418 



CURRANT 



able if scalded for a few minutes in boiling water, and 

 flien transferred to fresh water for cooking. It is much 

 esteemed by those who have learned to use it, and is 

 credited with medicinal qualities of value in bowel and 

 throat affections. The plants are exempt from attacks 

 of the Currant worm. Fred W. Card. 



ClJSCUTA (origin of name obscure). ConvoJvulclcea. 

 Dodder. A genus of degenerate parasitic twiners , 

 hearing clusters of small fls. They are leafless annuals, 

 with very slender yellow or red stems, which become 

 attached to the host-plant by means of root-like suckers. 

 The seeds fall to the ground and germinate in the spring. 

 As soon as the young shoot finds an acceptable host, the 

 root dies and the plant becomes parasitic. Failing to 

 find a host, the plant dies. Dodders are common in low, 

 weedy places. Some species are also serious pests, as 

 the Clover Dodder and Flax Dodder. One of the com- 

 mon species {C. Gronoviiy Willd.), of low grounds, is 

 shown in Pig. 617. 



CUSHAW. Que of the many names of Cucurbita 



CUSTARD APPLE. Species <.f Auo^a. 



CUT-FLOWER INPUSTRY IN THE UNITED 

 STATES, Fifty years ago it would not have been pos- 

 sible to purchase Cut-fiowers during the winter season 

 in any of the large cities of this country. Today there 

 is scarcely a villaijc of 2,000 to 3,000 population that does 

 not boast of its liorist. wlmst- revenues are largely aug- 

 mented by the sale of < 'ut-llowers. Millions of dollars 

 are invested in the cultivation and sale of Cut-flowers in 

 the neighborhood of the large cities of the United States. 

 The growth and evolution of the business has been very 

 rapid in the past 25 years. From 1860 to 1875 the ca- 

 mellia was the most valued of all Cut -flowers, either for 

 personal adornment or bouquets, as much as $1, $2 and 

 even $3 having been obtained for a single flower at the 

 holiday season. At the present time they are almost 

 forgotten, and are only to be found in private collections 

 and in the south, where the plants will live out during 

 the winter season. The principal flowers forced at that 

 time, in addition to the camellia, were daphne, bou- 

 vardia, abutilon, nasturtium, callas, sweet alyssum, 

 poinsettia, carnations and a few LaMarque, Bon Silene 

 and Safrano ^roses. The taste was for set designs. All 

 flowers were picked with short stems, or none at all, only 

 the open portions of cluster flowers being taken, and the 

 buds left to open. These small pieces were bound with 

 wire to wooden sticks for basket work or to broom corn 

 straws for making into bouquets. The popular table de- 

 sign was called a pyramid. It consisted of a number of 

 bouquets each with one camellia in the center and a 

 single row of smaller flowers around, backed up with 

 lycopodium green. The smaller bouquets were then 

 arranged in a wire frame, the sticks on which they were 

 made serving to hold them in the desired position. The 

 top of the pyramid was a bouquet with a calla lily in 

 the center. These table pieces frequently cost from 

 $35 to $75, and sometimes $100 was asked for a particu- 

 larly fine design. The small bouquets were distributed 

 to the guests at the close of the entertainment. 



Only small quantities of roses were forced for winter 

 cutting at this time, a few florists in Boston and New 

 York being engaged in their cultivation in the same 

 houses with other flowers. Competition and a demand 

 for better buds, together with the good prices obtained 

 for the best, caused growers to give the " queen of flowers" 

 more attention, and the result was that the rose steadily 

 grew in favor and people began to wonder what they 

 saw in the camellia to admire. A demand for larger 

 roses than the small Teas resulted in atrial of some of the 

 Hybrid Remontants. General Jacqueminot was found 

 to force well and soon became a great favorite, bringing 

 from $1 to $2 a bud for the first cutting. The beau- 

 tiful yellow Marechal Niel was also forced. The flow- 

 ers sold well, but it was scarcely prolific enough to be 

 profitable, and the advent of the yellow Tea Perle des 

 Jardins, an Everbloomer, very prolific and of easy culti- 

 vation, soon drove it from the market. The next rose 

 sensation, and the most important addition that has been 



CUT -FLOWERS 



made to Americaij forcing roses even to the present day, 

 was the introduction of the Catherine Mermet. This 

 beautiful variety, which sprang into great popularity at 

 once with the flower-buying public, was found very profit- 

 able by the growers, who, by careful cultivation and the 

 incentive of the high prices realized for choice flowers, 



617. Dodder, 

 ning on its host— 

 Cuscuta Gronovi' 



soon elevated the standard of cur roses to a higher level, 

 and attracted new capital to what had now become a 

 thriving and lucrative business. While so famous in it- 

 self. Catherine Mermet will, however, probably be longer 

 remembered as the parent of those truly grand Teas 

 now so universally grown, the Bride and Bridesmaid, 

 the standard pink and white roses of to-day. Many vari- 

 eties for which special claims were made have been in- 

 trodiu'i'd from time to time, but, for the most part, they 

 havr ]troviMl vexatious and expensive experiments. 

 Ni-xt to tlif ( 'atiicrine Mermet in importance is the 

 Anicriciiii Beauty { Mme. Ferdinand Jamin),the finest of 

 all the forcing roses. The introduction of this variety 

 by the Fields Brothers, of Washington, produced a great 

 stir in rose circles. Fine as it appeared at first, how- 

 ever, its after development surprised even the most san- 

 guine, and to-day it stands unrivaled as the most profit- 

 able and at the same time the most popular with the 

 wealthy classes of flower-buyers. 



While the development of the rose was taking place, 

 the carnation, ever popular, was receiving the attention 

 of the breeder, and new varieties showing great im- 

 provement in form, color and pniductiveuess were Jn- 

 tro(hi('ed annually. It was soon found that roses and 

 carnations did not give best results wiicTi ^^rown together 

 in thu same house. They required dilTerent treatment. 

 Roses thrive better in a warmer atmosphere than car- 

 nations. Different forms of greenhouse structures were 

 also found necessary. The original means of heating was 

 by brick furnaces and flues. Hot water and sti-am gen- 

 erated in iron boilers and distributed tlinni^'li pipes, 

 althoutrh more expensive to install, were ft>und much 

 more efficient, and withal the most ecunoniieal plan. 



In the early growth of the business the grower was 

 also the retailer. The rapidly increasing demand, how- 

 ever, ushered in the middle man or retail florist, who re- 

 lieved the grower of his stock as soon as it was ready 



