72 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Deckmbeb 1, 1004. 



the fruit can be set. These lateral shoots, 

 where the double-stem system is em- 

 ployed, will be produced from the point 

 where tlie stems take the upward turn, 

 thus leaving no blank spaces at the bot- 

 tom of the trellis, as is often the. case 

 when tlie plants are grown to a single 

 stem only. 



The checking of rank growth is of 

 considerable advantage in inducing freer 

 setting of the fruit. According as the 

 lateral shoots appear, they should be 

 trained horizontally to the wires, and 

 wlien they hare attained sufficient length 

 to cover the space allotted to them tlie 

 ]ioint8 should be pinched out to prevent 

 them running through one another. A 

 mistake is often made in letting too 

 much growth remain on the plants. If 

 this is not guarded against the shoots 

 will crowd one another, preventing the 

 free ])assage of light and air. Such con- 

 ditions are only productive of poor fruit 

 and a fruitful cause of mildew and other 

 fungous diseases, besides giving a lodg- 

 ing place to red spider and other in- 

 jurious insects, the denseness of the 

 foliage making it hard to reach them 

 with the syringe. 



The trellis should be constructed of 

 good, strong wires, which should run 

 both up and down and lengthways of the 

 house, forming a network with meshes 

 not larger than six or eight inches. This 

 makes tying much more convenient than 

 if the wires are wider apart. The trellis 

 should run parallel with the glass and 

 far enough away from it so that the 

 foliage will not come in contact with 

 the glass, where it would, during severe 

 weather, be sure of getting hurt by 

 frost. W. S. Croydon. 



THE PLANT ESTATE. 



The .garden committee of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society went to 

 New Ijondon, Conn., October .28, being 

 met on arrival by Thomas W. Head, su- 

 perintendent of the M. F. Plant estate. 

 A pleasant ride of a few miles down the 

 Thames river was much enjoyed, ending 

 at the private pier on the estate. After 

 lunch with Mr. Head the committee made 



by the Lord & Burnham Co. Two divi- 

 sions were filled with single-stemmed 

 chrysanthemums which included all the 

 newest and most up-to-date sorts. The 

 flowers were all of high class quality. 

 William Duckham was superb. Adele, 

 an incurved pink, was much admired. 

 Ben Wells, A. J. Balfour, Mrs. T. W. 

 Pockett, Miss Mildred Ware, Mrs. Weeks, 

 Col. Appleton, F. S. Vallis, C. J. Salter, 

 Leila Filkins and W. R. Church were the 

 extra fine sorts. Two curvilinear span 

 houses, wings from the palm houses, are 

 used as show houses and nicely arranged 

 with chrysanthemums, begonias, mar- 

 guerites, Cattleya labiata, Oncidium 

 vnricosum Rogersii, heliotropes and oth- 

 er flowering stuff mixed with foliage 

 plants. 



In the rose house varieties grown are 

 Bride, Bridesmaid, Golden Gate, Beauty, 

 Perle and the new General MacArthur. 

 I In the carnation house, where the plants 

 '^had been grown inside all summer, En- 

 chantress stood head and shoulders over 

 all others. EsteUe as a scarlet was first- 

 class and is well liked. Other sorts in- 

 cluded Lawson, Maceo, Roosevelt, Mrs. 

 M. A. Patten, Nelson Fisher, The Bride 

 Lillian Pond and other fine sorts. 



Two divisions are planted with grapes, 

 principally Muscats and Black Ham- 

 burgh, and two others to peaches and 

 nectarines. 



A large force of men are still em- 

 ployed here, grading, planting and doing 

 other necessary work, and the estate 

 when finished, will be one of the best in 

 New England. A word might fittingly 

 be said of the fine granite house occu- 

 pied by Mr. Head, costing $35,000. Like 

 everything else on the place, it shows 

 that there has been no stint of money 

 I in any department and that Commodore 

 ' Plant feels a keen interest in his em- 

 ployes ' welfare, which is being increased- 

 ly shown on other estates. 



W. N. Craig. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



The leading retail men all say that 

 there was nothing the matter with the 



Greenhouses at the M. F. Plant Estate, Groton, Conn. 



a tour of the extensive greenhouses and 

 grounds. Work has only been in pro- 

 gress a little over two years on this new- 

 place but an immense amount of improve- 

 ments have been completed in that time. 

 The pleasure grounds when laid out will 

 cover forty acres. In addition a large 

 farm is attached to the estate. 



The greatest amount of interest nat- 

 urally centered in the greenhouses, the 

 last of which have just been completed 



cut flower trade for Thanksgiving. 

 Everybody was busy working late 

 Wednesday night to fill orders for early 

 morning delivery. The general report 

 was that they found Thanksgiving trade 

 as good as ever, if not a little better, and 

 prices about the same as last year. 



The wholesalers report a big shipping 

 trada and are well satisfied with the 

 amount of business done. The supply of 

 first-class stock in roses was light. The 



quality of the bulk of the stock was 

 hardly up to the average. American 

 Beauties were, and are still, very scarce, 

 that is, the fancy grades. These brought 

 as high as $10 per dozen at the retail 

 stores. The market, though, is well sup- 

 plied with the shorter grades, which are 

 selling well. Brides and Maids also sold 

 well and so did Meteor, Liberty, Ivory, 

 Gate and Carnot. The fancy grades in 

 those had a big demand and not enough 

 to go around. The demand was heaviest 

 for red and pink. 



The carnation supply was about equal 

 to the demand. A few small lots were 

 left over, as the quality was very poor. 

 The price on the prime stock was high 

 and the store men were compelled to 

 charge 75 cents and $1 per dozen and the 

 demand was heavy. 



Good chrysanthemums were quite plen- 

 tiful in all except first-class stock, which 

 sold at stiff prices. Romans and Paper 

 Whites were plentiful and sold at regular 

 market rates. Lily of the valley had an 

 active demand, stock first-class. Good 

 long stevia is in the market. Violets 

 never sold better than this Thanksgiving. 

 The supply was short and as usual the 

 growers were off crop just when the trade 

 can use thousands at big prices. 



Fine blooming plants moved well. The 

 growers who supply the trade here report 

 that they are well supplied with first-class 

 slock for holiday trade. Beyer, Schray, 

 Sanders, Felter, Windier and others say 

 they expect a big trade for this stock 

 up to Christmas. 



Various Notes. 



There will be a hot time at the meet- 

 ing of the Florists' Club next Thursday 

 afternoon. In my notes in the last issue 

 the date mentioned, December 10, should 

 be December 8. The clubroom in the 

 Odd Fellows' building, where the meet- 

 ings are held, will not be able to hold 

 the crowd. Some of our silver-tongued 

 orators are already toned up to a high 

 pitcli. The members should not fail to re- 

 spond to President Juengel's notice and 

 attend. Early, 2 p. m., is the time. A 

 full account of this meeting will appear 

 in the issue of December 15. The trus- 

 tees are also expected to have the essays 

 ready for assignment at this meeting. 

 This will be the last meeting of the club 

 this year. 



The Ellison Floral Co. furnished the 

 decorations for the dinner to the Jap- 

 aucs3 prince, which were elaborate. The 

 prince made Mrs. Ellison a very hand- 

 some present as a memento. This firm 

 has had a number of large dinners of 

 late, which were given in honor of for-, 

 cigu celebrities by the World's Fair of- 

 ficials. Arthur Ellison also reports a big 

 trade for Thanksgiving, 



Ostertag Bros, are making extensive 

 preparations for three large weddings 

 this week. Henry Ostertag reports they 

 have enough plants now to furnish a 

 dozen weddings a day. 



Fred Meinhardt and Otto Koenig will 

 no doubt give the club members at the 

 next meeting the benefit of their experi- 

 ence with a World's Fair flower show. 



Robert Beyer reports a good sale on 

 azaleas, poinsettias and decorative stock, 

 of which he has a big stock for the holi- 

 days. 



A. C. Greiner, who won the $25 special 

 prize for his display of cacti at the 

 World's Fair flower show, reports a good 

 sale for his stock to foreign visitors. 

 Mr. Greiner 's place on Natural Bridge 

 road is worth a visit. 



