20 



The Florists' Review 



August 12, 1915. 



ing has housed a seed store for forty 

 years, being first occupied by A. D. 

 Cowan & Co. and then by the present 

 firm for twenty-five years. They have 

 a branch at 117 Chambers street. C. 

 Giessler, head of the flower seed and 

 bulb department, has returned from his 

 two weeks' vacation. David Don has 

 Deen enjoying his honeymoon in Mich- 

 igan and the Thousand islands. A. L. 

 Don will spend August with his family 

 in the Catskills. 



George Burnett, of Burnett Bros., is 

 in Rockland county, N. Y. Samuel 

 Burnett spends August at Keansburg, 

 N. J., where he lias his own bungalow. 

 W. .r. Barnwell, store manager for the 

 firm, will spend his holidays in the 

 Adirondacks. John Hunter is back 

 from his vacation at Port Monmouth, 

 N. J. Geo. Burnett, Jr., and Robert 

 Burnett have been for several weeks 

 in the Rockland county mountains and 

 at Raniapo. Frank Muller is at the 

 Highlands. 



Geo. Blake, of Bonnet & Blake, is 

 back from Rochester, and is touring 

 Long Island in his runabout. 



Herman Bershad, j)artner of C. C. 

 Trepel in his Brooklyn enterprises, an- 

 nounces the opening of another store 

 this fall, on Fulton street. Mr. Bershad 

 and familv are spending the summer 

 at the Loraine hotel, at Edgemere, 

 L. 1. He has just purchased a 7-pas- 



seuger Chalmers automobile. Mr. Ber- 

 shad is a brother of Mrs. C. C. Trepel. 

 This lady is the efficient manager of 

 Mr. Trepel's store at Eighty-ninth 

 street and Broadway, New York. 



Ralph M. Ward has gone up on the 

 Labrador coast to fish. 



The New York Florists' Club's 

 party to the S. A. F. convention at 

 San Francisco, which was to have 

 numbered at least twenty-five, has 

 shrunk to two, John G. Esler and Miss 

 Esler, of Saddle River, N. J. Other 

 New Yorkers, however, are on their 

 way to the convention by different 

 routes. < 



Charles Schimmel, of M. C. Ford's 

 force, is back from a two weeks ' vaca- 

 tion with his family at Greenwood lake. 

 Richard "Watson goes this week to the 

 Thousand islands. Patrick Donegan is 

 enjoying his yearly outing at Saratoga 

 Springs. J. Austin Shaw. 



There will be an exhibitiony:-«iainly 

 of gladioli, of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety of New York, August 21 and 22, 

 at the Museum building. New York 

 Botanical Gardeli. An invitation is ex- 

 tended to all interested to take part in 

 the exhibition. Schedules will be sent 

 on application to the secretary, George 

 V. Nash, New York Botanical Garden, 

 Bronx park. New York. 



GROWING COMMERCIAL ORCHIDS. 



[A paper read before tlie convention of the 

 Canadian Horticultural Association at London, 

 Ont August 5, by Wm. J. Jones, bead of the 

 orchid section at the Dale Estate, Brampton, 

 Ont.] 



In this paper I wish to speak mainly 

 on those orchids best grown for both 

 commercial and decorative purposes. 

 Therefore, T must place the cattleya 

 first, as it undoubtedly is the finest and 

 best known commercial orchid we 

 have, and with a fair number of its 

 best species, it can be had in flower 

 every month in the year. 



The species of this popular genus 

 rank among our finest orchids. They 

 are general favorites, and there can be 

 little doubt that, as the mode of treat- 

 ment which they require becomes bet- 

 ter understood, they will be extensively 

 cultivated. In many of them the 

 pseudo-bulbs are singular and pleasing 

 in form, and the dark evergreen 

 foliage of the plants when in a Jiealthy 

 condition renders them peculiarly at- 

 tractive. The flowers are large, ele- 

 gant in form, and scarcely surpassed 

 in their brilliant richness and depth 

 of color, the most frequent tints of 

 which are violet, rose, crimson, white 



and purple, with their intermediate 

 shades. 



Treatment in Pots. 



As soon as the flowering is over is 

 the best time for repotting cat- 

 tleyas, except a few, such as Cattleya 

 labiata, which is best deferred till 

 commencing to grow in the spring. I 

 have found cattleyas thrive best in 

 pots, and osmunda fiber the best ma- 

 terial for growing in, with the corm 

 or hard center of the fern chopped up 

 and used for drainage. This the roots 

 seem to prefer to crocks. The cause 

 of failure of many is wrong potting; 

 no plant should remain longer than 

 two or three years at most without re- 

 potting. Large plants should be 

 broken up, and all backj)ulbs and old 

 and dead roots cut away, so as to give 

 them a fresh start. 



After repotting, watering must be 

 done with care. Cattleyas do not re- 

 quire a great deal of water at any 

 time. Too much water is apt to cause 

 the bulbs to rot. So long as the soil 

 remains moist, no wat^r 'is required. 

 The atmosphere should be kept moist 

 by damping the floors and the ground 

 under all benches at least once a day. 

 When the plants have made their 

 growth, they should be allowed to rest 

 and be kept dry, being given just suf- 



ficent water to prevent their shrivel- 

 ling. 



Ventilating and Shading. 



As these plants grow upon the stems 

 and branches of forest trees or upon 

 rocks, they must necessarily be ex- 

 posed to all the breezes that blow. How 

 reprehensible, then, is the practice of 

 many growers of orchids of trying to 

 exclude air from their orchid houses! 

 For the well-being of orchids it should 

 be remembered that a free circulation 

 of air is absolutely necessary, as well 

 as an abundance of light, but cold 

 draughts and the burning effects of the 

 sun's rays must be avoided. It is not 

 essential for vhem to be fully exposed 

 to the blazing sun; indeed, the life of 

 the plants would soon be sucked out 

 of them if shading were not prepared. 



There are so-called observers of na- 

 ture who blame the cultivator for many 

 of his acts, and he has perhaps suf- 

 fered more wrong at the hands of this 

 class of persons in the matter of shad- 

 ing than in any other. We are fre- 

 quently told that in a state of nature 

 such and such plants grow in most ex- 

 posed situations, situations open to 

 the full effects of a tropical sun, and 

 nothing can be more erroneous than 

 the manner in which we use "blinds" 

 for the purpose of keeping away the 

 bright light of that luminary. All I 

 can say in answer to the objectors is 

 that they totally lose sight of the fact 

 that our plants are growing under 

 glass, which has the power of rapidly 

 burning up the leaves and disfiguring 

 our plants for years if not for life. 

 I must add that all plant growers are 

 keenly alive to the advantage of 

 strong sunlight for their plants, but 

 that they are too practical to allow 

 more than is advantageous to them 

 under the artificial circumstances in 

 which they are placed. - 



Keep Plants Clean. 



Cattleyas require to be kept per- 

 fectly clean and free from all insects. 

 They are subject to white scale, which 

 should never be allowed to accumulate, 

 as it is then difficult to remove and 

 the plants are in danger of being in- 

 jured. In order to keep the plants 

 clean, they should be frequently looked 

 over and all signs of scale brushed off 

 with a small stiff brush, especially 

 around the base of the bulbs and the 

 axle of the leaves, where the scale 

 mostly accumulates. 



Always aim to maintain an even 

 temperature, as too great a fluctuation 

 is bound to cause trouble. A tempera- 

 ture of 55 degrees by night and 60 to 

 65 degrees by day will be found a good 

 winter temperature, always admitting 

 air on favorable occasions. 



Other Commercial Orchids. 



Our next best commercial orchid is 

 undoubtedly the spray orchid, of 

 which first place must be given to 

 Phalaenopsis amabilis. This magnifi- 

 cent plant, which comes from Manila, 

 produces its graceful spikes of flowers 

 nearly all the year around. The flow- 

 ers are at least three inches across. 

 The sepals and petals are pure white, 

 and the lip is of the same color faint- 

 ly streaked with rose pink. They con- 

 tinue in perfection a long time, there- 

 fore making an ideal flower for com- 

 mercial and decorative purposes. 



Phalaenopsis Schilleriana, which also 

 comes from Manila, has beautiful 

 variegated foliage. The flower spikes 



