

JUNE 1. 1003- 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



8) 



the first of August in about six inches 

 of soil on the floor of the houss, but a 

 bench would do just as well. If you 

 had no bed or bench vacant at that time 

 vou could sow a few seeds in 4-mch pots 

 and plunge them outdoors and with a 

 little support to the growing vines they 

 need not be put on th3 bench until the 

 end of September. A perfectly light 

 house is a necessity and all the ventila- 

 tion you can possibly give them until 

 winter sets in. W. S. 



JOHN F. SULLIVAN. 



Like so many of the most successful 

 men in the trade, big, hearty John F. 

 Sullivan hailed originally from Phila- 

 delphia. He was born at Avondale, in 

 the carnation belt, and gained his flori- 

 cultural education in the environs of the 

 Quaker city. He was with the Dingee 

 & Conard Co., at West Grove, for a num- 

 ber of years in the early 70's, beginning 

 at the bottom of the ladder and gradu 

 ating as foreman of the rose department. 

 Subsequently he spent a term at Louis- 

 ville, with the firm of Nanz & Neuncr. 

 It was in 1886 that Mr. Sullivan located 

 at Detroit, buying an establishment at 

 that time devoted to rose growing. A 

 few years later he bought his present 

 place a few miles outside of town and 

 known to many in the trade. In 1888 

 Mr. Sullivan started a retail store in a 

 modest way, later removing to Wood- 

 ward avenue, which is one of "the finest 

 business streets in America, where he has 

 since maintained a very attractive store. 

 Mr. Sullivan was a pioneer in his city 

 in going into the most expensive retail 

 districts with a flower store, but others 

 have since followed his example. 



Mr. Sullivan married while at Louis- 

 ville and to this happy circumstance he 

 attributes very much of the success which 

 has come to him in life, Mrs. Sullivan 

 has been his partner in business affairs 

 as well as in those domestic. She man- 

 ages the retail store and has a wide 

 acquaintance in the trade. Mr. and Mrs. 

 Sullivan have four children, two sons 

 and two daughters, the oldest of whom 

 are also to be found in the store. 



Mr. Sullivan has taken an active' part 

 in the affairs of the S. A. F. and of the 

 Carnation Society. He was a director of 

 the S. A. F. for one term and a leader 

 in the entertainment of both the national 

 society and the Carnation Society upon 

 the occasions of their visits to Detroit. 

 At the St. Louis convention of the S. A. 

 F., Mr. Sullivan's friends proposed him 

 for the secretaryship and he lacked no 

 great number of votes of election. 



FOR WINTER CUTTING. 



Being located in a small town in the 

 south, can you suggest something to 

 plant for winter blooming besides carna- 

 tions and roses? We heat by two 4-inch 

 steam pipes running char around the 

 greenhouses and have two beds twenty 

 and fifty feet long which we should like 

 to occupy. J. A. W. 



This will depend largely on whether 

 what you cut is to be sold in this ' * small 

 town" or whether you ship to a larger 

 market, and very much on the condition 

 of your house and what temperature you 

 tan keep up in cold weather. Migno- 

 nette is a ;:inod crop and gives almost con- 

 tinuous cutting. Bouvardia needs 60 

 degrees to be profitable but, if you have 

 the market for it, it is profitable. Vio- 



John F. Sullivan. 



lets of course you know all about. If 

 successful there is nothing beats them, 

 but if not a success they are generally 

 a total blank. Antirrhinums give a fair 

 return during winter, and successive crops 

 of sweet peas are profitable. If head- 

 room and, again, if the market is right, 

 a bench of smilax planted in early July 

 is a good paying thing. There are a 

 multitude of other winter flowering 

 plants but they are better grown in pots 

 and you can have successive crops. 



W. S. 



THE DOUBLE GYPSOPHILA. 



"Gypsophila paniculata fl. pi. has not 

 yet come much to the front, ' ' says a 

 writer in the Horticultural Advertiser, 

 "but I feel sure we shall yet see it as a 

 most popular market plant for cut bloom. 

 I persuaded one grower to try it when 

 plants were rather expensive, and I hear 

 from him that he was so well pleased 

 with the result from the few plants that 

 he had, that he has since bought it by 

 the hundred. It comes in a little later 

 than the ordinary G. paniculata. For 

 associating with sweet peas and other 

 flowers in light arrangements, there is 

 nothing prettier, and when properly 

 grown it will always command the at- 

 tention of florists. It will grow as freely 

 and under the same conditions as the 

 ordinary form, but a little protection 

 when the flowers begin to open will be a 

 great advantage. Frame lights are gen- 

 erally to spare at the time it flowers, 

 and these put over will keep the dust 

 off, and also ensure the flowers opening 

 almost a pure white. There is a little 

 diflBculty in propagating this, as it can 

 only be done from cuttings. It is said 



that the best time is in August or Sep- 

 tember, treating it similarly to other 

 herbaceous plants that are propagated 

 at that time. I have succeeded fairly 

 well in the spring, and the earliest cut- 

 tings have flowered the same season. A 

 little bottom heat with a cool surface 

 suits the cuttings best, and the tips may 

 be taken out; this prevents them from 

 starting and taking the sap from the 

 base before the cuttings are callused." 



THE FANCY PANSY. 



"We have traveled a long way with 

 the fancy pansy since M. Miellez, of 

 Lille, sent over to E. G. Henderson & 

 Son, of the Wellington Boad Nursery, 

 St. John's Wood, his first batch of new 

 varieties he had been instrumental in 

 improving," says Argus in the Horti- 

 cultural Advertiser. "Andrew Hender- 

 son, fearing that the hot and dry Lon- 

 don climate would prove fatal to the 

 plants in summer, sent them to William 

 Dean, then of the Bradford Nursery, 

 Shipley, to grow th«m for the London 

 firm. Here they did remarkably well, but 

 as the climate, which is as cold as in the 

 coldest parts of England, proved too rig- 

 orous for them to be exposed in the 

 winter, the plants were lifted in 

 autumn, divided and planted in a 

 prepared bed in a cold frame, 

 together with the young plants 

 struck from cuttings during the sum- 

 mer; and in this way stock was soon 

 increased. M. Miellez sent over two or 

 three other batches of seedlings, and 

 then his death stopped further supplies. 

 Meanwhile, seedlings were raised at Ship- 

 ley, and the improvement in the flower 



\ 



