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OCTOBBB 9, 1916. 



The Florists^ Review 



17 



Establishment of Alois Frey» Originator of the Rainbow Freesia^ at Grown Point, Ind. 



iflh iris. They can be grown in pans, 

 flats or benches, but flats are the most 

 economical to use, as they can be moved 

 around at will. As these bulbs will 

 not flower before April and must be 

 planted not later than November, they 

 would occupy benches at a period when 

 they could be more profltably employed. 

 There is a new type of Dutch iris, 

 botanically called Iris HoUandica, 

 which flowers two weeks earlier than 

 I. Hispanica and with equally large 

 flowers of great substance, but the bulbs 

 are as yet too costly for the type to be 

 of commercial value. 



Anemones and Banuncnll. 



Anemones and ranunculi may be 

 grown in pans or flats or can be con- 

 veniently dotted among pansies or vio- 

 lets in a cool greenhouse where the tem- 

 perature runs from 40 to 45 degrees 

 at night. The St. Brigid anemones, 

 with handsome large single and semi- 

 double flowers, are excellent sellers; so 

 is the pure white, A. coronaria The 

 Bride, and the brilliant and attractive 

 colors, especially turban and Persian 

 varieties. Some growers who make a 

 specialty of these beautiful flowers de- 

 vote special benches to them, but they 

 must not be grown warm; forcing will 

 speedily ruin them. 



Ixias and Sparaxis. 



The flowers of ixias and sparaxis, the 

 Cape of Good Hope bulbs, come in a 

 variety of rich and varied hues. They 

 are dainty and are eagerly bought by 

 critical customers. They succeed best 

 in pans six or seven inches in diameter, 

 flUed with sandy loam, and should have 

 a light bench or shelf in a cool green- 

 house. Grown in flats or benches, they 

 are liable to damp off. Good varieties 

 of ixias are I. crateroides major, scar- 

 let; I. rosea plena, pink, and I. viridi- 

 flora, soft green with a black center. 

 The sparaxis succeed well if eight to 

 twelve bulbs are grown in a 6-inch 

 pan, covering the bulbs about one inch. 

 These Cape bulbs can be grown for 

 some time in coldframes after planting, 

 but should not be exposed to rain; 

 neither should they be covered with 

 coal ashes or loam, like many of the 

 Dutch bulbs. - 



^ Babianas and Trltonlas. 



Babianas and tritonias are useful 

 spring-flowering bulbs, requiring sim- 

 ilar treatment to ixias and sparaxis. 

 The babianas come in blue, white and 

 other shades, while Tritonia crocata, 

 with its spikes of rich, orange flowers, 

 is an object of admiration whenever it 



is displayed in a store window. Plant 

 eight or ten bulbs in a 6-inch pot or 

 pan and be sure they are well drained. 



Miscellaneous Bulbs. 



The small early-flowering bulbs, such 

 as snowdrops, Scilla Sibirica, chiono- 

 doxas and Muscari racemosum, or 

 grape hyacinths, are better for natural- 

 izing or planting in borders than for 

 forcing, but they have their uses in 

 midwinter if grown in small pots and 

 pans. Some stores do quite a business 

 in these small bulbous flowers. Made* 

 up centerpieces of tulips and narcissi, 

 with some of the smaller bulbs growing 

 below them, are charming and becoming 

 increasingly popular. If you have calls 

 for such centerpieces, or even^shes or 

 made-up pans of mixed bulbs, by all 

 means grow some of these small bulbs; 

 they can be easily replanted when in 

 bloom and there is something particu- 

 larly satisfying about bulbous flowers 

 made up in this way when frost and 

 snow reign supreme outdoors. 



FEEY'S FBEESIA FACTORY. 



The accompanying illustrations show 

 the establishment of Alois Frey, of 

 Crown Point, Ind. Mr. Frey is known 

 all over the United States as the origi- 

 nator of the Rainbow freesia, but free- 

 sias are by no means all that he grows. 

 The establishment originally consisted 

 of two houses, two lean-tos and a serv- 

 ice building. The first houses were of 



wpod construction. One is 27x200, the 

 other 30x200. The first addition to the 

 range, however, was a Lord & Burnham 

 steel-frame house 40x200. This season 

 the big house at the left, 60x200, was 

 added, also of Lord & Burnham steel- 

 frame construction. The smaller illus- 

 tration shows the interior of this wide 

 house as it stood completed, ready for 

 planting. The benches w% be of special 

 interest. These are monolithic concrete 

 benches, each fifty-two inches wide. 

 There are ten of them in the house. 

 They were erected on the Wilson-Hoyt 

 patent, the molds being obtained from 

 Mead & Suydam, Newark, N. J. 



This big new house has been planted 

 entirely to Mrs. C. W. Ward carnation, 

 "and," says Mr. Frey, "you never in 

 all your life saw plants that looked 

 happier." In the other houses there 

 are approximately 80,000 of the Rain- 

 bow freesias. Of these 60,000 are the 

 mixture of colors many other growers 

 have planted or are planting this sea- 

 son, but about 20,000 of the bulbs are 

 seedlings, through the development of 

 which Mr. Frey hopes to make a still 

 further advance in his jtock. He be- 

 lieves that he now has s'o improved his 

 bright-colored freesias that it will no 

 longer be necessary or desirable for him 

 to continue the raising of seedlings in 

 large numbers and his effort hereafter 

 will be along the lines of selection, to 

 separate colors and establish named 

 varieties. 



New Lord & Burnham House Just Tompleted fay Alois Frey. 





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