

December 1, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



69 



FARQUHAR IN EUROPE. 



John K. M. L. Farquhar was the 

 speaker of the evening before the Gar- 

 deners' and Florists' Club of Boston, 

 October 18. He told of his trip to 

 Europe and referred, in his opening re- 

 marks, to the fine reception given to 

 their new lily in England and on the 

 continent, he having taken blooms with 

 him which carried well. From what 

 Harry Veitch and one or two other ex- 

 perts told him, the original lalium 

 Philippinense, discovered in 1873, had 

 some pink coloring in the flowers and 

 grew six feet tall, while theirs is pure 

 white and much smaller. The speaker 

 gave a very interesting account of some 

 of the leading Dutch bulb farms and 

 their enormous spread. The frugal 

 Dutch, he considered, are coining money 

 out of the business. They are persist- 

 ently raising prices without just cause. 

 One grower told him that he had cleaned 

 $2,000 per acre from Von Sion narcissus. 

 The increased demand from America 

 was in some measure responsible for 

 this. Americans are now buying better 

 quality bulbs, but the growers said they 

 have no American call for the newer and 

 choicer varieties, as they want cheaper 

 goods. 



The number of desirable novelties was 

 not great. A new cornflower-colored 

 Spanish iris and Tritomas excelsa, 

 Ideal and Lemon Queen were very de- 

 sirable. The nurseries of Messrs. Tu- 

 bergen & De Graaf were visited and 

 commented on. At Boskoop he noticed 

 that the nurseries were depleted of good 

 stock, that seen . being mostly small. 

 Some of the largest and best nurseries 

 have no catalogues, while some of the 

 agents canvassing America with hand- 

 some catalogues represent firms without 

 any nursery. 



At Ghent, in Belgium, the nurseries 

 where azaleas, dracsenas, palms and 

 other stock is grown were referred to. 

 The Brussels Botanic Gardens were very 

 interesting, their method of labeling 

 plants being unique and excellent. 



France seemed to be, if anything, the 

 most prosperous country visited. Le- 

 moine 's nurseries contained some fine 

 new begonias and deutzias, but no 

 begonia was equal to Gloire de Lor- 

 raine. Some fine bedding was seen in 

 the park at Nancy. A great change in 

 style was noted, the nataral taking the 

 place of the mosaic. One especially at- 

 tractive bed was of standard roses with 

 gladioli planted below them, edged with 

 geraniums. A tendency to resort to rib- 

 bon bordering was noticed, but usually 

 masses relieved by a few taller plants 

 were used. 



Some fine bedding was noted in Hyde 

 parlt, London. A bed of Musa ensete 

 with Grevillea robusta below and edged 

 with Funkia subcordata variegata was 

 effective. Clumps of sweet peas rising 

 out of violas were used in front of 

 shrubberies to good purpose. A bed of 

 Fuchsia Mrs. Marshall and "White Paris 

 daisy and another of golden privet and 

 bronze geraniums, the latter edged with 

 Saxifraga moschata, were good. 



At Hampton Court palace the fine 

 avenues of yews were mentioned. The 

 famous grape vine was carrying larger 

 bunches and finer berries than when last 

 seen. Few succulents are now used in 

 the bedding there. One bed contain- 

 ing tuberous begonias, dotted with 

 white swalnsona and edged with sweet 

 alyssum looked well. A mixture of 

 Lobelia cardinalis and Abutilon Boule 



The New Light Pink Rose, Wellesley. 

 (A Seedling: Raised at Waban Rose Conservatories, Natlck, Mass.) 



de Neige was pleasing. Chrysanthemum 

 latifolium with blooms six inches across 

 and growing three to five feet high was 

 grand. Calceolaria Burbidgei growing 

 six to seven feet high, with yellow flow- 

 ers double the size of the ordinary 

 rugosa type, was very effective. The 

 flowers are colored like a Montressor tulip 

 and the plant can be had in bloom for 

 Christmas in pots. Grafted plants of 

 Liberty rose were very fine outdoors. 



There is a tendency in Great Britain 

 to grow fewer collections of stove and 

 greenhouse plants and larger quantities 

 of certain attractive kinds. Orchids are 

 ftill in big demand. The new hall of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society was 

 visited on the occasion of a big fruit 

 show. The hall was pronounced an ideal 

 one in all respects. The quality of fruit 

 shown, due in large measure to a fine 

 summer, was very high, the apples be- 

 ing equal to the very finest the speaker 

 had ever seen in America. 



Peoria, III. — Earl "W. Metz, manager 

 of J. C. Murray's retail store, took a 

 force of decorators to Wyoming last 

 week and put up the most elaborate 

 wedding decorations ever seen in that 

 section. 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



[A paper by Robert Klft, of Philadelphia, 

 road before the Germantown Horticultural So- 

 ciety, November 14, 1904.] 



The love of flowers, particularly when 

 they are the result of one's own care and 

 culture, is soon broadened into a desire 

 that others shall also share in your good 

 fortune. Friends are called in to admire 

 and perhaps carry away a few choice 

 blossoms which shed their beauty and 

 fragrance elsewhere, finding new friends 

 wlierever shown. Often these flower lov- 

 ers get together to compare each other's 

 ]iroducts and finally at the proper sea- 

 sons they bring their best and place them 

 in competition, so that all may be seen 

 and merit be suitably rewarded. These 

 pioneer gatherings formed the nucleus of 

 the horticultural societies of today. In 

 later years these amateur bodies have been 

 materially helped by trade organizations, 

 tlie members of which being engaged in 

 the cultivation of flowers for a livelihood 

 had gotten together for their mutual 

 benefit, and who found in the horticul- 

 tural society an important ally through 

 which to reach the public. Ofttimes 

 where there was no organized horticul- 

 tural body these trade organizations took 

 it upon themselves to hold exhibitions 



