September 8, 1904. 



The Weekly Flprists^ Review* 



757 



Cactus Bedding near Horticultural Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 



It is a beautiful piece of work, present- 

 ing a life-like varietjr of color that must 

 be seen to be appreciated. The beds are 

 laid out on the grass in a series of ovals, 

 ■circles and bands with graceful festoons 

 on the sloping sides. In geraniums, Le 

 Pilot is the leading scarlet. Alphonse 

 Bicard is on trial, Madame Thibaut, for- 

 merly the best bedding pink^ so-called, 

 is out of favor. La Favorite has re- 

 placed Swan as the best white. The va- 

 lieties of coleus are Verschaffeltii, Queen 

 Victoria, Golden Bedder and another and 

 •stronger yellow, called, I think, Golden 

 Prince. 



Achyranthes Lindenii and Stevia ser- 

 lata vaiiegata, once so popular here, 

 liave been replaced by Eranthemum 

 atropurpureum and Abutilon Duke of 

 Malakoff. Acalypha tricolor is much 

 more prominent than of yore. In masses 

 it rivals fine beds of crotons in richness 

 and brilliancy of coloring. 



The economic house was in excellent 

 condition. Some recently added cattleyas 

 and other orchids were in bloom, also a 

 fine plant of African violet, Saintpaulia 

 lonantha, with a profusion of small, deep 

 fclue flowers, but with foliage suggestive 

 ■of the gloxinia. Some twenty-five new 

 ■varieties of marantas have lately been 

 acquired. Some root pruned and freshly 

 potted specimens were enjoying such an 

 excessively high degree of humidity that 

 a retreat was too soon demanded by the 

 -weakness of the flesh. 



The lawns and herbaceous gardens 

 outside were in excellent condition, the 

 phloxes and rudbeckia adding richness 

 to the effect. Phil, 



WITH BOSTON GROWERS. 



Wm. H. Elliott, Brighton, Mass. 



William H. Elliott, of Brighton, has 

 for a number of years been one of the 

 largest and most successful growers for 

 the Boston market. In at least one of 

 his specialties he has acquired a na- 

 tional reputation; that is, in the culture 

 of Asparagus plumosus. A number of 

 lofty houses, one or two of them thirty- 

 five feet high, are devoted to asparagus, 

 and Mr. Elliott ships extensively. He 

 has thousands of fine strings fit for mar- 

 ket. Asparagus Sprengeri fills several 

 houses and quantities of plants are being 

 grown in the field and will be lifted 

 shortly. Chrysanthemums were noted in 

 quantity outdoors. Several thousands 

 are grown in bush form and find a ready 

 market, mostly in 7-in<;h pots. Varieties 

 included such old popular sorts as Bon- 



naffon, Ivory, Midge, Sunderbruch, Mrs. 

 J. E. Neville and others. No single stems 

 are grown at all. 



Eoses have always been one of Mr. 

 Elliott's specialties. In the culture of 

 these he has been eminently successful. 

 Quite a number of houses are devoted to 

 these, varying from 100 to 480 feet in 

 length. Varieties grown are Bride, 

 Bridesmaid, Liberty, Kaiserin and Car- 

 not. Several houses of the two latter 

 sorts were giving a grand lot of blooms, 

 stemfi long and stout. Liberty is well 

 Hked here. Grafted plants seemed to 

 show no particular advantage over own- 

 root stock. Beauties are little grown 

 here now, being handled at Mr, Elliott's 

 farm near Dover, N. H., where he re- 

 cently erected an 800-foot house. .We 

 noted that solid beds were being sub- 

 stituted for raised benches in the largest 

 house of Brides and Maids. 



C F. Holbrow, Brighton, Mass. 



C. F, Holbrow, of Brighton, grows a 

 general line of stock, including decora- 

 tive plants. Several houses are devoted 

 to roses, Brides and Bridesmaids being 

 exclusively grown. In carnations, Fair 

 Maid is a prime favorite. As nt Mr, 

 Elliott's, the houses here are built on a 

 side hill. In Mr. Holbrow 's case the 

 hill is very steep and it entails many 

 steps and considerable climbing. 



Wm. Sim, Cliftondale, Mass. 



During the past winter and spring 

 finer sweet peas and violets were placed 

 on the Boston market than ever before. 

 We doubt very much if any of the noted 

 Bhinebeck growers grew such violets, and 

 certainly no finer sweet peas were pro- 

 duced in America. The grower of these 

 remarkable flowers was a modest, unas- 

 suming, but nevertheless canny Aber- 

 denian Scotchman, at OTftondale, Mass., 

 named William Sim. A visit to the 

 establishment is interesting and profit- 

 able. It shows that Mr, Sim is dis- 

 tinctly a specialist, and the days of 

 specialists are not over, whatever croak- 

 ers may say to the contrary. 



He has been located at his present 

 stand a little over five years, and surely 

 his trim, well-kept grounds and clean, 

 thrifty stock grown in ideal houses at- 

 test his perseverance, hard work and 

 skill, A new house 30x360 was just be- 

 ing completed at the time of our visit. 

 Although not designed or built by any 

 greenhouse architect; this is a model of 

 what a commercial house should be. 

 Height is fifteen feet to the ridge. Steam 

 heating is all along the sides. Sweet 



peas Mont Blanc and Earliest of All are 

 planted in rows six feet apart length- 

 wise of this house. Later Princess of 

 Wales violets are set between the rows 

 and give a good picking until the sweet 

 peas shade them too much. A house of 

 similar siz(i now devoted to cucumbers 

 will also be planted with sweet peas. 



Chrysanthemums fill four large houses, 

 75,000 single-stemmed plants being 

 grown. These are in splendid condition. 

 They include large batches of such use- 

 ful market sorts as Ivory, Bonnaffon, 

 White Bonnaffon, Wanamaker (still a 

 favorite here), A. J, Balfour, Mrs, 

 Coombes, Timothy Eaton and Yellow 

 Eaton, Appleton, Perrin, Shrimpton, 

 Monrovia, Halliday and others, A con- 

 siderable number of the newer sorts, such 

 as Dr, Enguehard, Duckham, Mrs. 

 Thirkell, Ethel Fitzroy, Vallis, Henry 

 Barnes and Mildred Ware are being 

 grown. We hope Mr, Sim will exhibit in 

 Boston next November, as we believe 

 he intends to do. 



Two houses are devoted to tomatoes. 

 Stone filled one and Rochford the other. 

 These had been giving heavy crops, five 

 tons having been taken from a house 

 of Stone 200 feet long and many fruits 

 remained. Outdoors, trained to single 

 stems, 6,000 plants are grown. These 

 are all planted from pots and give a very 

 early, profitable crop. 



The chrysanthemum and tomato houses, 

 as well as a number of long frames, are 

 filled with Princess of Wales violets la- 

 ter, of which 60,000 are grown. Every- 

 thing on Mr, Sim's place, particularly 

 under glass, was scrupulously clean, no 

 weeds visible at all. His attention to 

 these details is something that many 

 other florists might well emulate. 



W. N. Ceaig. 



POINT JUDGING. 



Various suggestions have been made 

 during the past few years for so modify- 

 ing methods of judging as to give the 

 competing collections awards more 

 closely approximating their relative val- 

 ues than is possible when three prizes are 

 given in the classes in accordance with 

 the orthodox practice, says the Garden- 

 ers' Magazine, For several years past 

 the Beddington, Carshalton and Walling- 

 ton Horticultural Society has provided a 

 class for vegetables in which the prizes 

 are awarded to the collections in exact 

 accordance with their relative merits, 

 and the competition invariably gives rise 

 to much interest among both exhibitors 

 and visitors. This class is set apart for 



