March 1, 1906. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review^ 



9S9 



AMONG THE GROWERS. 



H. A. Stevens Co., Dedham, Mass, 



H. A. Stevens Co., at East Dedham, 

 Mass., grows some of the best carna- 

 tions seen in the Boston market. Five 

 houses are devotea to their culture and 

 while some sorts were off crop when the 

 writer called, there was plenty of bloom. 

 A very pretty sport of Variegated Law- 

 Bon, somewhat different from the one 

 flent out last season hj F. B. Pierson Co., 

 fills several benches, and the firm finds 

 a good demand for rooted cuttings. 

 Mrs. Patten is alsj grown, but Mr. 

 Stevens says Variegated Lawson put-, 

 blooms it with them in the proportion of 

 five to one. Anotnjr Lawson sport, of 

 Enchantress color, is being grown and is 

 well liked. Both Enchantress and Fair 

 Maid are grown as light pinks, Lawson 

 still filling the bill as a dark pink. 

 Manly was very prolific as a scarlet, 

 although a few of the more shy bloom- 

 ing Flamingo are still retained. Boston 

 Market was head and shoulders over 

 other whites. The Queen did not look 

 80 well as at other places I have visited. 

 Lady Bountiful is found too slow and, 

 while a fancy flower, is not considered 

 profitable. Harry Fenn is grown as a 

 crimson. Quite a number of promising 

 eeedlings were noted. 



A good collection of peonies and 

 herbaceous phlox are grown in a field 

 near-by. For these a good demand is 

 found. A large cellar is devoted to 

 mushrooms. Pure culture spawn is used 

 exclusively and the crops are excellent. 

 Flowers grown are sold at the Music 

 hall market, Boston. 



Peter Fisher, Ellis, Mass. 



"We found Peter Fisher busy potting 

 off rooted cuttings. His house of these 

 <50uld hardly be improved upon. We 

 wish every grower who sells cuttings 

 were as careful in selection as Mr. 

 Fisher and there would be fewer com- 

 plaints about tue quality of stock of 

 novelties being sent out. Plants in all 

 the houses looked suprisingly well, more 

 especially when it is remembered that 

 they were . grown outside in an almost 

 rainless summer an-l were worried by 

 cutworms so that tliey were in many 

 cases little more than bare sticks when 

 housed. This year stock will all be 



Slanted from pots directly into the 

 enches, indoor culture being the only 

 sure solution lor last year's worries. 



We were especially interested in Bea- 

 con, which tied with Robert Craig for a 

 bronze medal in the S. A. F. class at 

 Boston. As seen growing it looked to us 

 much brighter than on the exhibition 

 tables, where it seemed to us to take on 

 something of a brickish hue. In color 

 it is one of the light scarlets, nearer to 

 \ictory than John E. Haines. A 300-foot 

 bench of it was a magnificent sight, being 

 smothered with bloom, carried on good 

 stiff stems, which held the flowers erect. 

 Hardly a burst calvx was seen. Mr. 

 Fisher will plant a 300-foot house of it 

 next season and will probably introduce 

 it in 1907. One prominent carnationist 

 wanted his order booked for 20,000 as 

 soon as he had seen il growing. 



Evangeline looked very well. A num- 

 ber of the plants, however, show burst- 

 ing tendencies. No cuttings are being 

 taken from any of these and it is hoped 

 to overcome this defect. The salmon 

 color is pleasing and it sells quickly at 

 the stores, it being necessary to hide it to 

 fill the demands of special customers. 



House of Enchantress Grown by Vclie Bros., Marlborough, N. Y. 



We do not like the shade as well as 

 Enchantress, the only trouble with the 

 latter grand sort being that it does so 

 we.i everywhere that people will soon de- 

 clare it is too common and demand a 

 different shade. Seedling No. 500, a 

 deeper shade ttian Enchantress, is in our 

 estimation destined to be a better thing 

 than Evangeline and will be heard from 

 later. Ruby will not be grown again as 

 a crimson. Its color is a little too dark, 

 but a very warm colored seedling of a 

 lighter shade will tnke its place. In 

 the seedling house scarlets loomed up 

 prominently. There were a dozen or 

 more really good ones, some promising 

 yellows, and other shades were also no- 

 ticed. 



Among standard varieties Lady Boun- 

 tiful looked well. White Lawson, how- 

 ever, is considered much more profitable, 

 the flowers of the latter being particu- 

 larly liked for funeral work. Mrs. Patten 

 is the whole show in its class and car- 

 ried a heavy crop. In scarlets a few 

 Flamingo are still grown. Some Victory 

 and John E. Haines were also on trial. 

 The best type of the latter is hard to 

 beat as a perfect scarlet, but it needs 

 considerable selection to secure it. En- 

 chantress looked grand, as it does almost 

 everywhere this season. The least said 

 about Fiancee the better. Here it is a 

 complete failure and will be dropped. 



W. N. C. 



Y^etable Forcing. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chicago, Feb. 28.-— Cucumbers $1.20 

 to $1.75 doz.; leaf lettuce 30c to 45c 

 case; head lettuce, $7 to $10 bbl.; toma- 

 toes, $6 to $8 case. 



New York, Feb. 26. — Boston cucum- 

 bers, No. 1, $1.50 to $2 doz.; No. 2, 

 $4 to $8 box; head lettuce, 50c to $1 

 doz.; radishes, $2 to $3 100 bunches; 

 mushrooms, 15c to 50c lb.; rhubarb, 25c 

 to 50c doz. bunches; mint, 40c to 75c 

 doz. bunches. 



Boston, Mass., Feb. 26. — Mushrooms, 



$1 to $2 per four-pound basket; lettuce, 

 25c to 85c doz.; tomatoes, 50c lb.- rhu- 

 barb, 5c to 6c lb.; hothouse spinach, 50c 

 box; radishes, 50c to $1 box; cucumbers, 

 !f!4.50 to $18 box; mint, 75c doz. bunches; 

 I)arsley, $1.50 to $2 box. 



RADISHES AND LETTUCE. 



I have two greenhouses with solid beds 

 four feet wide, of the violet pit type, 

 which have had plants growing in them 

 since September 1. I want to Know how 

 to enrich the soil, which is quite poor, 

 of a sandy, loamy nature. In one house 

 1 want to sow radishes as soon as the 

 radishes I am pulling now are all out, 

 and in the other I want to plant cauli- 

 flower and lettuce. As 1 have no rotten 

 barn-yard manure I would like to know 

 it I could use sheep manure with safety 

 and how to apply it; also, how many 

 pounds to put to the 100 square feet of 

 bench. Do you think I could use ma- 

 nure from a hen-coop to advantage with- 

 out risk? S. H. 8. 



Cauliflower and lettuce ought to do 

 all right in soil fertilized with sheep 

 manure at the rate of fifty pounds to 

 lUO square feet. Procure the unpulver- 

 ized article as the pulverized is often 

 adulterated to a considerable extent, 

 therefore of uncertain strength. It should 

 be well worked through the soil and, if 

 very dry, the bench should receive a good 

 watering after working in the manure 

 and be allowed to stand for about three 

 days before the plants are set into it. 

 For radishes half the above-mentioned 

 quantity of manure will be sufficient, but 

 it should be worked in so that the ma- 

 nure will not be mixed in the surface soil. 

 Within two inches of the surface will 

 be close enough to the radishes to insure 

 their coming out clean and well shaped, 

 which they would not do should the bulbs 

 come in direct contact with the manure. 

 The best way to do this is to remove 

 two inches of the surface soil, work the 

 manure in the bed, then put the two 

 inches of clean soil back. Should your 

 beds require to be raised a little you 

 could work the manure in the soil as it 

 stands at present, then procure enough 

 fresh soil to give a covering of two 



