JvNE 28. 1906. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



345 



more, as neatness and taste displayed in 

 a house, by the added pleasure to the 

 eye, more than compensate for any little 

 extra cost and labor incurred. 



Too much importance cannot be at- 

 tached to cultivating during the grow- 

 ing season. Even though it be practiced 

 twice a week it is not too frequent, and 

 will soon repay the labor by the rapidity 

 and quality of the growth. 



Do not allow the benches to stand 

 until it is absolutely necessary to culti- 

 vate them in order to get rid of the 

 weeds. Keep the soil ruffled so frequent- 

 ly that weeds cannot have time to show 

 themselves, and with all other conditions 

 good the stock is bound to flourish. 



Disbudding, as practiced by up-to-date 

 growers, consists of something more than 

 merely nipping off the bud and leaving 

 all the immature eyes on the stem to 

 break. They usually select the eye they 

 wish to form the future stem, which is 

 to be found near the center of the 

 growth to be operated on. If this 

 growth is extra strong it is best to leave 

 an extra eye or two, but where the 

 growth is weak they should be cut back 

 to at most four eyes in order to balance 

 the future bush. 



If tlie drainage is good, give the 

 young stock plenty of water. It is 

 astonishing how much water healthy 

 young stock can use with profit at this 

 season. Unless on very cold nights, and 

 we cannot expect many of them during 

 the next six weeks, the ventilator can 

 remain fully open unless when there is 

 danger from wind or rain. 



This will give the stock a hardy con- 

 stitution and enable them to withstand 

 the troubles we all expect to encounter 

 when the days get short and the nights 

 80 cold that we cannot indulge in such 

 free access of air. Ribes. 



NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



The Temple show held last week in 

 London was a record, both in quantity 

 and quality of exhibits. It is always 

 ' ' the ' ' show of the year. All expert trade 

 growers exhibit and it may be of benefit 

 to American growers to know the names 

 of the trade specialists who are at the 

 top in each particular line. 



Commencing with orchids, which 

 formed by far the G;reatest attraction, 

 Sander & Sons, St. Albans, were showing 

 the finest in all general varieties, but 

 C. Vuylsteke, Loochristy, Ghent, Belgium, 

 showed probably the best odontoglossums 

 of various types. In roses Wm. Paul & 

 Sons, Waltham Cross, still are able to 

 hold their own as the best all-round 

 growers. In carnations A. F. Dutton, 

 Iver, Bucks, showed by far the finest in 

 the American varieties and apart from 

 the orchids no other exhibit attracted 

 80 much attention as these. John 

 Waterer & Sons, Bagshot, Surrey, still 

 hold the premier place as growers of 

 rhododendrons, the finest plant in the 

 show being their new Pink Pearl. 



Sutton & Sons, Reading, showed, as 

 they have done for many years, the finest 

 obtainable strains of calceolarias, gloxi- 

 nias and cinerarias. Carter & Co., of 

 Holborn, in the new Eschscholzia Car- 

 mine King have the finest thing of its 

 kind I ever have seen. In clematis G. 

 Jackman & Co., of Woking, are undoubt- 

 edly the leading growers. Their new 

 Jackniani rubra and Lady Northcliffe 

 will likely be fine commercial varieties. 



Tn tulijjs of course the May flowering 

 varieties at this time of the vear were 



heavily in evidence. At the pres- 

 ent time I think the finest and most ex- 

 tensive stock is held by Hogg & Robert- 

 son, of Dublin, Ireland. Alex Wilson, 

 of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, although not 

 yet a very extensive grower, shows the 

 finest individual blooms and I imagine 

 much more will be heard from this grow- 

 er in the near future. Ker & Sons, 

 Liverpool, appear to take first place in 

 amaryllis (hippeastrums). 



In begonias no other strain excels that 

 of T. S. Ware, Ltd., Feltham, Middlesex, 

 especially in doubles. Henry Eckford, 

 Wem, Shropshire, still holds the finest 

 strains of commercial sweet peas, al- 

 though some of the strains from Watkins 

 & Simpson, of Tavistock street, London, 

 run all other commercial strains very 

 close. Reamsbotham & Co., Alderbor- 

 ough. Kings County, Ireland, had the 

 finest collection of St. Brigid anemone, 

 and their stock is the largest, although 

 Messrs. Gilbert, of Bourne, Lines., have 

 never been beaten with their variety. 

 King of the Scarlets. 



The American fern, Nephrolepis ex- 

 altata Elegantissima, was shown by Mr. 

 Godfry, Exmouth, who obtained a first- 

 class certificate for it. This variety, to- 

 ge.-er with Nephrolepis exaltata Scottii, 

 will eventually make valuable commer- 

 cial sorts. 



Paris green is now extensively used by 

 every class of grower, both inside and 

 out, and when mixed in proper propor- 

 tions no harm to any vegetation ever re- 

 sults. I have seen it used on maidenhair 

 ferns successfully for greenfly and for 

 the same trouble on roses, also on fruit 

 trees and bushes. This year red spider 

 has been exceptionally troublesome on 

 the fruit farms, also the violet planta- 

 tions and cucumber houses, but wherever 

 I have visited growers are busy with the 

 knapsack, spraying Paris green, and red 

 spider now has no terrors for them as 

 formerly. A few years ago sulphur was 

 the great remedy for spider, especially 

 on indoor growths, but the use of this 

 often caused much injury to the vegeta- 

 tion. 



The society to foster the growth of 

 winter-flowering carnations in England 

 is now an actual fact, a dinner and meet- 

 ing to elect officers and form rules being 

 held last week in London. 



It is stated in reference to obtaining 

 the brilliant blue coloring of Hydrangea 

 hortensis, in addition to alum waterings, 

 previously spoken of in these notes, if 

 some iron filings are placed over the 

 drainage, about one big handful, it will 

 give the brilliant blue coloring and also 

 make the bloom last some seven to ten 

 days longer in perfection than when 

 grown in the ordinary way. B. J. 



VEGETABLES FOR EXHIBITION. 



[A pappr by John Heeremiins, read Itefore the 

 Morris County Gardeners' and Florists' Club, 

 Madison. N. J., June i:{, 1006.] 



The culture of vegetables, at all times 

 a most interesting study, becomes very 

 much more so when the object is the ex- 

 hibition table. As exhibitions at which 

 vegetables figure at all prominently are 

 held principally in the fall, I shall con- 

 fine these few remarks mainly to those 

 varieties which are in season at that 

 time of the year. Now, we shall say 

 that the exhibitor wishes to take a col- 

 lection of twelve varieties, which I con- 

 sider is ample to test the skill of any 

 person. The following I would consider 

 a good selection : celery, leeks, onions, 

 potatoes, carrots, beets, cauliflower, par- 



snips, turnips, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts 

 and lettuce, or, should string beans, peas, 

 sweet corn or egg plant be available, 

 they would give a larger selection. 



Undesirable Show Varieties. 



Whatever varieties are chosen, they 

 should be good types of their respective 

 sorts, and not included in the collection 

 because they happened to be a poor dish 

 of peas out of season, to the exclusion 

 of a good dish of turnips, and so on. 



Personally, I do not care much for 

 the squash family as exhibition vegeta- 

 bles. They represent no extra amount 

 of skill in their cultivation. Any one 

 with a manure heap can grow squash. 

 The same applies to some other varieties 

 that do not represent much skill; the 

 different sorts of spinach, including 

 Swiss chard, which I do not suppose one 

 person in a dozen will eat if anything 

 else is available. The oyster plant and 

 Jerusalem artichoke do not figure very 

 high as exhibition vegetables. 



Methods of Culture. 



You will notice that I placed celery 

 at the head of my list. There is no 

 vegtable, to my mind, that calls for 

 more skilful cultivation than first-class 

 celery. It should be large without being 

 pithy or hollow, have a good sized heart, 

 be well bleached and free from rust or 

 blemishes. A good time to sow the seed 

 for the product to be in good shape late 

 in October is in early May. I prefer to 

 sow in boxes and place in a greenhouse 

 in gentle heat. When ready, prick out 

 into coldframes or anywhere in four 

 or five inches of soil on a hard bottom, 

 where water is handy, for they require 

 lots of it. ^ue plants will be ready for 

 the open ground by the miduie of June, 

 and no opportunity of a showery day 

 should be lost in getting them out. If 

 the weather is at all dry, water must be 

 given in abundance if good results are 

 expected. 



Large onions and leeks are very strong 

 exhibition vegetables, and their culture 

 is practically identical, except that the 

 leeks require earthing up to blanch them. 

 Onions and leeks cannot be too large for 

 show purposes, and to produce large 

 roots, very early sowing is indispensable. 

 February is none too soon to sow in 

 heat in a greenhouse. They must be 

 pricked off into boxes when large enough 

 to handle and kept growing on, gradu- 

 ally hardening off and planted out in 

 very rich soil in the garden in May. 

 These plants are gross feeders, and 

 must have very high cultivation to bring 

 them to a high state of perfection. 



Potatoes for exhibition should be of 

 medium size, clear in the skin and have 

 shallow eyes. Very large specimens are 

 more than likely to be hollow in the 

 middle. Carrots and parsnips must be 

 large and have very clean skins and uni- 

 form, tapering roots. Beets and turnips 

 should be of medium size, inclining to 

 small rather than large, as big speci- 

 mens are useless except for feeding cat- 

 tle. 



Cauliflower, a splendid vegetable, but 

 very difficult to get good in this section 

 of the country, should be of medium 

 size with very close and clean white 

 heads. Tomatoes must be of medium 

 size and very round, not corrugated, and 

 should be ripened on the plant. Brus- 

 sels sprouts, a very telling vegetable 

 when good, should be large and solid, 

 not open and ragged. Lettuce also must 

 lie large nnd very solid. j 



