June 18, 1914. 



The Florists^ Re vie yv 



15 



maud it at wilJ. The chamber of com- 

 merce employs an engineer for the pur- 

 pose of making suggestions toward 

 bringing the country into the busy, 

 crowded, strenuous loop. 



The notion that industry and com- 

 merce are sordid and ugly has long 

 since been exploded. Business and com- 

 merce are the foundation of art and 

 beauty, as Georg Brandes has told us. 

 Men of affairs eagerly drink at the 

 fountain of nature's inspiration. We 

 work better, we think better, we rest 

 better under the beneficent influence of 

 beauty. 



Decorate the loop. This is a good 

 time^o decorate, for thousands of wom- 

 en from every part of the Union are 

 Chicago's honored guests. Decorate the 

 loop with bay trees, potted ferns, flower 

 boxes, flower pots. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



CyclameDS in Pots on Benches Warmed ty Pipes Packed in Peat. 



plants, some carbonate of lime was 

 mixed in the top layer of peat. This 

 developed a moderate but steady supply 

 of gas for the plants. 



Growth Bapid and Bobust. 



The atmosphere in these houses is, 

 even at a high day temperature, of a 

 peculiar freshness, and the growth of 

 the cyclamen is remarkably more rapid 

 and robust than that of plants in Mr, 

 Fischer's other houses, which are not 

 equipped in this manner and are sim- 

 ply heated. The photograph, reproduced 

 herewith, showing the house of potted 

 cyclamen was taken May 20 and gives 

 a view of plants that were potted at the 

 end of April and the beginning of May 

 as seedlings with from three to six leaf- 

 lets. Five pots of cyclamen in bloom 

 at this establishment show, in another 

 illustration, the quality of plants and 

 size of flowers obtained by this method. 



Propagation of Begonias. 



These same benches have been used 

 for the propagation of Begonia Gloire 

 de Lorraine and its relatives, also with 

 exceedingly good results. Leaves and 

 cuttings, when placed in the peat bed, 

 grow as well as any other softwood 

 cutting. The peat, when properly wa- 

 tered, holds the moisture for a week. 

 This is an important point, because 

 Gloire de Lorraine will not bear to 

 have water on its leaves. Under other 

 methods of propagation it frequently 

 happens that leaves root, but fail to de- 

 velop leaflets. Begonia cuttings are 

 quite sensitive to external influence; a 

 drying or parching atmosphere is a^ 

 detrimental to them as a chilly, moist 

 one. One of the illustrations shows the 

 mode of propagation in Ferdinand 

 Fischer's houses, the benches on which 

 are the peat-packed pipes and one of the 

 flats with bottoms of wire-netting, used 

 by Mr. Fischer with the best results. 



A BOOST FOB US. 



[Editorial In Chicago Hecord-Herald.] 

 The country-in-the-city movement has 

 reached our loop. An appeal for 

 "Flower Boxes Downtown" is made by 

 Chicago Commerce for June, and it is 

 an appeal which should have an imme- 

 diate and general response. 



Already a considerable number of 

 banks, department stores, hotels and 

 other establishments have introduced 

 that touch of nature and color that 

 pleasantly reminds one of the green, 

 lovely fields and meadows and recon- 

 ciles one to the city even in the sum- 

 mer. Suspended flower pots and flower 

 boxes are the principal means of orna- 

 mentation, and it is certain that three- 

 fourths or more of the loop windows 

 will accommodate flower boxes. 



Why not make the loop "a hanging 

 garden" this summer? Any owner or 

 tenant of a loop building who needs ex- 

 pert advice on the subject can com- 



Last week was no exception to the 

 rule that has prevailed since Memorial 

 day. Midsummer values and even lower 

 prices than obtain in the hottest days 

 of the season have been everywhere 

 manifest, until the wholesale cut flower 

 market has been absolutely funereal. 

 The latter days of the week were espe- 

 cially humid and depressing and the 

 temperature the highest ever known in 

 June. The effect was manifest in the 

 lowered condition of the rose and car- 

 nation shipments especially, and the 

 market was unable to digest them. There 

 is no change in quotations as the week 

 opens from those of last week. Lighter 

 arrivals are anticipated and a hardening 

 tendency is consequently possible. 



Prices for tea roses range from 25 

 cents per hundred to $3, for the se- 

 lects. Beauties hold at $10 to $12 per 

 hundred for the best of them. Outdoor 

 roses are abundant. There are plenty 

 of carnations, but most of them are 

 asleep. One lot of 11,000 sold for $11 

 on Saturday. The market continues to 

 be flooded with peonies. Vast quanti- 

 ties are unsalable. There are few of 

 them high grade. Prices are far below 



Shelburne Falls, Mass. — John F. 

 Ward, who has carried on the business 

 of the late Lucius Fife for about a 

 year, left Julie 6 for Farmington, Conn., 

 where he will act as manager of a gteen- 

 house establishment. 



Lorraine Begonias in Flats on Benches Warmed by Pipes Packed in Peat. 



