746 



HORTICULTURE 



December 5, 19 S 



A Schultheis Christmas Spread 



Ericas 



When Ihe hclida; s draw n ar or 

 when the breath of spring reminds one 

 of ihe approach of Easter, the impulse 

 to visit the plant growers' establish- 

 ments becomes especially irresistible. 

 In none of these does the caller, wheth- 

 er bent on buying or only seeing, le- 

 ceive a more cheery welcome than at 

 the College Point place, a bit of which 

 is shown in the accompanying pictures. 

 We have had occasion to write be- 

 fore of A. Schultheis, for "exceeding 

 wise, fair-spoken, and persuading" is 

 he, and not in the least reluctant to 

 tell his brother growers either his ex- 

 periences or his cultural deductions 

 therefrom. \t present every faculty is 

 awake in the preparatory work for the 

 Christmas plant demand which grows 

 in extent from year to year. Among 

 other things we find a house of Lor- 

 raine begonias and learn that the 

 stocky symmetry and promise of an 

 exceptional wealth of fresh bloom is 

 due to the fact that every bud that 

 showed previous to Nov. 1 was care 

 fully picked off. 



Ardisias are seen in several sizes. 

 the largest heavily toliaged and load- 

 ed with fruit which has only begun 

 to color, the lateness being caused by 

 retarded blooming of imported plants. 

 Tin se will be kept in a temperature 

 of from 75 to 80 degrees, as the ardisi.i 



should never get less than GO deer 



and will respond to plenty of pushing 

 when in fruit. Seedlings of last April 

 and May are in R-inch pots and thos' 

 from the year before are in good shape 

 to bloom next April, which will give 

 them abundant time to ripen up the 

 fruit in time for Thanksgiving, and 

 this, according to Mr Schultheis, is the 

 ideal method with ardisias. 



In one cattleya house an unusual 

 expedient for nabbing the destructive 

 cattleya fly is seen in pieces of "tangle- 

 foot" paper set up on sticks at inter- 

 vals all through the house. The pest 

 came in a batch of established plants 

 purchased last season and has done 

 much damage. Infested bulbs are cut 

 off and destroyed, but the flies a'e con- 

 stantly appearing, nowithstanding, and 

 plent; 01 them aie captured bj the 



Dhac.ena terminates 

 Daisies 



sticky paper which has tee i e 



more effective by a light sprinkling o 

 sugar. Conversation on this topic diew 

 from Mr. Schultheis some interest- 

 ing information as to his methods of 

 dealing with other insect pests. Fol- 

 lowing the experiments of a German 

 professor he has found that water 

 heated to a temperature of 135 to 140 

 deg. will kill all manner of 'insec's 

 but will not harm the most delicate 

 foliage. A barrel of tobacco water in 

 which a cake of soap is dissolved is 

 heated by steam until a floating ther- 

 mometer indicates 140 degrees and the 

 plants are successively dipped, precau- 

 tions being taken meanwhile to main- 

 tain the temperature at the killing 

 point. According to Mr. Schultheis, 

 thrips, scale, aphides, "thousand legs," 

 slugs and everything else in insect life 

 that the hot water touches will be 

 killed 



The display of small pot roses of 

 Ihe "Baby Rambler" type is of consid- 

 erable extent this year and indicates 

 that the introduction of Apple Blos- 

 som, Maman Levavasseur, and similar 

 little gems has given an impetus to the 

 production of blooming pot roses for 

 Christmas. Mr. Schultheis' plan is to 

 pot these plants from open ground in 

 September. They are set in frames 

 and sprinkled frequently until the 

 stems shew fresh plumpness. Air is 

 then gradually given and the dormant 

 plants wdll be in condition to be taken 

 in as wanted throughout the winter. 

 These are preferable to pot-grown 

 plants and are as reliable for prompt 

 crop of flowers as an azalea. If a batch 

 misses sale when in bloom they can 

 be cut back and another crop will 

 follow along in a short time. 



Among the new comers is a lot of 

 camellias in 6-in. pots, '>ach with from 

 15 to 25 buds. These are sure of appre- 

 ciation at Christmas. Oranges are par- 

 ticularly handsome this year, being 

 well covered with highly colored fruit. 

 At present the house intended for lilac 

 forcing is occupied with Bermuda lilies 

 planted out in bench, with buds rapidly 

 maturing. One hous >. looks especially 

 brilliant, being filled with poinsettias, 

 dracenas and (erusalem cherries. 



Ericas, as is generally known, are 

 a standard crop at this establishment. 

 The gi eat holiday favorite E. melan- 

 thera, called fragrans by Mr. Schul- 

 theis. is as good as ever. Another 

 named regerminans, rather stubby in 



Oranges 



habit, is slightly fragrant and blooms 

 .inifiise'y in very small sizes, being 

 very useful tor jardiniere groups. 

 Bpacris alba is a "top-notcher" among 

 the choice tiil-1 its. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



John Burton is about again after a 

 three weeks' tussle with the grip. 



Edward. Reid started on a business 

 trip South on the 30th ult, expecting 

 to be gone a week. 



C. H. Kahlert, of the Pennock Bros.' 

 establishment, has been on the sick 

 list with nervous rheumatism for the 

 past six weeks but is now recovering 

 slowly. 



E. .1. Fancouit, of the Pennock- 

 Meehan Co., has returned from a ten 

 weeks' western tour. He reports busi- 

 ness very good in spots and in other 

 places very bad, but with a rather 

 hopeful feeling prevailing everywhere. 



Edwin Lonsdale thinks the East 

 should do its share for the National 

 Flower Show. From all we have head 

 the East kept its end up very we.l at 

 Chicago. That being the case, all 

 HORTICULTURE'S other argument- 

 advocating Chicago for the next na- 

 tional show would stand and are irre- 

 futable. The idea of making another 

 association out of the men who man- 

 aged (he great affair should be frowned 

 on. The S. A. F. with valuable aux- 

 iliary help did it. Let matters stay 

 that way. Concentrate your efforts. 

 Don't scatter them. 



A CORRECTION. 



Our Philadelphia representative has 

 received the following communication 

 tii in Howard M. Earl'e. of W. Atle? 

 Burpee & Co.: 



Dear -Mr. Watson: 



tin Monday when 1 was at Hi,- uthVe I 

 called for a copy of my letter of the loth 

 to yon nuil imit'il that I had erred in dic- 

 tating same in stating that we were send- 

 ing in Knu'Iaml thousands of tons nf sweet 

 peas, whereas the statement should have 

 read thousands of pounds. It is due the 

 renders of your bright trade journal that 

 tIiis: correction bo made, for while my firm 

 does a very heavy business in sweet peas 

 i^ i ill i" misrepresent it. inten- 

 tionally or unintentionally. 



Verv trulv vours, 



HOWARD M. EARL. 



The committee on tariff of the 

 Vmerican Seed Trade Association held 

 a session at Vaughan's Seed Store. New 

 York City, on Dec. 2. 



