February 11, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



169 



Flower Shops as Seen by an Amer- 

 ican Horticulturist in Europe 



Flowers appeal to all of iis. Poets have sung their 

 praises, writers and painters have idealized them. In 

 love they convey their message of hope and desire; in 

 pleasure, they inspire us with their beauty; in sorrow 

 they silently express the feelings of the bereaved parent, 

 relative or friend. So it is not surprising that the 

 most beautiful, attractive and prosperous shops, seen in 

 all the cities of the world are the flower shops. "When 

 looking in the windows of these shops, one is impressed 

 with the fact that floriculture the world over has made 

 great advancement during the past decade. The writer, 

 having visited nearly every country in Europe, during 

 that period, finds it very interesting and instructive to 

 note the great improvement in culture shown by the 

 growers, and in displaying and selling their products by 

 the flower shops. 



The public demand and appreciation of quality in the 

 flower: the taste, skill and artistic boxing, etc., by the 

 retail dealers; rapid transportation for long distances 

 in cool receptacles ; the influence of trade papers, leading 

 to closer business relationship; the plan of telegraphic 

 exchange of orders by retailers; the large houses which 

 supply every accessory required by the retailer — these 

 all contribute to the general improvement. Thus the 

 retailer in all large cities, such as London, Paris, Berlin, 

 Vienna and New York have equally beautiful stores, and, 

 practically the same grade of flowers, and the same modes 

 of dressing them in and out of season. 



As to product — our American camationists have given 

 Europe a splendid flower, and they grow it well. Elegant 

 specimens of Enchantress, white and pink, Winsor, Mrs. 

 Patten, Mrs. Bradt and others can be seen and bought 

 all over Europe. Roses such as Eichmond, Bridesmaid, 

 Bride, Mme. Cusin, Killarney, Chatenay, Mme. Testout 

 (very fine) and Augusta Victoria are also well grown. 

 Besides these, in mid-winter and towards spring roses 

 are shipped from Italy and the South of France from out 

 of doors. But these show lack of finish in foliage and 

 flower owing to distance and having to be cut as buds 

 and opened in water. 



Towards spring and during most of the summer the 

 retailers have a splendid supply of hybrid and hybrid 

 tea roses, grown in cold house, and from out of doors. 

 Grown in this way they are much flner than anything 

 we can produce in America. They also excel us in bulb 

 forcing in every way. Lilacs also, as grown here in 

 Dresden are simply grand — fine long stems, splendid 

 flowers just ready to open and evidently grovm cool. 

 Charles X leads in favor but their whites and lilacs are 

 also fine and show the same careful culture. These 

 keep a week in the house after purchasing. This is 

 something our growers should follow, as the buyer wants 

 something that will last a few days for his money. In 

 addition there is an abundance of all the various flower- 

 ing plants, such as cyclamen, orchids, daisies, azaleas, 

 rhododendrons, bulbs of all kinds, and palms and fems. 

 The retailer has beautiful flowers and plants in abun- 

 dance to supply his customers at reasonable prices, and 

 in quality and quantity to satisfy the most fastidious. 



Angraecum sesquipedale 



Dresden. 



60TAN- 



The illustration shows Angraecum sesquipedale flower- 

 ing in the collection at Duke's Park, Somerville, N. J. 

 (A. A. McDonald, Supt.) 



The plant carried eight flowers in all. Seven are seen 

 in the picture and one bud opened later. Flowers are 

 ivory white and have a "spur" twelve to fifteen inches 

 long. Its native country is Madagascar. 



The orchid houses at Duke's contain many specimens 

 in good shape, being ably grown by William Garden. 



Phalaenopsis 



This very fine orchid species is perhaps not as exten- 

 sively grown as it should be. One of its varieties — 

 Phalajnopsis amabilis, has been known for over 150 years, 

 first under the name of Angraecum album, later Lin- 

 naeus called it Epidendrum amabile. It was not untO 

 1825 that Dr. Blume established the new genus and, 

 owing to its resemblance to the moth, called it Phalaenop- 

 sis amabilis. 



Until this time the only plants imported into Europe 

 came from Java and not until some time did any arrive 

 from the Philippines. The first collectors of Phalaenop- 

 sis not knowing how to pack the plants correctly had 

 great difficulty in getting them to Europe alive. This 

 has now been largely overcome by establishing the col- 

 lected plants on pieces of wood before shipping. 



The culture of the various species is similar. They 

 like a moist atmosphere of from 70-80 degrees by day 

 during the growing season with a few degrees less dur- 

 ing the winter. The plants are best grown in shallow 

 pans or baskets, in a mixture of fibrOus peat and sphag- 

 num moss. Care must be taken to give them lots of 

 drainage consisting of pieces of charcoal and broken 

 crocks. They are shade-loving plants and are easily 

 injured by the sun's rays. Position has a lot to do with 

 growing Phalaenopsis successfully. Often changing 

 them from one end of the same house to the other will 



