550 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JANUABY 18, 1006. 



in California, and probably impossible 

 in the adobe lands. It was a strange 

 sight for eastern eyes to see men walk- 

 ing between the tows of plants with the 

 hoe held high in the air to descend with 

 a vigorous chop at any weeds which 

 might appear. 



The fruit orchards, on the other hand, 

 have the surface of the soil constantly 

 cultivated and are as clean and free 

 from weeds as a model garden, but the 

 eastern eye misses and longs for the 

 fresh green backgrounds which should 

 relieve the cultivated lands, and its en- 

 tire absence, at least at that season of 

 the year, continually reminds you that 

 you are in a strange land. The leaves of 

 the fruit trees are a rich deep green, as 

 well as the foliage of the growing crops, 

 but serve only to accentuate the dusty 

 brown or gray tints of the surrounding 

 landscape. Even wnere there is a bright 

 green lawn, it has the appearance of a 

 small flower bed in the midst of the bare 

 brown earth surrounding it . on every 

 side. 



No Ornamental Planting. 



Nearly all planting in California is 

 done on a large scale and is quite 

 distinctly localized. Thus in the Santa 

 Clara valley, we find the ranches of the 

 principal seed growers within a few 

 miles of each other, and fairly extensive 

 apple orchards, with miles and miles of 

 prunes and thousands of acres of sugar 

 beets. Every crop is grown for the cash 

 it will bring, and outside of the large 

 tourist hotels and some few private 

 places in the towns, ornamental plant- 

 ings or surroundings are things of the 

 future. This seems strange to a gar- 

 dener or florist, as practically all of our 

 decorative palms and plants can be 

 grown in the open air, but it is doubtless 

 due to the necessity of irrigating, or 

 constant watering of the plants and 

 grass required during the dry seasons 

 and it costs about $20 to $25 for the 

 water necessary to keep a small town 

 lawn fresh and green during the summer 

 and fall. 



Although very nearly all of the level 

 valley lands are now under cultivation, 

 there still remain occasional groups or 

 clumps of live-oak trees, and these, with 

 their mossy, gnarled trunks and branches 

 and the bright green, holly-like leaves, 

 are the most attractive features of the 

 valleys, but as the grazing ranches are 

 divided and broken to the plow they are 

 being cut out and made into firewood 

 and there seems to be no attempt what- 

 ever to make new plantings of this beau- 

 tiful and locally characteristic tree. I 

 shall always remember the live-oaks, not 

 only for their interesting growth, but 

 also for the grateful shade they fur- 

 nished during the heat of the day, as the 

 moment you step under the branches of 

 the live-oak you feel a coolness similar 

 to that when going into the florists' ice- 

 box, while with all other trees the 

 foliage simply affords relief from the 

 strong sunlight without any feeling of 

 coolness in the air. During my stay in 

 the Santa Clara valley the thermometer 

 would go to 108 to 110 degrees during 

 the middle of the day. The air was 

 clear and perfectly dry, so that no one 

 perspires, but the heat is felt in a burn- 

 ing or prickling sensation on any ex- 

 posed portion of your body. Nearly all 

 the time there was a fresh breeze blow- 

 ing in between the hills from the Pacific 

 and from four o'clock in the afternoon 

 until ten in the morning, the air was 

 cool and pleasant and at night sleep 



was most refreshing, unless the Califor- 

 nia flea was present to take a hand in 

 welcoming you to the country. 

 (To be continued,) 



J. W. RODGEES. 



The long controversy as to the posi- 

 tion of superintendent of parks at Cin- 

 cinnati has at length been settled by 

 the appointment, on January 10, of J. 

 W. Rodgers. There were a number of 

 candidates for the office to succeed B. 

 P. Critchell, who has served long and 

 satisfactorily under former administra- 

 tions. 



Mr. Eodgers is a native of Cincinnati, 

 34 years of age, and for ten years has 

 been in the greenhouse business on his 



J. W. Rodgers. 



own account, at Price Hill, where he 

 has built up a nice range of glass and 

 a profitable business, but the oppor- 

 tunity open to the park superintendent 

 at this time is an exceedingly tempting 

 one, because of the large amount of new 

 work which is to be done by this ad- 

 ministration. The salary is $2,500 a 

 year. Mr. Eodgers is a member of the 

 Cincinnati Florists' Society, the Amer- 

 ican Carnation Society and the Society 

 of American Florists, and has been an 

 attendant at most of the recent con- 

 ventions. It is announced that he is 

 shortly to marry Miss Martha Meyer, 

 of Price Hill, who is a daughter of a 

 well known Cincinnati manufacturer. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chicago, January 17. — Cucumbers, $1 

 to $1.75 doz.; leaf lettuce, 30c to 40c 

 case; head lettuce, $2 to $3 bbl.; toma- 

 toes, $1.50 to $2 case. 



Boston, January 16. — Cucumbers, $3 

 to $12 box; lettuce, 50c to 75c doz.; rad- 

 ishes, $1 box; tomatoes, 35c to 40c lb.; 

 parsley, $1.50 to $1.75 box; mushrooms, 

 $1.50 to $2 per four-pound package; 

 mint, 50c doz. 



New York, January 16. — ^Boston cu- 

 cumbers, $1 to $1.50 doz.; head lettuce, 

 20c to 75c doz.; radishes, $2 to $3.25 

 100 bunches; mushrooms, 10c to 50c lb.; 

 tomatoes, 10c to 25c lb. ; rhubarb, 50c to 

 75c doz. bunches; mint, 50c to 75c doz. 



LETTUCE. 



Winnipeg, Man. — A. H. Stolper, suc- 

 cessor to E. Alston, is sending out 

 souvenir postal cards which are photo- 

 graphs of scenes in the Eoyal Green- 

 houses. 



The Second Oop. 



In preparing for replanting after the 

 crop has been cut, it is well to see that 

 the surface of the soil is thoroughly 

 cleaned of all decaying vegetable mat- 

 ter. Usually when lettuce is cut a few 

 of the smaller under leaves are left and 

 these are often more or less tainted 

 with de^ay. The careless operator will 

 often turn them down into the soil in 

 forking it over, in place of spending a 

 short time in clearing them off before 

 beginning the forking process. From 

 just such carelessness fungus germs are 

 propagated, which prove a source of con- 

 siderable trouble in the crop that fol- 

 lows. The old lettuce roots should also 

 be picked out in forking over, so as to 

 leave nothing in the soil that will de- 

 cay. 



To keep up the fertility of the soil 

 it will be necessary to add some fertiliz- 

 ing ingredients before planting each of 

 the crops. Just what to add will depend 

 a good deal on the nature of the soil, 

 but as a rule the use of commercial fer- 

 tilizers is not advisable; the best is the 

 old stand-by from the barnyard, in a 

 well decomposed condition. This, thor- 

 oughly worked into the soil, is the best 

 general fertilizer we have, especially for 

 crops of this nature, which need some- 

 thing they can take hold of right away 

 and in which the plant food is easily 

 available. The so called commercial fer- 

 tilizers are too violent in action to suit 

 lettuce, which will not stand much forc- 

 ing but must be allowed to come along 

 pretty nearly in its natural course. 



The condition of the manure in regard 

 to moisture should also be given a Utile 

 attention. If this is in a wet, heavy 

 condition and no other means are avail- 

 able for drying it out a little before 

 hand it would be well to leave it spread 

 out on top of the soil for a day or two 

 to dry somewhat before working it into 

 the soil. 



Though there is not much danger of 

 the soil being too wet just after the 

 crop is cut, owing to the necessity of 

 keeping it on the dry side after the 

 plants have reached the mature stage to 

 prevent damping; nevertheless if it 

 should happen that the soil is in a 

 rather wet state it should be allowed to 

 partially dry out before beginning to 

 work in it, as working the soil wet makes 

 it heavy and soggy and anything but 

 suitable to the wellbeing of the plants. 



After planting it is well to use a little 



