HORTICULTURE 



Vol. XXX 



SEPTEMBER 27, 1919 



No. 13 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



It is apparent that there will be a 

 big supply of cyclamens this year, al- 

 though that does not mean that there 

 will be an over supply. The stock on 

 hand is larger than that of many other 

 plants and the quality is remarkably 

 good. There is one section Just on 

 the outskirts of Boston where several 

 large growers specialize on cyclamens 

 and it is safe to say that the stock 

 now being grown is ahead of anything 

 seen for several years. Among the 

 growers are Frank Edgar and the 

 William W. Edgar Company of Waver- 

 ly, Walrath and Sons of Waltham 

 and A. M. Davenport of Watertown. 

 To the casual visitor it looks as 

 though there was some rivalry among 

 these men to see which can grow the 

 biggest plants. At any event some of 

 the specimens to be seen are of phe- 

 nomenal size. Several of them would 

 pretty nearly fill a bushel basket, and 

 by several I mean perhaps forty or 

 fifty at one place. Of course the 

 plants are not in flower, but they are 

 carrying a tremendous crop of buds. 

 In other parts of the country the cy- 

 clamen is also being raised in large 

 numbers this season and promises to 

 cut as much figure in the market as 

 any pot plant. 



As to Lilies. 

 Earlier in the season it was ex- 

 pected that lily prices would be ex- 

 ceedingly high and many growers be- 

 came discouraged at the prospect. 

 Prices are bound to be high, of course, 

 but there is reason to believe that they 

 will be lower than was anticipated. In 

 fact, they may go as low as $150 a 

 thousand. The first arrivals are ex- 

 pected about the first of October and 

 much interest is being felt as to the 

 quality. The calla is going to remain 

 a good seller this year, from all indi- 

 cations. At least, a good sized stock 

 is being accummulated. 



Araucarias Short. 

 There is no question about araucar- 

 ias being very short in supply. It 

 would be difficult to locate many 

 plants anyway. I must take exception, 

 however, to George Watson's state- 

 ment last week that a Philadelphia 

 concern had about all there were, or 



something to that effect. I learn that 

 Louis Schmutz of Brooklyn also has 

 a fair supply. 



From Peas to Carnations. 



It will be news to many growers 

 that William Sim of Cliftondale, Mass. 

 is no longer to be rated as the Sweet 

 Pea King. I note that several of the 

 florist papers have been printing ar- 

 ticles about the way in which Mr. 

 Sims grows sweet peas, and yet the 

 truth of the matter is that he has 

 practically no sweet peas in his houses 

 at the present time. Indeed, Mr. Sim 

 seems to be out now to make a ropu- 

 tation as a carnation grower and from 

 present indications he will succeed, 

 for he has some of the best stock to 

 be seen in New England. That he has 

 gone into carnations in rather a large 

 way may be judged from the fact that 

 he has about 100,000 plants. He is 

 giving White Delight, among others, a 

 good try out. He also has a number 

 of promising seedlings. One reason 

 f6r Mr. Sim's success this year no 

 doubt lies in the good Deginning he 

 made. He had half of his stock housed 

 by the first of June and he began cut- 

 ting the middle of August. 



While Mr. Sim is going in heavily 

 for carnations, he is not ignoring 

 other stock, by any means. He is 

 raising a large lot of violets, although 

 less than in former years, and he has 

 a fine house of primroses. 



Sim's Polyanthus. 



Sim's Yellow Polyanthus has made 

 a splendid impression and the demand 

 continues to grow. Indeed, this 

 promises to be one of the best pot 

 plants of the season. Moreover, the 

 flowers are excellent for cutting, being 

 handled like violets. No doubt there 

 are readers of this article who will re- 

 member the unique corsage which Mr. 

 Sim exhibited at one of the shows 

 and which was made from these flow- 

 ers. The call is extending to the west, 

 too. One florist from that section has 

 sent in an order for 3,000 field grown 

 plants which will bloom this winter. 

 This comes after an order for a thous- 

 and plants last season. 



Perhaps it would be well to say that 

 the call for purple primroses which 

 was predicted does not seem to have 



developed. At any rate Mr. Sim has 

 thrown out all but the yellows and 

 the tans, saying that the others do 

 not sell. It sometimes happens that 

 florists who take up this plant for the 

 first time do not know how to handle 

 them. All too often they keep them in 

 hot houses when the weather begins 

 to get warm in the Spring. This is 

 all a mistake. The plants should be 

 set in the field as soon as possible and 

 kept there until the coming of frosts. 

 Even then they will not look very 

 thrifty for a while if there happens 

 to be a spell of dry weather early in 

 the summer, but the Fall rains will 

 usually bring them along all right 

 and put them into good condition by 

 the time they should be taken in. 



A Good Fern. 



There seems to be no doubt about 

 the fine quality of Nephrolepis Macawi 

 now being offered the trade. Here is 

 a fern which should prove a splendid 

 seller, for it has all the merits which 

 make a popular appeal. It is a sport 

 of Scotti, with wavy leaves, and grows 

 faster than Scotti, Indeed, it Is un- 

 doubtedly the fastest grown ■commerci- 

 al fern on the market. In developing 

 this fern Duncan Macaw has added to 

 a reputation which was already one 

 to be proud of. Of course the fern is 

 selling well — both East and West. 

 A Traveling Salesman. 



LANCASTER COUNTY FLORISTS' 

 ASSOCIATION 



About 6 P. M. on Thursday, Sep- 

 tember 18, Leola became the center of 

 attraction for the florists of this vi- 

 cinity and they gravitated toward it 

 via trolley and machine until there 

 were about twenty" of us on hand. 



Our host, W. B. Girvin, and his effi- 

 cient manager, John Shoenberger, 

 piloted us around the place. The first 

 inspection was an immense plot of 

 candytuft grown for summer cutting. 

 Next came the chrysanthemum house 

 planted to pompons and standards all 

 of them in good shape excepting one 

 batch of Chadwick which was badly 

 used up by the "midge." Next were 

 the carnations, of which only three 

 varieties are grown, Supreme, Match- 

 less and Mrs. C. W. Ward. They were 

 uniformly good and producing flowers. 

 One peculiar thing I noted was that 



