February 20, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



■241 



F. J. DOLANSKY 



Frank J. Dolansky has built up a re- 

 markable business since 1904, when he 

 erected his first greenhouse in Lynn, 

 Mass. He is now the possessor of 

 twenty-five houses and a splendid, well 

 established retail store in the shop- 

 ping district of the town. Ten years 

 ago he bought three-fourths of an acre 

 of land with a small greenhouse, which 

 had been used for forcing vegetables. 

 Today, a stock, principally of orchids 

 and gardenias, is grown under 80,000 

 square feet of glass, cutting from 35,- 

 000 orchid plants and about 10,000 gar- 

 denia plants. Mr. Dolansky came 

 from Bohemia to this country when he 

 was 18 years old and started working 

 in greenhouses around Lynn. He is 

 still in his thirties, virile and active, 

 and continually planning the develop- 

 ment of his business. 



The houses are built on the south- 

 ern side of a hill on a moist gravelly 

 soil which gives off sufficient moisture 

 to keep the air in the best possible 

 state for growing orchids and garden- 

 ias. What with this southern expos- 

 ure, glass close to the plants, and 

 heavy humidityt conditions are ideal 

 for producing the large and finely col- 

 ored cattleyas for which Mr. Dolansky 

 is noted. There are also several 

 houses devoted to roses and carna- 

 tions, which are disposed of through 

 the retail store. 



Hundreds of plants are imported 

 every spring and early summer, mostly 

 cattleyas, which Mr. Dolansky grows 

 extensively. His favorite variety is 

 Cattleya Trianae, which in his opinion 

 is the best commercial orchid grown. 

 It is a rather slow producer of blooms, 

 but it comes out in many and ex- 



P. J. Dolansky 



quisite variations and blooms in mid- 

 winter when the demand is greatest. 

 C. labiata blooms more freely, but 

 comes too early in the winter, in fact 

 in the fall, to command the prices of 

 the mid-winter. We noted a fine plant 

 of the valuable Cattleya Trianae alba. 

 There was also a plant of C. Trianae 

 which produced freak blossoms, com- 

 ing out with double parts, double lips, 

 two pairs of petals, wings, etc. Some 

 work in hybridizing is being done, but 

 it has not been carried far enough as 

 yet to show any definite results. We 

 noted a germinating case in which 



were orchid seeds germinating on 

 turkish towelling covering the damp 

 moss underneath. Mr. Dolansky stated 

 that this method was cleaner and 

 safer than starting seed on the moss 

 surface itself, as fungi were liable to 

 injure the young seedlings. A plant 

 of 0. speciosissima was shown which 

 had three blooms to every stem, where 

 most growers feel lucky if they can 

 get one or two. 



Dolansky grows some splendid gar- 

 denias, which find but few competitors 

 in either the Boston or New York mar- 

 kets. In fact, he practically controls 

 the Boston market tor gardenias, and 

 finding the local market an insufficient 

 outlet for his products, he sends much 

 of his stock to New York. In his 

 opinion the gardenia is not to be 

 classed as a popular flower as it is 

 rather frail and expensive and is used 

 mostly by the very wealthy class of 

 flower lovers, who go so far as to use 

 them in flnger bowls to scent the 

 water— a very pretty custom. He 

 grows them all the year around, con- 

 tinually keeping a batch of hardwood 

 cuttings in the propagating bench. 



Mr. Dolansky claims a rosy future 

 for the orchid, which he finds is be- 

 coming more and more popular. 

 Flower-buyers are getting educated to 

 their use, realizing that they are long 

 lasting and that just as much show can 

 be secured from one or two cattleyas 

 as from a bunch of 100 violets. And 

 nowadays, what with the modern one- 

 step and fox trot, the light spray 

 of orchids and lily of the valley worn 

 on the arm or shoulder are much more 

 adaptable than the heavy bouquet of 

 violets worn at the waist. S. L. F. 



PACIFIC COAST NOTES. 



C. J. Uhl and C. R. McBride are 

 starting a nursery near Vacaville, Cal. 



The California State Floral Society 

 held a meeting, Feb. 12, at Red Men's 

 Hall in this city. The principal fea- 

 ture was a lecture on "Annuals," by 

 A. R. Gould. 



The City Park Board of Spokane, 

 Wash., at a recent meeting decided to 

 invite park commissioners, florists, 

 etc., to stop off at Spokane on their 

 way to attend the conventions in San 

 Francisco next August. 



Richard Iwerson, landscape archi- 

 tect, formerly of Calgary, Alta., has 

 become connected with tlie Washing- 

 ton Nursery Company of Toppenish, 

 Wash. Mr. Iwerson changed his loca- 

 tion on account of his Gennan birth, 

 which made things rather uncomforta- 

 ble for him in Calgary after the be- 

 ginning of the war. 



The curbs of Chinatown, San Fran- 

 cisco, are now lined with venders of 

 China lilies and blossoming fruit 

 tree cuttings, in preparation tor the 

 Chinese New Year celebration. The 

 sale of the China lily plants is by no 

 means confined to Oriental buyers, 

 though the cut flowers are handled to 

 a considerable extent by white florists. 



At the meeting of the Pacific Coast 

 Horticultural Society, Feb. 6, an inter- 

 esting exhibit was that brought by F. 

 D. Pelicano. consisting of a halt-dozen 

 bunches of a new single pale lavender 

 violet originated by him. It was rated 



at 90 points. The other exhibit, a fine 

 lot of white phalaenopsis by the Mac- 

 Rorie-McLaren Company, was rated at 

 95 points. The attention of the meet- 

 ing was largely occupied with prepara- 

 tions for the S. A. F. convention. 



PERSONAL. 



Otis L. Kent, the North Atkinson 

 street florist. Newburyport, Mass.. fell 

 on Friday morning last and broke one 

 of his le.^s. A physician was called 

 and the fracture was reduced. 



Alfred Demeusy of Brooklyn and 

 Miss Marjorie Converse of lU'Uson- 

 hurst, L. I., were married in Brooklyn 

 on the evening of Tuesday, February 

 2. The church was very prettily dec- 

 orated. 



.lames Scott, who has been in charge 

 of Mrs. Charles R. Hayden's estate at 

 Magnolia, Mass., for the past twenty- 

 two years is now about to assume the 

 position of superintendent of Mrs. C. 

 A. Sinclair's estate, Cedarhurst, West 

 Gloucester, Mass. 



A recent letter from Robert Hun- 

 nick, of Newport. R. 1.. tells of his ar- 

 rival at Santa Barbara. Cal.. he having 

 been ordered by his physician to make 

 a change for a while owing to mental 

 and nervous depression since the 

 death of his wife, lie writes enthu- 

 siastically of the scenery of the grand 

 canyons and other picturesque sec- 

 tions passed through on the trip west- 

 ward and proposes to return via the 

 Panama Canal. 



VISITORS' REGISTER. 



Geneva, N. Y.— Joseph Prior, Wol- 

 cott, N. Y. 



San Francisco— Mark Bbel, Sacra- 



nienlo, Cal. 



Pittsburgh, Pa.— Frederick W. Ar- 

 nold, Cambridge. Ohio. 



Washington. D. C— C. Albert Small, 

 of J. H. Small & Sons, New York. 



New York City -P. Welch, Boston; 

 Col. \V. \V. Castle, Boston.; .A. Faren- 

 walii. Roslyn. Pa. 



Chicago— J. M. Hoffmann, La Porte. 

 Ind.; W. S. Clark, Columbus, 0.; Miss 

 A .1. Pennock. Sumter. S. C. 



Boston— M. Selinka of Schloss Bros.. 

 New York; J. Muller of .Julius Roehrs 

 Company. Rutherford. .\'. .).; E. J- Har- 

 mon, Portland, Me. , ., ^ , 



St. Louis— Frank Farney, Philadel- 

 phia Pa.; .lohn lUirback, representing 

 Mcc'allum Co.. Pittsburgh, Pa.; A. 

 Schwerin of Burlington. Iowa. 



Cincinnati— George Lanipert. Xenia. 

 O.; I. Bayersdorfer, Philadelphia. Pa.; 

 Walter Mott, representing the Ham- 

 mond Paint and Slug Shot Works. 

 Beacon, N. V. „, ^ 



Philadelphia— L. J. Renter, Wester- 

 ly R I.; Robert Scott, of the AVilliam 

 Scott Co., Buffalo, N. Y.; Joseph A. 

 Manda. West Orange, N. J.; Charles L. 

 S.hmidt. Harrisburg, Pa.; George 

 smith, superintendent of parks, AUen- 

 -own. Pa.; Arthur Herrington, .Madi- 

 son. N. J.; Joseph J. Hill. E. G. Hill 

 Co., Richmond, Ind.; W. C. Langbridge, 

 .Jilbany, N. Y. 



