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22 



The Florists' Review 



February 13. 1919. 



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SEASONABLE 

 s^ SUGGESTIONS 



BUFFALO, N. Y. 



FEVERFEW FOB MEMOBIAI. DAY. 



Now is a good time to bench double 

 white feverfew for Memorial day. It 

 is a good plan to let the plants remain 

 in pots until the flower spikes start to 

 push up. If benched earlier, they are 

 slower in sending up their stalks. Give 

 them a liberal soil, such as you would 

 use for mums, and, if possible, place 

 them in a house by themselves, for if 

 the plants are late they can be forced 

 for a few weeks and for that reason it 

 is best not to grow a variety of other 

 Memorial day crops with them. The 

 ■odor of feverfew is far from pleasant, 

 but the flowers bear shipment well and 

 are useful in bouquet work. Who will 

 give us a pink or scarlet feverfew? 

 There would be a nice little fortune for 

 an originator of such a variety. 



GLADIOLI ON BENCHES. 



Now is a good time to plant a batch 

 of gladioli in any empty benches you 

 may have, or in spots where carnations 

 are not too crowded or have died out. 

 Do not overlook the beautiful primu- 

 linus hybrids. They will flower ahead 

 of the larger and better known ganda- 

 vensis varieties. The bulk of plantings 

 made now will flower in May and a 

 goodly proportion should come right for 

 Memorial day, a time when they will 

 be particularly valuable. 



OYPSOPHTLA ELEGANS. 



Though Gypsophila elegans is well 

 known as a useful annual for outdoor 

 culture, only a comparatively small 

 number of growers appreciate the value 

 of this plant as a spring indoor crop. 

 While it grows well in benches, the 

 stems are stronger if it is grown in flats 

 placed on shelves in a sunny house 

 where a minimum of 50 degrees or 

 thereabouts is maintained. Sow the 

 seed in flats and later prick off into 

 other flats. A useful size is 12x24, four 

 inches deep. Place a light, rich soil in 

 the flats. Each flat will accommodate 

 sixty seedlings. Try a batch or two of 

 this gypsophila. Several sowings are 

 needed to maintain a succession. It 

 wholesales well and is invaluable for 

 the country grower who retails the bulk 

 of his flowers. 



AMCBICAN DAHLIA SOCIETY. 



There was a meeting of the executive 

 committee of the American Dahlia So- 

 ciety, at the Grand Hotel, New York, 

 February 10, at which were present 

 President Richard Vincent, Jr.; James 

 Duthie, P. W. Popp, Geo. L. Stillman, 

 I. S. Hendrickson, A. H. Langjahr and 

 the secretary. 



The affairs of the society were dis- 

 cussed at length and its work was found 

 to be in progressive order. It was de- 

 cided that the society's next bulletin 

 be published about the first week in 

 March and bimonthly thereafter. 



Bules governing the society's trial 



gardens at Storrs, Conn., in connection 

 with the Connecticut Agricultural Col- 

 lege, were considered and adopted. A 

 committee was appointed to prepare a 

 memorial resolution on the death of 

 J. H. Slocombe, New Haven, Conn., a 

 prominent member. 



Preparations for the holding of the 

 annual exhibition were discussed and a 

 committee appointed to make arrange- 

 ments as to housing. 



The committee adjourned to meet 

 again in New York about the middle of 

 March. John H. Pepper, Sec'j'. 



NEWARK, N. J. 



The Market. 



Prices of flowers took a tumble dur- 

 ing the last week. The volume of blooms 

 offered was decidedly l&rger than for a 

 considerable period before and there was 

 not the amount of funeral work that 

 there had been for many weeks before. 

 Carnations which had been selling at 8 

 and 10 cents wholesale dropped to 5 and 

 6 cents. Other flowers dropped in pro- 

 portion. Sweet peas are beginning to 

 come into the market in larger quanti- 

 ties and of good quality. Daffodils and 

 jonquils which made their appearance 

 a couple of weeks ago are more plentiful 

 now and much more reasonable in price 

 than they were. The task immediately 

 before the retail florists is to win back 

 the cut flower trade which has been 

 driven away by the high prices which 

 have prevailed thus far this winter. 

 Many florists report that customers who 

 regularly came in once or twice a week 

 for cut flowers never come in now except 

 for flowers for special occasions. Many 

 of these customers did not buy large 

 quantities of flowers, but because of 

 their number and regularity the volume 

 of stock taken was considerable. With 

 more reasonable prices it is expected 

 that they will soon return, although it 

 is so late in the season that it is likely 

 that some of them will not resume their 

 steady patronage until next fall. 



Various Notes. 



F. A. Kuehn, 621 Central avenue, 

 finds business good at present, consider- 

 ing conditions. A little later he will 

 begin his spring decorations at the cem- 

 etery across the way from his store. 



Charles Trauth, 475 Orange street, re- 

 ports that, with the drop in the prices 

 of flowers, he expects to be able to win 

 back some of the cut flower trade driven 

 away by high prices. January business, 

 he says, was good. B. B. M. 



Georgetcwn, Del. — C. S. Munson, who 

 came here from Hamilton, N. Y., two 

 years ago, is building a greenhouse. 



Burlington, la. — Mrs. Elizabeth Bock 

 has sold the range built by her hus- 

 band, Joseph Bock, thirty years ago, to 

 her son, Harry Bock. The greenhouses 

 comprise 60,000 feet of glass, besides 

 downtown salesrooms. Mr. Bock in- 

 tends to enlarge the establishment. 



The Market. 



An increase in the variety of stock 

 has had some effect on the carnation 

 market, which may be said to be over- 

 supplied; but expectations are that St. 

 Valentine's day trade will do much 

 towards stabilizing prices. Daffodils and 

 jonquils are more plentiful, and, as is 

 the rule at their appearance, the public 

 attention is concentrated on spring 

 flowers. Under this head, calendulas 

 have a popular call and the demand for 

 them is steady at good prices. This 

 flower is claiming a distinct place in 

 table decorations. 



The supply of roses is equal to the 

 demand, the leading varieties being Kil- 

 larney, Russell, Ophelia and Hearst. All 

 of these are of good quality. Sunburst 

 and Ward still show weak necks and 

 small flowers, the grades being from first 

 to special. Few shorts are to be had. 



Various Notes. 



The Florists ' Club will meet February 

 11 to elect officers. 



Local florists are signing a petition 

 and protest against the plant quarantine, 

 which will be duly mailed to the proper 

 authority. The opinion is unanimous 

 that such a quarantine cannot benefit 

 either our country or Europe. Palms 

 can be washed and inspected, azaleas 

 sprayed or fumigated, and Easter lilies, 

 as a florist said, cannot be expected to 

 bring in diseases because most of the 

 lilies are thrown out in a few weeks. 



Charles Sandiford has the finest of 

 daffodils and jonquils. His principal 

 ' Easter stock will be hydrangeas and 

 roses, which are now in excellent condi- 

 tion. Mr. Sandiford can always be de- 

 pended on for producing something to 

 open the eye of the observer. The St. 

 Valentine's day special is in the form 

 of specimen plants of blooming bleeding 

 hearts. 



Preparations are under way to have 

 a growers' meet soon. The subject of 

 debate will be the price of bedding 

 stock. The opinion of the leaders is 

 that, though good prices were realized 

 last spring, better ones must be ex- 

 pected the coming season. F. P. A. 



NEWPORT, R. I. 



In the District court last week was 

 heard the case brought by Henry J. 

 Hass, who sought to recover $375 for 

 damages to his horse, harness, wagon 

 and contents, which included flowers 

 and vegetables, when a piece of the 

 city's fire apparatus collided with the 

 Hass vehicle on Thames street, October 

 19, 1916. The court gave its decision in 

 favor of the city. 



Mr. Hass claimed that the accident 

 was due to the negligence of the city, 

 because of the slippery condition of the 

 street, causing the fire apparatus to skid 

 against his wagon. 



Traction plows are already beginning 

 spring work in the vicinity of Middle- 

 town. 



At the annual meeting of the Rhode 

 Island Nurserymen 's Association last 

 week, V. A. Vanicek was elected treas- 

 urer. 



August Erickson died at his home on 

 Webster avenue February 1, in his 

 seventy-fourth year. He came to New- 

 port thirty-five years ago and was em- 

 ployed for several years as a gardener 

 on various estates. W. H. M. 



