January 25, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



625 



Iron-frame Carnation House at the Establishment of the F. R. Pierson Co,, Tarrytown, N. Y. 



(This house shelters 20,000 v>laiits. Carnation Winsor occupies three lu'ds in the foreground.) 



Before beginning our planting we 

 shade the house heavily with mud, close 

 all ventilation and Avet down the walks 

 and under the benches. When all is ready 

 the plants are brought from the field 

 with all the soil that will cling to them 

 and transferred to the bench as quickly 

 as possible. The house is kept abso- 

 lutely without ventilation for the first 

 two or three days, and the plants are 

 frequently syringed. The walks and the 

 ground under tlie benches are kept 

 drenched and everything possible done to 

 prevent wilting. As soon as it seems 

 safe, a little ventilation is given, geuer- 

 allj' starting at night, and the shade 

 gradually removed. Within ten days 

 the house is having full light and venti- 

 lation. As the plants grow and produce 

 blooms, it liecomes apparent that the 

 stems are not as long or as heavy as pro- 

 duced by the same varieties in eastern 

 sections. The flowers are apt to come 

 more nearly up to standard than the 

 '^tems. This tendency of the stem is so 

 pronounced that, individually, I now make 

 it a rule not to buy any novelty, no 

 matter how attractive, unless it has a 

 decidedly strong stem. The bright sun 

 '^eems to produce high color in the flower, 

 though some of the pinks fade badly 

 nnless shaded. 



Among Colorado growers there seems 

 ^0 be a disposition to try the promising 

 new sorts as they are ambitious to have 

 the best. Those whose business it is to 

 disseminate new varieties will, I hope, 

 l^ardon me for calling their attention to 

 ■1 few facts. Our section is so remote 

 that not many of us can spare the time 

 "r the money to inspect new varieties 

 before dissemination and we must depend 

 largely upon what you say in your ad- 

 vertisements. A great many letters of a 

 ''emi-confidential nature are written by 

 you to induce sales — letters intended to 



jnit you in close personal relations with 

 tiie grower. The confidence thus en- 

 gendered is the western goose and the 

 crop of golden eggs is one whose loss 

 you would deplore. You may have the 

 fullest faith in a resurrection after 

 death, but if you once kill this valuable 

 Udose it will stay dead a long time. 

 St\idy carefully then the special needs 

 of this section and be sure you have 

 !jo(i(l reason before you urge a purchase. 

 WiioM you have made a sale, bear in 

 .niind that the journey is a long one and 

 that when first potted, a rooted cutting 

 in the Rockies has a hard struggle for 

 ('xistence. It is useless to ship cuttings 

 to that section unless they are well root- 

 ed, and extra care should be taken to 

 see that they do not dry out in transit. 

 Show a disposition to advance our inter- 

 ests as well as your own and you will 

 find that we are an appreciative lot. 



Some Good Carnations. 



I think that but two carnations have 

 come to us in recent years that have 

 demonstrated their ability to ])roduce 

 good flowers with strong stems in satis- 

 factory quantities as grown by the aver- 

 age florist. These two are Mrs. Thos. W. 

 Tiawson and Enchantress, and the florists 

 of the Rocky ^Mountain region all take off 

 their hats to Peter Fisher. White 

 Tiawson is just as satisfactory as the 

 original pink, but the short stem early 

 in tlic season is an objection to both. 

 Harlowarden has been quite satisfactory 

 but the demand for that color is small, 

 l-'iancee has proved a wonderfully fine 

 grower and blooms freely, but she has 

 been on one protracted "bust" since 

 October, and unless she mends her ways 

 we will refuse to give her lodging next 

 year. 



The region we arc considering includes 

 an area about as large as ninety states 



the size of Massachusetts, yet the latter 

 has nearly twice as many people and 

 six times as much glass within her bor- 

 ders as are contained in all this vast 

 region. Denver is now but forty-two 

 years old and is about one-third the size 

 of Boston ; Salt Lake is about the size of 

 Springfield; Butte and Pueblo about as 

 large as Holyoke; Colorado Springs and 

 Ogden will compare with Fitchburg, 

 while Cheyenne, Wyoming, Helena and 

 Great Falls in Montana, Leadville and 

 Cripple Creek in Colorado are in size be- 

 tween such cities as Pittsfield and New- 

 buryport in this state. By the census 

 of 1900, there were only twenty-two 

 cities and towns in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains with a population of 5,000 or over, 

 while Massachusetts had nearly eighty 

 in the list. 



The last census showed that Colorado 

 had more than two-thirds of the glass in 

 the mountain region and since then two 

 or three important places have been 

 erected. Important additions have also 

 been made at Salt Lake and at Butte. 

 Sm.all establishments with from 1,000 

 to 5,000 feet of glass have been started 

 at many points in the mountains and I 

 look for a still further increase in places 

 of that kind. A town of 2,000 or 

 3,000 inhabitants, Avith small mining 

 camps tributary to it and within easy 

 access by rail,' may very well offer in- 

 ducements to the young man looking for 

 an opportunity to start in a small way. 



A Long Distance Business. 



At ])resent in our own establishment, 

 in Denver, we have ledger accounts with 

 more than a thousand people scattered 

 ;;ll over the mountain country. There is 

 hanlly a day in the year tha't we do not 

 send retail orders to places from 300 

 to ;"00 miles distant; and on 

 holidays, especially before Memorial dav, 



