 grace the corsages of the "400." 



Items. 



Next Friday sees the folding of the 

 auction tents for the season. Mr. Elli- 

 ott says it has been a "strenuous year" 

 with values low and enthusiasm stag- 

 nant. Still in the aggregate it com- 

 pares favorably with other years, and 

 doubtless when the robins nest again 

 business will go on as usual at the old 

 stand. 



John A. Scollay, of Brooklyn, is very 

 busy these days with a force of fifty 

 placing his boilers in the ranges of A. 

 Whiting at Hartford, Conn.;' and H. C 

 Williams, of East Hartford. He reports 

 one of the best fall seasons in the his- 

 tory of the house. 



Hicks & Crawbuck find their de- 

 parture from the beaten track and their 

 enterprise in establishing wholesale 

 stores in both cities is bearing fruit. 

 They have some great Bride and Maid 

 growers on their list, some specials of 

 these varieties actually bringing as high 

 as 20 cents for Thanksgiving. 



Reidel & Co., the latest arrivals in 

 the ranks of the wholesalers, have a 

 neat store fitted up for staying pur- 

 poses and very convenient. They make, 

 as a special feature of their "good in- 

 tentions," the promise of a "strictly 

 wholesale business." 



Mr. Gunther, the violet specialist, 

 has completed improvements that give 

 him one of the best and most commo- 

 dious stores in the district. He is evi- 

 dently ready for a repetition of the 

 times when he sold over 200,000 violets 

 in a day, and he "expects to do it 

 again." 



Jlr. Saltford, on the same street, whose 

 book on "How to Grow Violets" has 

 given him much creditable notoriety, re- 

 ports a fine Thanksgiving and a steady 

 rise in violet values. His best stock 

 brought $2 per 100 easily. He has 

 many of the best Duchess county grow- 

 ers in bis "repertoire." 



Charles Millang will soon be dispens- 

 ing lilies, but just now he is developing 

 great ability as a "plantsman," his 

 sales of plants from his new conserva- 

 tory far exceeding his expectations. 



Alex. Guttman's record price of 75 

 cents each for Maids and Brides last 

 Easter has not been excelled, but some 

 stock from the same grower last week 

 easily brought 15 cents, and the stock 

 was superb. 



Moore, Hentz & Nash "cannot get 

 enough Queen of Edgley," they say, 

 and the price for specials crowds the 

 Beauty hard. A lot of 250 fine ones 

 sold for $100 la.st week, and 50 cents 

 each was the price in smaller quanti- 

 ties. 



This firm has been one of the most 

 persistent in "shaking up" the express 

 companies for exorbitant shipping rates, 

 especially the Essex division of the D. 

 L. & W. These railways have been 

 making a wonderful show of generosity 

 in the raising of the wages of their 

 employes, and have quietly evened up 

 matters by adding to their shipping 

 rates more than enough to cover all 

 their apparent liberality. The flor- 

 ists have, however, found a remedy in 

 the use of the corrugated paper boxes 

 manufactured by the Sefton Co., of Chi- 

 cago, and the extreme lightness of these 

 and the strength which enables them 

 to be taken apart, packed in bulk and 

 used over and over again, has surely cir- 

 cumvented the R. R. and "put the shoe 

 on the other foot" with a vengeance. 



Ernst Asmus is away on his annual 

 hunting trip and the moose will again 

 have to suffer. Don't see any more room 

 in his residence for "trophies." Guess 

 he must intend to decorate that new 

 300-foot U bar greenhouse at "Asmus- 

 iana" with them. 



J. F. McConnell is kept hustling now- 

 adays at the "Exchange" with Louis A. 

 Noe's fine 12cent Maids and Brides. 

 He says he does not handle anything 

 but "extras." 



