November 28, 1914 



HORTICULTURE 



767 



WHERE ARE THE FLOWER 

 BUYERS? 



All summer the Chicago florists have 

 arranged tempting window displays 

 and tried to content themselves with 

 thinking of tlie time when outdoor 

 flowers would be gone and they could 

 make up the deficit of the summer 

 business. After the killing frost of 

 Oct. 26 the writer watched for the 

 flower buyers and they came. Not a 

 retail florist in Chicago reports a 

 marked increase in sales to date, un- 

 less for a special wedding decoration 

 or large funeral such as might occur 

 any week in the year. _ Chrysanthe- 

 mums are moving unusually slow and 

 now, at the height of the season, count- 

 ers and ice boxes are filled. What are 

 the people buying? That which has 

 reached as near a state of perfection 

 as the natural article and lasts all win- 

 ter and costs less. Why should people 

 be expected to buy chrysanthemums 

 at $5.00 per dozen when the artificial 

 ones must be touched to detect the 

 difference and can be bought tor $1.50? 

 Sprays of berries that rival Nature's 

 work are selling for $1.00 each and 

 prepared foliage at 50 cents per spray 

 to the people who crowd the depart- 

 ment stores. Florists introduced the 

 make-up baskets of prepared materials 

 and now in the big stores they are 

 offered by the hundreds and cut flow- 

 ers are passed by. "Air plants." 

 worked off by the florists on a credu- 

 lous public, a few years ago, have been 

 followed by such a collection of ferns 

 that natural ones are almost elimi- 

 nated from the homes. Baskets of 

 large plants are now following their 

 lead. Through the wholesale houses 

 which are pushing sales all along this 

 line, the smaller towns are stocking up 

 each year more heavily, and it takes 

 no prophet to see the effect upon the 

 cut flower and plant business. That 

 money which once went to buy flowers 

 now finds its way to the "movies" and 

 automobiles is true, as florists point 

 out. but it is also true that the money 

 now being spent for flowers, etc., is 

 largely going over the counters for the 

 artificial and prepared stock and this 

 can be verified by any one who will 

 take the time to watch the people buy. 

 M. B. Hancock. 



OBITUARY. 

 J. L. Fillow. 



J. L. Fillow. senior member of the 

 Fillow Flower Company, died at his 

 home in Bridgeport, Conn., on Mon- 

 day, November 16. Pneumonia was 

 the cause of death. He is survived by 

 his widow, two sons and one daughter. 



Andrew Glorlus. 



Andrew Glorius, who was one of the 

 pioneer florists of Washington, D. C, 

 and who was for many years associ- 

 ated with his brother, the late George 

 Glorius, as a grower and retailer, 

 passed away at his home in Silver 

 Spring, Rfd., at the age of ninety-six 

 years. Mr. Glorius was a native of 

 Germany. He came to this country in 

 the late fifties. Some years ago he re- 

 tired from the flower business and since 

 that time he has been engaged in farm- 

 ing. Funeral services were held at 

 the home of his nephew, Henry Nolte, 

 in Silver Spring. 



BE SURE that you get the MEYBB 

 GREEN SILKALINE, and do not take 

 any ollior that is sold .is an imitation 

 of tlie MEVER GREEN SILK.4LINE, 



as tliey do not Ijave the full weight, 

 measure and strength of the genuine 

 article. All our GREEN SILKAI^INE 



is guaranteed up to the high standard 

 and mark. The sizes are !■', fine; FF, 

 medium: FFF, coarse. It is for sale 

 by all the hest Johhers. If you cannot 

 get it of your Jobbers, order direct of 

 the manufacturer. 



THE JOHN C. MEYER THREAD CO., LOWELL, MASS. 



In writing adrertlsera kindly mention HORTICULTURB. 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 

 Items of Interest. 



Sir David Prain, Director of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has sus- 

 tained a sad bereavement by the death 

 of his son, Lieut. Prain, in the fighting 

 line in France. 



Although no big shows are being 

 held by the National Chrysanthemum 

 Society, some excellent displays of 

 this popular flower are being made in 

 the London County Council Parks. By 

 the Council's enlightened policy these 

 exhibitions in the conservatories are 

 opened on Sundays. I attended a dis- 

 play at Battersea Park on Sunday last 

 (Nov. 8th) and was one of a big crowd 

 of interested citizens. 



National Dahlia Society. 



As previously announced, the Na- 

 tional Dahlia Society was deprived of 

 its autumn show at the Crystal Palace 

 by the exigencies of the war. The so- 

 ciety is not content, however, to sus- 

 pend all its operations until the wel- 

 come times of peace. Evidence of its 

 activities is afforded by the issue re- 

 cently of a supplement dealing with 

 the extensive trials concluded during 

 1913. These were held at Duffryn, 

 near Cardiff, and were conducted by 

 Mr. Cory. They were the largest 

 which have been conducted in a pri- 

 vate garden, and were for the purpose 

 of testing the decorative or garden 

 value of the flower. There were be- 

 tween 7,000 and 8,000 plants, represent- 

 ing nearly 1,000 distinct varieties. The 

 full details which are given furnish 

 useful data for the guidance of all 

 dahlia lovers. 



War and Horticulture. 



The direful results of the war have 

 a far I'eaching effect. On every hand 

 the fullest sympathy is felt for the 

 terrible experiences which many of 

 the Belgian nurserymen and their em- 

 ployees are experiencing. Every ef- 

 fort is being made to hospitably re- 

 ceive the thousands of refugees flock- 

 ing to these shores. Another effect of 

 the war is the closing of the German 

 sources of potash supply, from which 

 the British farmers and growers large- 

 ly used to draw. Various exjiedients 

 have been suggested as a substitute 

 for this fertilizer, including the use 

 of sea weed. Immense quantities of sea 

 weed have for years been used by the 

 growers in the Channel Islands. Ap- 

 parently there has been no interfer- 

 ence in the shipment of the Dutch 

 bulbs, as the usual auction sales are 

 being held. In certain quarters com- 

 plaints are being made that some of 

 the smaller exporters of Dutch bulbs 

 are not too careful in their selections. 



with the result that daffodil disease is 

 introduced into this country. A Guern- 

 sey correspondent writes to a trade 

 paper: "Some of the large and honor- 

 able Dutch firms undoubtedly burnt 

 plenty of bulbs, diseased ones, and 

 other unsaleable ones. But the smaller 

 ordinary Dutch bulb firms have car- 

 ried on a scandalous game for long, 

 and it is high time that this onesided 

 business should be stopped." It is a 

 great shame that there should be this 

 unfair trading on the part of a certain 

 section, for it brings discredit on the 

 whole trade, and gives a bad name to 

 bulbs from Holland amongst British 

 growers. 



W. H. Adsett. 



DECORATIVE PLANTING AT THE 

 PANAMA-PACIFIC. 



Into the 65 acres of living gardens 

 surrounding the Palace of Horticulture 

 there have been set the enormous 

 number of 704,000 golden-flowered 

 plants under the direction of Donald 

 McLaren, the California gardener. 

 These flowers will occupy sunken gar- 

 dens in the main entrance facing the 

 Tower of .lewels and in the Minor 

 Courts of Palms and Flowers. Work 

 has begun on the final transplanting of 

 27,000 yellow wall-flowers, and an equal 

 number of Spanish golden iris in the 

 Court of Palms, which looks out upon 

 the Palace of Horticulture. The Tower 

 Plaza has already been planted with 

 200,000 yellow pansies, 100,000 yellow 

 daffodils and 100,000 golden poppies. In 

 the Court of Flowers, which opens 

 toward Festival Hall, 250.000 golden 

 poppies, 100,000 daffodils and 50,000 

 golden tulips will be set this week. 



So that the 65 acres of flowers and 

 plants will be kept constantly in bloom 

 during the ten months of the Exposi- 

 tion, it is planned to replace this first 

 setting with other flowers when the 

 first cycle has lived its life. Mr. Mc- 

 Laren believes that three plantings 

 will be required to keep the vast gar- 

 dens ever in bloom. An unusual de- 

 cision was made by Mr. McLaren this 

 week to plant no palms in the Court of 

 Palms, the siiace being given over to 

 acacias, towering Italian cypresses and 

 low-growing eugenias. The balustrade 

 surrounding the pool will be over- 

 himg by low-trailing muehlenbeckia, or 

 maiden-hair vines. 



The Exposition's horticultural gar- 

 dens became international in scope 

 this week when entries of roses from 

 Belgium and Holland were planted in 

 the rose gardens. These are govern- 

 ment exhibits of these two countries 

 and are entered in the competitions, 

 one of which has as a iirize $1,000 for 

 a new, un-named rose. 



