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Januabt 5, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



359 



or other fertilizers. Rotted sod is the 

 ideal thing for this purpose as it con- 

 tains the necessary elements to support 

 the desired growth; besides the danger 

 of fungous diseases obtaining a foothold 

 is reduced to a minimum. Young stock 

 handled in this manner makes rapid 

 strides as the weather warms up and 

 when planted in fertilized soil on the 

 benches or in the field takes hold at once. 



Another advantage of a slow growth 

 is that we obtain a short-jointed plant, 

 the proper foundation of a shapely 

 habit. . 



From recent inquiries I feel con- 

 strained to caution growers against too 

 strong forcing or heavy feeding. The 

 only possible result wUl be sick plants, 

 producing if at all only small, sleepy 

 blooms with weak stem. Then to pro- 

 pagate from such plants is not in the 

 line of improvement. 



Next week I hope to give news of a 

 new disease which is appearing in this 

 section on Lawson. Geo. S. Osborn. 



A HALSTEAD SEEDLING. 



Dr. A. S. Halstead, of the St. Clair 

 Floral Co., Belleville, 111., has a seedling 

 carnation of which he thinks highly and 

 which he proposes to exhibit at the Car- 

 nation Society's convention in Chicago 

 this month. It is snow white, a seedling 

 of Lizzie McGowan and Alaska. It 

 blooms continuously and never bursts the 

 calyx. The flower is an average of three 

 inches in, diameter and borne on stems 

 eighteen to twenty inches long. Two 

 days before Christmas a bench of it 

 looked like a bank of snow and these 

 were late planted, being benched the mid- 

 dle of October. The accompanying il- 

 lustration shows the character of the 

 bloom. Dr. Halstead says the variety is 

 as easily propagated as its pollen par- 

 ent, McGowan. 



Vegetable Forcing, 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chicago, Jan. 4. — Cucumbers, 50c to 

 $1.75 doz.; leaf lettuce, 30c to 35c case; 

 head lettuce, $2.50 to $6 bbl. 



Boston, Jan. 3. — Cucumbers, select, $8 

 to $13 box; seconds, $1.50 to $6 box; to- 

 matoes, 35c lb.; lettuce, 26c to 35c 

 doz.; radishes, 35c doz. bunches; mint, 

 $1.25 doz. bunches; mushrooms, 50c to 

 60c lb.; asparagus, $4 doz. bunches. 



CUCUMBERS. 



What is the best cucumber for forc- 

 ing? "When should the seed be started 

 to have them in crop by April It What 

 is the culture? J. H. T. 



The best variety to grow is White 

 Spine. By sowing at once you may be 

 able to get cucumbers fit for use by April 

 1, but you will not be able to have your 

 plants in full bearing by that time. 

 Plant two or three seeds in^a 2-inch pot Ja„ 

 -a'itgbt,free"and~flnely sifted soil. Place 

 in a good bottom heat and give no more 

 water than is necessary to keep the soil 

 moist. If the soil is kept wet the seeds 

 will be sure to rot. After the seedlings 

 are up select the strongest plant in each 

 pot and pull the others out. Gradually 

 expose to air and light and when the 

 plants have attained suflScient size to fill 

 the pots with roots, move up into 4-inch 



SecdUng No. 10, St. Clair Floral Co., BeUeville, IIL 



pots. When they have used up the soil 

 in the 4-inch pots they should be planted 

 in the benches. 



Don't fill the benches all at once, but 

 make a hill of a few shovelfulls of soil 

 and set them in this ; later, when the roots 

 appear on the outside of the hills, more 

 soil can be added. Planting thus in hills 

 often averts a good deal of trouble from 

 stem rot, which is caused by the soil 

 around the necks of the plants getting 

 too wet. An open, fibrous soil is best 

 for cucumbers with about one-quarter of 

 well rotted manure added. 



A night temperature of not less than 

 65 degrees, with a rise by day of 15 to 

 20 degrees is required. Atmospheric 

 moisture is necessary to the health of the 

 plants and frequent syringing must be 

 given to keep the plants free from in- 

 sects. Pollination of the flowers is nec- 

 essary to insure a crop, regarding which 

 please see article in Florists' Review, 

 issue of December 8. If the plants are 

 set about three feet apart it will give 

 ample space for the lateral or side shoots, 

 which must be depended on to produce the 

 fruit. When they have covered the space 

 allotted to them they should be stopped 

 to prevent crowding and the points of 

 the main shoots should be pinched out 

 when they reach the top of the trellis. 



W. S. Croydon. 



CINCINNATI. 



The Market 



plentiful enough to fill orders. The sup- 

 ply of Beauties was not as heavy as one 

 might expect and a few orders were un- 

 filled. 



Maids of course had the call over 

 Brides but after they had been all cleared 

 out tho latter went as well and on Sun- 

 day the market was entirely cleared out. 

 Carnations sold well, even white being 

 taken in a hurry. Some very good stock 

 was on the market. Lilies and all bulb- 

 ous stock sold at fine prices. The violet 

 market was fair but owing to some of the 

 stock arriving in very bad shape it had to 

 be sold at a low price to move it at all. 



Of the outdoor decorative stock there 

 seemed to be any quantity and it could 

 be bought very reasonably too. There 

 was no scarcity in good holly as was 

 expected. Christmas bells never sold bet- 

 ter and many reported that they could 

 have used many more. Blooming plants 

 also sold very well; in fact, much better 

 than last year. 



Altogether Christmas brought very good 

 business. I do not believe that the ag- 

 gregate is much ahead of last year, yet 

 if you will remember, last yjar was a 

 high water mark. 



At present stock of all kinds is scarce 

 and sells at sight, good stock being espe- 

 cially in demand. 



Saturday, Januarv 4, is the next meet- 

 — m^of-the^ierists^ Societyr 



Theo. Bock is out with his calendar as 

 usual and it is a very pretty one. 



C. J. Ohmer. 



Everything taken into consideration, 

 Christmas trade this year wa.^ all that 

 could have been desired. By far the 

 greater part of the retail stores report 

 trade as being fine and the wholesale 

 houses report the same. As is usually the 

 case, red flowers were far from being 



Minneapolis, Minn.— Will Bros, have 

 a seedling carnation, known as No 56 

 which they expect to do great things at 

 tJie Chicago exhibition of the American 

 Carnation Society. It is a very large 

 light pink, a seedling of Enquirer and 

 Uradt. 



