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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



August 11, l!>u4. 



BOSTON. 



The Market 



Conditions remain much the same as 

 in our last report and prices are not 

 greatly changed. Good roses continue 

 scarce. Beauties bring up to $20 per 

 100 and top price on Kaiserins is $8. 

 Brides and Bridesmaids are small, $2 

 to $3 being about the. average. Good 

 outdoor carnations continue to sell at 

 $2. The supply of indoor ones is about 

 over. Asters are more abundant, but 

 clear out well, especially the white 

 varieties, at 75 cents. Gladioli are 

 good, at $2 to $6. Sweet peas are 

 scarce for good quality, of which many 

 more could be sold. Valley sells well, 

 Fine quality, such as Waban Conserva- 

 tories send in, brings up to $6. The 

 principal scarcity in the market con- 

 tinues to be in white flowers. 



Liliam Philippense. 



The most remarkable exhibit at Hor- 

 ticultural Hall on August 6 was a dis- 

 play of the beautiful Lilium Philip- 

 pense (Farquhar's Christmas lily) from 

 R. & J. Farquhar & Co. This lily was 

 first introduced by Wallis and for- 

 warded by him to Veitch & Sons, of 

 London, in 1873. It is described in the 

 Botanical Magazine, No. 6250. It is 

 not now catalogued by any European 

 firm. Messrs. Farquhar received a few 

 small bulbs last November in a very 

 dried up condition. These bulbs were 

 placed in a frame and when lifted for 

 forcing were frozen solidly. After prov- 

 ing the merits of the lily, a traveler was 

 dispatched for a larger supply. These 

 arrived on May 29 and were benched the 

 following day. As the bulbs are very 

 small for so superb a lily, they were 

 planted in benches in a warm, moist 

 house, two inches between the bulbs and 

 four inches between the rows. The first 

 buda showed on July 1 and a number of 

 flowers were cut on July 30. Bulbs no 

 larger than filberts flower and Messrs. 

 Farquhar have quantities of seedlings 

 which they say will flower in from six 

 to nine months from sowing. 



Lilium Philippense is a native of the 

 island of Benguetense, Philippines, 

 growing at an elevation of about 10,000 

 feet. The rainfall in June there is 

 thirty inches. The stems are slender 

 but sufficiently strong to support the 

 large, pure white, trumpet-shaped flow- 

 ers, which are ten inches in length. The 

 odor is very pleasant, resembling that of 

 Brugmansia suaveolens. From one to 

 three flowers were carried on the stems 

 exhibited, which ' were from nine to 

 twenty-four inches high. The foliage 

 is narrow, leaves loosely scattered down 

 the stem, not unlike that of Dracaena 

 indivisa. The plant is much more grace- 

 ful than Lilium Harrisii or . L. longi- 

 florum and its remarkable ease of propa- 

 gation by seeds or scales will, we venture 

 to say, in time revolutionize the lily in- 

 dustry. This is the most remarkable 

 novelty shown before the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society for years and we 

 believe the unanimous bestowal of the 

 society's highest award, a gold medal, 

 was well deserved. Messrs. Farquhar 

 have about 10,000 bulbs of this lilv at 

 present. It will be introduced not later 

 than 1905. 



Weekly Ezhihitioa. 



Perennial phloxes made a large dis- 

 play but the trusses were hardly so good 



as usual. For twelve named varieties 

 prizes went to Blue Hill Nurseries, W. 

 AVhitman, T. C. Thurlow and Geo. Hollis 

 ill order named. Some fine seedlings were 

 shown by Blue Hill Nurseries, honorable 

 mention being given to Daybreak and a 

 fine dark red variety. F. L. Ames es- 

 tate, W. N. Craig, gardener, received a 

 cultural certificate for display of phloxes, 

 also honorable mention for seedling No. 

 3. Xh© same exhibitor received a cer- 

 tificate of merit for Behmannia angulata, 

 a new hardy herbaceous perennial from 

 central China, with large gloxinia-like, 

 rosy purple flowers. Messrs. Heurlin, Mc- 

 Laren, Thurlow, Mrs. E. M. Gill and 

 Mrs. J. B. Lawrence all made fine dis- 

 plays of phlox, the latter lady also stag- 

 ing thirty varieties of sweet peas. W. 

 Whitman made a large general display. 

 Robert Cameron received a silver medal 

 for a beautifully flowered specimen of 

 Pancratium oyatum. Peter Cairns 

 showed Strelitzia Reginaj and Monstera 

 deliciosa, and F, S. Davis a new white 

 dolichos from Japan. 



There was a large display in the class 

 for forty native plants, prizes going, in 

 order named, to Mrs. Arthur Clark, Miss 

 Shattuck, Mrs. R. L. Mann, The Misses 

 Doran and Miss K. Buitta. Vegetables 

 and fruits made an interesting display 

 and about 100 varieties of fungi were 

 staged. 



Vai ious Notes. 



Francis Canning, in charge of the hor- 

 ticultural department of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College, at Amherst, 

 Mass., accompanied by Mrs. Canning, 

 has been spending a few days in Bos- 

 ton and vicinity, looking over a number 

 of the leading establishments. 



Duncan Knlayson left for Washington 

 on August 6 and will later go to St. 

 Ijouis to take in the World's Fair and 

 otlier sights. 



The executive committee of the Gar- 

 deners ' and Florists ' Club met on August 

 8, at the oflice of W. J. Stewart, to se- 

 lect a date for the club excursion and 

 make plans for fall work. 



Hitchings & Co. have recently re- 

 ceived contracts to build greenhouses for 

 R. M. Saltonstall, in Brookline, and C. 

 R. Talbet, Chestnut Hill. They report 

 a busy season. 



Carnations are being , busily housed 

 these days at almost every jJace visited. 

 Plants look well, being of good average 

 size. 



The visit of the G, A. R, and decora- 

 tions for the various posts, as well as 

 social gatherings, is expected to give 

 some stimulus to trade next week. 



At Soutli Lancaster. 



A visit to South Lancaster, where are 

 located some of the finest private estates 

 in Massachusetts, is always full of in- 

 terest to either private or commercial 

 growers. A ten-minutes' run on the 

 electrics from Clinton station drops us 

 at the greenhouses of E. V. R. Thayer, 

 where E. O. Orpet has charge. Orchids 

 are a special feature here and are well 

 done. Seedling raising is more success- 

 fully carried out than elsewhere in 

 America, particularly among cattleyas. 

 Numerous gold and silver medals and 

 other ^awards have been given to these 

 at the Boston shows. Many hundreds of 

 seedlings, .representing scores of distinct 

 crosses, are to be noted here, plants vary- 

 ing in size from microscopic ones to big 

 specimens in tubs. All are in luxuriant 



health. Odontogiossums arc classed as 

 diflicult orchids to handle, but for the 

 past few seasons Mr. Orpet has had 

 signal success in their culture. His fin- 

 est plants are in 8-inch pots or pans and 

 specimens of O. crispu^a carried spikes 

 three feet long last spring. During the 

 winter months these plants are given a 

 moderately warm, sunny house, and a 

 north house during the warm months. 

 Good batches of dendrobiums, coelogynes 

 and cypripediums, chiefly of the yellow 

 insigne type, were noteid. All orchids 

 here are grown in pure osmunda fibre; 

 no leaf-mold is now used, it having been 

 tried and abandoned. The Cookson for- 

 mula is successfully used as a stimu- 

 lant for all orchids. 



In the fruit houses grapes and nectar- 

 ines were carrying good crops. Melons 

 are grown in several divisions, Eureka, 

 Emerald Gem and Outrement Beauty 

 being the favorites. Carnations just 

 housed were strong and vigorous, En- 

 chantress, i'lamingo. Queen and Lawson 

 being most largely grown. A batch 

 of Campanula isophylla alba in bloom 

 in one of the houses indicated the value 

 of this half hardy perennial for the flor- 

 ists' trade. A large, new, old-fashioned 

 flower garden has just been established 

 here and Mr. Orpet has done lots of 

 planting the past season. 



A. P. Meredith presides over the gar- 

 dens of Nathaniel Thayer. He had been 

 very busy planting until June, several 

 thousand hybrid rhododendrons being in- 

 cluded. These will eventually be a fine 

 feature along the new waterways being 

 developed on this fine estate. In the 

 greenhouses stock looked well. The large 

 rose house contained a fine lot of stock. 

 Beauties being especially good. An addi- 

 tional house is devoted to Beauties for 

 summer flowering and some fine flowers 

 are now being cut. A house of cattleyas 

 contained a lot of strong plants begin- 

 ning to bristle with sheatlies. A small 

 batch of newly imported Odontqglossum 

 crispum Mas a starter in the culture of 

 this queen of orchids. Chrysanthemums, 

 both grown to single stems and speci- 

 mens in pots; cyclamens, Gloire de Lor- 

 raine begonia, gardenias, etc., all 

 looked well. Melons fillea four divisions 

 and carried fine crops. English varie- 

 ties only are grown, Windsor Castle seem- 

 ing to suit Mr. Meredith as well as any. 



William Anderson has a fine range of 

 glass on the Bayard Thayer estate and 

 we found his stock in fine condition. 

 Roses are largely grown here. Beauty, 

 Liberty, Bride and Bridesmaid being the 

 favorites. The first named were particu- 

 larly robust. In the carnation house. 

 Governor Wolcott and Enchantress are 

 the two favorite varieties. Mr. Ander- 

 son says Wolcott is very satisfactory as 

 a winter bloomer, splitting a little in 

 spring. A house 20x80 is devoted to 

 peaches and nectarines. The first division 

 had been cleared, but the late one car- 

 ried a splendid crop of handsome fruit. 

 A similar sized house is filled with 

 grapes. These also carrie<l a good crop 

 of fruit, berries and bunches being over 

 the average. Gros Colman, Muscat of 

 Alexandria, Black Hamburg, Lady 

 Downe's Seedling and Barbarossa were 

 fine. A large frame of cyclamens were 

 noted in fine condition. The cattleya 

 house contains some superb specimens. 

 Mr. Anderson thinks the addition of a 

 little sphagnum to the fern fibre gives 

 added vigor to his plants. A pond of 

 choice nymplweas and other aquatics was 



