HORTICULTURE 



Vol. XXX 



NOVEMBER 29, 1919 



No. 22 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



A short time ago I spoke in this col- 

 umn about Begonia Optima. Possibly 

 some of you growers thought that 1 

 was raving, but any who had the pleas- 

 ure of seeing Optima at the Boston 

 Gardeners' and Florists' Club at its 

 last meeting must have felt like taking 

 their hats off to that plant. This va- 

 riety is a wonder as I am sure all who 

 saw It will agree. Again I mention a 

 few strong points. First of all, it Is a 

 keeper that is unbeatable. The 

 blooms simply will not shake off; they 

 will dry up on the plant without drop- 

 ping. The color is better than that of 

 Lorraine or any of that type, the sal- 

 mon shade giving great life. Moreover, 

 individual blooms are several times 

 larger and carried In loose clusters 

 very prettily arranged. It is a heavy 

 grower and makes a well-formed plant. 

 Mr Bartsch of the W. W. Edgar Co., 

 of Waverly, one of the places where 

 Optima is being tried out commercial- 

 ly, is enthusiastic about it and passes 

 this word on to his fellow plantsmen. 

 "Boys, keep your eye on it." 



Butler & Ullman, of Northampton, 

 have one of the prettiest flower stores 

 In New England. Perhaps the enter- 

 prising proprietors, both of whom are 

 energetic young men, feel that the 

 close proximity of Smith College 

 makes it necessary for them to go a 

 little farther than the average florist 

 in making their place of business at- 

 tractive to the eye. A handsome new 

 delivery wagon which conforms in 

 quiet elegance to the appearance of 

 the store has just been put into 

 service. 



I was interested in reading one of 

 the advertising cards prepared by this 

 firm. It is printed in large display 

 type and was worded as follows: 



"Surprise her with a bunch of 

 chrysanthemums — the flower that 

 lasts long after the giving. Women 

 cherish such little attentions." 



The firm has done an exceedingly 

 large business in chrysanthemums this 

 season and have been particularly 

 successful with the yellow varieties 

 developed by John Sinclair of Smith's 

 Ferry. Butler & Ullman have a large 

 range of greenhouses which furnish 

 much of their stock, although they 

 buy most of their roses at Montgom- 



ery's place in Hadley, which Is but a 

 short distance away. 



Although the Montgomerys seem to 

 be a long way from the main artery of 

 travel, a great many people reach their 

 greenhouses every season, and of 

 course much interest is being shown 

 just now at least by visitors who are 

 in the trade in the splendid new 

 roses, Crusader and Pilgrim, which 

 were originated here. Perhaps it isn't 

 strange after all that visitors should 

 be numerous, though, for this section 

 of Massachusetts is one of the pretti- 

 est in New England, a fact which is 

 being realized by people who are seek- 

 ing for summer homes. Alexander 

 Montgomery told me that he usually 

 made his trips to Natick by a cross- 

 road from Hadley to Ware. Accord- 

 ingly I tried the same route on the 

 way home, and while it was exceed- 

 ingly picturesque and not a. difficult 

 road to negotiate in the summer, I can 

 imagine that anybody who tried to 

 cover it in a machine in the spring 

 would be likely to become mired some- 

 where in a wilderness where public 

 garages are few and far between. I 

 am glad I took the road, however, for 

 seldom have I seen such fine displays 

 of black alder (Ilex verticelata) as 

 were encountered along the way, but 

 as this fruit has been so plentiful 

 everywhere I am not surprised that it 

 has been displayed lavishly in the win- 

 dows of florists. 



One of the fortunate growers for the 

 Thanksgiving trade this season was 

 Frank Edgar of Waverley. He had a 

 house of Chrysanthemums in the pink 

 of condition. A large block of Bonnaf- 

 fon were just right. It wasn't neces- 

 sary to cut ahead of his Thanksgiving 

 orders and when you can go into a 

 house and clean off the entire crop 

 for one special day, you are doing 

 'mums in good shape. His Bonnaffons 

 were not fancy but of a good commer- 

 cial grade, just the size the storemen 

 wanted. So many of the growers were 

 too early with Bonnaffon, but those 

 who had them for Thanksgiving sold 

 them at a good price. Whenever you 

 think of Frank Edgar you think of 

 pot plants and it is worth a trip from 

 a distance to see his plant stock, par- 

 ticularly the Cyclamen. We don't 

 know if Cyclamens have ever been 



done better in quantity than this lot. 

 His Begonias are also in excellent 

 shape and he has a lot of pot-grown 

 Ferns which will be of value to any- 

 one in the store trade as they will 

 stand up better than the drawn up and 

 softer bench-grown stock. 



J. K. Chandler & Sons of Tewks- 

 bury had as large a quantity of Pom- 

 pons as anyone around New England 

 and they were very well grown. The 

 varieties they grow seem on the whole 

 the most popular, they limiting them- 

 selves to a few of the best, among 

 which we might mention the little yel- 

 low button Baby, Mrs. Beu, Julia, La 

 Gravere, Diana, Golden West and 

 Western Beauty. They had this stock 

 in great quantity for the Thanksgiving 

 trade and realized good returns. 



The situation as regards Geranium 

 stock for the coming year looks mighty 

 serious. The high prices of last 

 spring must have induced most of the 

 growers to sell out further than they 

 should. It would seem that no one has 

 stock plants enough from which to get 

 their requirements for the next season. 

 Another serious difficulty was the un- 

 seasonable weather during the fall, 

 which caused an unusual loss in cut- 

 tings. The continued rainy and cloudy 

 weather filled the field plants full of 

 water and when the cuttings were 

 taken they were so soft that It was 

 almost impossible to get a decent 

 strike. Anyone having Geranium stock 

 to offer from now into the spring will 

 have no difficulty in disposing of it 

 and at good prices. 



What are the probabilities for a 

 supply of pot plants for Easter? At 

 the present writing it would seem that 

 Ramblers, both the polyantha and the 

 tall growing, will not be In over sup- 

 ply. No great amount of stock has 

 been offered. Of course we will not 

 have Azaleas. There should be plenty 

 of small plants such as Primula. Cal- 

 ceolaria, Cineraria; Hydrangeas, both 

 Otaksa and the French varieties are 

 plentiful. Of course we are all pleased 

 that we will' have a good supply of 

 Lilies, so taking it all in all these 

 plants mentioned, with a few other 

 lines which may he picked up here and 

 there, we have a right to look for a 

 nice supply of stock. 



