1296 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Makch 29, 1906. 



NOTICE 



Because of the new wage scale which 

 the Printers' Union has enforced upon 

 those employers not willing to stnfer 

 interruption of their business, especially 

 because of that part of the scale wfuch 

 makes overtime practically prohibttivet 

 it is of first importance that the Review 

 obtain its advertising **copy^ earlier. 



It is therefore earnestly requested 

 that all advertisers mail their ''cop/* 

 to reach us by Monday or Tuesday 

 morning, instead of Wechiesday morn- 

 ing, as many have done in the past* 



Contributors also please take heed. 



CONTENTS. 



American Rose Society (lUus.) 1279 



— The Boston Exhibition (illus.) 1279 



— President-elect Robert Simpson (portrait) 1279 



— Benjamin Hammond, secretary u>i>'"ti'Hit) 1279 



— President's Address - 12S<) 



— Secretary's Report 1280 



— The Banquet 1282 



— Some of the Visitors 1282 



— Convention Jottings 1282 



Boston Spring Show 1283 



Deterioration of Forcing Roses 1284 



Latest Methods In Growing 1284 



The Mall Order Trade 1288 



P. J. Lynch (portrait) 1287 



Soluble FertUlzers 1287 



J. F. Hubs (portrait) 1288 



Retailers and New Roses 1289 



George Asmus (portrait) 1289 



The Retail Florist 1291 



— Old-fashioned Bouquets 1291 



— The Ideal Salesman 1291 



Carnations — Carnation Notes — West 1292 



— Louise Naumann 1293 



— Boston Market 1293 



American Carnation Society 1293 



Miscellaneous Seasonable Hints 1293 



— Caiadium Esculentum 1293 



— Economy of Bench Space 1293 



— Managing Mixed Collections 1293 



— Renaissance of the Tuberose 1293 



— Sowing Sweet Peas 1294 



Notes from England 1294 



Hydrocyanic Acid Gas (illus.) 1294 



Henry Wehrman's Place (illus.) 1295 



Vegetable Forcing — Grand Rapids Lettuce.. 1296 



— Mushrooms 1296 



Chicago 1297 



St. Louis 1299 



Boston 1299 



Cincinnati 1300 



New York 1301 



Cleveland 1302 



Philadelphia 1304 



Twin Cities 1306 



Washington 1306 



Columbus, 1309 



Detroit 1309 



Want Advertisements 1311 



Seed Trade News 1312 



— Rochester Seed Notes 1313 



— Rawson Burned Out 1314 



— Maine Seed Laws 1314 



— European Seed Notes 1315 



Campanulas for Market 1325 



Pacific Coast — San Francisco 1326 



— Fruit Blossoms 1326 



Nursery News— Loss of Stock 1328 



— Best New England Varieties 1328 



Indianapolis 1330 



Kansas City 1334 



Rochester }„a2 



Pittsburg 1338 



Cash vs. Any Time 1340 



Damage from Smoke and Soot 1353 



Should Divide Manifold 1354 



Carnation and Rose Houses 1356 



Erie, Pa. — E. C. Hill has worked up 

 a stock of 25,000 plants of his new 

 geranium, Ora D. Hill. He will require 

 15,000 in 4-inch pots for his local trade 

 this spring. 



Flushing, N. Y.— Wm. T. James has 

 for years been raising seedling carna- 

 tions and has a cerise pink of great size 

 with non-bursting calyx which is attract- 

 ing much attention. 



Sanfoed, N. C— M. J. McPhail, who 

 has been with J. L. O'Quinn & Co., 

 Ealeigh, N. C, for six years, will build 

 houses here and start in business for 

 himself. He plans to start May 1. 



LYCHNIS SARTORL 



This new lychnis was in bloom here 

 last year, says a correspondent from 

 Dumfries, Scotland, but I cannot find 

 any mention of it in my books of refer- 

 ence. It, however, came to me through 

 the medium of Max Leichtlin, of Baden 

 Baden, so that I believe it is correctly 

 named. It reminds one somewhat in ita 

 flowers of Lychnis diurna, but it has 

 narrower and more lanceolate leaves. 

 The flowers are of a somewhat similar 

 color of purple, but the inflated calyx 

 is more elongated. The blooms have 

 been about half an inch across, and the 

 whole plant is about nine inches high. 

 It will probably give larger flowers, and 

 be a little taller when planted in the 

 open ground; my specimen having been 

 grown in a pot and in a cold frame, 

 with plenty of air during the day. On 

 first opening the flowers droop, but 

 afterwards become almost horizontal, 

 and eventually quite erect. It is, I be- 

 lieve, a native of China, and although 

 likely to be viewed with interest by 

 many, it will not, I think, take a high 

 place as a garden plant, although by 

 another year it will show its true char- 

 acter better. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chica(3o/ March 29. — Leaf lettuce, 35c 

 to 421/^c case; head lettuce, $1 to $5 

 bbl.; tomatoes, $3 to $5.50 case; cucum- 

 bers, 80c to 90c doz. 



New York, March 26. — Boston cu- 

 cumbers. No. 1, $1 to $1.12 doz.; No. 2, 

 $4 to $6 box; head lettuce, 25c to 60c 

 doz.; radishes, $1.50 to $2.25 100 

 bunches; mushrooms, 15c to 65c lb.; to- 

 matoes, 20c to 40c lb.; mint, 40c to 60c 

 doz. bunches. 



Boston, Mass., March 26. — Cucum- 

 bers, $3.50 to $8 box; mint, 60c doz. 

 bunches; hothouse spinach, 75c box; 

 parsley, $1.25 to $1.75 box; radishes, 

 $1.50 box; tomatoes, 35c to 40c lb.; 

 mushrooms, $2 to $4 four-pound basket; 

 rhubarb, 6c lb.; beets, $1.50 to $1,75 

 doz. bunches. 



GRAND RAPIDS LETTUCE. 



For the past two seasons we have ex- 

 perienced considerable trouble in getting 

 the seed of this variety to come up free- 

 ly. The seed seems to be fresh, though 

 not quite so plump and well filled as 

 we would like to see it, probably due 

 to improper ripening through unfavor- 

 able weather or some such cause. In 

 sowing lettuce we make a practice of 

 covering the seed to about its own depth 

 with soil and in former years have expe- 

 rienced no more trouble in getting Grand 

 Eapids up than other varieties, but the 

 only way we seem to have success with 

 it now is to sow it on top of the ground, 

 giving no more covering than the little 

 that IS washed over the seed when wa- 

 tered with a rather heavy hose. In this 

 way it germinates fairly well and, since 

 adopting this plan, we have experienced 

 little trouble in keeping up a supply, 

 but when covered the seed germinates 

 very slowly and quite a large percentage 

 never comes up. 



We are coming to rely on Grand 

 Eapids as a standard variety more and 

 more every year. There was a time 



when head lettuce was all the demand, 

 other kinds being taken only when head 

 lettuce could not be got; but now, the 

 tender quality of the Grand Bapids be- 

 ing recognized, it sells quite readily in 

 most markets and its freedom of growth 

 and freedom from disease makes it a very 

 profitable variety for the grower. It 

 is, in fact, the only variety that can be 

 grown with any certainty of success 

 where the crop has to be grown on 

 raised benches. Here, varieties of the 

 Boston Market type are sure to fall a 

 prey to leaf burn to a greater or less 

 extent. 



We grew a variety known as Glass- 

 house for several years, finding it re- 

 sisted disease better than any of the 

 leading varieties, but it was tough in 

 texture and strong to the taste; hence 

 would not meet the demand when a first- 

 class article was called for. In the 

 more modern houses where the lettuce is 

 grown on the ground floor we experience 

 little trouble in growing the head va- 

 rieties. Deacon being our favorite. But 

 in the houses with raised benches we 

 grow Grand Eapids exclusively, and find 

 no trouble in selling it at a renumera- 

 tive price. W. S. Croydon. 



MUSHROOMS. 



In the Eeview for March 15, under 

 the heading * ' Mushrooms Under Glass, ' ' 

 your correspondent, H. G. W., proposes 

 to convert some old and leaky green- 

 houses into mushroom houses by covering 

 the glass with muslin or cloth treated 

 with some waterproof solution. Tar pa- 

 per has been suggested as a substitute 

 for muslin. The use of tar paper in a 

 mushroom house has a serious draw- 

 back; it will materially retard if not 

 entirely check the development of the 

 spawn, which is most sensitive to all 

 antiseptics or disinfectants. A grower 

 of my acquaintance used tar paper in 

 the construction of the roof of his mush- 

 room house and found it impossible to 

 raise a crop in the row of beds next to 

 the tar paper. 



The use of steam for heating will 

 enable the grower to supply to the dry 

 winter atmosphere the necessary amount 

 of moisture. By allowing a linuted quan- 

 tity of steam to escape in the house 

 he will be - able to prevent the rapid 

 evaporation of his beds without injur- 

 ing the crop by the direct application of 

 water. Geo. C. Lambert. 



MECHANICAL WATERING. 



Louis Wittbold, the inventor of the 

 Wittbold watering system for green- 

 houses, now has an improved and per- 

 fected watering machine which will in- 

 terest all greenhouse men. While all 

 have heard of watering machines, they 

 are by most growers deemed an impos- 

 sibility, and those who have dared to ex- 

 periment in that direction have received 

 little encouragement. Nevertheless, the 

 watering machine is now an assured suc- 

 cess. W. B. Davis & Co., of Aurora, 

 III., have taken the lead by putting the 

 improved Wittbold system in their en- 

 tire establishment of 50,000 square feet, 

 this probably being the first greenhouse 

 in the world watered exclusively by ma- 

 chines. The proprietors express them- 

 selves as entirely satisfied, stating that 

 the watering now done perfectly in 

 about one hour formerly required nine 

 hours. D. 



The Carnation Number was fine. — M. 

 & S. L. Dysinger, Albion, Mich. 



