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JANUABY 19, 1905. 



TTic Weekly Florists^ Review* 



467 



up into larger pots and kept growing on 

 and, even if they are larger than desired 

 when planting time comes, they will 

 quickly take to the soil and go ahead 

 without much check. Cucumbers, on the 

 other hand, are not so well adapted for 

 moving up into larger pots. It is bet- 

 ter to plant them in the benches when 

 the plants are from four to six inches 

 high. If kept confined in any way they 

 are apt to become weak and spindly. Be- 

 ing soft-rooted they are very susceptible 

 to injury and once checked take quite 

 some time to recuperate. 



In sowing, for tomatoes about six 

 weeks should be allowed for the plants 

 to attain sufficient size for benching; 

 for cucumbers, four, or not more than 

 five weeks would be quite long enough. 

 Four to five weeks is also about the 

 length of time that should be allowed for 

 both lettuce and cauliflower. I don't 

 believe in setting out large plants of 

 either of the last named subjects, as 

 they take quicker hold of the soil when 

 not too large. 



With any of the above named sub- 

 jects, however, a great deal will depend 

 on the freshness of the seed. Old seed 

 not only germinates slowly but there is 

 always a weakness about the plants, 

 growth being slower after they are 

 started. It takes almost two weeks 

 longer to produce plants of the required 

 size from old seed than it does when 

 the seed is fresh. It is therefore a good 

 plan to try the seed before hand to make 

 sure of its germinating power and vigor, 

 and if you have been unfortunate enough 

 to get stuck with old seed, to make al- 

 lowance for the extra time it will re- 

 quire to have the plants large enough 

 for setting out. W. S. (Swydon. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



We have had a week of comparative- 

 ly clear and bright weather since our 

 last report, a pleasant change from 

 the conditions existing a week earlier. 

 Naturally production has increased 

 oonsiderably, without any proportion- 

 ate increase in demand. Boses have 

 continued to hold their own pretty well 

 for the cut of these is not verv heavy 

 at present. Some of the largest grow- 

 ers have their Beauties off crop and 

 the quantity of select stock coming in 

 is much smaller. A few select reach 

 $50, a more popular grade going at $25. 

 Brides and Maids have made $8 to $10 

 for good stock, a few extra fine goinpr 

 higher. Bather too many second and 

 third grades of these are coming in. 



There is not much change in prices 

 of carnations, about $3 to $4 being as 

 much as select stock has brought, a few 

 fancies selling higher. Both in the 

 markets and commission houses a con- 

 siderable overstock was noticeable the 

 past week. Violets are coming in much 

 more abundantly and have taken quite a 

 slump in prices, the best making 50 

 cents, ordinary only fetching 25 to 35 

 cents. Such a heavy drop in prices is 

 rather surprising. We think they 

 will advance again later in the season. 

 Bulbous stock has been in rather bet- 

 ter demand for funeral work. There 

 have been no particular changes in 

 prices of other flowers. 



Various Notes. 



The opening lecture of the winter 

 season at Horticultural Hall on Janu- 

 ary 14, drew a good audience. The 



lecturer was Prof. H. L. Fernald, of 

 Cambridge, his subject being "Some 

 recently introduced weeds." He gave 

 a list of eighteen varieties of weeds 

 of recent introduction, which have ap- 

 peared as pests in various localities 

 near here and showed herbarium speci- 

 mens to enable those present to iden- 

 tify them. Impure clover seeds had 

 undoubtedly brought some of the most 

 dangerous kinds. The suggestions for 

 dealing with weed pests included the 

 prevention of their seeding, the plough- 

 ing of the land and salting where neces- 

 sary. 



Quite a number of prominent grow- 

 ers have been, or now are, on the sick 

 list. William Nicholson has been con- 

 fined to bed with the grip. He has 

 also .suffered from a fall on an icy 

 sidewalk in Boston. E. A. Peirce, E. 

 Sutermeister and a number of others 

 have also been in the hands of doctors. 

 We trust all may be well ere the time 

 arrives for the Chicago convention. 



Backer & Co., of Billerica, grow some 

 of the best carnations going into our 

 market. They are also in the seedling 

 business and have some very promis- 

 ing ones. A bright rosy pink variety, 

 something in the way of Lawson, but 

 with longer and more wiry stems, has 

 the making of a good commercial va- 

 riety. 



F. A. Blake's new scarlet seedling. 

 No. 67, is attracting considerable notice 

 at Welch Bros. The same grower is 

 shipping one of a very unique magenta 

 color, which seems to sell well. He 

 has a large assortment of other seed- 

 lings, some of which are very dis- 

 tinct and promising. Geo. M. Ander- 

 son also has a fine scarlet seedling 

 which he ships to the same firm. 



Geo, McWilliam, of Whitinsville, has 

 a superb display of calanthes at pres- 

 ent. These he grows in quantity and 

 to remarkable perfection. While a 

 number of species are grown, the larger 

 proportion are of C, Veitchii, Mr, Mc- 

 William has produced bulbs of these 

 fourteen inches long and has had on 

 one or two occascions as many as seven 

 spikes come from one bulb, and fre- 

 quently five, although he usually allows 

 but three to develop. He has a record 

 of over 100 flowers on a spike and has 

 numerous spikes carrying fifty to sev- 

 enty-five flowers this season. He is sur- 

 prised that an orchid, comparatively in- 

 expensive and of easy culture, lending 

 itself so well for decorative purposes 

 and lasting so well in a cut state, is 

 hardly grown at all commercially. 



Our Boston, Brockton and other pa- 

 pers have been printing some delightful 

 stories anent the Variegated Lawson 

 recently sold by W. B, Arnold to the 

 F. B. Pierson Co. Mr. Pierson is very 

 flatteringly described as "a millionaire 

 resident at Tarrytown-on-Hudson " and 

 is stated * ' to have paid the sum of $20,- 

 000 for the new freak Lawson sport, ' ' a 

 mere bagatelle surely for a millionaire. 



The meeting of the Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club, of which a more extend- 

 e^l report will appear next week, proved 

 to be a stimulating one in every way. 

 Exhibits were again numerous, C. W. 

 Ward's collection being especially fine. 

 Guttman & Weber's Victory also 

 came in for much admiration. A hearty 

 invitation to the American Carnation 

 Society to meet in Boston in 1906 was 

 adopted. 



Sabin Bolton, head gardener for Oakes 

 Ames, of North Easton, has a fine col- 



lection of varieties of Cypripedium in- 

 signe in bloom at present, including all 

 the best yellow forms. Among the lat- 

 ter C. Sanderse gigantea is the finest, 

 being larger and bolder than Sanderee, 

 Other fine named types are citrinum, 

 Lutwytcheanum, Bailee, Cobbianum, 

 Vanner's variety, Laura Kimball, Et- 

 nestii, Dorothy and Sanderianum. Fine 

 plants of that grand variety, Harefield 

 Hall, are also conspicuous. 



Those who are growing Carnation 

 Nelson Fisher speak in high terms of 

 the excellent way in which that variety 

 holds its color. One large grower stated 

 that he had kept it two weeks in water 

 without its losing any color. 



,We are all hoping that the American 

 Carnation Society will vote to come to 

 Boston in 1906. Massachusetts has 

 come to the fore, since the last conven- 

 tion met at tne old Horticultural Hall 

 in 1S95, as a raiser of seedlings. Such 

 standard sorts as Lawson, Queen, Wol- 

 eott, Mrs. M. A. Patten, Nelson Fisher, 

 Boston Market and others were all 

 raised near Boston and even better 

 kinds are in preparation. 



W. N. Craig. 



WASHINGTON. 



Continuous cloudy weather has pre- 

 vailed for nearly two months, making 

 flowers of all kinds scarcer than they 

 have been for several years, but the last 

 two weeks have been very quiet. The 

 last two days, with our opening season 

 of receptions, the sun has shown itself, 

 which gives brighter faces among the 

 growers. Maids and Brides are moving 

 well at $12.50 to $20 per hundred, La 

 France, $10 to $15, Beauty fetches $5 

 to $12 per dozen. Tulips and narcissi 

 are moving slowly at $2 to $3. Southern 

 violets are very low and hard to move 

 at 25 to 50 cents per hundred. North- 

 em violets are fast taking the place of 

 southern ones. The day is not far 

 distant when they will be doomed. Bloom- 

 ing plants are coming in finely, but on 

 account of very bad weather they do 

 not move at all. 



Various Notes. 



Gude & Bro. have been cutting some 

 very fine Beauties and Cardinals. The 

 Cardinal seems to be a shy bloomer with 

 them, but what flowers come do well 

 and it is a fine keeper. 



Geo. Schaffer has quite a few dinners 

 booked for the coming week and is also 

 doing quite a lot of funeral work. 



Blackistone says he is filled up with 

 orders. He claims stock is scarcer than 

 orders with him. 



Mayberry & Hoover say they have all 

 that they can do, both funeral work and 

 dinners. 



Brooks is doing considerable funeral 

 work. 



The regular meeting of the Florists' 

 Club was held last Tuesday, W. F. Gude 

 presiding. The attendance was quite 

 large in spite of the blizzard. The most 

 important business was the appointment 

 of the various committees for the S. A. 

 F. convention. The hall committee rec- 

 ommended Convention Hall as being the 

 most suitable. It is one of the largest 

 and finest in the United States, seating 

 10,000 people and centrally located, only 

 fifteen minutes' walk from the various 

 hotels and reached by all street car lines 

 with one fare. Secretary W. J. Stewart 

 made us a flying visit and was met by 

 our local committee, headed by Vice- 



