March 8, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



331 



1-IL.I 



Notwithstanding tlie Early Date of Easter Our Lilies will be of 

 The Same High Grade that we Have Been Furnishing in Years Past 



We Pack in Boxes of Twenty-five Pots Each, Nicely Crated over the Top. Our 

 Packing is Undoubtedly the BEST IN THE UNITED S FATES. Average 5 

 Flowers to the Plant. One Extra Plant, gratis, in each Crate. 



Prices in case lots, t2c. per Flower or Bud. ORDER EARLY so that we may be 

 able to Ship Them Direct from the Greenhouses Without Rehandling. 



We carry a full line of Fresh Flowers, all varieties and 

 the largest stock of Florists' Supplies in New England 



Roses are Our Specialty 



The Killarncys, Richmond, Cardinal, Killarney Queen, Maryland and all the popu- 

 lar Yellow Novelties in all grades and prices. 



F~loris-ts' Supply Depar-tmen-t 



Easter Baskets, Vases, Novelties in All Lines. 



Plant Auction Sales for Spring Season will begin early In April if shipments arrive, 



and thereafter each Tuesday and Friday until June 



R. F. McCarthy & go. 



Wholesale Florists and Supply Dealers 112 Arch & 31 Otis Sts., BOSTON 



■nmiimrnr™im 



THE IRIS. 



This is a large family with 170 na- 

 tive varieties and these have been 

 crossed and improved until the collec- 

 tion, taken together, are the most 

 beautiful of any of the flower family. 

 They have been overlooked but they 

 are the coming flower. Why? First — 

 Their fascinating and alluring loveli- 

 ness. They are named from the God- 

 dess Iris, the rainbow personified, who 

 combined the beauty of heaven and 

 earth in their matchless robes. It 

 would seem as it she gathered the 

 glory of the sunset, the beauty of the 

 sun mantles, the tinting and coloring 

 and the shading which plays on moun- 

 tain and plain and wove them all in 

 those opaline and irridescent robes 

 with which she has adorned her chil- 

 dren. The marvelous veining and 

 tracery and the delicate intermingling 

 of colors give them a charm no other 

 flower possesses. Many of them have 

 a delicious fragrance. Some have a 

 charming reflex like the richest silks 

 which gives them a resistless fascina- 

 tion. In fact when you take a mass 

 of them of a hundred kinds and see 

 them all on dress parade, each vieing 

 with the other to see which can put on 

 the most radiant appearance they 

 seem almost human in their efforts to 

 dazzle and attract. But they have this 

 advantage; no gathering of royalty, 

 no efforts of the select four hundred, 

 none of the elaborate trousseaus ot 

 Paris can compare with the skill and 

 high art of the great florist as He has 

 adorned the brilliant host to charm 

 the eyes and feed the soul. All the 

 rays and tints and colors of the rain- 

 bow are here. The concentrated beauty 



of cloud and earth united and blended 

 in a harmonious whole. 



Second — They are the best drouth 

 resisters we have. Last season was 

 very hot and dry. Often the burning 

 sirocco winds were blowing fiercely 

 with the mercury soaring above a 

 hundred, only six inches of rain from 

 the first of May until the first of Oc- 

 tober, and yet we did not lose a plant 

 in 150,000. In digging them in Septem- 

 ber the ground was as di-y as an ash 

 heap but the roots seemed to have 

 gathered and stored the moisture. 

 They were plump and full of life and 

 when replanted grew with great vigor. 

 Beside them the hardy peony drooped 

 and many of the perennials succumbed 

 entirely. This trait must make them 

 the favorites of the semi-arid regions 

 and even in California, the great 

 thirst land where it rains one month 

 and the other eleven months like 

 thirsty beasts of prey pounce upon the 

 fields and suck them dry. Though they 

 repay the best of care they will bear 

 neglect and survive where othera 

 would die. Too much water and too 

 much manure are not good for them. 



Third — They seem capable of en- 

 during any degree of cold. The Pu- 

 mila, the German and Siberian fami- 

 lies are very hardy. The Japs, though 

 of rare beauty if they can have their 

 own way, are not a success in the West 

 and Northwest. In California they 

 sunburn and in Nebraska they must 

 be kept under a lath screen when 

 they richly reward you with their 

 rare beauty. There are about thirty 

 kinds of the Siberians. The flowers 

 are somewhat smaller than the Ger- 

 man but many of them are of winsome 

 beauty. The blue type has blooms of 



deep intense blue, borne on strong 

 slender stems like ramrods. Pick 

 them just as they begin to open, and 

 they can be shipped quite a distance. 

 The very deep color blends harmoni- 

 ously with other tints so they are 

 great favorites with the florists. Snow 

 Queen belongs to this family. It has 

 a beautiful flower of snowy white with 

 golden reflex in the center; it is quite 

 late. 



Fourth — The peony is a slow multi- 

 plier, and there is no process by which 

 it can be hurried up. If you have a 

 new syringa or spirea or most any 

 kind of expensive ornamental shrub 

 you can multiply it by cuttings, by bud- 

 ding or root divisions; so from one 

 \ ou can soon have a hundred. But 

 you can't hurry the peony; so when a 

 new and rare one is produced of very 

 high price you must wait. No use in 

 trying to push it. It is bound to take 

 its time. Some will double every year, 

 some will take two or three years 

 and the fame of their beauty is grow- 

 ing much faster than they do; so the 

 price mounts higher. We have one 

 that cost $10, some $5 and there is not 

 much prospect of their being lower, 

 for their fame seems to grow faster 

 than they do. But it is not so with 

 the Iris. In the first place they are 

 not as expensive. A fine collection 

 can be had at about 25c. each or less. 

 The costliest are about $1. But, re- 

 member, on the average they increase 

 from one plant to ten in two years. I 

 have divided thirty from one in that 

 time. But that is above the average. 

 From this rapid increase from ten you 

 soon have one hundred and so on. 

 How stingy people are when it comes 

 to home adornment. Some expect 



