30 



The Florists^ Review 



May V2, 1921 



tunias, too, are gorgeous, great flaunt- 

 ing blooms with beautifully marbled 

 throats, so freely produced as to be a 

 perfect riot of color. A splendid stock 

 of aster, zinnia, celosia and other flow- 

 er seed specialties has been secured and 

 the plantings are much heavier than 

 usual, because of the increased demand. 

 Another splendid display is made by 

 several acres of amaryllis, or hippeas- 

 trum, in full bloom. The gorgeous 

 blooms are visible for a long distance. 

 These two have- long been the pets of 

 Mr. Howard, who has brought them to a 

 wonderful perfection. H. R. R. 



AMERICAN BOSE SOCIETY. 



Begistration. 



The following rose has been offered 

 for registration by the Albert F. Am- 

 ling Co., Maywood, 111., and has been 

 passed upon by the registration com- 

 mittee: 



Name, Silver Wedding; class, liybrid tea; pa- 

 rentage of rose, Opiielia sport; habit of plant, 

 same as Ophelia ; character of foliage, cream- 

 colored foliage, red tinge on young growth; free- 

 dom of growth and- hardiness, free grower; 

 flower, Ophelia flower; color, Ophelia flower; 

 form, Ophelia flower; fragrance and bad, same 

 us Ophelia; petalage, same as Ophelia; freedom 

 of bloom and lasting quality, same as Ophelia; 

 the rose is similar to Ophelia, but is different 

 in foliage and superior for the following rea- 

 sons: Only rose on the market having this 

 very distinctive and pretty foliage. 



If no objection to such registration 

 is filed with the secretary of the so- 

 ciety by May 23 the registration will 

 become permanent. 



John C. Wister, Sec'y. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



A continuance of cold, dark weather, 



lasting through the whole of the last 



week, t-reated an unusual shortage of 



flowers for Mothers' day. May, so far, 



lias proved to be much more inclement 

 than March and vegetation has almost 

 come to a standstill. The low tempera- 

 ture and lack of sunshine seriously af- 

 fected indoor crops and it is a long time 

 since wholesale markets were so com- 

 pletely cleared out as they were May 7. 



Roses scored some advance and 

 cleaned up well right through the week. 

 Only a small number of American 

 Beauties are arriving and the best have 

 made $35 to $40 per hundred. Such 

 varieties as Hadley, Russell, Columbia, 

 Pilgrim, Crusader and Premier sold 

 May 6 and 7 at from $8 to $35, with 

 Ophelia, Miller and Stanley all selling 

 liigher. The Killarneys and Cecile 

 Brunners all sold well. The supply of 

 roses was far below normal, although 

 the quality was excellent. 



There was the usual scramble for 

 both white and colored varieties and 

 prices were forced up to $12 per hun- 

 dred for ordinary flowers, with fancies 

 making $15 and, in a few cases, $18. 

 Every flower was sold on arrival with- 

 out any effort and many thousands 

 more could have been disposed of at 

 even these prices. The retailers pro- 

 tested against paying tliese_price3 and 

 averred that it was spoiling Mothers' 

 day trade, which is undoubtedly true. 

 Carnation supplies were utterly inade- 

 quate, owing to the cold weather. This 

 is regrettable, as the general public 

 kicked against the high prices retailers 

 had to charge in order to break even. 



Other flowers cleaned up well, but 

 there was little change in prices for 

 these. Marguerites are in almost over- 

 whelming supply and, while great num- 

 bers are sold, there is trouble in clear- 

 ing them out at even low prices. Sweet 

 peas have been rather less plentiful, 

 but the quality is, as a rule, poor. 

 A good many are wasted. Lilies are 

 less plentiful and selling a little higher; 



Paste This Up in the Potting Shed. 



Below is the answer to an inquiry asked of The Review nearly every week. Cut 

 it out and paste it in a conspicuous place, or in a scrapbook. Then you will save 

 the delny of writing for the remedy when you need it. 



CUTWORMS AND SOWBUGS. 



Two methods present themselves for 

 the extermination of cutworms and sow- 

 bugs: Poisoning and trapping. Poison- 

 ing is the easier and the more common. 

 The following is one formula: White 

 arsenic, one-half pound, or Paris green, 

 one pound; bran, fifty pounds. Mix 

 thoroughly and then add enough water 

 to make a wet mash. Sugar or molasses 

 may be added, but is unnecessary. 



Another grower separates remedies. 

 For cutworms he says: "Use corn meal; 

 mix with Paris green, just enough to 

 color; at nightfall scatter among the in- 

 fested plants; don't water for six or 

 eight hours before or after and you will 

 have no further trouble from cut- 

 worms." For the sowbugs he uses two 

 parts rye flower, two parts sugar and 

 one part Paris green, preparing only 

 enough for immediate use, as the mixture 

 will not keep. He scatters this along 

 the top of the edge-board of the bench 

 in the evening, being careful to see that 

 the board is dry, so that the mixture 

 will not become lumpy. 



Pyrethrum powder dusted over the 

 plants and soil has also been found 

 helpful. 



The other method, trapping, may per- 

 haps be termed the more certain method. 



The insects once secured, hot water ends 

 all trouble. As to securing them, vari- 

 ous methods have been used. One 

 grower places dry moss in empty flower 

 pots and places the pots on the benches 

 and beneath them. The insects are 

 trapped in surprising numbers and hot 

 water poured in, when the trap is re- 

 set. 



Potatoes or squash with part of the 

 interior scooped out form excellent traps 

 when placed in the greenhouse. They 

 can be put in hot water in order to kill 

 the insects and then replaced on the 

 benches to do the work over again. 



For wholesale slaughter, try this: 

 Mash a few potatoes and rub the pulp 

 on the surfaces of several boards, which 

 should be a foot wide and four or more 

 feet in length. Place the boards on the 

 ground under the benches, leaving a 

 space between the boards and the ground 

 of one-quarter of an inch or less. In a 

 remarkably short time you will find the 

 sowbugs collected by thousands on the 

 under side of the boards. Boiling water 

 from a sprinkling can with a fine rose 

 cleans the boards of anything living 

 as they are turned over, one at a time. 

 One grower cleared out his houses in one 

 week by this method. 



so are callas, which are fewer in num 

 bers and apparently nearing the end. 



Small lots of Gladiolus Peach Bios 

 som have appeared and a few primu 

 linus hybrids came in this week. A 

 few iris are also seen. Good supplies oi 

 Gypsophila elegans, bachelor's buttons 

 and calendulas are coming in and some 

 fine forced delphlBiums, which are 

 eagerly purchased. There is a normal 

 May crop of cattleyas, but cypripe- 

 diums are scarce. Gardenias and valley 

 are in fair supply. 



So completely were the retailers sold 

 out Mothers' day that May 9 saw all 

 the wholesale houses cleared of stock 

 at 9 a. m. Prices remained high. Car- 

 nations all made $15 per hundred. It 

 is estimated 10(J^OOO were sold for 

 Mothers' day. 



Various Notes. 



The auction sale at receiver 's hands, 

 of the Waban Rose Conservatories, 

 Natick, Mass., May 9, attracted a large 

 attendance of florists and others. The 

 greenhouses which were offered cover 

 160,000 feet of glass, the largest house, 

 a Hitchings structure, being 950 feet 

 in length. Two other Hitchings houses 

 are each 750 feet long. All these houses 

 are planted with roses, the only other 

 crop now grown here being chrysan- 

 themums, for which one or two of the 

 oldest structures are used. This once 

 noted rose growing establishment was 

 started in 1870 by the late Edmund M. 

 Wood, one-time president of the S. A. 

 F. John C. Craig acted as auctioneer. 

 The greenhouses and sixty acres of land 

 were sold for $30,000 to the Park Trust 

 Co., of Worcester. Two other parcels 

 of land were also sold. 



Mothers' day business at the stores 

 was good, but the extreme prices of 

 carnations acted as a damper. Many 

 would-be purchasers refused to pay re- 

 tail prices charged, or did so under pro- 

 test, and, unless some means can be 

 devised to let other flowers share in the 

 demand, there is a strong likelihood of 

 the goose which lays the golden eggs 

 being killed. The matter should receive 

 serious attention of both growers' and 

 retailers. Of course, the low tempera- 

 ture created rather unusual conditions 

 this year, but it is not easy to explain 

 these things to the buying public. 



Mrs. Catherine Woods, of Winchester,, 

 filed suit last week in the Superior court, 

 at East Cambridge, against Janiten & 

 Kunan, the well known and popular 

 florists at Arlington, in the sum of 

 $10,000. She alleges that March 1 she 

 purchased from them a primrose plant, 

 Primula obconica, as a home ornament 

 and was given to understand that the 

 plant Avas safe and suitable for that 

 purpose. She contends that the plant 

 proved to be poisonous and made her 

 seriously ill. Her husband, therefore, 

 filed suit for expense of his wife's ill- 

 ness and loss of her services. The out- 

 fome of this somewhat novel suit will 

 be awaited with interest. That P. 

 obconica poisons some people is well 

 known, especially if the foliage is 

 handled while the hands are warm and 

 sweaty. This is the first case, so far 

 as known, where actual court proceed- 

 ings have been taken against anyone 

 for selling the plant. A good number 

 of retailers refuse to handle this 

 primula and some growers have cut it 

 out on account of its poisonous prop- 

 erties, but it continues to be a popular 

 market plant just the same. 



The recent arrival in Boston of 2,00(> 



(^ 



