August IS, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



163 



A Modern Florist 



Thos. Kolaud, the Nahant florusi will 

 be remembered by visitors to Horiic iil- 

 tural Hall, Boston, for the many 

 beautiful. unique, and interesi iiii; 

 plants he has exhibited there. He 

 comes from Birkenhead in England. 

 and is about fifty years old. He came 

 to this country about twenty-five 

 years ago. having previously had 

 some experience in private gardens 

 in En.gland. After being employed a 

 short time with W. W. Edgar of 

 Waverly, and Thos. W. Dee he went to 

 Nahant in 1884 as .gardener to Mrs. 

 Moran. with whom he stayed about 

 seven years. His first venture in the 

 commercial line was to buy out C. F. 

 Johnson, who was conducting a local 

 florist trade. There was about a 

 quarter of an acre of land and two 

 fifty-foot houses on the property. 

 Later he bought additional land, and 

 since then he has continually extended 

 his holding, and built up a lar.ge plant. 

 He first struck out into palm growing, 

 and afterwards into violets. At vari- 

 ous times he has taken up special 

 lines, and with characteristic tact. 

 energy, and good culture, has invari- 

 ably succeeded. Though some of the 

 original ventures have been left for 

 new ones, he is still at the front and 

 always has the newest and best in 

 everything. It is only after his lines 

 have been taken up by others, that he 

 seeks new fields. Chrysanthemums 

 for pot culture are still grown in 

 quantity, and these he was taking up 

 from the open ground at the time of 

 my visit recently; Garza is a favorite 

 variety for this work. He has spent 

 large sums, and continues to do so — 

 in ventures; some succeed, others fail, 

 as he expects some will, but in this 

 way only, can one keep at the front. 



He commenced growing Gloire de 

 Loraine Begonia about seven years 

 ago, since which time he has 

 shipped them to all parts of 

 this country, Canada, and also to 

 foreign countries, across the water. 

 About 20,000 plants of various 

 sizes are on hand, with which he 

 caters to an immense plant trade 

 for stores, and has shipped as many 

 as 50,000 in one season. Gloire de 

 Lorraine is grown warm, with a bit of 

 shade. As we saw it, it was a little 

 soft looking, but when established, 

 will be hardened for shipping. Sea 

 sand is used for propagating. What- 

 ever effect this has, it did not appear 

 to be detrimental. It is used as it 

 comes from the beach. 



There are large numbers of azaleas. 

 Acacia heterophylla, A. armata, and 

 cyclamens now on hand for next 

 Christmas and Easter trade. Ferns oc- 

 cupy considerable space, — the Pierson 

 var. elegantissima, the "Whitman," 

 the "Scott" — all in large numbers, be- 

 sides a lesser quantity of Adiantum 

 Croweanum. Over three thousand 

 each of "Baby Rambler" and Dorothy 

 Perkins roses are making their sum- 

 mer's .growth outdoors for Easter 

 decoration, and some Dorothy Perkins 

 are already in pots in preparation for 

 Christmas. When properly ripened 

 the latter is a very good forcer. Can- 

 terbury Bells for pot work are some- 

 thing out of the ordinary, — that is in 

 quantity. The plants are quite large 

 now — a foot or more in diameter. 

 Caroline Testout is a splendid summer 



A Fine Strawberry Field 



This picture shows a field of Minute 

 Man and Parsons' Beauty strawberries 

 during the picking season at the fruit 

 farm of Wilfrid ^\^leeler at Concord. 

 Mass. This field contained about two 



acres and yielded at the rate of 7000 

 quarts per acre, although the season 

 (1905) was very dry. These two 

 varieties of strawberries are very pro- 

 ductive when planted together and are 

 very profitable market varieties. 



I'ose. and grives a large quantity of 

 bloom for local trade. Primula 

 obconica, and Bougainvillea Sanderiana 

 are other Easter plants, as well as a 

 few of the old fashioned Maheruia 

 odorata. and Clematis indivisa, trained 

 on globes and in other fantastic ways. 

 I saw over 10,000 seedling Asparagus 

 plumosus which will need attention 

 later. Other special lines are Dra- 

 ceana Bruanti. D. Massangeana. D. 

 Sanderiana, D. terminalis. Erica 

 melanthera. Cyticus racemosus and 

 Cyrtomium falcatum, — known as the 

 Holly Fern, and a very durable one 

 for house work. 



Building has continued as needed to 

 accommodate the various ventures, un- 

 til now there are thirteen houses over 

 100 feet long and seven acres of land, a 

 very compact range, with all modern 

 conveniences. — machine shop with 

 motor, packing sheds, and store- 

 houses. There has always been a lot 

 of outside work done, a force of 12 

 men being regularly kept for this pur- 

 pose. Some laying out and planting 

 comes occasionally, which brings 

 trade for stock, and a lot of decorative 

 work about the residences. 



T. D. HATFIELD. 



OUR FRONTISPIECE. 



For the photograph of Iris Kaemp- 

 feri, which furnished our frontispiece 

 this week, we are indebted to Messrs. 

 Bobbink & Atkins. Rutherford. N. J.. 

 who handle large stocks of this ster- 

 ling Japanese species. 



C U. Fohn has resigned his posi- 

 tion as forester of .vcney Park. Hart- 

 ford. Ccmn., to take charge of the 

 estate of Gen. Wm. J. Palmer. Glen 

 Eyrie. Colorado Springs. Colo. 



LATEST VARIETIES OF HELIO- 

 TROPES. 



Ti-iHisl.-itod fi-tim "Uf'vue Horticole" by G. 

 Blelekeu. 



Garden heliotropes, plants so useful 

 for summer decorations, have been im- 

 proved much of late years, and Mr. 

 Bruant of Poitiers, is one of those, 

 which have contributed the most to 

 this progress. Heliotropes demand 

 little care. Given a warm and some- 

 what shaded place, they carry their 

 flowers well above their foliage. 



Bruant 's latest Introductions: 



Ceil Poiterir. : robust, half dwfarf, 

 with vertical branches, large and ele- 

 gant umbels, sky-blue, first-class in 

 size, having the lobes turned back to 

 the outside and showing a large white 

 centre. 



Ruskin; good grower, half dwarf, 

 sturdy, branching and bushy, beauti- 

 ful flowers, deep rose-violet with a 

 white centre. 



Madame Mathilde Cremieux; robust, 

 but staying dwarf, branching, com- 

 pact, with large umbels covering the 

 plant, clear light heliotrope-rose- 

 tinted flowers. 



L'.\quitaine; dwarf, bushy and 

 dense, large fiower-umbels, fine odor 

 and nearly pure white; the nearest to 

 white color obtained up to this day. 



Frida: half dwarf, branching, large 

 umbels of a pretty lilac tint, strongly 

 perfumed. 



.AJoxander My rial: half dwarf, 

 branching, large umbels of a very 

 beautiful steel grey color, with lilac 

 and violet eye. 



Phenomenal: good habit and with 

 gigantic umbels, violet color. 



