30 



The Florists^ Review 



Max 20. 1915. 



vines. These vases stood on Mr. Park- 

 mire's own grounds and were an excel- 

 lent advertisement for him last season. 



BBITISH BAB BBLQIAN PLANTS? 



Shipments Are Irregular. 



Spring shipments of Belgian plants 

 via Botterdam have been extremely 

 irregular and many importers have re- 

 ceived none at all. At first it was sup- 

 posed that the trouble was due only to 

 the disjointed transportation facilities, 

 that part of the journey between Ghent 

 and Botterdam being by canal, and to 

 the congestion of freight on the docks 

 at Botterdam, where large quantities 

 of bulky nursery stock, principally bay 

 trees and palms, have accumulated. 

 But within the last few days it has de- 

 veloped that the British government is 

 undecided as to its course regarding 

 such shipments. May 1 the British 

 authprities placed an embargo on fur- 

 ther shipments of plants originating. in 

 that part of Belgium held by the Ger- 

 mans. At once the Holland-America 

 line refused to load the shipments that 

 were on the docks and others that 

 alm4)6t daily were coming up from the 

 Ghent and Bruges district. The result 

 has been a congestipn that promised 

 seriouji loss to owners of perishable 

 stock. 



Then, May 19, came a cable to Mc- 

 Hutchiaon & Co., New York, from their 

 representatives at Rotterdam, stating 

 that further consignments of Belgian 

 plants were leaving there that day, 

 from which it appears that the em- 

 bargo has been lifted, at least in part 

 or temporarily. The Holland-America 

 line oflBce at Chicago has no informa- 

 tion in the matter. 



Action Is Important. 



As soon as word arrived that the 

 British authorities were classifying Bel- 

 gian products as of enemy origin, pro- 

 tests were made by importers, through 

 the State Department at Washington. 

 Not only would such an embargo stop 

 spring shipments in mid-season, but it 

 would make fall shipments of azaleas, 

 palms, araucarias, tuberous-rooted be- 

 gonias, spiraeas and many other plants 

 uncertain. 



The British embargo was all the more 

 a surprise because of the cry that has 

 gone up at the devastation of Belgium. 

 It is known that the German authori- 

 ties have encouraged the Belgians to 

 resume their daily occupations and have 

 assisted and oflFered inducements to that 

 end where possible. 



WHEN TO SOW CINEBAEIA SEED. 



I should like to know when to plant 

 Cineraria seed here, in northeastern 

 Texas, to have the plants in bloom 

 about March to April. Also, please tell 

 me the best dwarf varieties having 

 large flowers, with blue center sur- 

 rounded with white and having a blue 

 edge. Please give me the name of the 

 enclosed fern leaf, as I am a begin- 

 ner and do not know the names. 



F. C— Tex. 



Sow the cineraria seed early in Au- 

 gust for your latitude. Keep them as 

 cool as possible all the time. They 

 will naturally bloom at the time named 

 if you give the necessary shade and 

 give them a low growing temperature. 



The dwarf, large-flowered cinerarias are 

 called C. hybrida. You can either buy 

 mixed seed, or you can procure crim- 

 son, pure white, white with dark blue 

 edge, light pink, azure blue, deep blue 

 and white with crimson edge, in sepa- 

 rate colors. The fern frond you en- 

 closed is from Nephrolepis Whitmani. 



C. W. 



LOCATION OF CONVENTION HALL. 



Daniel MacBorie calls attention that 

 the building in which the San Francisco 

 convention of the S. A. F. is to be 

 held is not on the exposition grounds, 

 as has been stated, but at what is 

 known as the Civic Center. 



As the name of the building is Expo- 

 sition Memorial Auditorium, it is, per- 

 haps, not unnatural, in the absence of 

 specific information, that the supposi- 

 tion should be that the location is in 

 connection with the exposition. It 

 probably makes no difference, as any- 

 one who would attend in one case 

 would do so in the other, but it should 

 be clearly understood that the conven- 

 tion is to be held downtown, not at the 

 exposition grounds. What Mr. Mac- 

 Borie, who is vice-president of the 

 S. A. F. and chairman of the San Fran- 



cisco convention committee, says of the 

 location is as follows: 



"Both the exhibition hall and the 

 meeting rooms of the S. A. P. are in 

 the same building, the Exposition Me- 

 morial Auditorium, situated in the 

 Civic Center. The St. Francis hotel, 

 which is the official headquarters for 

 the S. A. F., is less than ten minutes' 

 walk and less than five minutes' car 

 ride from the exhibition hall. Other 

 leading hotels are equally close. 



"The convention garden is situated 

 in the Golden Gate park, which is with- 

 in easy access from all parts of the 

 city and to which all street cars radi- 

 ate." 



The arrangements for the convention 

 are thought to Jae unusually good and 

 are progressing splendidly in the hands 

 of the following competent and ener- 

 getic committee chairmen: 



Executive — Daniel MacBorie. 



Finance — H. Plath. 



Garden — John McLaren. 



Ladies'— W. A. Hofinghoflf. 



Reception — J. B. Fotheringham, 



Outingr^A. J. BossL 



Hotels — ^Frederic Bertrand. 



Sports — V. Podesta. 



Program — A. J. Bossi. 



Publicity — J. W. Gregg. 



NOTES FROM FOREIGN IS3teNDS 



Haarlem, Holland. — The General 

 Bulb Growers' Federation, through a 

 committee, distributed large quantities 

 of cut narcissi and tulips to the hos- 

 pitals of the belligerent powers. The 

 Dutch government arranged for free 

 transportation. 



Hamburg, Oermany. — In common with 

 all other German farmers, the growers 

 in the valley pip districts are devot- 

 ing most of their attention this sea- 

 son to edible crops, for which their 

 market is assured. There is little fear 

 of shortage of valley pips, but consid- 

 erable concern regarding means of ex- 

 porting those in cold storage as well 

 as the crop next to be harvested. 



Brussels, Belgium. — The German civil 

 administration is working effectively to 

 restore normal conditions in business. 

 By means of special taxes against the 

 property of Belgian refugees it has 

 been possible to secure the return of 

 many who sought asylum in England 

 and Holland. This has included a 

 number of nurserymen in the Ghent 

 and Bruges district, who are being en- 

 couraged to employ the usual number 

 of hands. 



Ohent, Belgium. — A Belgian florist 

 writes: The nurseries around the 

 battlefields of Louvain and Malines and 

 other towns are destroyed, but those in 

 the vicinity of Ghent, Liege, Antwerp 

 and Brussels have not suffered, except 

 for a few collections of azaleas and 

 rhododendrons in the district around 

 Ghent, which were cut down with 

 spades by the English soldiers in order 

 to makfe trenches. I have seen in the 

 uniforms of German officers several 

 members of the international jury of 

 the last Ghent Quinquennial. 



London, England. — Notwithstanding 

 conditions, the National Rose Society 

 held its annual spring show April 16 in 

 the R. H. S. hall, but it was a long way 

 behind those of other years. Competi- 

 tion was light. 



The Hague, Holland. — De Graaff 

 Bros., Ltd., Leiden, sent last year, gratis, 

 part of their surplus, a surplus unus- 

 ually la^ge on account of the war, to 

 this city to be planted in the public 

 parks. Altogether they have sent about 

 450,000 bulbs, principally tulips, daffo- 

 dils and iris. The show made this 

 spring has attracted wide comment. 



Ghent, Belgium. — The spring ship- 

 ments have been got out under diffi- 

 culties; that is, such as have gone. The 

 Germans have offered no objection to 

 such work as could be done without in- 

 terference with military transportation 

 and even have given some assistance 

 here and there, but the volume of ship- 

 ments, especially of bays, has been only 

 a fraction of that of other years. They 

 have gone by canal to Rotterdam, an 

 uncertain route. 



Ghent, Belgium. — In these parlous 

 days no one can foretell events by a 

 week, let alone months, but it seems 

 in early spring that the usual autumn 

 shipments will go out. Conditions here 

 are by no means so bad as most of the 

 reports that come filtering back from 

 the outside. There has been compara- 

 tively little business for months and 

 the loss of stock during the unusually 

 cold winter has been large; also the 

 spring was extremely wet and unfavor- 

 able for outdoor work, but there are 

 likely to be all the azaleas that can be 

 sold, especially of the larger sizes. 



