J 706 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



-Mav 



\'M>C,. 



An Unparalleled Situation. 



Siuli .-I iiiiiil ii i,in lit' .-ilViiirs li;is pi-dli 



;iMy iM\ir lici'drc 1 n cxiicricnccd in 



till' nlli'T iii-inni-;i li/,;il inn <>i' lr;i<li' in 

 sni-li a 1;ii'l;i' .irca ot' i-minti'v, ami sii;ns 

 t'l'i any iinpi'ii\cnn'nt t'nr a loii;;- tiiiir t" 

 • ■nini' ail' ai |i|'i"-imi1 nut a jijiareiit. 'I'lic 

 piililic ]i:\< ali--iiintc'ly nn nsc I'cir tlnwi'i's. 

 |-;\ 1 rydiii- I-. intvfisi.'il in L;c'ttini; a plarc 

 1(1 <liM,'|i. anil it will lie a Iimil; tinir In- 

 Jiii'i' anything in lln^ way nl' liixnrirs is 

 niin(>i| at. 



All till' unilertakiTs in San l-'raiicism 

 ail' IniiiH'il (int. all tin- jinlilic lialh, most 

 (if tli(^ i-lmi-i-lic>. t)\('r L'."in.i)Ui) |ic(i|i|c 

 lia\(' li.'i'l ilii' tdwn and arc Incatcl in 

 xai'iiuis parts nf tiic state, so that the 

 chalices t'ur I'niiera! wni'l-; arc \cry slim. 

 jNIdst (if the licai'scs and (•ari'ia;.^cs li;i\i' 

 {^iiiie t(j the tlames. I'^merals ar-c cdn- 

 diioted MTy (|uictly. There .arc Imt few 

 caskets in tnwii. and the friends arc sn 

 \\ idely disirilinted when a death dccurs 

 that lluTc is n(i cham-e l'(ir the lldidsi. 



Quantities an{i Prices, 



A ]iiT\ estimate of the eaiiiations th.at 

 slunild lie markcte(| ;it this time is 

 ahout a millinn liliHims jicr week, .and 

 ;il)init lialt' a inillidii rese Imds in the 

 stmie length uf time. It is safe tn say 

 that iiuT (i\cr li\(,- jicr (/(nit arc shi|i|ie(| 

 to outside iKiints, and when this was 

 done direct irnm the wli"desaicrs thei-e 

 has been little change. 'I'lie retail 

 dealers li.a\'c in many inst.anccs tuinc(i 

 their out-of-town I'ccuhn" (aistoniers o\cr 

 to the L^rowcrs. aiKl in this way tne 

 stores in other localities will not l»e in- 

 convcnieuced. 



((juotal ioiis of \;nioiis flowers ai'(^ not 

 Worth niakine. Tiie finest c.armitions 

 ever seen can lie had at oH cents iicr 



luuidred. and American Beauties with 

 1-1'oot si ems at :i few ccnits per (lozen. 

 Other stock is sold by tne hasKet, an(l it 

 is oidy a waste of time to pretend to 

 (liiolc on it. 



iiow loii^ this condition of alt'airs 

 will last, or how it will turn in a few 

 W(H'ks, 1 am at a loss to conjecture. 

 Some o1' liie growers are trying; to ;;'et a 

 market for their i^oods in other towns, 

 lint lar^e cities are scarce ou this coast, 

 and the chances are not very Wrij^ht tu 

 use nuicli stock in that way. 



However. soinetliin;,^ bricliter may 

 loom uj) in t In^ luture to relieve the 

 conditions somewhat, but at the pi'csent 

 writinc' they are at the lowest jioint 

 ever reached in this localitv. (1. 



FIRST AND BEST. 



The l»i-:vii:w, ct)ntaininy the \ciy full 

 iukI spKiulid description of the losses 

 of the brother llorists in tliat sadly 

 strl(ken California city of San Fran- 

 cisco, as well as other points, came to 

 hand in due season Thursday afternoon. 

 1 elory in the enterprise that has brought 

 about such thiiifi's in so short a time. 



The catastrophe makes our trouble in 

 1^71, in the burning of Chicago, look 

 small, although as 1 read from day to 

 day the accounts in tlu' daily papers, 

 many of the experiences there given were 

 similar to those with us. The feeding of 

 the hungry was one of those things that 

 I, as a public oliicer at the time, had a 

 hand in, in the etirly stages of the work. 



1 was also, you m;iy be sure, glad to 

 lind that our old friend, ^Ir. Grant, al- 

 t iiongh shaken, is all light. What an 

 experience in one's lifetime. 



Edgar Saxdki;s. 



Popular Nephrolepis. 



Everyone must ha\e noticed the won- 

 derful jiopularity of the m^phrolepis 

 fern the past winter. Most of the large 

 growers weie sohl (Uit long liefore Eas- 

 ter. The grower of bedding jilants will 

 have his benches too full for another 

 thri e or four weeks, but as -non as any 

 can be s])ared, four or five imdies of 

 good, fresh loam should be put on them 

 and the yoiiii" ferns pl.anted out one 

 fo(»t apart. 1 believe fiuir indies of 

 soil is quite as good as six inches, and 

 that saves a lot of labor and material. 

 A third of well-decayed animal mtinure 

 should be mixed wilii the soil. 



^rh'TO aie now so many \arieties of 

 ncphrolefiis that it is \ eiit nresome to 

 sa}' mucli about the meiils of any par- 

 ticular variety. 



Bostonicnsis \\as ,a great improve- 

 ment on old N. exaltata. and a well 

 grown Boston will fill the bill with most 

 people. 



Scottii is a most valuable variety and 

 makes such a compact plant, even when 

 quite small, that it sells the best jof-alh^ 

 and you should have a large proportion 

 of yotir stock of Scottii. 



The still moie beautiful foians. Pier- 

 soni and Elegant issima. ;ind still later 



r.airowsii. .and now AVhitmani, are beau- 

 tiful as specimen plants, and as they 

 are only sj)orts or variations of the Bos- 

 ton form there is no reason why they 

 should be more dillicult to grow or less 

 useful plants for the dwelling hou.se. 



The Bagpipe Fern. 



\\'liitmani is the latest and seems to 

 us the most beautiful of these many 

 different forms, yet F would say let 

 the groat majority of your stock bo the 

 old Bostonicnsis and Scottii. If the 

 latter is well grown, you will have not 

 only a beautiful fern, but you will no- 

 tice at break of day that it resembles 

 a full-drcsse(l Scottish warrior clad in 

 kilts with hlibeg and tartan j)laid. 

 i'he bag|ii|)es .ai(^ not visiiilo because 

 \yhen in full bhist it is seldom that 

 ither the animal or vegetable kingdom 

 (•an stand tlie bagpii)es. They tried to 

 introduce the pipes into Illinois, but it 

 uas :i I'ailure. To be appreciated a 

 jiilly country is required, the music be- 

 ing (ui one side of the hill and the audi- 

 ence on the other. After this brief al- 

 lusion to the jirehi.storic windbag of old 

 Scotia, i will repeat, grow all you can 

 I of this most useful class of ferns. It 

 , will jiay you better than chrysanthe- 

 mums. 



Herbaceous Plants. 



-Many llorists are tiskeil to supply 

 shrubs and herbaceous plants. Now is 

 the time to transidant both. All of 

 the latter move with safety now. While 

 I am a great believer in division of 

 labor, anil more and more under our 

 civilization is it the oriler of the day, 

 yet there arc many cases where our good 

 customers have been sadly deceived by 

 the ignortint tree peddler and his col- 

 ored pictures, and they turn to the resi- 

 lient florist for their wants or advice, 

 i have little to say about herbaceous 

 ]dants, except that the spot where they 

 are planted should be dug deejily ami 

 plenty of manure worked in. 



Planting Deciduous Stock. 



Deciduous shrubs transplant with 

 safety any time before they are in full 

 leaf, but mmdi better before the leaf 

 buds have started. All shrubs and 

 trees havi> lost more or less roots in 

 trausj)lantiiig and must be pruned in 

 proportion to the los.s of roots, so that 

 the inactive or mutilated roots will have 

 to supj>ly less sap. (icneraliy the 

 smaller the shrub the less pruning is 

 necessary. Your customers are likely 

 to make a face and think you are com- 

 mitting murder when they see you using 

 the knife freely, but tell them, with the 

 look of a sage and an air of authority, 

 that it is tlie salvation of the shrub, 

 and long before fall the growth will 

 have far outstripped the shrub that was 

 unpruned. 



Hardy Roses. 



Thousands of hybrid peij>etual rosea 

 are idanted every spring, and the great 

 majority are disappointing. Florists or 

 tree jieddlers tell their customers, "Oh, 

 yes, nia'm, they will flower this sum- 

 mer." This is deception. They will 

 have a few abortive llowers at the ends 

 of the shoots and make no wood to 

 llowcr the next year. Tell your cus- 

 tomers not to expect flowers the first 

 year, and that they must be cut back to 

 within a few eyes when first planted. 

 Then thev will make stronsx irrowth and 

 next year will give an abundance of 

 splendid lilooin.s, and for years to come, 

 if properly juained. 



Pruning Shrubs. 



You will just now daily be asked to 

 send a man "to prune my shrubs," 

 and difTicult it is to get a man who 

 knows the difference between those 

 which should be pruned now and those 

 wliicli should not be pruned until after 

 they have flowered. 



An instance of the ignorance of this 

 was called to my attention in the shrub- 

 bery surrounding one of our large pub- 

 lic Schools in the case of a lot of for- 

 sythia, the beautiful early-flowering 

 yellow blossom. If that is cut back 

 hard in early spring, or before flower- 

 ing time, you get no flowers. Broadly 

 the rule is this: Shrubs that set their 

 flower buds the previous summer, like 

 the lilac, the forsythia, cydonia, tam- 

 arix and all our fruit trees, must not 

 be touched until they have flowered. 

 Then prune and they make a growth 

 and form flower buds for the following 

 year. The hybrid roses, Hydrangea 

 paniculata grandiflora, the althaea and 

 many others flower only on the current 

 year's growth, and these should be cut 

 back before growth starts in the 

 spring. 



It would be a long chapter to tell you 

 about all the diA'crent flowering shrubs, 



