36 



HORTICULTURE 



January 11, 190S 



AFTER ADJOURNMENT. 

 January 2Sth, 29th and 30th. These 

 are the dates for the carnation meet- 

 ing at Washington. Fatten up your 

 pet seedlings, put them in the ring at 

 Washington and you'll soon find out 

 their "trotting" value. 



Better flowers, better woricmen, bet- 

 ter system, are things much to be de- 

 sired but let every florist also exert 

 himself to devise better ways of using 

 what we already have. There's plenty 

 of room for improvement. 



HOUSE OF VIOLET "BOSTON. 



The road to success in floriculture 

 is paved with industry, tenacity and 

 that liind of enterprise which gets its 

 stimulation from visiting the most 

 successful establishments and the ex- 

 hibitions and reading th.e best horti- 

 cultural literature. 



Tlie growers whose roses or carna- 

 tions are top-notch quality plumes 

 himself upon his methods and good 

 management but the one with low- 

 gi'ade product charges it to the weath- 

 er, the late foreman or the man who 

 sold him the stock. 



It is to be hoped that the generally 

 satisfactory conditions reported from 

 most sections at holiday time may con- 

 tinue without impairment throughout 

 the winter floral season. It would 

 seem from the way the florist business 

 has been sustained during the recent 

 financial strain that plants and flowers 

 and fancy greenhouse products of all 

 kinds have graduated for good from 

 the "luxury" class. 



"Solomon was fain to udmit that there 

 were three things too wonderful for him; 

 yea, four which he knew not : "The way 

 of an eagle in the air; the way of a ser- 

 pent upon a rock: the way of a ship in the 

 midst of the sea: and the way of a man 

 with a maid.' Had Solomon lived till this 

 day and generation he would have added a 

 fifth puzzler, to wit: The way of an ex- 

 press company with a prepaid package." — 

 Phila. Record. 



And perchance a sixth: The way 

 of a flower wholesaler with a fakir. 



An announcement of the spring ex- 

 hibition of the American Rose Society 

 occupies the back cover page of the 

 program and schedule of the American 

 Carnation Society. That is the right 

 sort of spirit. Let us have more of it. 

 "For a' that, an' a' that, 



It's comin' yet for a' that, 

 That man to man the world o'er 

 Shall hrithers be for a' that." 



Fix up your show window. There 

 are very few of these that' cannot be 

 improved and it is impossible to have 

 them too well done. This does not 

 mean extravagant and wasteful use of 

 high-priced flowers but it does mean 

 scrupulous cleanliness, simplicity and 

 pure taste in arrangement, and re- 

 sourceful proficiency in making ef- 

 fective use of the things most avail- 

 able at the time. Always combine 

 beauty and utility. 



appropriate welcome to the New Year, 

 the Philadelphia Record says: 



"No doubt this Joyousness was in part 

 due to the rebound from the depression of 

 the last days of the old year. It is, how- 

 ever, a good symptom. To eat and drink 

 so much may be a little provocative of in- 

 digestion, but it puts hoarded money in 

 circulation and starts tlie wheels moving." 



"Very true, and, as we have said be- 

 fore, blessings on the good spenders. 

 WHien America gets to wearing old 

 shoes it will be a cold day for the 

 florist and gardener. 



Commenting on the New York 

 Herald's estimate of $1,750,000 as the 

 amount spent by New Yorkers to give 



In the light of the lieavy supply of 

 orchids for which the New York mar- 

 ket could find no outlet at the Holidays 

 tliat article published in the New York 

 Times about tlie famine in orchids 

 witli famine prices ought to incite tlie 

 fool-killer to load his gun and prepare 

 to do business. "On Tliursday night" 

 it tells us "one of the dinner givers or- 

 dered orchids for table decorations. 

 He took his chances and gave a carte 

 blanche order. He found that the din- 

 ner and champagne were tar less in 

 price than the two dozen orchids, 

 which nodded gracefully from their 

 nests of maiden-hair fern. Then he 

 appreciated the ravages of the orchid 

 famine." This is the sort of ruinous 

 rot which scares away business, leaves 

 tile wholesalergl' ice-boxes full and 

 gives the grower a cold chill. 



The report of the Connecticut Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station on Fertil- 

 izers, for 1907, is interesting reading 

 and should set the man who uses fer- 

 tilizers to serious thinking. Many 

 pages of analyses and valuations of 

 special manures are given. We clip 

 tile following statement as being es- 

 pecially worth consideration by those 

 growers who are in the habit of using 

 the two mixtures analysed. 



"Two samples of fertilizers made in 

 England especially for florists' use 

 were sent for analysis by Thos. W. 

 Head. Groton, Conn. 



No. 19275. Clay's Fertilizer for 

 chrysanthemums and general flower- 

 ing stock, imported in bags and tins, 

 for sale at $7.00 per hundred weight. 



No. 19276. Thompson's Vine Ma- 



nure imported in bags and sold for 

 $6.7.5 per hundred pounds. 



Thomp- 

 Clay's Fer- son's Vine 

 tilizer. Manure. 

 No. 19275 No. 19276 

 .Nitrogen as ammonia... 1.81 1.77 



Nitrogen, organic 3.09 2.42 



Nitrogen, total 4.90 4.19 



^Vater-soluble phosphoric 



acid , 0.08 .^.46 



Citrate-soluble phosplior- 



ic acid 1..50 4.34 



Citrate-insoluble phos- 

 phoric acid 7.11 2.31 



Total phosphoric acid.. .S.6fl 12.31 



Water-soluble potash . . . O.IR 7.31 



Valuation per ton $23.43 $32.80 



No. 19276 apparently contained horn 

 shavings Nitrogenous superphos- 

 phates or specials can be bought here 

 for from $30 to $35 which contain as 

 much available plant food as these 

 fertilizors which sell at preposterous 

 l>rices." 



PERSONAL. 



Visiting Detroit: Mr. Holm of St. 

 Paul, Minn. 



George Ostertag has been re-ap- 

 pointed superintendent of parlis at St. 

 Louis for four years. 



A. R, Cutting, editor of tlie Canadian 

 Florist, Toronto, was married on Janu- 

 ary 1 to Miss Rita J. Revett of Chicago. 



Visiting Boston: F. R. Pierson and 

 J. R. Fotheringham of Tanytown, 

 N. Y.. the latter just back from 

 Europe. 



Visitors in Newport, R. I.: Rickards 

 Bros., New York, and John Beaton, 

 representing R. & J. Farquhar & Co., 

 Boston. 



M. B. Bunker, florist, of Boston, 

 was obliged to go to the Boothby Hos- 

 pital on "Wednesday, January 8, to un- 

 dergo a painful operation. 



Harry C. Hogan has been appointed 

 gardener to Mr. Reginald Vanderbilt 

 at Newport. Mr. Hogan was previous- 

 ly employed on the estate as foreman. 



Mr. John Mahan, superintendent on 

 the Auchincloss estate, was elected one 

 of the license commissioners for the 

 city of Newport, R. L, at the election 

 last Monday. 



