DmcEUBER 14, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



231 



Illustrating: One of the Best and Most Frequent Uses of Wild Smilax* 



WORKING WITH WILD SMILAX. 



Where to get ideas for new de- 

 Higns for wall, woodwork and stairway 

 decorations is an easier question to 

 solve than which ones of the many which 

 present themselves in a country ramble 

 to choose and adopt. Outdoor vines, 

 when left to themselves, assume many in- 

 teresting and suggestive positions. One 

 seen in early autumn, a hop vine climb- 

 ing across a window, was cut and used 

 as a drape across the comer of a wide 

 doorway. The lighter portion below was 

 caught up on its right with a bunch of 

 scarlet cannas. 



The same design might easUy be 

 worked out by tying a cluster of 

 four or five strings of smilax together 

 at the heavy ends, after the fashion of 

 the upper part of the hop vine, and train- 

 ing the light ends like the lower part. 

 Bcarlet carnations might be substituted 

 for the cannas. Another slender spray 

 of the vine ran toward the left, and the 

 idea might be adapted in this particular 

 too, the added portion of the drape ex- 

 tending to the farthest corner of the 

 doorway. 



The illustration shows a series of four 

 out of the five in a church chancel dec- 

 orated in wild smilax. The second from 

 the left, where the cross is seen, is the 

 middle arch. A background of white 

 cheesecloth covers the dark plaster work 

 of the wall, and serves as a good ma- 

 terial to bring out the details of the 

 green sprays. 



Observe first that each arch is a unit 

 of itself, and that while they are much 



alike in pattern, there is a difference in 

 the weight of the material used, grading 

 from the heavier arch at the right to the 

 next and finally to the most delicate in 

 the center arch. 



Large pins were used for fastening the 

 smilax on the cheesecloth. Two pins 

 placed, one at each end of the smilax 

 spray are sufficient to hold it in place. 



Observe second, that there is a finish 

 to the design on the right arch, to take 

 away any appearance of bluntness, as the 

 eye passes to the right. 



Observe third, that the space in the 

 arches is not all covered. A fraction of 

 the background appears like an irregular 

 opening to a stretch of foliage in the 

 woods. Gertrude Blair. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



The lettuce forcers in the vicinity of 

 Chicago have had a very bad early sea- 

 son, but anticipate a merry Christmas, 

 for good Grand Rapids lettuce is now 

 bringing 3 to 4 cents a plant. 



The forcing of tomatoes for the Chi- 

 cago market is an industry which is yet 

 in its infancy. A number of growers are 

 having fair success with the crop but 

 are complaining of the present market. 

 The season has been exceptionally favor- 

 able in lower California and the refriger- 

 ated product is coming to market in very 

 fine shape, recent prices being $1.40 per 



four basket crate. This does not leave 

 much chance for the greenhouse product. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chicago, December 13. — Cucumbers, 

 $1.25 to $1.50; leaf lettuce, 20c to 40c 

 case; head lettuce $3 to $5 bbl. ; mush- 

 rooms, 25c to 60c lb. 



Boston, December 12. — Cucumbers, $2 

 to $6 box; tomatoes, 20c to 25c lb.; 

 mushrooms, 50c to 60c lb.; radishes, $1 

 box; lettuce, 25c to 35c doz.; parslev, 

 $1 box. 



Neav York, December 12.— Cucumbers 

 Boston, No. 1, 75c to 90c doz.; No. 2, 

 $1.50 to $3.50 box; head lettuce, 20c to 

 40c doz. ; radishes, $2 to $3 100 bunches ; 

 mushrooms, 25c to 65c lb.; tomatoes, 

 10c to 15c lb. 



ENGLISH CUCUMBERS. 



The English varieties of cucumbers are 

 not generally grown on this side of tlie 

 Atlantic; not, in my opinion, so much as 

 their merits deserve, but I am glad to see 

 from numerous inquiries that there is 

 some demand for them. The lack of de- 

 mand seems to be where the trouble lies. 

 The public seems to prefer the shorter 

 varieties of the White Spine type, pos- 

 sibly bcause they see very little, if any, 

 of the others and when they do see them 

 are uncertain regarding their quality. 



From a grower's point of view I do 

 not think there is a great deal of differ- 

 ence, for I do not believe there is any 

 more money to be made out of the one 

 than out of the other; consequently the 



