Pebbdarv 23, 1005. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 765 



WITH BOSTON GROWERS. 



Patten & G>., Tewksbury. 



AmoD^ the largest and best growers 

 for the Boston market is the well-known 

 firm of Patten & Co., Tewksbury, situ- 

 ated quite near Almont and Tewksbury 

 Center stations on the Boston and Maine 

 railroad. Carnations are the great spe- 

 cialty here; in fact, little else is han- 

 dled. The houses are mostly roomy, of 

 quite modern construction, and every- 

 thing on the place is kept clean and in- 

 viting. In white varieties, Lady Bounti- 

 ful looks splendid, being a mass of bloom 

 and buds. This sort is well liked and 

 will be retained. Mr. Patten 's son says 

 indoor culture or early lifting is nec- 

 essary for best results. A batch of 

 The Belle looked remarkably well and 

 if Lady Bountiful were away would 

 be considered an acquisition. White 

 Lawson will also be grown again in 

 quantity. As seen here it is a wonder- 

 ful producer, flowers perfectly pure also. 

 The Queen and Boston Market both 

 looked well, the former if anything car- 

 rying the heavier crop. 



Dorothy Whitney is the only j^ellow 

 grown. It succeeds wonderfully well, 

 being loaded with fine blooms. In dark 

 pinks Lawson and Nelson Fisher are 

 grown. The latter was better here than 

 we have previously seen it. Mr. Patten 

 says be will discard Lawson in favor of 

 it next season. In light pinks Enchant- 

 ress is grown in quantity and appeared 

 invincible. Some Fair Maid are also 

 grown, but was producing less freely 

 than Enchantress. Quite a number of 

 Flamingo are being grown. It will be 

 dropped, however, not being found at 

 all profitable, l^e most prolific scar- 

 let is J. H. Manley, but it does not come 

 up to the ideal scarlet by any means. 

 Crusader is classed as of no value, lack- 

 ing in stem and number of blooms. 



Mrs. M. A. Patten, as grown here, is 

 superb, a batch of 5,000 plants bristling 

 with buds and blooms. The sportiveness 

 of this variety was evidenced by a con- 

 siderable batch of the pink sport, which, 

 when it becomes reliably fixed, should 

 be valuable. A very distinct and pleas- 

 ing sport with lavender blue markings 

 was also noted. Variegated Lawson was 

 being propagated for another season's 

 trial. Judge Hinsdale is not considered 

 of much value. Sensation, while small, 

 was of a rather pleasing color. Daheim 

 and President are grown as crimsons, the 

 former being the favorite, its principal 

 fault being coming short-stemmed early 

 in the season. 



A considerable batch of seedlings are 

 under trial, some of which are very prom- 

 ising. One of which a considerable 

 batch is grown and which has recently 

 been figured in the Review is The Mi- 

 kado (Roosevelt x Prosperity) the mark- 

 ings being deeper than in Prosperity. It 

 has a stiff, wirv stem which holds the 

 flowers erect and is much more florifer- 

 ous than Prosperity. The propagating 

 house was filled to repletion with ex- 

 cellent stock. A nice batch of Cypripe- 

 dium insigne was noted. Some fine 

 pieces of C. villosum were in flower, 

 one carrying twenty-five flowers. 



Two sons of M. A. Patten assist in 

 the business and are equally as enthu- 

 siastic oarnationists. Flowers from this 

 pstablishment are handled by Thomas F. 

 Galvin, in Boston, 



Albert Roper, Tewksbtiry. 

 A short walk from Patten & Co.'s 



M. A. Patten, 



brings us to A. Roper's, a plant of con- 

 siderable size. Here the well known and 

 popular Fair Maid carnation originated. 

 As grown by Mr. Roper it is remarkably 

 proUfic, with flowers of fine quality. 

 Two benches, which produced so well 

 late into the fall that it seemed too bad 

 to throw them out, were kept over and 

 are still covered with fine flowers. Half 

 of one of the large houses is planted 

 with Chester Roper, a variegated seed- 

 ling from the same seed pod as Fair 

 Maid (Lawson x Mayor Quincy) and 

 now in its seventh year. TTie flower is 

 not what can be classed as a fancy, be- 

 ing only of medium size. It is carried 

 on a stiff stem and for productiveness 

 we question if any carnation in America 

 can equal it today. To say that the 

 plants were smothered in bloom expresses 

 it mildly. TTiis variety has not hitherto 

 been introduced, as Mr. Roper said it 

 paid him so well to keep it in his own 

 hands. 



Flamingo will not be grown again as 

 a scarlet. Mr. Roper has some promising 

 scarlet seedlings he hopes to get an ideal 

 commercial scarlet from. A good many 

 seedlings are under trial, some of con- 

 siderable merit. Mr. Roper has several 

 from which he expects to make exhibits 

 at the Boston carnation convention in 

 1906. With the exception of some En- 

 chantress and Flamingo, practically 

 everything grown here originated on the 

 place. Mr. Roper sells his flowers at the 

 new market in Boston. 



L. E. Small, Tewksbury. 

 Another Tewksbury grower who is 

 coming to the front and who, during the 

 past four year, has built up a nice, 

 compact establishment, is L. E. Small. 

 Carnations are the principal crop here. 

 Lawson does well as a dark pink and 

 will not yet be discarded. Fair Maid 

 is equally good as a light pink. Manley 

 is grown for a scarlet and several bench- 

 es are devoted to a white seedling which 

 has attracted favorable notice at Horti- 



cultural Hall and the public markets- 

 during the past two seasons. The flowers- 

 are of fine form, never show a trace of 

 color and are carried on very stiff stems. 

 Quite a batch of Variegated Lawson - 

 was noticed. It is counted a great pro- 

 ducer and will be more largely planted 

 next season. Some long benches of 

 Campbell and Princess of Wales violets 

 were a mass of bloom and looked par- , 

 ticularly well. Mr. Small's flowers are 

 sold at the new market, Boston. 



W. N. C^AIG. 



MAKING STEAM. 



Along the Great Lakes many growers 

 find it their best plan to pick up fire- , 

 men from among those who are released 

 from their regular employment by the 

 closing of navigation. The man wbo 

 stokes a marine boiler through the hot 

 days of summer is likely to have the 

 art of making steam down to an exact 

 science. He doesn't shovel any more 

 coal than is necessary and he knows how 

 to hold the steam gauge at the same 

 point for hours at a stretch. And not 

 infrequently such a one has time in the 

 night watch to read the Review. Here 

 is a letter from one of them, dated in 

 a Wisconsin town: 



"I cannot see what is the matter with 

 all your firemen. Now I will tell you 

 what I have here and what I do, and 

 any good fireman should do. I am fir- 

 ing a thirty horse-power boiler oontain- 

 ing thirty-four 2% -inch flues ten feet 

 six inches long. The stack is eighteen 

 inches in diameter and thirty feet high. 

 It is a poor boiler and the brickwork is 

 leaky. There is only an 8-inch wall and 

 brick on top of the boiler to keep the 

 heat in. It feeds cold water and it is 

 all returned from the houses. According 

 to the weather I carry from five to thir- 

 ty pounds of steam and we burn from 

 1,000 to 2,600 pounds of coal in twenty- 

 four hours. I fire nights. We heat 



