Makch 1, 1906. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



991 



A Sterlias Commercial Sort* 



Mrs. George Beech -will be a sterling 

 sort for the commercial grower and while 

 rather late for an exhibition flower is 

 far ahead of Yellow Eaton and others 

 of the class for November shows. I no- 

 tice it mentioned very prominently in 

 English periodicals as a grand Christ- 

 mas variety. Beech is a yellow sport 

 from Mrs. Swinburne, a variety that you 

 may recall I sent out last year and which 

 will be largely grown next year as a late 

 white, for it has made good everywhere. 



Leslie P. Ward, which I named after 

 our patron and fellow townsman, is one 

 of the most beautiful combinations of 

 color I have seen, being old rose with 

 golden tips to the petals. It is an Aus- 

 tralian seedling and was exhibited as No. 

 50. To get the lovely color of this 

 variety at its best do not take a bud 

 before September 1 if you can help it, as 

 earlier buds, while they produce larger 

 flowers, do not show such fine color. 



M. G. Rival is a French sport from 

 Paola Radaelli, which was a fine thing, 

 but a poor, undecided color. Rival is a 

 fine deep yellow, deeper in color than 

 Col. Appleton, and will be of good serv- 

 ice, as its growth is fine in every way. 



Other Good Australians. 



There are several other good kinds in 

 the Australians, G. J. Brooks, Merstham 

 Crimson and W. Wells, but time and 

 space forbid of going into them in detail. 

 The last named will probably show up 

 much better this coming season than it 

 did last, because stock was limited and I 

 experimented over a wide range of buds 

 to find the best one. 



The introductions of other dissemi- 

 nators I cannot speak of with any de- 

 gree of knowledge, not having seen any 

 of them to speak of. The F. R. Pierson 

 Co. 's Glenview, a bronzy red, is a good 

 one and well worth a trial. 



Nathan Smith and H. W. Buckbee 

 both have their usual list of new seed- 

 lings, but I cannot speak on them, not 

 having seen them, and we must wait for 

 another year to pass judgment. 



Valuable Object Lesson. 



You may, perhaps, ask what is the use 

 of buying in new kinds every year when 

 80 many of the older ones are so fine. 

 If you are an exhibitor you must keep 

 up with the times and keep buying the 

 best. » 



A valuable object lesson was given at 

 the Philadelphia show, where, in the 

 special classes, every prize-winner was a 

 new variety, or not over two years old, 

 and there were lots of the older vari- 

 eties competing. The obvious lesson is 

 that while progress may be slow, never- 

 theless it is progress all the time, and the 

 end is not yet by any means. 



C. W. Ward says it takes nearly a 

 thousand years to add an inch to the 

 size of a carnation. Progress in the 

 chrysanthemum is very much faster than 

 that; if you will look back and see what 

 has been done in the past twenty years 

 it is really startling, and, while im- 

 proved methods of culture have brought 

 out a good deal, careful and systematic 

 hybridizing is bringing out very much 

 more. 



Our exhibition last year was the best 

 we ever had and the flowers were cer- 

 tainly the largest we ever had staged. 

 This coming fall I know we shall make 

 more progress in this direction and the 

 varieties we have been discussing this 

 evening will have no small part in the 

 grand procession. 



CoL E. H, R. Green. 



THE SOUTHWEST. 



Great as has been the commercial and 

 industrial development of all sections of 

 the United States in the past half dozen 

 years, no portion of our country has 

 made greater strides than the south, that 

 section in which floriculture has been 

 slowest to assume proportions of import- 

 ance; and of the south, that great area 

 west of the Mississippi has progressed 

 fastest of all. It is just beginning to 

 be realized that in the southwest lies an 

 empire rich in all the possibilities of 

 fruitfulness which are attractive to 

 strong, resourceful men of large affairs. 

 Everyone at all familiar with the 

 florists' business knows that the demand 

 for flowers comes after the call for the 

 necessities has been supplied and that 

 the business in which we are engaged 

 may struggle along for years during the 

 pioneer period but always goes forward 

 at a leap in any community when its 

 people have w^orked their way to a posi- 

 tion of prosperity and are ready for 

 some of the pleasures of life. 



For the development of the southwest 

 a great measure of credit must be given 

 the railroads and to one railroad man 

 a considerable part of the development 

 of floriculture is likely to be due. Col. 

 E. H. R. Green went to Texas known 

 only as the son of Hetty Green. He has 

 attained a position of prominence in the 

 railroad affairs of the country, being 

 president of the Texas Midland and in- 

 terested in many other enterprises. 



A number of years ago Col. Green be- 

 came interested in floriculture and in 

 1903 organized the Green Floral and 

 Nursery Co., with himself as president, 

 Eugene Corley secretary and V. Viaille 

 manager. They built six houses 24x150 

 on Mr. Green 's farm at Terrell and 

 have done well. The business in the 

 south has grown immensely in the last 

 few years, hundreds of thousands of dol- 

 lars' worth of cut flowers being shipped 

 from the north in the absence of local 

 supply, and Mr. Green is going ahead 

 with the building of a big new cut 

 flower plant on his place just outside of 

 Dallas, where he makes his home. Mate- 

 rial has been ordered for seventeen 

 houses. Nine are to be each 28x200, 

 five 21x100 and three 10x100. A part 

 of the plant is to be iron frame, built 

 by the Burnham-Hitchings-Pierson Co. 

 The roof material for the cypress houses 

 comes from the Lockland Lumber Co. 

 1 he range is to be completed by July 1. 



The plan is to devote the entire estab- 

 lishment to cut flowers for wholesaling 

 to the florists of the southwest, who now 

 draw, the bulk of their supplies from 

 Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago, and 

 whose requirements are expected to 

 steadily increase, especially when it is 

 possible to secure stock within a few 

 hours of home. The range is to be added 

 to as the territory is developed. The 

 plant trade will not be touched at pres- 

 ent, but adjoining the greenhouses a 

 nursery of twenty-five acres is being es- 

 tablished and will be ready next fall. 



