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Ttic Weekly Florists' Review. 



Mabch 23, 1906. 



A committee of three was appointed, to 

 whom every case is to be submitted 

 when flowers or plants arrive i*^,bad 

 condition. The committee will%ll>pect 

 the shipment and fix the blame, if pos- 

 •ible, and will assist the receiver of 

 bad lots to recover his loss, be it partial 

 or total. The names of shippers, good 

 and bad, will be brought before the 

 meeting and their methods discussed. 

 Impartiality and justice are the princi- 

 ples on which the committee will act. 

 A great improvement of conditions, for 

 which there is ample room, will be ex- 

 pected. 



A shipper of an honest pack&gii can- 

 not reasonably refuse inspec^n of 

 goods before he demands payment. 

 When American Beauties arrive with 

 a beautiful purplish hue they are ripe 

 for the dump and the shipper of such 

 flowers knew full well how old they 

 were when packed. When the outside 

 petals of Brides and Maids are decayed 

 and the flower opens fully the moment 

 it is lifted from the box, it is time 

 to rush it to some charitable institu- 

 tion as a gift, provided it does not drop 

 before it gets there. We know that 

 with carnations there are a number of 

 circumstances not altogether within the 

 control of the shipper that may cause 

 the flowers to go to sleep; but in many 

 cases loss can be avoided by careful 

 selection for long distance shipping and 

 as far as New Orleans is concerned 

 shippers will have to be very careful 

 in the future if they want to hold and 

 increase their trade in the Crescent 

 City. New Orleans is a large buyer of 

 cut flowers and relies for her supply 

 entirely on the North. Not a rose or 

 carnation is grown in New Orleans. 

 The receiver of a bad lot cannot go to 

 the wholesaler and buy; he is utterly 

 helpless, loses his stock and is unable to 

 supply his trade. These are the con- 

 ditions that compelled the New Orleans 

 florists to take some action in the mat- 

 ter for mutual information and protec- 

 tion. Personal letters to some of the 

 larger shippers have been fruitful of 

 good results, promises have been made, 

 which, if adhered to by the shippers, 

 are bound to increase their New Or- 

 leans trade. 



What has been said in regard to flow- 

 ers holds good for plant shipments. Ex- 

 press rates to extreme distances are 

 high and a lack of judgment on the 

 part of the shipper has cost us many a 

 hard-earned dollar. Many a time we 

 pay expressage at the rate of $4 to $5 

 per hundred pounds on boxes three 

 times their necessary weight, and for 

 balls of beautiful, rich soil, sawdust 

 and paper, doubling and trebling the 

 original cost of plants. And now the 

 plants themselves! How do they some- 

 times compare with the high-sounding 

 adjectives of the dealer t It is for such 

 cases that the committee is appointed 

 and no doubt its vigilance will effect 

 an improvement in existing conditions. 

 E. 



[New Orleans, being without a home 

 supply of roses and carnations, is ut- 

 terly dependent upon the northern 

 wholesalers. If the committee of the 

 Horticultural Society is arbitrary in its 

 action it may place the New Orleans 

 florists in a position where their orders 

 will be ignored, especially in times of 

 scarcity. As a matter of fact, every 

 wholesaler is ready to treat a reason- 

 able customer fairly, but the methods 

 jrMch have b e en practiced by aqste 



buyers (we hope and believe they are 

 not members of the fraternity in good 

 standing there) had some time ago 

 caused certain shippers to decline all 

 New Orleans business except when cash 

 came with the order. Where a buyer 



refuses a C. O. D. it tends to discredit 

 not only that party but any other buyer 

 in the town who is not weH known. The 

 spring is a good time to try on the 

 plan of the society, but it may prove 

 a two-edged sword next fall. — Ed.] 



PROPAGATING IN THE OPEN. 



Would you please instruct a beginner 

 how to root rose cuttings in the open 

 ground? G. W. J. 



Select a piece of ground which would 

 be shaded during the warmest part of 

 the day. Dig it and pulverize well, then 

 make a narrow trench about seven inches 

 deep and put about one inch of clean 

 sand in the bottom. 



Select half-ripened wood from the cur- 

 rent year's growth. This can be secured 

 about two or three weeks after the plants 

 have commenced to bloom. The cuttings 

 should be from six inches to eight 

 inches in length, with none of the eyes 

 removed. Place the base of the cutting 

 on the sand and fill up the trench with 

 soil and tread it firmly. These can either 

 be lifted and potted as soon as the roots 

 are formed or be allowed to stand out 

 during the winter and transplanted early 

 in spring. Eibes. 



SEASONABLE NOTES. 



Preparing for Easter. 



The work of the next few weeks will 

 largely consist oi caring for the young 

 stock and preparing for the Easter 

 trade. In order to make as good a show- 

 ing as possible tying and training should 

 not be neglected and particularly so 

 where Beauties are the crop, as these, if 

 the stems are allowed to become crooked, 

 lose considerably in value and present 

 but a poor appearance, however hand- 

 some the bloom may be. 



Teas and hybrid teas also require con- 

 siderable attention now that the spring 

 growth is on. They should be carefully 

 gone over and tied up so that each fiower 

 stem and bud may be exposed to the 

 light and sunshine and all laterals re- 

 moved while they are young and soft and 

 before they have had a chance to destroy 

 the symmetry of the stem or use the 

 nourishment which should be employed 

 for the development of the bud. 



One of the most essential features to 

 help make a good Easter showing is 

 proper feeding at the proper time. When 

 the young flower stems are six inches in 

 length and until the buds show color, 

 feeding can be indulged in ©ncie a weet 



if the weather is ordinarily bright, but 

 should be discontinued it the weather is 

 dark and cloudy. This is where the 

 grower has to exercise his best judgment 

 and avoid taking risks. 



Have your cool room clean and well 

 ventilated and keep it at an even tem- 

 perature, as it is just as necessary to 

 be careful in this matter, if we wish 

 the stock to ship in good shape, as it 

 is to keep the temperature and ventila- 

 tion right in the rosehouse if we desire 

 high grade blooms. 



Above all make a resolution not to 

 pickle the stock. Easter being late this 

 year, pickled stock will be easily de- 

 tected as soon as it is unpacked, thus 

 causing disappointment to your cus- 

 tomer, discredit to yourself and general 

 all-round trouble. Stock which has been 

 cut forty-eight hours and well handled is 

 about the limit for safety. RiBES. 



THE GARDEN ROSES. 



[A paper by Tliomas PowtreBS. read before 

 the Montreal Gardeners' and Florists' Club, 

 March 6, 1906.] 



The subject that most appeals to my 

 mind at the present time is that of the 

 rose for outdoor cultivation, or what we 

 may call hardy roses. By hardy I mean 

 those varieties that I consider will stand 

 the climate of Canada, in the Province 

 of Quebec, and come through the winter 

 to bloom as only the rose can bloom in 

 the month of June. To take up this 

 subject and treat it as it should be 

 treated would occupy many nights and 

 I will start with only a few simple facts 

 concerning this very large, beautiful, and 

 interesting family. 



There are supposed to be about 250 

 species but they may be brought down 

 to about thirty or forty distinct species. 

 Those I remember most distinctly (and 

 probably some here may share that mem- 

 ory) were the ones that used to grow 

 by the lanes and in the heage-rows of 

 the Old Country, the soft young shoots 

 of which we boys used to consider a 

 dainty morsel, the Bosa canina, or dog 

 rose. Since then I have spent uays mak- 

 ing cuttings from this same variety, 

 which I consider the best stock for hardy 

 roses, much better than the seedling 

 brier or Manetti. 



The species that interests us most is 

 Eosa centifolia, or the old cabbage rose, 

 from which has sprung so many beauti- 

 ful varieties, and while on this subject 

 I may say that I am of opinion that a 

 class of roses could be raised from the 

 wild Canadian rose crossed with Hosa- 



