12 



The Florists^ Review 



June 19, 1919. 



mercial growers and amateurs, one open 

 to "advanced" amateurs, as the hob- 

 byists are called, and a separate group 

 for the small amateuTB. 



The awards in the open classes were: 



Collection of not more than 100 named va- 

 rieties, one bloom of each — T. C. Thurlow's Sons 

 Co., West Newbury, Mass., first, American 

 Peony Society's gold medal; Lee R. Bonnewltz, 

 Van Wert, O., second; B. H. Farr, third. 



Vase or basket of peonies, not less than 100 

 blooms, arranged for effect — T. C. Thurlow's 

 Sons Co., first; Bemb Floral Co., Detroit, second. 



Collection of twenty-flve varieties, double, 

 three blooms of each — T. C. Thurlow's Sons Co., 

 first; B. H. Farr, second. 



Collection of single varieties, one bloom of 

 each — T. C. Thurlow's Sons Co., first. 



Twenty-five blooms, white or cream, double, 

 one variety — T. C. Thurlow's Sons Co., first; 

 B. H. Farr, second. 



Twenty-five blooms, light pink,, or pink and 

 cream, double, one variety — B. H. Farr, first; 

 T. C. Thurlow's Sons Co., second. 



Twenty-five blooms, dark pink, double, one 

 variety— Miss Blacklock, Meadowvale, Ont., 

 first; T. C. Thurlow's Sons Co., second. 



Twenty-five blooms, red or crimson, double, 

 one varletyt><B. H. Farr, first; Miss Blacklot*, 

 second. 



Six specimen blooms, double, any variety — 

 Prof. A. P. Saunders, first; T. C. Thurlow's 

 Sons Co., second. 



One specimen bloom, double, any variety — 

 Prof. A. P. Saunders, first; Lee R. Bonnewltz, 

 second. 



Collection of new varieties, double. Introduced 

 since 1900, one bloom of each — Prof. A. P. 

 Saunders, first. 



Specimen bloom, new seedling of American 

 origin, nr>t yet in commerce^Prof. A. P. Saun- 

 ders, first, on Grace McLean. 



Seedling varieties — Prof. A. P, Saunders, flrst- 

 class certificate for Grace Loomls; B, H. Farr, 

 honorable mention for Seedling No. 6. 



Most artistic arrangement of not more than 

 twenty-five peonies In vase, bowl or basket — 

 Bemb Floral Co., Detroit, Mich., second. 



Special prizes for three blooms each of speci- 

 fied America varieties— Prof. A. P. Savmders, 

 four firsts on Walter Faxon, Grandlflora, Long- 

 fellow and Milton Hill; D. W. C. Ruff, St. 

 Paul, Minn., second for Martha Bulloch. 



The premiums for advanced amateurs 

 were quite evenly divided between L. R. 

 Bonnewltz and Prof. Saunders, but Will 

 McClellan, Jacob Baumann and Mrs. 

 Herman Schmidt also got into the 

 money. 



The genuine amateurs who took prizes 

 were: Harry Eckenbarry, Van Wert, 

 O.; Joseph A. Schulte, Detroit; Alice 

 Bonnewltz, Van Wert, O., and Mrs. 

 Leonora Kudner, Lapeer, Mich. 



William A. Peterson, who was chair- 

 man of the board of judges, called at- 

 tention that the official list of awards 

 as given out by the society does not con- 

 tain the names of the winning varieties, 

 which deprives it of most of the value 

 it might possess for interested persons 

 not able to be present. His point was 

 considered well taken and it was stated 

 that the society's practice in this par- 

 ticular will be changed. 



OflSN iZrmi^J^ DEADEIi6 



EETTJBN THE FAVOR. 



Retailers are quick to forget the 

 straits they were in last winter and the 

 wonderful efforts put forth in their be- 

 half by growers and wholesalers to sup- 

 ply them with flowers. Their obliga- 

 tion now is to the grower who furnished 

 them merchandise last winter, and not 

 to the backdoor gardeners, who have a 

 few peonies or some daisies to sell at 

 any price. This is a matter of moral 

 obligation, which, in justice to our 

 trade, should be given consideration. 

 For the market must be kept normal if 

 we are to prosper. 



Why leave cooperation and reciproc- 

 ity out of the flower business? 



A. H. M. 



alert youths of the business world. Un- 

 til we realize that the business will 

 exist on ten hours a day and six days a 

 week, these young fellows will seek 

 other channels. R. A. S. 



THE TRADE'S LABOR PROBLEM. 



"What the trade needs, today, more 

 than anything else is a body of capable 

 young assistants. The only reason we 

 have not got them is that we have been 

 afraid to pay attractive wages." 



The above paragraph, which appeared 

 in The Review last week, is about as 

 true as any remark one could make 

 about this business. I should like to 

 add that the hours of our business stop 

 the average bright fellow. We lost a 

 young man recently, who was attracted 

 by the hours of the modern, well con- 

 ducted business. He likes the florists' 

 trade well enough and is glad to help 

 us out by working extra hours occasion- 

 ally, but when it came to working long 

 hours regularly, he states that there is 

 nothing doing. His salary increased be- 

 yond our scale; so there is no longer any 

 chance of our getting him back. This 

 happens every day, and with all due 

 respect to the present members of the 

 trade, we do not employ the ambitious. 



PEONY PARADISE IN KANSAS. 



I am a florist and have traveled much 

 over the United States, visiting various 

 places of interest. This spring I dropped 

 off at H. H. Kern's peony and iris 

 fields juSt in time to find them at their 

 best. In all my travels I never saw 

 such splendid fields of peonies and 

 irises. They are located at Bonner 

 Springs, Kan., fifteen miles southwest 

 of Kansas City, and cover about thirty- 

 five acres in all. The flowers were the 

 largest and most perfect I have ever 

 seen, some being as large as a plate. 

 There were many varieties, and the 

 stock was clean, thrifty and true to 

 name. 



Mr. Kern's crop was both bountiful 

 and beautiful this year and just in time 

 for Memorial day. He furnished 65,000 

 cut peonies for the Memorial day mar- 

 ket. F. E. Gilbert. 



COAL TAR AND PLANT ROOTS. 



In a recent issue of The Review was 

 a reply to an inquiry from J. D. — 111., 

 which stated, "We would not put gas 

 tar anywhere around a greenhouse," 

 •etc. 



; Regarding this, I should like to' say 

 that for thirty years and more I have 

 painted greenhouse benches with coal 

 tar, and have found that it prevents 

 decay and does not In the least affect 

 th« roots of the plants. The tar should 

 be put on hot, but before using it, all 

 the pipes in the greenhouse should be 

 covered with newspapers, and the men 



who are to handle it should put vaseline 

 or lard on their faces, hands and arms. 

 After the tar has dried, the benches 

 should be whitewashed until no tar 

 shows through. Of course, no plants 

 should be left in the house where the 

 tar is to be used. 



The benches will last twice as long 

 with the use of coal tar, and I would 

 not consider filling a bench without first 

 painting it with tar. 



W. A. Hammond. 



THAT HARDY BEQONIA AGAIN. 



I was quite interested in the item on 

 page 14 of The Review for May 29 by 

 H. W. Peterson, concerning a hardy be- 

 gonia. 



For a long time I have had these be- 

 gonias in a corner of my yard which 

 does not receive any sunshine at all. 

 The plant grows luxuriantly and blooms 

 freely quite late in the fall, the flowers 

 being of a beautiful silvery pink. 



I have looked in every grower's cata- 

 log, trying to find the name of this be- 

 gonia, but so far without success. 



One sees much these days about 

 flowers for shady places. Here is one 

 which evidently does its best in the 

 place the sunshine does not touch, arid il 

 seems strange that it has not been more 

 widely exploited. Perhaps it is due to 

 the fact that it does not reproduce itself 

 with great freedom, but from the orig- 

 inal four small tubers I had last winter 

 a bed containing over fifty bulbs, and 

 this in the space of six or seven years. 



Since I was a.v»y from home last fall 

 when the bed oKmld have been given 

 some covering, a number of the bulbs 

 were destroyed by the winter, although 

 it was unusually mild. However, I just 

 now notice about a dozen or so little 

 plants making their appearance, so that 

 by fall I shall have another good start. 



P. H. Bridge. 



"Replying to Mr. Peterson's inquiry 

 about a hardy begonia, the one that he 

 refers to is classed by Good & Reese Co. 

 as Evansiana. • In December, 1917, 

 I was compelled to close down my green- 

 house. I had a few of these tubers and 

 put them under a bench, in a cigar box. 

 There they remained all winter with 

 scarcely any soil covering them and 

 with a temperature of 28 degrees below 

 zero; and, still, two of the bulbs grew. 



Jay J. Utter. 



In reference to the query of H. W. 

 Peterson as to the name of the hardy 

 begonia, from the description I should 

 say it is B. Evansiana, which produces 

 the small tubers in the axils of the 

 leaves and is quite hardy. The common 

 name that I have* grown this under is 

 "Beefsteak begonia." 



Harry Johnson. 



In a descriptive list of a great variety 

 of begonias, the following is taken 

 from the Horticulturist, edited by A. J. 

 Downing, in the year 1846: 



"Begonia discolor, two colored ele- 

 phant 's ear. This is a common species, 

 with large, dark green, hairy leaves, red 

 beneath, which is found in many parlor 

 windows. It is an annual-stemmed plant, 

 bearing large pink flowers, on a droop- 

 ing panicle, from May to September. 

 It is a native of China, and is also 

 known by the names of B. Evansiana 

 .and B. bulbifera. It is sometimes called 

 the beefsteak plant." 



Mrs. L. C. Rudolph. 



