JUNB 14, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



17 



HOW THEY BLOOM AT LOMFOC. 



Mrs. Skacb's Winter Sweet Peas. 



If you grow swe-'; peas to any con- 

 siderable extent, youf have already 

 formed a pleasing acquaintance, prob- 

 ably, with the light piiik variety known 

 as Mrs. A. A. rSkach. 'The purpose here 

 is to introduce you, not to the flower, 

 but to the lady after whom the flower 

 is named. You see her — in the photo- 

 graph, for the pictorial sort of intro- 

 duction must suffice — you see her as she 

 is engaged in picking some of the sweet 

 peas that cluster around a bay window 

 on the front of her residence at Lom- 

 poc, Cal. 



As is proper for a person who has a 

 namesake in the list of sweet peas, she 

 is an ardent lover of these flowers and 

 an enthusiastic amateur grower of 

 them. She is not only enthusiastic, but 

 successful, as is testified by her neigh- 

 bor, A. C. Zvolanek, who surely is well 

 qualified to pass judgment on such a 

 matter. Mr. Zvolanek describes the 

 methods that she followed in growing 

 the 15-foot row of sweet peas which 

 enclosed the bay window, and he also 

 gives a statement of the number of 

 blooms picked. The figures, he says, 

 though they may seem startling, are 

 compiled from carefully kept records. 



The Culture and the Crop. 



The soil where the peas grew, says 

 Mr. Zvolanek, is a deep sediment. 

 Along the 15-foot semicircle, one wheel- 

 barrow load of short cow manure was 

 spaded in to a depth of fifteen inches. 

 The soil was then thoroughly tramped 

 down and soaked. Six days later, Sep- 

 tember 2, the surface was well raked 

 and the seed was planted, with two 

 inches of a covering. About thirty 

 seeds — one-fourth of a packet of the 

 Zvolanek winter-orchid-flowering Gold 

 Medal mixture — were used. After sow- 

 ing, no watering was done until the 

 plants were about four inches high, 

 when they were thinned out to twelve 

 single plants, about fifteen inches apart. 



The first flowers were picked Novem- 

 ber 20, when the plants were three and 

 one-half feet high. At that date, and 

 at each succeeding interval of four 

 weeks, a good soaking of cow manure 

 water was given. The flowers were sold 

 locally or donated to various societies. 

 The record, says Mr. Zvolanek, was as 

 follows: November, 400 flowers; Decem- 

 ber, 950; January, 2,650; February, 

 3,360; March, 5,250; April, 4,780; total 

 to May 1, from the twelve plants, 17,- 

 390. 



Six Months of Bloom. 



The photograph was taken late in 

 February. About the middle of May 

 the plants were over twelve feet high 

 and were still covered with a mass of 

 good, though short-stemmed, flowers. 



During the winter there were many 

 frosty nights, with a temperature, on 

 two occasions, of 25 degrees. But, 

 though some of the flowers were frozen, 

 the plants themselves suffered no ap- 

 parent harm. 



The twelve plants which formed the 

 15-foot row, says Mr, Zvolanek, were: 

 Two plants of Mrs. A. A. Skach, two 

 Zvolanek 's Eed, one Miss L. Gude, one 

 Orange Orchid, one Black Lady, one 

 White Orchid, one Zvolanek 's Blue, one 

 Mrs. Charles Zvolanek and one Mrs. 

 Paul Dusha. That reckoning, however, 

 seems to leave one plant unidentified. 



Speaking of the length of the bloom- 

 ing season of his winter orchid sweet 

 peas, Mr. Zvolanek says: "If sown in 

 localities where hard freezing prevails, 

 just before the winter sets in or as 

 early as possible in the spring, they 

 will bloom from the middle of May. 

 If sown as late as July, they will bloom 

 in September and continue until frost 

 kills them. In semitropical regions, like 

 California, southern Texas and Florida, 

 if sown in September they will bloom 

 the whole winter." 



MAYWOOD, ILL. 



A Profitable Season. 



For the Maywood growers, whose 

 output all is sold by commission houses 



in Chicago, the season of 1916-17 has 

 been one of the most successful on 

 record. It has not been without its 

 embarrassments, especdally in the 

 matter of obtaining fuel and labor, but 

 the increased costs of doing business 

 have not destroyed the satisfaction 

 with which the season is reviewed, nor 

 have they impaired confidence in the 

 future. 



One difference from a year ago is 

 noted, however: At this time last year 

 all the growers were hard at work on 

 improvements — new houses, new boil- 

 ers, larger chimneys, new pumps and 

 reservoirs, or planting new varieties. 

 This year the disposition is to sit 

 tight, to do only necoasary work and, 

 because of the scarcity of help, to re- 

 plant as few roses as possible. Today 

 the Maywood rose growers are prac- 

 tically all set for next season. 



A. F. Amling Co. 



The oldest and largest grower in 

 Maywood, the A. F. Amling Co., re- 

 planted the last house last week. The 

 place is all in roses — 240,000 plants. 

 All the .Eussell were carried over and 

 several additional houses planted with 

 this popular rose, which is said to 

 have been the most profitable variety 

 on the place this season in spite of the 

 fact that a large part of the stock was 

 young plants and with Bussell one 

 must take time to grow a big, robust 

 plant before the variety can be ex- 

 pected to show its real worth. Two 

 houses have been planted to Shawyer, 

 a variety not heretofore grown, and 

 one to Evelyn Nesbit, a corsage rose 

 that impressed Otto Amling on a 

 trip east. The stock was obtained 

 from A. N. Pierson, Inc. To obtain 

 the space, Ward was discarded, as the 

 least profitable rose on the list; Kill- 

 arney Brilliant was cut down, as al- 

 ready having become a back number, 

 and White Killarney was cut down, 

 as in less demand than colored vari- 



Mrs. A. A. Skach and Her Row of Sweet Peas. 



