76 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



NovEMUUR 30, 1905. 



SHOW NOTES. 



Echoes from Kansas City. 



Frank Kusliiiioie, yardcner at the city 

 greenliouses in tlie park at Denver, sent a 

 box of chrvsantlienunns to his townsmen 

 who were at the Kansas City show, for 

 exhibition only. They arrived late, but 

 they staged tlieni, and some of the 

 blooms were so creditable as to attract 

 more than pa.ssing notice from growers. 



John N. May, one of the judges at the 

 Kansas City show, said to a reporter: 

 "I have attended most of the important 

 flower sliows in this country for many 

 years and believe the Nephrolepis Pier- 

 soni elegantissima which won first prize 

 Monday night cannot be duplicated any- 

 where in this country. Tliev are the 



finest specimens 1 ever saw. In other 

 cities the florists seem to have striven 

 only to nuiltijily the stock, while here at- 

 tention has liccii given to produce the 

 finest grade possible. If I were asked 

 to pick out the finest exhibit in the en- 

 tire show I should not hesitate to select 

 these ferns. ' ' They were exhibited by 

 W. L. Kock. 



J. A. Valentine, of the Park Floral 

 Co., Denver, writes : ' * It seems to me that 

 no adequate mention has been made of 

 the exhibit of Begonia Gloire de Lor- 

 raine made by Samuel Murray at the 

 Kansas City show, although the group 

 was pictured in last week's Eeview. He 

 had twenty-five plants in 6-inch pots that 

 were simply magnificent, better than 

 anything I have ever seen, and better 

 than T thought these plants could be 

 done. W«> Denver men rather took it 



for granted that these were the pick 

 from a large number grown, and that 

 Mr. Murray could probably not anywhere 

 near duplicate the exhibit. But on going 

 to his greenhouses we found that he had 

 several hundred there, equally as good, 

 and when I tell you that I sold Mr. 

 Murray this stock out of 2-inch pots in 

 May last, and that he only had a total of 

 500, you will better appreciate how much 

 to the grower's credit there is in the 

 exhibit he put up. His house of Lor- 

 raines was certainly a wonderful sight." 

 The total paid admissions at Kansas 

 City this year were 31,537, cash receipts 

 at the gate $7,884.25, The receipts at 

 the last show, in 1902, were $9,427.50, or 

 $1,534.25 more than for the show just 

 held. The premiums at that time amount- 

 ed to $5,626, while this year $4,400 will 

 cover the prize list expense. 



BEST EXHIBITION VARIETIES. 



As has been my custom for the past 

 five or six years, I append a list of 

 thirty varieties that on their record this 

 year are entitled to rank as the top 

 notchers for exhibition growers. This 

 list is made up after a good deal of 

 thought, study and comiiarison as to the 

 way different varieties liave been set up 

 at different exhibitions. The varieties 

 are set down in the order of their merit. 



White. 



White: Beatrice May, Mrs. D. V. 

 West. :\lerza. :\Irs. F. fV Thompson, W^ 

 Wells and Timothy Eaton. 



It will be observed that Katon, which 

 a year or two ago ranked first, is now 

 last on the list. Si/e used to carry it 

 through, but (ithcr varieties now have 

 the size an<l finisli also. 1). V. West, for 

 instance, can be grown half as large 

 again and still have an exquisite finish. 

 Beatrice ^lay also is a very finely fin- 

 ished flower, having great size and very 

 dwarf halMt. Merza still holds out and, 

 barring its +'ailing of wilting down, is 

 still hard to beat. .\'rs. F. F. Thomp- 

 son is an unknown (juaiitity to many 

 people just TioAv but will be better known 

 next year, as will also W. Wells. The 

 latter was very scarce this year but it is 

 a big, loose, shaggy variety and cannot 

 fail t(' foryt' alit ad. 



Yellow. 



Yellow: .Vjijik'ton, Mrs. W. Duckhani, 

 Cheltoni. Mnic. G. Kivol, Chrysanthc- 

 miste ^lontigny and F. S. Vallis. 



Appleton still holds the sway when well 

 done, combining as it does, size, color. 

 foliage and stem. 



Mrs. W. Duckham has made a fine 

 showing and fulfilled every prediction I 

 made for it. The competition for six 

 flowers of this variety for the Wells 

 medals at Philadelphia was a fine sight. 

 Cheltoni for any exhibition before No- 

 vember 1 is very fine. After that date 



it is past its best. A vase of twenty- 

 five flowers of the variety at New York 

 was declared by some experts to be the 

 finest thing in the hall. Mme. G. Rivol 

 is a sport of Paola Radaelli and com- 

 bines size and vigor with a splendid 

 <'olor. Chrysanthemiste Montigny is one 

 of the very largest in size, yet retains a 

 lovely finish. Those who used to grow 

 the old Philadelphia can picture this, as 

 it is a duplicate in every way, only 

 twice as large. F. S. Vallis is well 

 known and iiardly needs touching on. I 

 have dropped Thirkell because it makes 

 such wretched foliage all summer and 

 Yellow Eaton is not needed any more. 

 Mrs. W. Knox, as a short-vase variety, 

 is a very promising newcomer, as is 

 also ^Irs. (ieo. Beech, in the yellows. 



Pink. 



Pink: Morton F. Plant, W. Duckhani, 

 Valerie Greenham, Viola, T. Richardson, 

 Lady Hopetoun for early. Leila Filkins 

 later. 



Those who were jirivileged to see Mor- 

 ton F. Plant agree that it is the king 

 pin in pinks and next year will cut Duck- 

 ham out as ' * the ' ' pink. Immense in 

 size, with Appleton stem and foliage, it 

 will silence the carping critic who is al- 

 ways yelling for foliage up to the flower. 

 Duckham has been set up more than 

 any other pink this year and, generally 

 speaking, in fine shape, but so many 

 complain of it that Plant will be very 

 welcome. Valerie Greenham has proved 

 very satisfactory and some splendid 

 flowers have been shown at Madison, New 

 York and other places. Viola is also 

 very large and a very good color. An- 

 other year will see this largely grown. 

 T. Richardson won a certificate for itself 

 and in light pinks is an immense and 

 very beautiful variety. The color is the 

 same shade as Enchantress carnation, 

 lyady Hopetoun was shown in wonderful 

 shape at several places, though it can 

 hardly be kept in good shape after No- 



vember 1, which is the reason I couple 

 it with Leila Filkins, which gives almost 

 the same shade some two weeks later. 

 I only saw one vase of Morel this year, 

 and that, alongside of Filkins, was a 

 sorry sight. 



Crimson. 



Crimson: Merstham Crimson, Mrs. H. 

 Partridge, S. T. Wright, W. R. Church, 

 Intensity and H. J. Jones. 



The first named is the most beautiful 

 thing in its color I have seen and three 

 flowers in the Wells exhibit that had been 

 shipped from England were set up in 

 perfect condition and kept so during a 

 four days ' exhibition in Philadelpia. 

 With me the very early bud had too much 

 neck but later buds developed lovely 

 i flowers. Mrs. Partridge is very good, 

 I and, best of all, does not burn in the 

 I sun, as almost all of our fine reds do. 

 It has good, free growth and fine foli- 

 age and stem. S. T, Wright last year 

 did not show up very well but this year, 

 struck later and grown in a 6-inch pot, 

 has shown its merits, several growers 

 setting it up in perfect condition. Church 

 is well known. Its only faults are a 

 poor habit and hard to get started and 

 so many flowers, in place of reflexing, 

 turn in and show a steely bronze reverse. 

 Intensity shows very fine color and the 

 old H. .1. .Tones still sets up in fine shape. 



Other Colors. 



The any other color class contains 

 some splendid things that hardly fit in 

 1 with the standard colors but must not 

 : by any means be left out. Mrs. G. 

 I Heaume is a salmon buflf and has been 

 ; spoken of several times in these notes. 

 i Mrs. John E. Dunne is one of the most 

 i distinct things of the year. Fine in 

 stem and foliage, the color is perhaps, 

 best described as old rose. A very showy 

 variety. E. J. Brooks, a rosy purple, is 

 far superior to Carrington, which has 

 been for years a leader in that class. 

 Brooks will be largely grown when bet- 



