■wir ' ipi',"'l 



October 13, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review 



1005 



an improvement over the old. It seems 

 that the points taken from form and full- 

 ness, and possibly color and size, were 

 well bestowed upon stem and foliage and 

 particularly upon substance in a flower 

 under judgment as to its usefulness to 

 the cut flower trade. 



Looking at the exhibition scale, dis- 

 tinctiveness has been dropped. Does that 

 mean that, in the estimation of the com- 

 mittee, the whole gamut has been run? 

 Have the mum growers ceased to strive 

 for variety! Is a striking novelty no 

 longer of value f Is size the one consid- 

 eration? I see it gets thirty-flve points. 

 But no, size cannot be all; form, fullness 

 and depth get a total of forty-five points. 

 That would make the ideal mum a pretty 

 nearly round, incurved flower, would it 

 not? Five points for stem and five for 

 foliage looks like the Thorpe and Hill 

 ideas had prevailed, but not Hill's, 

 either, for he needs foliage to hide his 

 stick. Evidently color doesn't cut much 

 ice if only your exhibition mum is big 

 enough. 



It is a good thing to get these scales 

 before the interested parties prior to 

 their final adoption. The executives of 

 the C. S. A. took it upon themselves to 

 do this in an effectual way. I only men- 

 tion this in passing to say that had the 

 committee "with power to add to its 

 numbers" been responsible for the use 

 of a scale before its formal adoption it 

 would by now be time for a number of 

 estimable gentlemen to let off steam. 

 ' Peony. 



WORLiyS FAIR FLOWER SHOW. 



The management of the St. Louis 

 World 's Fair is very desirous of having 

 a flower show on the exposition grounds 

 before the close of the chrysanthemum 

 season. Overtures were made to the St. 

 Louis Florists' Club looking to its co- 

 operation with the Department of Hor- 

 ticulture in an exhibition which should 

 be on a scale commensurate with the ex- 

 tent of the exposition, but the proposi- 

 tion was not favorably received. It was 

 then suggested that the Chrysanthemum 

 Society of America lend its name to the 

 undertaking. The proposition is still un- 



ler consideration. The idea is to con- 

 duct the show along the lines of the 

 World's Fair flower show at Chicago in 



1893. Whether this can be done inside 

 the exposition grounds — for it necessi- 

 tates charging an extra admission fee to 

 the show — remains to be seen. Other- 

 wife the finances would have to be pro- 

 vided wholly by the World's Fair man- 

 agement. There should be little difiBcul- 

 ty in securing the co-operation of the 

 C. 8. A., through its officers and execu- 

 tive committee, to the extent desired for 

 any exhibition which would redound to 

 tlie credit of the flower it represents. But 

 quick work is necessary as the time is 

 short. In case the show eventuates P. J. 

 L'auswirth, of Chicago, is spoken of as 

 superintendent. 



CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Phoenix Nursery Co., Bloomington, 

 111., trees and plants; C. & M. Wild, 

 Sarcoxie, Mo., peonies and dahlias; John 

 Lewis Childs, Floral Park, N. Y., glad- 

 ioli and bulbs; Thaddeus N. Yates & Co., 

 Philadelphia, nursery stock. 



Alocasia Regina. 



Fort Smith, Ark. — This city now has 

 six progressive florists, each doing a 

 profitable business. 



ALOCASIA REGINA. 



This beautiful species can be called 

 a true alocasia. The following from 

 Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Hor- 

 ticulture will give you some idea of its 

 coloring and markings : ' ' Dark green 

 above, with darker veins and brown pur- 

 ple beneath; petioles terete, pubescent, 

 spotted purple." 



There is a little more than color de- 

 scription in the quotation above. It is 

 one of the most handsome species of 

 these most ornamental foliage hothouse 

 plants. As it is a native of that great 

 Island of Borneo, which lies under the 

 equator, little need be said regarding the 

 temperature that suits it. All the alo- 

 casias are from the torrid zone, Sumatra, 

 Java, Borneo and the Philippine islands 

 supplying most of the species. These 

 alocasias do not enter much into the 

 florists' business, but in private collec- 

 tions of plants, in the hothouses of the 

 wealthy and in botanical gardens, there 

 are few more ornamental plants. 



A. Begina is an evergreen species, but 

 the growth is not active in winter. About 

 60 degrees during the dark winter 

 months will do and as the season ad- 

 vances and growth commences, which is 

 March or April, the night temperature 

 should be raised to 70 degrees. The day 

 temperature is hard to control, but if 

 it goes to 85 or 90 degrees it will only 

 be relished by these tropical plants. 

 Such a summer as the last, when during 

 July it was below 50 degrees several 

 times, will not do for the alocasias and 

 fire heat would be necessary. A light 



shade in spring and summer should be 

 given them. A warm, moist heat 7-ith 

 abundance of water at the roots is the 

 great essential and during their a»offt 

 active growth weak liquid manure car be 

 given with benefit. 



The pots should be filled at least half 

 their depth with clean broken crocks to 

 insure the most perfect drainage. The 

 compost should be two-thirds fibrous 

 peat and one-third turfy loam, but both 

 of these should be in lumps, not finely 

 broken up or sifted. Add to this some 

 fresh sphagnum moss and a few pieces 

 of charcoal. When potting or shifting 

 keep the rhizomes and compost raised 

 two or three inches above the rim of the 

 pot and surface the compost with fresh, 

 live sphagnum. As will be seen from the 

 description of the compost, it is very 

 similar to that which suits many of our 

 orchids. They do not draw their suste- 

 nance so much from the ingredients of 

 the soil as most of our terrestrial plants 

 are supposed to do, as from the moisture 

 held in the compost and the humidity of 

 the atmosphere. William Scott. 



FLOWERS OR VEGETABLES. 



The Rural New Yorker publishes the 

 subjoined replies to the following ques- 

 tion by a reader: 



Wp somrtlnies hear of glass gardeners who 

 change from flower culture to vegetables, or 

 give up growing vegetables for flowers. There 

 inii'^t he some good reason for surh changes, 

 and we would like to know why they are nra- 

 ally made. 



All such cases which have come under 

 my observation almost invariably apply 

 to men who had never had a proper train- 



