548 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



January 18, 1906. 



geas in pots and many plant them out 

 in the spring and lift them in the fall. 

 It is time to start 'them growing in any 

 case. Those lifted in October will have 

 been rooting in a cool cellar, or perhaps 

 a cold frame, where a few degrees of 

 frost may have reached them. The wood 

 should be ripe, the terminal buds full, 

 plump and large; if not, it is little use 

 to force them. The hydrangea is not in 

 great demand in every city, yet it is a 

 wonderfully showy plant. It is almost 

 everywhere a disappointment as a house 

 plant for the sole reason that it does 

 not get enough water. It is the most 

 thirsty among our cultivated plants. We 

 Lave known several men with an equal 

 capacity for absorption, but no plants. 



Forcing Lilacs. 



The lilac is a favorite flower and very 

 useful, especially in funeral work. There 

 is no diflSculty in bringing it into flower. 

 Now, here is a plant that we truly 

 force. It is deciduous and dormant, yet 

 we can put it at once, without any prepa- 

 ration, into a temperature of 70 degrees 

 and force out the flower. AVith the rose 

 we have to produce foliage and a good 

 stem or it will not be crowned with a 

 bud. The lilac has had its flower stored 

 up for many months, awaiting the re- 

 turn of spring, and all we do is to an- 

 ticipate spring by artificial heat. If 

 you do not have u house that you can 

 keep at 70 degrees, we have had good 

 success by placing them along the edge 

 of the path where the escaping heat 

 from the pipe was constantly surround- 

 ing them. William Scott. 



NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



The varieties of American carnations 

 are slowly gaining ground in the esteem 

 of the English growers for market. This 

 slowness to gain popularity ean prob- 

 ably be attributed in a very great meas- 

 ure to the difficulty a would-be grower 

 experiences in obtaining plants to make 

 a start with, and in fact getting to know 

 anything at all about the American car- 

 nation. The ordinary run of grower 

 here just knows that carnations are par- 

 ticularly popular in America and he sees 

 a few fine blooms in the large whole- 

 sale markets, where they generally real- 

 ize some high figures. The one or two 

 growers who have a stock in England 

 have whole houses devoted to their cul- 

 ture as in America, and appear to be 

 continually increasing their amount of 

 culture under glass. One grower in par- 

 ticular has three or four fine houses. 

 The plants are not grown in pots, but 

 are planted out in large beds running 

 the whole length of the houses and have 

 a very healthy and vigorous appearance. 

 Instead of using supports in the form of 

 wire or wood stakes, the stems are sup- 

 ported by strings threaded from side to 

 side and from end to end of the beds, 

 thus forming a sort of netting with a 

 mesh of about three inches square, and 

 in this mesh the bloom stems are sup- 

 ported. The grower informed the writer 

 that it was his intention to considerably 

 increase his stock. 



There is a movement on foot to estab- 

 lish an annual show or exhibition for the 

 horticultural trade on a large scale, to 

 be held in London and to be something 

 equivalent to the horticultural trade to 

 what the annual Smithfield cattle show- 

 is to the agricultural trade. It is to be 

 called "The Garden Fair," and the 

 trade is being invited to engage stands 

 for trade exhibits. If anything is 



wanted to make it a success it will be 

 the lack of public interest at the turn- 

 stiles in the shape of a sufficiently large 

 taking at the entrance. Horticultural 

 shows in England are usually poorly pat- 

 ronized by the general public unless there 

 is added some other attraction. J. B. 



ILLINOIS FLORISTS. 



There was a meeting of the Illinois 

 State Florists' Association at Handel 

 hall, Chicago, on Thursday, January 11, 

 James Hartshorne, of Joliet, presiding. 

 The new state charter was presented and 

 it was voted to go ahead with organiza- 

 tion under it and put the association on 

 a permanent basis. An invitation from 

 the florists of Peoria was read asking 

 for the honor of entertaining the asso- 

 ciation at its first annual convention. On 

 motion of W. N. Kudd the invitation was 

 accepted, the date of the convention set 

 for the last week in February and the 

 chairman directed to appoint a commit- 

 tee of five whose duty it shall be to 

 prepare a program for the meeting, fix 

 the date and issue a call which shall se- 

 cure the attendance of every prominent 

 florist in the state. 



The Illinois State Florists ' Association 

 was organized a year ago, at the time 

 it was hoped to secure an appropriation 

 from the state legislature for the erec- 

 tion of a range of glass at the State Ex- 

 periment Station at Urbana for the study 

 of plant diseases. A committee was sent 

 to Springfield and received considerable 

 encouragement, but the appropriation was 

 finally refused. It is hoped to have bet- 

 ter success by making an earlier start 

 this time and it is also hoped to accom- 

 plish good in many other directions. 



WASHINGTON FLORISTS' CLUB. 



At the last meeting of the Washington 

 Florists' Club the following rules were 

 adopted for the judging of flowers and 

 plants. 



1. The committee of awards shall consist of 

 five members who shall be elected by the club 

 lit Its annual meeting, to serve for one Tear. 

 If at anj' meeting of the club (flowers or plants 

 being on exhibition) less than three members 

 of the committee of awards being present, the 

 presiding officer, with the approval of the club, 

 shall appoint others to act temporarily, the 

 power thus granted to expire at the close of 

 the meeting. 



2. All exhibits of new varieties of flowers or 

 plants shall be made at a regular meeting of 

 the club, and the exhibitor shall notify the sec- 

 retary at least throe days prior to the meeting 

 nt wlilch he proposes to exhibit. To secure the 

 club's ccrtiflcato it will be necessary that a 

 growing plant accompany the cut flower exhibit 

 in the case of carnations and roses, and that 

 roses and carnations be exhibited at three dif- 

 ferent periods of the season; It will only be 

 necessary to show a growing plant at one ex- 

 hibition. 



3. Anyone showing a novelty with the Inten- 

 tion of obtaining the club's endorsement in anv 

 way the committee may recommend shall con- 

 form to the rules laid down by them for their 

 guidance as herein stated. 



4. The highest award for flowers or plants 

 shall be the club's silver medal; first-class 

 certificate, second and third, in the order named. 



5. In judging carnation flowers at the exhibi- 

 tions in the club's rooms the scale of points 

 adopted by the American Carnation Society shall 

 be adopted, as follows: 



Color 2.'» Form 1,") 



Size 20 Substance 10 



Calyx 5 Fragrance 5 



Stem 20 



In judging the growing plant the following 

 scale shall be used: 



Condition l."» Stem 16 



Productiveness .... 15 Substance 5 



Color 15 Form 10 



Size 15 Fragrance 5 



Calyx • 5 



Should the variety judged average 85 points 

 or more at the meetings where it is shown, it 

 shall be awarded the first-class certificate. 



C. Jn judging rose flowers the scale of the 

 American Hose Society, as follows, shall be 

 used: 



Size 10 .Substance 10 



Color 20 Foliage 15 



Stem 15 Fragrance 5 



Form 15 Distinctiveness .... 10 



In judging the growing plant the following 

 scale shall be used: 



Condition 15 Form lo 



Productiveness .... 16 Substance lo 



Size 10 Fragrance 5 



Color 15 DlstlnetivenesB .... 10 



Stem 10 



The same conditions will apply to roses as to 

 carnations, which are explained above. 



7. In judging chrysanthemums the scale of 

 points adopted by the Chrysanthemum Society 

 shall be used, as follows: 



Commercial Scale. Exhibition Scale. 



Color 20 Color 10 



Form 15 Stem 10 



Fullness 10 Foliage 10 



Stem 15 Fullness 15 



Foliage 15 Form 15 



Substance 15 Depth 15 



Size 10 Size 25 



8. When a new plant, such as will be grown 

 in a pot or In the open ground generally. Is 

 brought to the club's meeting, if the committee 

 is sutticlently satisfied as to Its distinctive merits 

 .ind otlier qualities, they shall be empowered 

 to give final award without further examina- 

 tion. 



9. In judging flowers or plants other than 

 thf)8e named, the committee may use a scale of 

 points adopted by a special society covering the 

 exhibit, if any exist; or they may judge them 

 by any other method at their discretion. 



10. All reports of the committee shall be en- 

 tered in a book kept for that purpose. All re- 

 ports shall be signed by the members making 

 same. 



11. Rules governing exhibits of disseminated 

 varieties: 



Competitive exhibits of flowers or plants al- 

 ready disseminated shall be judged by the 

 scales governing same as provided In the rules 

 for novelties, excepting roses; in case of the 

 latter the following scale shall be used: 



Size 15 Form 15 



Color 20 Substance 15 



Stem 20 Foliage 15 



12. The awards under the rules for dissemi- 

 nated varieties shall be flrst-class certlflcate for 

 excellence of culture, second and third, in the 

 order named. 



13. The club's silver medal shall only be 

 awarded to new flowers or plants and only to 

 those scoring 95 or more points. 



CHAS. McCADLY. 

 G. B. ANDERSON, 

 PETER BISSET. 



MILLEPEDES. 



We have a Piersoni fern that we 

 transplanted in a large iron vase last 

 summer. In the fall it was taken into 

 a living room and with the temperature 

 about 75 degrees it was doing finely. 

 It has become quite large, measuring 

 about four or four and one-half feet in 

 diameter, and some of the fronds close 

 to three feet. We have noticed within 

 the past few days a peculiar worm on 

 the centipede order lying on top of the 

 ground in bunches, curled up and when 

 disturbed they move at a rapid rate. 

 Will these worms harm it? Is there any- 

 thing we could do to get rid of them 

 without injury to the plant? We picked 

 at least 100 from the top of the soil 

 today and if there are as many in pro- 

 portion under the surface there must be 

 thousands. G. M. 



The worms that have appeared on the 

 surface of the soil in the manner de- 

 scribed are millepedes, or thousand-legs, 

 this insect laying its eggs in the soil, and 

 are not likely to do any serious injury 

 to the fern in question. Entomologists 

 state that the millepedes live upon ''e- 

 cayed vegetable matter, they also have 

 been found eating tender young growths 

 of some plants, and are certainly of no 

 benefit to the fern. If a large sheet of 

 paper were spread upon the floor, and 

 the plant laid over on its side and jarred 

 by a series of light blows, most of the 

 insects would drop off onto the paper 

 and could then readily be disposed of. 



W. H. Taplin. 



Sioux City, Ia. — J. B. Elder reports 

 trade throughout 1905 as very satisfac- 

 tory. 



Manitou, Colo. — The Manitou Floral 

 Co., E. F. Griswold, manager, has re- 

 cently bought the greenhouse business 

 of D. C. Mosher. 



