36 



The Florists^ Review 



FEBUUAiiv 2. 1922 



is thri'o tiiiicH as productive. It will he 

 watched for. 



Another fjood variety that imj)ressed 

 me was seedlin},' No. ](?, from llartje & 

 Elder, Jiidiaiiapolis, lud. Thi.s is a deep 

 pink of excellent siihstaiice. 



I liked the way the carnation e.xliil)i- 

 tion was broken u]) hy vases and baskets 

 of roses and other material, which made 

 the liall a ])ower of beauty. These made 

 it much more attractive from an ex- 

 liibition standjioint than carnations 

 would liave a|)iieared alone, without any 

 other support. A Idoek of fifty or 100 

 carnations is much like another l)lock 

 of fifty or 100 carnations, the difference 

 beiiifj ])rinci|)ally one of size and color. 



Belle Washburn easily retained its 

 ])ositi()n as kiufj; of the scarlets, and 

 Maine Sunshine was almost the only yel- 

 low on exhibition. In the flaked section, 

 Rosalind won over The I^ark. Kastern 

 Beauty is a lovely little thinfj and was 

 also exhibited in this section, l)einK jiink 

 with white edfjes. This was from Little- 

 field & Wyiiian. Thomas V.. Joy, the in- 

 troduction for 1!>L'2, was the winner in 

 the class for white, althoujjh a vase of 

 White Delight, from C. S. Strout, aji- 

 peared sjjlendidly the next day. White 

 Bcnora is also a hard variety to beat, 

 shown as it was at the Hartford meetint;. 

 Cottago Maid was the winner in the 

 light pink class, the only serious com- 

 petitor it had Ix'iufj Morniufj (ilow, 



which did not (pialify in size. Good com- 

 jx'tition was to be ex])ected in the New 

 Enjjland section in the class calling for 

 fifty I'ink Delight, as this variety is 

 grown more in New England than in any 

 other section of the country. This was 

 won by A. A. Pembroke, of Beverly, 

 Mass., in a fine eomjietition. 



Most Successful Show. 



To my mind, the carnation convention 

 at Hartford was one of the most suc- 

 cessful that have been held for years, 

 t'ertainly, it was one of the best at- 

 tended. It was greatly improved by the 

 aildition of the rose classes, and I think 

 this was the general opinion. I, for one, 

 will be sorry if this general working 

 arrangement cannot be continued. 



Novelties in roses included E. G. Hill's 

 America, which carried splendidly all 

 through th(> show, and a dark ])ink sport 

 of Columbia, staged by A. N. Pierson, of 

 Oomwell, Conn. Other big vases were 

 Double White Killarney from the Duck- 

 ham-Pierson Co.; I'remier from the 

 Josejih H. Hill Co., with •'j-f.oot stems, 

 and Hadley from L. B. Coddington, of 

 Murray Hill, N. J., a sjilendid vase. 

 Taken altogether and considering the 

 fact that tliere was no incentive for rose 

 displays excej)t tlie wish of the commer- 

 cial cut flower men to display their stock 

 before the public, the rose men did ex- 

 cei)tionally well. 



^lV^Jtg^l^I^t^tj^l^l^t^l^tXSyjtg^'t^j^vy.jj^ 



AT PIERSON'S 



r-r«vr«\ir«riy4^ir/svir/S\ir«vir«>(ii«Yir«vir«Yir/SYirr4wrf«\ir/s\T^^ 



VISITING CROMWELL. 



Pierson Entertains. 



Friday morning, January 27, at 9 a. m., 

 two trolley cars left the front of the 

 Hotel Bond, at Hartford, Conn., crowded 

 with visitors bound for the range of 

 A. N. Pierson, Inc., at Cromwell, an 

 hour's ride away. Comjilete arrange- 

 ment had been made by Wallace K. Pier- 

 son and his lieutenants so that visitors 

 were able to inspect the big range at 

 Cromwell, enjoy a luncheon in the 

 boarding house near the greenhouses and 

 then catch their trains for home. 



Inside the shii)ping room at Cromwell 

 one sees this sign in a conspicuous place: 

 "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us." 

 Whether this is an acknowledgment of 

 favors received, or an admonition that 

 something more than divine aid is 

 needed henceforth, is not explained. It 

 is apparent, however, that with the hel]) 

 of Providence has been combined fifty 

 years of hard work on tlie ])art of A. N. 

 Pierson and the wise direction and abun- 

 dant energy of his son, Wallace 11. Pier- 

 son, not to s|ieak of iible assistants, in 

 building up tlie great place at Cromwell. 

 It has been literally built up, as one 

 can see. The process of evolution is 

 quite apparent. A student of green- 

 house construction might here observe 

 the development of that science during 

 the last three decades. Not even the 

 founder, it is obvious, ever anticipated 

 th.'it so large an establishment would 

 arise on this site. The place has been 

 built as prosperity rewarded liis indus- 

 try. 



Indications of Size. 



Some indication of the operations on 



the place maj' be gained from the state- 

 ment that there are 300,000 rose i)lants 

 on the place and by the further note 

 that approximately a million rose plants 

 are grafted here annually. Purchases 

 of Manetti stocks this season numbered 

 748,000. I'ossibly an additional 100,000 

 Manetti are grown on the place. But 

 success in this jiroduction is not yet so 

 uniform as to allow reliance to be placed 

 on this supply. A HOO-foot house aj)- 

 jiears as a veritable rose factory, for in 

 it are four rows of grafting frames, a 

 total of L',000 linear feet. The grafting 

 began about December 1 and will con- 

 tinue in full ojieration for another 

 month. A])proximately seventy-five men 

 and boys are engaged in this depart- 

 ment of work alone. A row of fifteen 

 sit grafting all day long. 

 ^ (Jrafted stock is favored here. In 

 one house containing thirteen beds of 

 Columbia, it was stated that the five 

 lieds of grafted stock had ])roduccd as 

 many ])looms as eight beds of own-root 

 ])lants. Possibly tliis is a matter of lo- 

 cality, for tlie manager of a greenhouse 

 establishment in the vicinity of Pitts- 

 burgh stated that the production of own- 

 root ])lants and grafted plants of Co- 

 lumbiii at his establishment had. up to 

 date, been by actual count almost ex- 

 ;ictly the same. 



The list of roses grown at Cromwell 

 is a long one, including Crus.-ider, Pre- 

 mier, Butterfly, Pilgrim, Evelyn, Co- 

 lumbia, Mrs. John Cook, My Maryland, 

 Hadley, Milady, White Killarney, Dou- 

 ble White Killarney, Mrs. Aaron Ward, 

 Mme. Colette Martinet, Cccile Brunner 

 and Perle d 'Or. There are a number of 

 interesting seedlings on the place being 

 given a trial, among them one from 



Montgomery, No. 91-99. The dark i)ink 

 si)ort of Columbia which was so much 

 in evidence at the Hartford show was 

 inspected with interest by the visiting 

 rose growers, some of whom left orders 

 for stock. A considerable number of 

 ])lants of this sport are in the houses at 

 Cromwell and it is planned to_ increase 

 the space given to it. 



Many Carnations. 



At the new range, a 'little distance 

 from the old, carnations are principally 

 grown, comprising the following vari- 

 eties of carnations, with the number D«f 

 benches noted after each name: En- 

 chantress Su])reme, fifteen; Matchless, 

 ten; White Wonder, ten; Hope Hen- 

 shaw, ten; Mrs. C. W. Ward, four; Crys- 

 tal White, four; seedling No. 1, four; 

 Benora, tliree; Aviator, three; White 

 Enchantress, two; Eureka, two, and 

 Happy Dav, Ethel Fisher, White De- 

 light, Thomas C. Joy, Kuth Baur, Har- 

 \-ester and seedling No. 6, one each. 



Two and one-half houses are just now 

 filled with ]K)ts of giganteum lilies, 22,- 

 500 being ])otted of G to 8 and the same 

 Jiumber of 7 to 9. Freesias just now 

 are at their height. They seem to do 

 better in ground beds and thrive in 

 heavy soil. After the freesias, stocks, 

 zinnias and calendulas will take their 

 l)lace, and then early mums will follow. 

 The freesia bulbs are planted between 

 the mums and when the mums are cut 

 away speed is necessary to tie up the 

 freesias. Thus is the space made to 

 work efficiently. 



The mum stock jdants fill a number 

 of houses and include a long list of 

 varieties in sevn'ral types. Bedding 

 plants are a specialty and a consider- 

 able space is devoted to them. At the 

 new range, Asi)aragus plumosus nanus 

 and A. Sprengeri are grown for sprays. 

 Cardenias are in quantity. Valley is ex- 

 tensively forced. Bougainvilleas are 

 used to replace the azaleas formerly im- 

 ported. Several hundred cattleyas oc- 

 cupy a part of one house. Palms and 

 ferns of many sorts arc in considerable 

 numbers. Rambler roses for Easter forc- 

 ing are extensively handled. In fact, 

 the departments of the business are so 

 numerous that a comprehensive list of 

 them is difficult to give. 



Maintenance Departments. 



This extensive establishment main- 

 tains several small businesses of its own. 

 A blacksmith shop is kept going con- 

 tinually, as is also a m.achine shop. An 

 ice iiond furnishes ice for the range. 

 Twenty-eight carloads of lumber were 

 purchased last summer to keep the car- 

 jienter force busy. All the construction 

 on the place has been done by the green- 

 house force, the material having been 

 jiurchased from the construction com- 

 jianies. There are ridge-and-furrow 

 houses, there are small houses and there 

 Jire large houses, one as large as 80x800 

 feet. At the old range there are seven 

 hot water and seven steam boilers en- 

 gaged in eating up coal, and at the newer 

 range there are three steam boilers and 

 two hot water. Trucks and wagons are 

 in constant o])eration hauling coal from 

 two ].iles, one at the railroad station, 

 and another much larger one at the 

 docks. Most of the coal is brought bv 

 barge up the Connecticut river, a barge 

 carrying 900 tons. The saving in trans- 

 portation via the water route against 

 the rail route is a large sum in the 

 course of a year. 



