April 27, 1005. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



1381 



of the trade will be necessary to stop 

 this. Some growers think no harm, but 

 rather good, comes from these stores sel- 

 ling plants cheaply. They pay cash and 

 sell to people who are usually unable to 

 pay regular florists' store prices. 



V. M. Cutter, of South Framingham, 

 is building Alexander McKay's new 

 houses, Lord & Burnham Co. supplying 

 th3 material. • — ~ 



James Farquhar has returned from a 

 several months' stay in Porto Rico. 



Indications are that a large number 

 will attend the Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club field day at A. H. Hews & Co.'s 

 factory on April 29. 



Carnation Harry Fenn has sold won- 

 derfully well the past season in Boston. 



Florists'aub. 



At the last meeting of the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club, briefly referred to in 

 our last, fifty-seven members were pres- 

 ent. A very interesting debate took 

 place over the alleged detsrioration in 

 roses, carnations and other florists' 

 flowers. F. E. Palmer started the ball 

 rolling by asking if it was a fact that 

 forcing conditions cause deterioration. 

 He classed these conditions as an out- 

 rage of nature. Alexander Montgomery 

 had not seen any deterioration in Bride 

 roses the last tan or fifteen years. In 

 fact, they are better than ever. He 

 showed leaf stalks of Bride carrying 

 seven instead of five leaflets to illus- 

 trade improvement. Meteor was the 

 only rose he could think of which had 

 declined. It has been grown far too hot. 

 Cniiditions of light, temperature and ven- 

 tilation were now as near perfect as pos- 

 sible for roses and certainly he had never 

 seen superior flowers of the leading forc- 

 ing roses, as shown at the recent Boston 

 show. He did not believe any of the 

 pojmlar forcing roses would deteriorate 

 in twenty-five years, grown under right 

 conditions. 



W. H. Elliott considered all forcing 

 roses are doing better than ever before. 

 H. P. roses if forced would decline, 

 just as azabas forced each year early 

 "would do if propagated from. He pre- 

 fers stock grown as far north as possi- 

 ble. Speaking of the decline in forcing 

 of H. P. 's, he said they do not pay to 

 grow. Brunner sells because it is so 

 like American Beauty that it can be 

 palmed off for it. Perle has declined 

 in popularity, as when in best health it 

 threw so many ill-formed flowers. 



H. A. Stevens spoke of the splendid 

 hedges of La France rose he had seen 

 in California and of the way carnations 

 are grown and propagated there. He 

 thought carnations were short-lived here. 

 W. J. Stewart, speaking of the desire ex- 

 pressed for a first-class yellow rose, 

 <loubted if it could be a phenomenal 

 seller like Bride, Maid and Beauty, even 

 if we get it. 



Robert Marshall felt certain that car- 

 nations deteriorated. In reply to Alex. 

 Ogg, who spoke of the color in Bride 

 roses at recent shows, Alexander Mont- 

 gomery said strong light in spring 

 would make any white rose show pink. 

 Although married a long time, he said 

 our Bride still blushes, and while blush- 

 ing we may be assured she is in perfect 

 health. 



Speaking for violets, William Sim said 

 he did not believe in deterioration in 

 anything he had grown. Kenneth Fin- 

 layson said no carnation grown was of 

 any use in ten or fifteen years. Robert 

 Cameron suggested that too much inter- 



breeding was responsible for this and 

 suggested using other types of carna- 

 tions for crossing purposes. After re- 

 marks from Charles Sander, Geo. M. 

 Anderson said he had often thought ear- 

 nations were rooted too slowly. He had 

 this season rooted some in a case with 

 crotons in twelve days. They looked well 

 and he intended to watch later develop- 

 ments with these. •_ •, . 



W. N. Craig scouted the deterioration 

 theory. Carnations are in too many 

 cases ruined by over-propatjation. James 

 Wheeler did not think carnations will 

 run out as in years gone by, as cul- 

 tural conditions are more ideal. 



Tlie general sentiment seemed to bo 



Laelia Superbiens. 



that while there might be some deterio- 

 ration in carnations, there was none in 

 roses or violets and that there was less 

 likelihood of such in the future with bet- 

 ter houses, more exact temperatures and 

 a better understanding of requirements, 

 that the ' ' deterioration ' ' in carnations 

 usually followed the usurpation of some 

 better novelty. 



Frank P. Cannell's solos at the last 

 club meeting were much appreciated. He 

 has a fine bass voice. We do not see 

 why the club cannot raise a competent 

 quartette of its own. 



The following committee was appoint- 

 ed to communicate with the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society of England in regard 

 to re-naming of American carnations in 

 England and the re-christening of Euro- 

 pean plants here: Kenneth Finlayson, 

 J. W. Duncan, Geo. M. Anderson, W. P. 

 Rich and W. N. Craig. 



Dr. E. T. Jackson, the well known 

 peony grower of Cambridge, will read. 

 all. essay on peonies at the May meeting. 



W. N. Craig. . 



LAELIA SUPERBIENS. 



The accompanying illustration is re- 

 produced from a photograph taken at 

 the greenhouses of Harry G. Selfridge, 

 Lake Geneva, Wis. C. H. Gebhardt, 

 the grower, supplies the following note: 



"This is a grand plant for a private 

 collection and easy to grow. We give 

 them the same culture as we do the 

 cattleyas. This is a large growing 

 plant and never fails to bloom with us 

 every year and bloom during the win- 

 ter months for a long time. The flow- 

 ering stems are seven feet in height. 

 On one flower stem we have had from 

 fourteen to twenty blooms measur- 

 ing six to seven inches across. These 

 flowers have sepals and petals of a 

 beautiful deep rose. The lip has the 

 side lobes crimson, yellowish at the 

 side above the fold over the column, 

 the disk yellow, with a crest of five 

 large subserrate orange yellow lamel- 

 la. Truncate in front, the middle 

 lobe is oblong, of a rich deep crimson, 

 flabellately veined with crimson. It 

 is from Guatemala." 



MILWAUKEE. 



Easter business was considerably ahead 

 of last year, especially the demand for 

 carnations. There was a good supply 

 of lily plants on hand and they sold well. 

 There was quite a large amount of short 

 giganteums in the market and these met 

 with popular favor. Roses were plentiful 

 and supply was equal to the demand. 

 Violets were almost out of the market 

 and quality was inferior, owing to the 

 lateness of the season. 



Almost all of the retailers report sat- 

 isfactory trade and nearly every one 

 cleaned 'out all stock that was in salable 

 shape for Easter. The weather was very 

 favorable for deliveries and large dis- 

 plays were made outside by the various 

 street men in the business. Incog. 



PEKIN, ILL. 



On last Thursday, April 20, at 2.15 p. 

 m., a very heavy storm passed over the 

 city of Pekin. Lightning struck the 

 large smoke-stack at Geo. A. Kuhl's, 

 throwing brick over his whole plant, and 

 breaking over 2,000 feet of glass. Mr. 

 Kuhl considers this one of the worst hail 

 storms that can possibly befall a green- 

 house, as it not only damages glass, but 

 breaks bars and plants also, .^fr. Kuhl 

 and several of his men were in the oflSce 

 and narrowly escaped with their lives. 

 Every man on the plant felt the effect 

 of the storm. It was a sorry looking 

 sight just a few days before Easter, but 

 Mr. Kuhl was thankful that everything 

 passed off without injuring any of the 

 men. The damage to the oflfiee building 

 and smoke-stack was covered by insur- 

 ance. Mr. Kuhl took care of the Easter 

 trade in spite of the storm arid enjoyed 

 the best one for a number of years. 



!.:> 



V.,- 



