?., <^',' "' •: , ' 





456 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JCLT 20, 1005. 



along the line of supports among the 

 violet plants, which are to be seen at the 

 base of the vines in the picture. The 

 violets had been pj^ted i/jixM^f the be- 

 ginning of October. Tn^ were grown 

 along at 42 degrees until the naiddle of 

 March, when the temperature was in- 

 creased to 50 degrees. The photograph 

 was taken the first week in April. The 

 varieties are Earliest of All, Mont Blanc 

 and Earliest Sunbeams. Wm. Sim. 



WILLIAM SIM'S PLACE. 



The establishment of William Sim, 

 of Cliftondale, Mass., is now so well 

 known as to need little introduction to 

 readers of the. Review. Mr. Sim, is an 

 iinassuming Scotchman, hailing from the 

 canny city of Aberdeen. He has been 

 at his present stand about 'six years 

 and has certainly accomplished wonders 

 in that time. In addition to his fine 

 block of greenhouses, models of what 

 commercial structures should be, he owns 

 some twenty-five acres of good land, all 

 of which he cultivates as few owners 

 would do. 



Specialties at Cliftondale are chrysan- 

 themums, violets, sweet peas, candytuft 

 and tomatoes. Mr. Sim was probably 

 the first prominent grower who grew his 

 violets in big, light houses from 300 to 

 360 feet long, and it is safe to say that 

 the quality of his flowers has never been 

 surpassed. So also with sweet peas. He 

 set a pace that made others stand 

 aghast. Awards of first-class cultural 

 certificates from the Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Society and wholesale flower 

 market shows attest the quality of his 

 :flowers, as also does the added fact that 

 Jie has never yet had enough of them to 

 supply the demand. 



Candytuft is largely grown for Me- 

 morial day trade, while tomatoes are 

 used to follow violets and sweet peas. 

 A feature at Cliftondale which must be 

 noted by all visitors, is the extreme neat- 

 ness prevailing at every season. No 

 weeds are seen indoors and very few 

 outside, the place being as well kept as 

 any private estate. 



Mr. and Mrs. Sim and two members 

 of the next generation, wide-awake boys, 

 who, we hope, will prove worthy helpers 

 to their father in a few years, are seen 

 in the domestic picture, taken on a por- 

 tion of the well kept lawn. 



W. N. Craig. 



WASHINGTON IN SUMMER. 



As a summer resort "Washington has 

 not, it is true, been generally exploited. 

 To the average American such a recom- 

 mendation would be regarded merely as 

 evidence of midsummer madness. Awful 

 tales have been told of the height to 

 which the temperature mounts in July 

 and August and marvelous descriptions 

 have been written of summer days in the 

 national capital. One well-known au- 

 thor, for example, declared in print not 

 long ago that during the hot months none 

 but the business man ventured out dur- 

 ing the day, and that asphalt ran in our 

 gutters like cold molasses. Now, it is 

 hot, and the paving does get soft, but it 

 is not quite tropical and the asphalt has 

 never been known to run off of even our 

 flteepest hills. It is largely a matter 

 of the traditional bad name. Wash- 

 ington has been pronounced unlivable 

 in summer, and, therefore, by the out- 

 sider and even by many of its indwellers 

 it is regarded as a place to be avoided 



from June to October, or to be endured 

 with scant grace if need be. 



Compared with the little country towns 

 as ^ommQaly patronized bj cityites, it is 

 safe \x> say that 'Washington la no hotter 

 and far more attractive, and It would be 

 well to note that when New York or 

 Boston, with the thermometer in the 

 upper 903 is accountable for ten or 

 twelve deaths and twice as many heat 

 prostrations, Washington, with a tebi- 

 perature of 95 or 98 degrees, counts 

 neither loss nor disaster. This is partly 

 due to the construction of the city and 

 the ample provision of shade. Wash- 

 ington was built to suit its climate; its 

 streets are wide, its parks plentiful. As 

 yet we have no canyons formed by sky- 

 scraping buildings and few cluttered 

 tenements in the heart of the city. 



The rich man can make himself mod- 

 erately comfortable anywhere, but the 

 poor man must accommodate himself to 

 circumstances and it is, therefore, pleas- 

 ant to note that Washington's chief at- 

 tractions are of a kind free to all. Wash- 

 ington is beautiful at all seasons of the 

 year, but never more so than in her mid- 

 summer garments. Her long rows of 

 shade trees, which on some of the nar- 

 rower thoroughfares form a complete 

 arch; her vine-clad houses and her or- 

 derly parks are all prospects pleasing to 

 the eye and possessions unrivaled by an- 

 other city. Standing on the Capitol bal- 

 cony or on any other local eminence and 

 looking down upon the city, it seems 

 at this time of the year like a village 

 set in a forest; here and there the 

 house-tops and church spires appearing 

 above the masses of foliage. Washing- 

 ton, too, is fortunate in her backgrounds. 

 Looking upon the city as a unit and 

 glancing in any direction, the picture 

 presented is one of peculiar charm. No 

 factory walls break tb<* horizon which the 

 rolling hills mark with pleasing clear- 

 ness. Its surroundings are as fair as 

 itself and, while inviting growth, assume 

 an air of perfect completion. 



The accessibility of the suburbs is 

 one of Washington's peculiar attrac- 

 tions. A twenty-minute trolley ride from 

 the heart of the city will land the 

 business man in the midst of untram- 

 meled country and on the way he will 



not have passed through an unsightly 

 neighborhood or experienced any un- 

 savory odors. That Wasliington 's poor 

 ai^ hot conned |tp ally special quarter 

 but 8catter6d',^hk!^ug|fc iril . jxeighborhoods^ 

 has soQietimeB been r%re^ed, but in the 

 end i( tends to the betterment of both 

 the classes and the town. Instead of 

 dwindling into tenement districts and 

 trailing off into dilapidated settlements, 

 Washington grows i braver toward its 

 outskirts and finally, without a break, 

 loses its urban aspect in surburban mead- 

 ows. The country, the real country, 

 natural and unspoiled "by man, creepa 

 up to Washington's back door and 

 beckons alluringly to the nature lover. 

 Parks are well enough in their way, a 

 true beneficence to many, but they can- 

 not compete with the fl«ld<» and groves 

 unordered ana unclaimed. 



There is great variety in the country 

 around Washington and the possibility 

 of reaching it with minimum expendi- 

 ture of time and effort makes its ex- 

 ploration open to all. Passing from the 

 Longnborough road through Tenley- 

 town to Chevy Chase and from thence to 

 Bock Creek park to Fourteenth street, 

 one will have observed in panorama al- 

 most every variety of landscape, from 

 the extended view to the closed vista, 

 from the rolling pasture to the sun-be- 

 dabbled wood. 



It is possible for a person of moderate 

 strength to walk over most of this terri- 

 tory and for the camera huntsman or 

 the artist no more fruitful territory could 

 be found. Since bicycling and the bath- 

 ing beach are as well known by the gen- 

 eral public as by the small boy, one 

 needs no exploitation, but there are cer- 

 tain urban pleasures which may well be 

 remarked. 



The Library of Congress offers for 

 summer days and evenings an agreeable 

 retreat. In its architectural lines and 

 superb decorations it is a delight to the 

 eye and in its sptosdid collections of 

 books ancl pictures it affords an almost 

 inexhaostible supply of intellectual re- 

 freshment. To merely wander through 

 its halls, gazing by day at its masterly 

 mural paintings and through its win- 

 dows at its imposing vistas, or at night 

 realizing the charm of its glittering 



Wm. Sim and Family on Their Lawn at Qlftondale, Mass. 



