t92 



The Weekly Florists' Reiricw. 



June 15, 1905. 



it was once frozen solid in a sleet 

 storm for forty-eight hours. It looked 

 tired and droopy for a day or two and 

 then went on covering itself completely 

 with glorious blooms. I never knew it 

 to fail under any circumstances. Floral 

 Treasure is also fine. 



An English firm sent out Bunch of 

 Perfume for $2 to $3 per root. It 

 holds no comparison for beauty or 

 grandeur with Terry's Gen. Grant or 

 his Bertha. As for beauty and frag- 

 rance it cannot stand a moment by a 

 new one I have secured called Red 

 Jacket, which is exceedingly fragrant 

 and symmetrical and deep red or crim- 

 son. I have imported a good many 

 and will stop it. In most cases we 

 can do better at home. , 



Many of the Japanese, of which I 

 have about thirty kinds, are quite 

 feeble and lack vigor. I am now se- 

 curing a fine lot of American grown 

 seedlings, which are far superior to 

 many of the Japanese singles. Terry's 

 Queen is an immense white one of the 

 old albaflora type. Full Moon is a 

 semi-double crimson with a large heart 

 of gold. It is a jolly looking flower, 

 smiling all over. May Davidson is a. 

 large pink striped with silver. Mrs. 

 Terry is a beautiful single with a sort 

 of lilac color. I have 100 or so of 

 fine singles and it is hard to discard 

 any of them. C. S. Harrison. 



INCORPORATION. 



The following notice of incorporation 

 in the state of New York is supplied 

 by the usual reporting agency: 



Burnham-Hitchings-Pierson Co., Irv- 

 Ington, N. Y.; manufacture and operate 

 greenhouses; capital, $2,000,000. Incor- 

 porators: Wm. A. Burnham, Irvington, 

 N. Y.; Lyman B. Craw, No. 147 West 

 Eighty-fourth street. New York; Henry 

 F. Ford and Andrew Elder, Irvington, 

 N. Y.; Charles Armitage, Charles G. 

 Hall and E. W. Hitchings, Mont Clair, 

 N. J.; Paul M. Pierson, Ossining, N. 

 Y.; William Sefton, Jersey City, N. J.; 

 Lincoln Pierson, Madison, N. J. 



A request for information as to the 

 purposes of the company brings a re- 

 sponse that no announcement is possible 

 this week. The incorporators include 

 the officers of the three large corpora- 

 tions already engaged in manufacturing 

 greenhouses in the east. 



SPIRAEA FLORIBUNDA. 



"VySll some of your readers kindly tell 

 me how to treat Spiraea fioribunda? This 

 is my first season in growing it. Now 

 it has done blooming, what shall be done 

 with it and when started so as to have 

 it in bloom by Easter? The roots can 

 be divided, I suppose, as I divided some 

 of the clumps. When is the best time? 

 Y. L. 



The treatment of all these herbaceous 

 spira;as, or astilbes, is the same. The 

 fact is, we can buy fine clumps every fall 

 from the importers, or import ourselves, 

 at so low a price that we never consid- 

 ered it worth while to bother with the 

 old clumps, excepting to plant them out 

 as a hardy, herbaceous plant. They are 

 very hardy and flower in June, but they 

 do not make the fine white spikes that 

 we get under glass. If you have a 

 piece of deep, rich soil inclined to be 

 moist you can divide the clumps that 

 have flowered this spring and plant at 

 once, but do not expect to produce a 



Laelia Purpurata. 



clump such as you import, for three 

 years. If you want to again force the 

 same old root, then at flowering time, or 

 just after, there should be no neglect of 

 watering, for they should be kept grow- 

 ing vigorously and planted out as soon 

 as possible and lifted again in Novem- 

 ber. As you have handled the dormant 

 roots you know all about their treat- 

 ment. My sincere advice is to plant out 

 the old roots, if you have any ground to 

 spare, and buy fresh roots every fall for 

 your Easter plants. Leave the Dutch- 

 man and his fat, black land to raise your 

 clumps. W. S. 



CONVENTION RATES. 



Inquiry of the Central Passenger As- 

 sociation shows that the rate of a fare 

 and one-third, on the certificate plan, to 

 the S. A. F. convention at Washington, 

 was granted on June 10. An official of 

 the Western Passenger Association 

 states that his association wiU concur. 



CALLA LILIES. 



I have a lot of calla lilies planted on 

 benches and some in pots from last win- 

 ter. Where do you think is the best 

 place to keep the roots during summer 

 and when is the proper time to plant 

 them again in order to get a good crop 

 of lilies for Christmas? Which variety 

 do you advise as the best for big flower- 

 ing lilies? H. H. 



Years ago we alwaj3 treated the calla 

 as an herbaceous plant, resting it in the 

 summer months, and this is usually done 

 now. A rest is not essential and if your 

 bench has eight inches of soil there will 

 be no need of disturbing them. Some of 

 the surface soil may be removed, less 

 water given for a month or two, the 

 oldest leaves cut away and a heavy 

 mulching of new soil and manure put on 

 and they can be kept going. 



If you must move them and also rest 

 them in pots, withhold water now entire- 

 ly. Dig up those on the bench, leaving 

 some soil around the roots, and lay them 

 beneath a dry bench or in a shed. About 

 August 1 shake oS the soil and repot in 

 5-inch or 6-inch pots, according to size 

 of bulb, and plunge them out in frames. 

 Let them be in the full sun and water 

 copiously when once started to make 

 leaves. If yon intend planting on a 

 bench again I would still start them all 



in pots, for two months out in the open 

 gives them a robust growth. I do not 

 think you can regulate their flowering by 

 the time you start them growing. 



The common Bichardia Africana is 

 usually grown. Nana compacta is a 

 dwarf variety, but the flower is too 

 small for florists. There are several 

 forms under name, but the only differ- 

 ence in them is the size of bloom, and 

 that we know depends mostly on culti- 

 vation. Planted out in a rich bed they 

 produce much larger flowers than when 

 grown in pots, but the monster flowers 

 are not generally desfrable. The medium 

 flower is most useful. 



Some years ago we took plants in pots 

 in May and, without any rest, planted 

 them in the open ground in deep, rich 

 soil and kept them watered in dry spells. 

 Before frost they were very large plants 

 and lifted well. They needed 8-inch to 

 10-inch pots and made plants six feet 

 high. I think they gave ufi more flowers 

 to the plant than any we ever grew, but 

 perhaps not more flowers to the square 

 foot and that is the important point. 



W. S. 



LAELIA PyRPURATA, 



The accompanying illustration is from 

 a photograph made at the establishment 

 of H. G. Selfridge, Lake Geneva, Wis., 

 whose head gardener supplies the fol- 

 lowing note: 



"Laelia purpurata, from Brazil, is a 

 magnificent species, one of the finest 

 orchids in cultivation and of easy cul- 

 ture. We give them the same treatment 

 as for cattleyas, keeping them in the 

 eattleya house. This laelia grows two 

 feet high and has furrowed stems and 

 oblong light green leaves. The stem 

 bears three to five large, richly colored 

 flowers which are very showy. The sepals 

 and the larger petals are pure white. 

 The lip has the basal lobes folded over 

 the column, streaked with rose. The 

 throat is yellow striped with crimson, 

 the broad front lobe expanded, of a rich 

 dark crimson purple, paler toward the 

 tip and marked by crimson veins. Some 

 varieties are light rose-colored. It blooms 

 during May, June and July and lasts 

 three weeks in perfection. When they 

 are in flower we put them in a dryer 

 house and the flowers last much longer. 

 We grow them in pots and pot them in 

 fern roots mixed with a tenth part of 

 green sphagnum moss." 



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