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J 354 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



MABCn 21, 10Q7. 



Queen Beatrice. 



TImrsday morning F. If. KraiiUT took 

 a larjre party in an olcctric Inis to hcc 

 Ills own j)lafO and tliat of (iudc Bros. 

 Tlio two j)laces lie side by aide in wliat 

 was formerly Anacostia, Init is now in- 

 (•luded in the city of Washjnj^ton. Tlie 

 ol>ject of the visit was to see Mr. Kra- 

 mer's new rose, Queen Heatriee. It is 

 w(tnderfully strong, producinjj heavy 

 eanes from the base, as thick as your 

 tinger. The ])lants looked clean and 

 healthy an<l even the ii{);hter stems held 

 the buds erect. The rose cannot be 

 <'las9ed with Bridesmaid, the color, which 

 may be described as a rose jtin.*. shaded 

 to a light pink, being much deeper, ap- 

 jiearing to l)etter advantage, I thought, 

 under the artificial light of the Armory 

 than under natural light. Tlie buds 

 are full and fragrant, but ratlier flat. 

 Mr. Kramer has a good rose, with many 

 strong j)oints, and some weak ones. 



The President's Reception. 



It would not have been possible for 

 the Washington florists to i)lease their 

 guests more than they did by arranging 

 for them a reception at the White 

 House. This was shown by the large 

 crowd that gathereil at the Armory at 

 half-past two on Thursday afternoon. 

 Almost every florist in Washington was 

 there. The party, led by Messrs. Bis- 

 set and Simj)son carrying an immense 

 vase of the finest Richmonds, marched 

 up the street into tlie WHiite House. A 

 short halt to see that there were no out- 

 siders among us and we were ushered 

 into a large reception room and ranged 

 in a semi-circle around a door, the Kich- 

 monds in the center, then the ladies and 

 the men around the outside, ])robably 

 seventy-five in all. Jt was more like a 

 jilay than real life. We watted for a 

 few minutes until the hour set, when 

 the door opened and the president ap- 

 peared. Robert Craig acted as spokes- 

 man and after a few words of introduc- 

 tion he presented E. G. Hill, the orig- 

 inator of Richmond. The president and 

 Mr. Hill have a mutual friend in the 

 city of Richmond whom they both es- 

 teem. Then the president made a hajipy 

 little spee«'h. He was iiuich pleased with 

 the handsome roses. He thought them 

 the finest he had ever seen. He was 

 glad to see us in Washington and glad 

 some had l)rought their better halves. 

 He was glad Richmond was home-grown 

 and not imported. He wanted every- 

 thing home-grown and with the hope 

 that Ave would enjoy our stay he .said, 

 "Now let's shake hands," which was 

 done with a cordiality that was unmis- 

 takable. The })resi(lent shook hands 

 with everyone, saying a word to each as 

 he or she was presented by name. He 

 said " de-light 'ed" to P. J*. Lynch. He 

 said "de-lighted" to Robert H. Pyle. 

 He said " de-light-ed " to every man, 

 whether he hailed from Philadelphia or 

 from Pishkill-on-the-H'dson. You can 

 see the wisdom of avoiding variations. 

 When you have a good word stick to it. 

 Everyone was ' ' de-light-ed. ' ' One 

 young man said ' ' That wa/ the jjroud- 

 est moment of my life, '^'- Another, 

 "Don't speak to me; I fefi two inches 

 taller;" a third, "Better wash your 

 hands and save the water. ' ' This 

 savored of orientalism rather than de- 

 mocracy. It was an honor especially 

 appreciated, as the relief measures for 

 Wall street were occupying the presi- 

 dent that day. 



John Welsh Young. 



PREPARING THE SOIL. 



As soon as the frost is out of the 

 ground the selection, collection anil prep- 

 aration of th« soil for j)lanting should 

 lie commenced. To have this in a nice, 

 mellow condition, ami all the elements 

 thoronglily incorporated, requires consid- 

 erable time and care ami, as we are Hear- 

 ing the time when the early stock •will 

 require ])lanting, no time should be lost 

 in getting the soil prepared. 



The question of what constitutes a 

 good rose soil is frequently asked and as 

 frequently replied to. The idT?al soil 

 seems to lie a good fibrous loam, with a 

 slight clay mixture, taken from old pas- 

 ture land where there is plenty of root 

 fiber. This should be taken to the depth 

 of six or seven inches and put in a pile, 

 a<lding one-fifth of decomposed cow ma- 

 nure. 



The ])ile should be allowed to lie for, 

 at least, ten days, to allow the gases 

 from the decomposition to thoroughly im- 

 j)regnate, or leaven, the mass. The sod 

 should thvn be ch()))pe<l up, but not too 

 fine and allowed to remain for a week 

 or so and then turned over. All these 

 operations should be ])erformed during 

 bright, sunny weather, as there is nothing 

 more calculated to put life into thw soil 

 than frequent exposure to sunshine, and 

 the opposite efli'ect will IxV obtained if 

 these operations are conducted during 

 rainy weather, or wlit^ii the soil is in a 

 sodden condition. 



Additional fertilizers, such as bone 

 meal, wood ashes or lime, can l)e added 

 when these turnovers are being made, 

 when there will hv a certainty that they 

 can he incorporated equally. 



These piles should always be jilaced 

 on ground a little above the general level, 

 so that the drainage may be perfect, and 

 allow no v.ater to accumulate to create 

 sourness, which is a very undesirable con- 

 dition in rose soil. Ribes. 



TOO COOL FOR ROSES. 



r have a bed over some pipes in one 

 of my houses, which is the warmest place 

 in the house. The house has Lawson 

 an<l Fiancee carnations in it. WV have 

 jtractically no split Lawsons and but 

 few split Fiancees. The house can be 

 ke{tt at about 50 degrees, but on real 

 cold nights, with a wind, it will run 

 down to 4.") degrees. Howeser, this does 

 not occur often. • 



I would like to grow some roses on 

 the above mentioned bed, but I do not 

 begin firing until it is time to fire for 



carnations. (an I grow roses under 

 these conditions f J. A. F. 



1 am afraid the conditions describe<l 

 in the foregoing letter would not be 

 conducive to the health and prosperity 

 of any of the varieties of roses at pres- 

 ent cultivated tinder glass, because at 

 a lower tenij)erature than 56 degrees 

 they will not jn-oduce blooms in winter 

 anci, ir firing is deferred until required 

 by carnations, there is every likelihood 

 that the roses would, by that time, be so 

 Aveak and unhealthy that they would not 

 produce anything at all. 



The best thing to do under those con- 

 ditions is to jdant the Avholc house to 

 those varieties of carnations which do 

 well at a lower temperature than 55 de- 

 grees, and buy the rose blooms you may 

 require. You will find it much more 

 profitable to do so. Ribes. 



ROSE RHEA REID. 



Rose growers Avho have had the oppor- 

 tunity of inspecting Rhea Reid, the new 

 rose of the E. G. Hill ('o., Richmond, 

 Ind., have all been favorably impressed 

 Avith it. As no great jiro^^ortion of the 

 total nnmbier of groAvers have as yet had 

 the o]>|)ortunity of seeing the rose, the 

 accomjianying illustration Avill be of in- 

 terest; also the note, Avhich said: 



' ' We are mailing today a photograph 

 of a bu<l of the Rhea Reid rose, Avhieh 

 Ave think shoAvs its character nicely. It 

 is a A'ariety that throAvs strong, heaAy 

 i-anes, is quite continuous in bloom, ex- 

 tremely free, opens A\ell in ilark Aveather 

 and soenis to have all the qualifications 

 for a first-class red forcing variety. It 

 is a seedling of American Beauty 

 crossed Avitli pollen from one of our oAvn 

 red seedlings." 



CLIMBING AND TRAILING ROSES. 



[A imixT by M. II. AV.tlsli. of AAVkkIs Hole. 

 Muss., read liofnrc tlic aiiiniiil cimveiition of the 

 Aiin'i'l<;iii Hose Society, iit AA'asliiiiKtoii. I). C, 

 .Alaich U. lilOT.l 



Tlie popularity of climbing and trail- 

 ing roses is increasing yearly as their 

 valuable qualities for garden decoration 

 become knoAvn. It Avas in the year 1893 

 that Wichuraiana Avas first introducei} 

 into the United States. Shortly after 

 the Crimson Rambler Avas also brought 

 to this country. The Wichuraiana and 

 Crimson Rambler are the tAAo parent 

 jtlants from the many varieties of ram- 

 bling and trailing roses and these may 

 properly be called Wichuraiana and mul- 

 tiflora hybrids, a new race of hardy 

 garden roses. 



Their vigor and constitution make 

 them desirable, as they proAC hardy in 

 the coldest localities. The freedom of 

 groAvth, fine foliage, and easy culture 

 ])lace them Avithin reach of the amateur 

 MS well as the professional gardener. 



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