Mai 10, 1906. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review, 



1781 



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Jasmine Growing at Alvin, Tex., for the Northern Markers. 



t)looms freely and the flowers measure 

 from three to three and one-half inches. 



John E. Haines, Bethlehem, Pa., regis- 

 ters Carnation Pink Imperial, pure pink 

 of immense size and unusually long 

 stems, all season througn ; a strong 

 grower and free bloonjer. 



Rudolph Fischer, Great Neck, L. I., 

 registers Carnation Aoundance, a pure 

 white of fair size and an unusually free 

 bloomer. 



Dailledouze Bros., Flatbush, N. Y., 

 register Carnation Crimson Glow, a glow- 

 ing crimson of medium size, perfectly 

 stiff stem, an excellent calyx, of good 

 healthy habit and a free and continu- 

 ous bloomer. 



Robert C. Pye, Nyack, N. Y., registers 

 Carnation Avalanche, pure white flower 

 three and one-half inches in diameter on 

 a stiff, wiry stem twenty inches in 

 length; habit resembling Ijawson, its 

 seed parent, but without the short stems 

 of that variety. 



Albert M. Herr, Sec'y. 



THE JASMINE INDUSTRY. 



' ' Great oaks from little acorns grow, ' ' 

 and it was from a very small beginning 

 that the cape jasmine industry has come 

 to be one of first importance, not only 

 to the people of a cei'tain town in Texas, 

 but to a large number of florists in all 

 parts of the United IStates. Alvin is 

 not the metropolis of the Lone Star state. 

 In fact, the express agent says that the 

 annual shipments of about a million 

 ' ' capes ' ' represents the gathering and 

 packing of five boxes of 100 each for 

 every man, woman, child and "colored 

 person" in the community. 



Alvin is on the Santa Fe, little more 

 than an hour's ride southwest of Hous- 

 ton and not quite that far from Gal- 

 veston and the gulf. It is the recog- 

 nized headquarters of the cape jasmine 

 shippers, just at this moment beginning 

 their season's activity. The first ship- 

 ments from there, many years ago, were 

 from bushes grown for no special pur- 

 pose. For several seasons the shipments 

 were simply such as circumstances pro- 

 vided but as the possibilities of the 

 northern market began to be appreciated 

 the business was put on a firm founda- 



tion by the planting of many acres to be 

 grown specially to supply cut buds for 

 shipment north. 



The cape jasmine is Gardenia jasmin- 

 oides. It is a tender shrub four to six 

 feet high, with thick, glossy, dark green 

 evergreen foliage. It propagates readily 

 from cuttings and in the Alvin district 

 the bushes are grown in rows across 

 broad fields, the plants having been set 

 about eight feet apart, which permits 

 cultivating with the plow as well as the 

 hoe. The flowers usually begin to open 

 al)out the middle of May and for 

 Memorial day uses the buds are shipped 

 to every state in the Union. The cut- 

 ting is done in the bud and the work 

 gives employment during the season to 

 as many girls and boys as are available 

 in the town. Cutting is begun as early 

 in the morning as it is light enough to 

 see, and only ti>e buds in the right stage 

 of development are taken, the field being 

 gone over four or five times a day. 

 Even then a considerable part of the 

 crop is lost, as the buds pop open and 

 are not suitable for shipping. 



The flowers are waxy white, with a 

 strong tropical fragrance. They are 

 rapidly growing in popularity and all 

 the shippers are striving to improve the 

 quality of their stock by culling out the 

 short-stemmed buds and those with poor 

 foliage. The variety grown at Alvin is 

 an improvement on the old form and is 

 called Gardenia grandiflora. It has 

 larger flowers and, more important, 

 longer stems. 



The shipping principally is done by 

 the growers. Formerly the trade was 

 handled through commission houses but 

 as production increased the growers be- 

 gan to take on direct orders as well as 

 supply the commission men, greatly to 

 the dissatisfaction of the latter, who 

 were thenceforward never sure how many 

 of their customers had been supplied 

 direct, perhaps by the very shipper whose 

 stock the commission house was handling. 

 The result has been a steadily lowering 

 average price for the buds sold in the 

 big cities, where the commission houses 

 still handle hundreds of thousands of 

 buds, for some seasons many are lost. 

 There are a number of shippers at Alvin 



who simply buy small lots as oft'ered and 

 forward them north, sometimes simply 

 consigning them to the express company 

 at some big city, to be sold for what 

 they will bring. But except as to this 

 uncertain commission stock, the business 

 is now largely on a cash in advance or 

 C. O. D. basis. 



Naturally the size and date of the crop 

 is a matter of much moment to the 

 growers and also to the retail florists. 

 In 1901 the cutting did not begin until 

 about May 21 and the big crop did not 

 come until too late for Memorial day or- 

 ders. Each season since then the crop 

 lias been jjromptly on time and this year 

 advices are to the effect that it will be 

 both early and good. 



One of the accompanying illustrations 

 is from a photograph made last season 

 in the field of Cook & Cook, who for 

 some years have been among the largest 

 shippers at Alvin and are now said to 

 have the largest field in that locality, 

 of thrifty young plants. 



PIPING. 



How much pipe will it take and how 

 should it be arranged to heat a house 

 48x125, north wall five feet high, boarded 

 and shingled ; south wall three feet high 

 with two feet glass! The south bars are 

 thirty feet long, the north twenty-four 

 feet. There is glass in both ends. The 

 boiler shed is at the east end and houses 

 a No. 4 Kroeschell boiler rated to heat 

 10,.500 feet of glass. We have on hand 

 1,800 feet of 2-inch pipe and 1,000 feet 

 of 11/^ -inch pipe which we wish to use. 

 How much more will be required? We 

 need 55 degrees in Massachusetts tem- 

 perature. J. H. L. «fe S. 



The house under consideration, to 

 maintain the temperature specified, should 

 be provided with 1,866 square feet of 

 radiation. The 1,800 feet of 2-inch pipe 

 is equivalent to 1,117 square feet of 

 radiation and the 1,000 feet of 1%-inch 

 pipe will give 497 square feet of radia- 

 tion. The two together make about 1,600 

 square feet, or 266 square feet les^ than 

 the amount required. If this is to be 

 made good by the use of 2-inch pipe 

 430 lineal feet additional will be suffi- 



