March 29, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



1293 



that happens repeatedly, and it will 

 happen in spite of your resolutions to 

 prevent. The only way to prevent it is 

 to repot them and thereby not only keep 

 the plants in good condition but at the 

 same time add to their strength and size- 

 Don 't forget that these are your next 

 season 's stock. A. F. J. Baur. 



THE LOUISE NAIJMANN. 



We take pleasure in writing in refer- 

 ence to the Louise Naumann carnation. 

 It is one that G. M. Naumann, of Cleve- 

 land, introduced and we think it one of 

 the best commercial bloomers on the 

 market today, as it is very free and 

 never bursts and grows on very strong, 

 wiry stems that hold the flower well. It 

 can be planted 9x9 inches and be run 

 very cool, around 45 degrees to 48 de- 

 grees. More heat won't hurt it. It is 

 the greatest carnation for wear and tear 

 we ever saw. When we purchased stock 

 from the originator we formed an opin- 

 ion as to what it was going to be and 

 are glad to say it has proven fine. The 

 size is about three inches or so and the 

 color about like Joost and beautifully 

 fringed and we think it will be quite a 

 few days before a carnation will come 

 and pass this for a payer. 



A. Laub & Son. 



BOSTON MARKET. 



We should like to have an opinion of 

 the Boston Market carnation for grow- 

 ers who produce a general stock for re- 

 tail trade. L. N. B. 



There is considerable difference of 

 opinion about the merits of Carnation 

 Boston Market. We have grown it for 

 three years and have steadily increased 

 the area of bench space devoted to Bos- 

 ton Market. It is not of largest size 

 and would stand no show against Lady 

 Bountiful at an exhibition of cut blooms, 

 but its good qualities are that it is one 

 of the very earliest of bloomers. It has 

 yielded up to date this season as many 

 blooms per plant as Lawson. It is free 

 of all disease and is a great keeper. 

 It is not a variety that will pay for or 

 needs any special treatment. We have 

 found the middle of August the best 

 time to lift it from the field. From the 

 first of April to midsummer it will run 

 away in production from almost any 

 carnation we grow. Altogether we con- 

 sider it a first-class variety, especially 

 for those who do not consider them- 

 selves experts or specialists. W. S. 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOQETY. 



President-elect John H. Dunlop, of 

 Toronto, Ont., has so aroused the enthu- 

 siasm of the inhabitants and officials of 

 his city that every obstacle that might 

 prove an inconvenience to the members 

 and exhibitors who will attqnd the meet- 

 ing next January in Toronto has been 

 removed and there will be less trouble in 

 getting stock to this show than in the 

 larger cities of the United States. 



Anything now that bears the stamp of 

 this society goes through without any 

 delay, and it is a safe prediction to say 

 that when it comes to the week of the 

 meeting stock will be rushed through 

 from Suspension Bridge to the exhibition 

 hall with a dispatch and care that will 

 make the people on this side want all of 

 our meetings held in Toronto. 



A. M. Herr, Sec'y. 



Caladium Esculentum. 



Since the great popularity of sub- 

 tropical gardening, which is so suitable 

 for our summer climate, especially where 

 water can be supplied in abundance, the 

 big green leaves of Caladium esculentum 

 are most useful. It is such a strong 

 rooting plant that it should be sparingly 

 used in window boxes or vases, for it 

 will rob everything that grows near it. 

 It is now time to start it. 



If the bulbs are potted in soil in 5-inch 

 or 6-inch pots, they are slow to start and 

 take up necessary room. Make a mix- 

 ture of rotten manure, sand and loam, 

 or any compost that is light and friable, 

 and with this fill flats of three inches 

 depth. Squeeze the bulbs in half their 

 depth and place the flats over the hot- 

 water pipes. In a very few days every 

 bulb will have sent out an abundance of 

 roots, as well as started to make leaf 

 growth, and then when put into 5-inch 

 or 6-inch pots and kept continually light 

 and warm you will have robust plants 

 that will not blow into shreds or burn up 

 with the sun. 



It is a coarse, easily grown plant, but 

 the demand increases every year and, 

 although by size of, plant when sold, 

 the price seems cheap, they occupy the 

 benches but a very short time and there- 

 fore are profitable. 



Economy of Bench Space. 



This is a point of great importance. 

 How long does a crop occupy a bench? 

 Take the chrysanthemum, which, under 

 the most skilful and successful manage- 

 ment, gives only a small net return, yet 

 not occupying much room until June, 

 and again disappearing by the end of 

 November. The benches are filled up 

 immediately with lilies, azaleas and 

 other spring flowering crops. Now if 

 the showy mum did not flower until 

 March or April, it would be very certain 

 that the fewer you grew the better you 

 would be off. The rose and carnation 

 occupy the benches the entire year and 

 with an interval of a few months there 

 should be a continuous income. 



The profits of your houses depend en- 

 tirely on how quickly one crop succeeds 

 another, or on how short a time the 

 benches are occupied. Every square foot 

 must return a profit. If not, it surely 

 diminishes the profit of another that 

 would be profitable. 1 can well remem- 

 ber, twenty years ago, that we became 

 nervous or fretty, and if there were 

 twenty lineal feet of bench room empty 

 I thought we were facing disaster. 



The present thouglit is i^ot about a 

 bench actually vacant, but are they filled 

 profitably? Have you had a certain crop 

 unnecessarily long on the benches? Are 

 there not many things that will for a 

 while take a back seat and remain only 

 a short time on the most favorable place? 

 All this is the very essence of good gar- 

 dening. 



We can't all be in the same line of 

 business, and some branches may be 

 more profitable and easy than others; 



yet I notice that the expert managers of 

 flowering plants for the different sea- 

 sons, such as W. K. Harris, of Philadel- 

 phia, or Wm. Edgar, of Boston, are just 

 as prosperous as the specialists on roses 

 or carnations, however expert they may 

 be. 



Managing Mixed Collections. 



There in one thing sure. To manage 

 a mixed collection of plants for a certain 

 date and have them right for the market 

 in the best of shape and condition needs 

 much more ability, thought and labor 

 than the growing of roses or carnations. 

 Less thought and labor may appeal to 

 some as an advantage. The plantsman 

 of varied experience and success must 

 exercise his intellect far more than the 

 specialist, who, once he has mastered 

 his specialty, finds a sameness and 

 monotony growing over him. It appears 

 to me that, although you may never 

 grow physically an eighth of an inch 

 after maturity — in fact, the reverse — the 

 brain goes on developing long after the 

 physical man stops. Brain exercise, 

 therefore, is needed, and if it is not re- 

 ceived through a useful and healthy 

 channel it will turn to frivolity and vice. 

 Certain it is, our large flower factories 

 are turning out dozens of young men 

 who have had experience in roses and 

 carnations, who think they are perfect 

 in their specialties, yet how few there 

 are who feel capable of growing and 

 managing a place where plants in their 

 season must be produced. 



I have purposely wandered away from 

 the original subject, economy of space, 

 and I wish to impress upon you, young 

 man, that he who can handle crop after 

 crop on his benches throughout the year 

 will be the successful man. 



Renaissance of the Tuberose. 



We will now return to practical gar- 

 dening. The sweet tuberose has for 

 years been under a cloud. We all know 

 why. Thirty years ago it was used to 

 excess in all kinds of funeral designs, 

 and when the tide turned susceptible 

 people pretended to hate the sweet blos- 

 som and said its odor reminded them of 

 a corpse. We are no judge of that, 

 having no experience with the latter only 

 in the shape of a cat or rat. 



Wo shall always remember C. W. 

 Ward 's famous dead cat which passed 

 from this wicked world because too much 

 hydrocyanic acid gas was in the house, 

 but Mr. Ward blamed the resulting odor 

 on the use of punk for fumigating. The 

 real cause of this feline's demise was a 

 broken heart at seeing its owner spend 

 so much money on sub-watering. Al- 

 though the cat was a martyr to the ex- 

 plorations of science, Mr. Ward survives 

 and is a splendid example of a man who 

 is willing to spend his money that others 

 may profit by it. We glory in his 

 acliievod success. 



Like other plants of which 1 have 

 lately written, much space can be saved, 

 also time, by placing the tuberose bulbe 

 in flats of an inch of light loam and old 



