jANUAlty 4, VMii. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



427 



CARNATION NOTES.-EAST. 



Holiday Varieties, 



Now that the strain of Christmas is 

 over and more definite knowledge has 

 been obtained regarding the behavior of 

 certain varieties, more particularly those 

 in good demand at the holidays, atten- 

 tion should at once be given to the in- 

 crease of such as are the most desirable 

 or suited to your trade. The blooms of 

 ji variety mav be most desirable in ap- 

 jiearancc, ready sellers, etc, but in point 

 of productiveness the variety may be 

 quite a little behind another not so 

 much sought for. The question, then, 

 is which to grow in increased quanti- 

 ties. If the returns per bloom from the 

 former are enough larger than the lat- 

 ter to offset the difference in yield, it 

 would seem advisable to increase the 

 stock of the most desirable and higher 

 priced. Looking ahead a whole year, as 

 growers must needs do, the probabili- 

 ties are that while the less productive 

 sort will bring about the same figures, 

 the variety less in favor now will be 

 held in still lower estimation next season. 



As before stated, the foregoing re- 

 marks are made more in reference to 

 varieties suited to holiday trade than 

 staple, all-year ones, still with most sorts 

 when the quantity increases quality and 

 price take a corresponding decline. Some 

 growers will under no circumstances 

 handle scarlet carnations, claiming the 

 season of demand at good prices is too 

 short to warrant their being grown. 

 Others plan to throw out the greater 

 part about February 1, using the space 

 to hold young stock. 



Trade conditions must govern all such 

 matters, but if scarlet is to be grown, 

 early propagation must be practiced, not 

 only beginning operations in good sea- 

 son, but put into the sand in either one 

 or two large batches not far apart. 



If the stock from which cuttings are 

 to be taken is small, it would be better 

 to purchase a quantity of unrooted cut- 

 tings from a reliable source than to 

 allow propagation to drag along in di- 

 minutive lots. This matter of using cut- 



tings in the unrooted state is no ex- 

 periment, but has with others, as well as 

 the writer, proved very successful. 



Though perhaps my treatment of the 

 subject may not be new to some read- 

 ers, continued use of unrooted cuttings 

 shows additional reasons in favor of the 

 method about which I will have some- 

 thing to say next time. 



Geo. S. Osborn. 



MY MARYLAND. 



H. Weber & Sons Co., Oakland, Md., 

 make the announcement that the E. G. 

 Hill Co., Kichmond, Ind., has withdrawn 

 from the joint dissemination of the 

 Webers' white carnation. My Maryland, 

 which was to have begun this month. It 

 is stated that My Maryland has failed 

 utterly at Ei''hmond and at another 

 place where it is being grown this year, 

 but that good-size lots on trial at To- 

 ronto and at Philadelphia bear out the 

 originator's claims for it, while at the 

 home place at Oakland the stock is in 

 as good shape as last year, when it made 

 a very favorable showing. 



The Wieber & Sons Co. says that in 

 its opinion the variety will in at least a 

 part of the country bear out its claims 

 for it and will proceed with the dis- 

 tribution, orders for many thousands 

 having been booked, but they take the 

 very fair course of offering every buyer 

 the opportunity of cancelling his order 

 in whole or in part. 



The E. G. Hill Co. was to have also 

 distributed Lady Margaret beginning 

 this month, but this variety was with- 

 drawn several weeks ago. 



A YOUNG GROWER. 



Wm. Wiehtendahl is a new grower for 

 the Chicago market, starting at May- 

 wood, 111., in the fall of 1904, when he 

 built two houses which he is devoting 

 to carnations, growing the older sorts, 

 such as Sport, Morning Glory, etc. Mr. 

 Wiehtendahl was with Bassett & Wash- 

 burn before starting for himself, and is 

 a first-class grower, his varieties not, be- 

 ing done better by any other grower in 

 the neighborhood. He is a young man, 

 only 24 years of age, and unmarried. 



His establishment gives every promise 

 of steady expansion. He sends his cut 

 to E. C. Amling. 



THE MARKET FOR STOCK. 



In an article in the issue for Decem- 

 ber 14 entitled "Carnations for Christ- 

 mas" A. F. J. Baur says: "I think 

 that I am safe in saying that but foi* 

 the heavy demands on the growers at 

 Christmas, many a thousand feet of 

 glass put up in the past few years would 

 have been left unbuilt. ' ' I would be 

 glad to hear from Mr. Baur as to 

 whether he simply means that this de- 

 mand was the incentive for building or 

 that those who did build had regretted 

 it and that had they waited until an- 

 other year, or a few months, until the 

 Christmas rush was over and tae keen 

 edge and enthusiasm had worn off, that 

 they would not have built? 



W. H. E. 



My statement was not made on the 

 strength of any complaints from grow- 

 ers of cut flowers, but is the result of a 

 close study of the weekly reports in 

 the Review from the large wholesale 

 markets over the country. Before an- 

 swering your inquiry I took down my 

 copies of the Review from November 3, 

 1904, to the end of the season and since 

 looking them over I feel even safer than 

 before in repeating that statement. I 

 find that with very few exceptions there 

 was always plenty of good stock to fill 

 all orders and when the weather was 

 half way decent there was a surplus all 

 along the line. Cheap sales would often 

 help matters some, but at other times 

 even these were of no avail in moving 

 the surplus. Of course Christmas and 

 Easter always clean up everything at 

 good figures and there is not enough to 

 go around. In looking over these notes, 

 1 can find no encouragement to build 

 for those who are dependent on these 

 markets for disposing of their stock, un- 

 less it were the scarcity at these holiday 

 times. 



1 also notice that whenever there was 

 a scarcity it was always in the top 

 grades, which, of course, is but natural. 

 This shows that the wise grower will 

 give more attention to the production 

 of high-grade blooms than to mere quan- 

 tity. I cannot say that any grower has 

 regretted building a certain lot of 

 houses. I do mean just what I said, 

 however, that the shortage at Christmas, 

 and by your permission I will add 

 Easter, has been the incentive for the 

 erection of many a thousand feet of 

 glass. The fact that the same shortage 



Establishment of Wm. Wiehtendahl, Maywood, III. 



