February 13, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



209 



We wanted to see the man who 

 captured the Carnation Convention, 

 for that is practically what Aubrey A. 

 Pembroke o£ North Beverly, Mass., 

 did. So this week we visited the car- 

 nation factory where Mr. Pembroke 

 turns out the blooms that took thir- 

 teen firsts and eight seconds on 

 twenty-two entries at Buffalo. 



A. A. Pembroke is a quiet and un- 

 assuming man and it was rather dif- 

 ficult to make him talk about himself, 

 although he was quite willing and 

 ready to tell what he knew about the 

 culture of carnations. Five years ago 

 he was a private gardener who had 

 come from England about four years 

 before. In 1909 he rented two small 

 houses near his present range, possess- 

 ing very little capital and he frankly 

 confessed that the first year almost 

 made him quit, as everything seemed 

 to go wrong. But the second year 

 found him still at it and since then 

 Mr. Pembroke has been very success- 

 ful. He only has two houses, but 15,- 

 000 to 20,000 carnations are cut each 

 •week, which Invariably secure top- 

 notch prices. The house we saw was 

 a Lord & Burnham structure 60 feet 

 by 450 feet. " 



In Mr. Pembroke's opinion Match- 

 less is the best variety he has ever 

 grown and the most promising of 

 the newest carnations still not fully 

 tested is one of the seedlings origin- 

 ated by A. Roper of Tewksbury, Mass. 

 During the last two years this carna- 

 tion wizard has put up ninety vases 

 at various shows and has won eighty- 



AiKHEV A. Pembroke 



six prizes, about $600 in prize money, 

 and scores of certificates and medals. 

 Mr. Pembroke grows all the latest 

 varieties and they all seemed to be in 

 splendid condition. We noted a splen- 

 did crop of Rosette, Matchless and 

 Goi'geous, most of the blooms on 

 stems four and one-half feet tall. Most 

 of the stock is grown in the field in 

 the summer, although Mr. Pembroke 



assured us that if he could afford the 

 space he would start his plants in the 

 houses as soon as possible before the 

 middle of July and keep them inside 

 through the summer. The earlier the 

 start and the less disturbance througn 

 transplanting the greater are the 

 chances for increased and better pro- 

 duction throughout the winter. 



Fumigants are tabooed in this 

 establishment. The houses are so big 

 that fumigation would have to be done 

 very heavily and in that case there 

 would be a tendency to send the 

 blooms to sleep. In Mr. Pembroke's 

 opinion a spray once a week, after 

 the beds have been picked off close, 

 is the best treatment for carnations. 

 Xo chemical fertilizers are used 

 either. Sheep manure is applied to the 

 beds about once a month. He does 

 not believe in raised benches for car- 

 nations. He uses beds with concrete 

 sides about 15 inches high. 



The Lord & Burnham house above 

 mentioned is a magnificent structure, 

 even-span, in every sense a fitting ex- 

 ample of the modern greenhouse. It 

 is in houses such as this that Mr. 

 Pembroke, guided by the best things 

 in the profession of floriculture and 

 allied sciences, produced the flowers 

 that won the unanimous admiration 

 of the judges and the trade at the 

 Carnation Convention. He says it is 

 easy to grow good stock, no matter 

 what kind of a house, iron frame or 

 wood — but there you at-e! If we keej 

 on we will only end up by saying that 

 it depends finally upon the man and 

 his methods. S. L. F. 



the best of his ability and for the 

 grower and retailer to donate a cer- 

 tain part of their stock, and the re- 

 tailers to do all the work and to open 

 the hall to the public, so as to create 

 a local demand for flowers. This mat- 

 ter was left until a future date for 

 discussion and a committee was ap- 

 pointed to call on the growers and re- 

 tail florists to secure their support. E. 

 P. Tracey and F. Henkes were ap- 

 pointed to represent the club at the 

 meeting of the State Federation at 

 Ithaca. J. Allison of Albany and J. 

 Traudt of Canajoharie were elixted to 

 membership. A proposition that the 

 Albany Cut Flower Exchange start an 

 employment bureau for the benefit of 

 the Albany florists or growers who 

 are out of business was favored by 

 the majority of those present. 



NEW YORK FLORISTS' CLUB 



The Club meeting in the Grand 

 Opera House hall, last Monday even- 

 ing, was one of the best attended and 

 most harmonious in the history of the 

 organization. There was plenty of en- 

 thusiasm for the work of the coming 

 year; a splendid carnation exhibition 

 greeted the members: Phil Kessler 

 signalized his assumption of the man- 

 agement of the commissary depart- 

 ment by furnishing an elaborate com- 

 plimentary feed, for which a spontan- 

 eous vote of thanks was recorded and 

 altogether there was abundant evi- 

 dence that the coming year in the 

 club's history is to be a very wide- 

 awake and busy one, not the least of 

 which will be the "International" 



Show at Grand Central Palace next 

 month. 



The committee on proposed per- 

 manent club house reported favorably 

 through its chairman C. H. Totty. It 

 was stated that already bonds to the 

 amount of $5,500 had been subscribed 

 for by club members and the subject 

 was optimistically discussed by sev- 

 eral speakers. M. C. Ebel read the 

 resolutions of condolence on the 

 death of Charles McTaggart. T. B. 

 DeForest reported on the arrange- 

 ments being made for the San Fran- 

 cisco trip next August and Chas. 

 Schenck for the dinner committee. F. 

 R. Pierson made a very interesting re- 

 port on the International Flower 

 Show progress and said he had assur- 

 ances of the active help of the Retail 

 Florists' Association as an organiza- 

 tion to exploit the show and induce 

 florists to make exhibits of decorative 

 work. Special premiums were com- 

 ing in quite encouragingly, but more 

 are still needed. The Florists' Club 

 will have a decorated booth in the 

 exhibition where the president and 

 members can receive their friends. 

 There will be a "Brooklyn Day" when 

 the Brooklyn contingent will try to 

 outdo the big affair of last year. The 

 new plan of sectional judges for the 

 exhibits worked out well and commit- 

 tee reports were thorough and prompt. 

 Cottage Maid, a new carnation from 

 Cottage Gardens was given a prelim- 

 inary certificate having scored 85 

 points. Vote of thanks was given to 

 each of the following. White seedling. 

 No. 12 by Frank Duida. Farming- 

 dale; Beacon, White Wonder. Pink De- 



light and Gloriosa by Lakeview Rose 

 Gardens; Mrs. C. E. Akehurst by Pen- 

 nock-Meehan Co., for C. Akehurst 

 & Son; Laura Weber and Mrs. Ernest 

 Thalman by Charles Weber; Philadel- 

 phia, Eureka, Aranawa, and a crimson 

 seedling by A. N. Pierson; Pink seed- 

 ling by J. F. Marsden; Cerise seedling 

 by G. F. Neipp of Floral Hill Gardens; 

 Siren, a seedling, by H. C. G. Swortby; 

 Victory and Enchantress, by C. L. 

 Doerrer; Enchantress and White En- 

 chantress by A. L. Miller. Spencer 

 sweet peas by G. T. Schunemann, 

 freesias by Phil F. Kessler. 



The committee on permanent home 

 for the club is constituted as follows: 

 Frank R. Pierson, chairman; Phil F. 

 Kessler, A. T. De la Mare, Leonard 

 Barron, J. H. Pepper, C. H. Totty, W. 

 A. Manda, J. K. Allen, A. L. Miller, 

 F. H. Traendly, W. R. Cobb, Wm. 

 Duckham, H. E. Froment, Julius 

 Uoehrs and G. E. M. Stumpp. The 

 booth committee are C. B. Weathered, 

 chairman; John R. Kervan, Andrew 

 Cova, A. T. Bunyard, Andrew Scott, 

 R. G. Wilson, F. L. Atkins, Julius 

 Roehrs, W. F. Sheridan, J. R. Lewis, 

 Thomas Murray and W. H. Siebrecht, 

 Jr. 



THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 OF NEW YORK. 



There will be an exhibition of plants 

 and flowers held by this Society on 

 Wednesday, February 17th, at the 

 American Museum of Natural History, 

 77th St. and Central Park West Pre- 

 miums are offered for cut blooms of 



