■l?SR^?*7?sv** ' 



JULY 6, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



353 



Peter Crowe, of Uticat N. Y., His Granddaughters and His Roses. 



low loam, rather heavy. What propor- 

 tion of manure it contains we do not 

 know, but we think not over one-fifth 

 in bulk. The second year there is a 

 mulch of two inches of soil and ma- 

 nure put on the surface. The third 

 year another 6-inch board is added and 

 another heavy mulch. Mr. Crowe uses 

 no stakes or supports for his roses, cut- 

 ting the strongest stems within a few 

 inches of the ground, and hence the 

 great stems for which Mr. Crowe's 

 roses are famous. 



Mr. Crowe is a great believer in 

 liquid manure, which is copiously ap- 

 plied at a temperature of 55 degrees. 

 I attribute his great success to a soil 

 finely adapted to roses, but still more 

 to a close personal attention. Before 

 he rented the rose department of his 

 place to the Messrs. Brandt Bros., 

 from Madison, N. J., a visit to Utica 

 would find Mr. Crowe stripped to his 

 shirt and delving among his roses, and 

 now you will find him equally busy 

 with his famous adiantum. 



The houses are equal span, running 

 cast and west, two beds of six feet 

 C'T'h, and it is wonderful how narrow 

 ^"■0 the paths when you know Peter 

 'lowe is fifty-three inches around the 

 <'"Pst, but then he is only thirty-four 

 around the waist, so that accounts 

 inr it. 



/^Vhat a chapter could be written on 

 tno subject of "personal attention." 

 As I grow nearer the end of my tether 

 1 realize that if ever I made a marked 

 ■^iifoess with any plant it was neither 

 '"'•k nor superior knowledge. It was 

 ['"rely a love of my work, and close 

 interest and attention, such attention 

 "s that with which a faithful doctor 

 ^■Itches the latest symptoms of his 



patient. . You can learn from others 

 the proper temperature, the best soils 

 and manure and other points which are 

 really only the rudiments of garden- 

 ing. It is only experience or knowl- 

 edge gained by a love of your work 

 and your plants that will teach you 

 the many small but important points 

 that bring great success. 



The man who has to depend entirely 

 on his foreman is under a great dis- 

 advantage. Excellent men there are. 

 both with ability and faithfulness, but 

 they are not out of work, and unless 

 the boss himself has his mind on his 

 plants and watches their daily wel- 

 fare, delighted at their prosperity and 

 depressed and worried at any setback, 

 he had better change his business. 

 There are no union hours with a good 

 gardener. He may give over labor in 

 eight or ten hours, but his mind and, 

 figuratively speaking, his heart, will 

 he with his pets in all his waking 

 hours. This close and unflagging at-, 

 tention you cannot buy at any price. 

 If you think you have left on too 

 much air and the night is chilly, it is 

 only a labor of love to go to the houses 

 at 10 o'clock at night and put things 

 right. That is the sort of thing 1 

 mean by attention. Knowledge we 

 must have, but faithful, never ceasing 

 care counts for far more in growing 

 anything pre-eminently well. No mat- 

 ter whether you see a grand specimen 

 chrysanthemum, or Begonia Gloirc do 

 Lorraine, or a house of roses, don't 

 think the man who grew them had 

 luck or knew so much more than you. 

 He loved his plants, he watched them 

 and would sacrifice almost anything for 

 their welfare. 



An employer of our city told nie that 



a certain young man who has since 

 proven himself a phenomenal grower 

 of cyclamen and Begonia Lorraine, 

 used to eat his lunch in ten minutes 

 and spend the remaining twenty min- 

 utes with his pipe, seated on a chair 

 gazing at his pets, a bench of Gloire 

 de Lorraine. That revery was not in 

 vain. Oh, this is a big subject, young 

 man! If you wish to ever excel and 

 be a successful grower you must learn 

 to love the plants under your charge; 

 to see them suflFer for water must hurt 

 von more than to be thirstv vourself. 

 '_^ W. S. 



NOTES FRCM ENGLAND. 



What a marvelous advance has been 

 made with the streptocarpus, during the 

 last ten years especially. It is rapidly 

 rivaling the gloxinia in many respects. 

 The flowers have become very large and 

 the corollas are becoming finely rounded. 

 The colors are superb; a certain rich- 

 ness of violet and even blue is found in 

 them. The plants are grown to a great 

 size, and they are wonderfully florifer- 

 ous. The possibilities of development in 

 the streptocarpus are very great. 



The strains of single-flowered, long- 

 spurred aquilegias have been brought to 

 a great pitch of excellence by our Eng- 

 lisli growers. They are hybrids of A. 

 coTulea. Californica, chrvsantha, etc. 

 They are vigorous in growth and an in- 

 dividual plant throws a large number 

 of flowers, which stand fip bold and erect 

 to tlio eye. Some having pleasing rosy 

 tints in combination with sunset hues, 

 nro highly attractive. The old regard for 

 double aquilegias has quite died out and 

 yet they have a simple beauty of their 

 own. 



I fear that little if any headway is 



