May 9, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



1895 



There a few hours' travel and a cheap 

 parcels post make practical what in this 

 country is not practical. Here a grower 

 often ships to points where the order 

 will be from three to six days in reach- 

 ing the place where the plants are to be 

 sold or planted. This, in the warm 

 spring months, results often in either 

 badly wilted or decayed foliage. Or, if 

 moisture and temperature have been in 

 proportion, a three to six days' growth 

 while in a crjwvded condition will have 

 seriously changed the shape and de- 

 creased the future usefulness of the 

 plants. 



For local points the green plant is all' 

 right, but for distant points the tuber 

 or pot root is undoubtedly superior. Ship- 

 ments sent to dealers as a rule are not 

 so objectionable as those sent to the ama- 

 teur and to private gardens, as the pro- 

 fessional understands how to treat them 

 so much better. 



Years ago I used this green plant stock 

 to some extent for supplying trade, but 

 complaints were so common of the green 

 plants, and compliments so general on 

 the tubers, that I abandoned the green 

 plants entirely, except for my own grow- 

 ing, and do not care to offer them again. 



A word further. While I believe we 

 all agree on the good qualities of pot 

 roots, still I believe more care should be 

 used by the propagator. Last year there 

 was general complaint of blind stock and 

 this year starts out not much better. In 

 some of the new stock which I have pro- 

 cured this year, nearly one-third is blind. 

 Propagators have evidently taken the cut- 

 ting off just above the joint, instead of 

 just below. W. W. WiLMORE. 



CLEMATIS. 



The writer has read with much inter- 

 est the article about clematis in the- 

 issue of the Eeview^ for May 2, page 

 1817. We are glad to see this valuable 

 climber receiving attention in your col- 

 umns. Clematis paniculata has attained 

 wide popularity, and deservedly so, but 

 the large-flowering varieties are worthy 

 of much more general planting than is 

 at present accorded them. 



We regret to see that your corre- 

 spondent assumes, apparently, that the 

 large-flowering clematis sold in this 

 country are all imported stock. We grow 

 and sell to the trade annually a matter 

 of 125,000 to 150,000 ourselves, and 

 there are several other American houses 

 that propagate them in considerable 

 quantities. If we may say it without 

 the imputation of undue prejudice in 

 favor of our own goods, we should like 

 to recommend American grown clematis 

 as more likely to succeed in this country 

 than the fleshy-rooted, somewhat drop- 

 sical plants imported from Holland. 

 The soil is so different there, and the 

 amount of moisture so much greater in 

 both ground and atmosphere, that it is 

 small wonder the plants frequently fail 

 when transplanted to the very different 

 conditions of this country. 



Your correspondent states that one 

 dare not guarantee clematis to live. With 

 American grown clematis we see no rea- 

 son why tins can not be as safely done 

 as with most other plants. As stated in 

 the other article, they should have rich, 

 deep soil. It is also of the utmost im- 

 portance that the newly set plants 

 should have firm supports upon which to 

 climb, and should be tied to the supports 

 as soon as they have made even a few 

 inches of growth. If a plant is sprawled 



Store of the Phoenix Nursery G).^ Bloomiagton, IlL 



loose upon the ground, and blown back 

 and forth by the wind, it is likely to 

 break the stem entirely, or even if 

 that does not happen it causes the 

 outer bark to split and renders the plant 

 much more susceptible to fungous dis- 

 eases or other troubles. We are con- 

 vinced that most of the so-called clem- 

 atis blight is nothing more than the 

 breaking or serious cracking of the 

 stems near the ground, from the lack of 

 being fastened to a firm support. 



Your correspondent mentions that 

 Clematis paniculata roots freely from 

 cuttings and then states that the large- 

 flowering varieties are usually propagat- 

 ed by grafting. It is true that the 

 European growers propagate clematis by 

 grafting, and by layering, but all the 

 American growers, so far as we know, 

 grow the large-flowering varieties from 

 cuttings. It is quite a irick to do it just 

 right, but when fully understood it is a 

 much more rapid method of propaga- 

 tion and, to our mind, produces better 

 plants. As to Clematis paniculata, it 

 roots readily enough from cuttings, but 

 we know of no commercial establishment 

 which propagates them in that way. 

 They can be grown much more easily and 

 economically from seed. 



G. C. Perkins. 



THE PHOENIX STORE. 



The Phoenix Nursery Co., at Blooni- 

 ington, HI., is doing a nice retail flower 

 business in the store illustrated in this 

 issue of the Review. The manager is 

 Fred H. Rowe, formerly with the Chi- 

 cago Carnation Co., of Joliet, and 

 brother of Harry Rowe, the Chicago re- 

 tailer. The retail store was oi)enecl last 

 September. It is 22x90 feet and fitted 

 up in first-class style. The fixtures in 

 the store are in white enamel and include 

 a set of seed cases where a considerable 

 stock is carried and a nice trade done in 

 the season. The partition and ice-box 

 separate the salesroom from the work- 

 room in the rear. The ice-lx)x itself is 

 eight feet six inches wide, three feet six 

 inches deep and eight feet ten inches 

 high. The ice goes in the top from the 

 rear, which is a great convenience. Tlie 



Phoenix Nursery Co. has 25,000 square 

 feet of glass devoted to cut flowers and 

 plants. Six hundred acres are planted to 

 nursery stock. The business was estab- 

 lished at Bloomington in 1852 and was 

 incorporated in 1890. 



PRESERVATIVES OF WOOD. 



I am adding to my present plant one 

 house 21x75 feet in which roses will be 

 grown. In my town no dealers carry 

 cypress lumber in stock, which makes it 

 expensive to have it shipped from the 

 lower part of the state, but dealers have 

 a liquid preservative known by trade 

 name of CarboJinum, which they claim 

 nmkes ordinary pine lumber last many 

 times the usual length. Can you tell me 

 if this Carbolinutn is injurious to plant 

 life or if it materiallv adds to the length 

 of life of wood? ' J. N. H. 



We infer from his letter that the pine 

 lumber treated with the chemical named 

 is to be used for other parts of the 

 greenhouse, and not for the roof con- 

 struction. It is jtossible, however, that 

 he is thinking of using it for the entire 

 greenhouse and in that case we certainly 

 would not recommend pine lumber, even 

 when treated with creosote; nor even 

 cypress, for that matter, if it were to be 

 treated with chemicals. All wood pre- 

 servatives that we have ever seen, or 

 heard of, contain a certain quantity of 

 coal tar, or the active principles of it, 

 and all florists are well aware of the 

 fact that tar would not be a desirable 

 material to use as a coating for the roof 

 of a greenhouse. In our booklet on how 

 to erect a greenhouse, under the heading 

 "Wood Posts and Walls," we state 

 clearly that tar should never be used on 

 account of its effect on plant life. 



It is . true that cypress contains 

 nearly all of the active principles of creo- 

 sote, but they are blended with the fibers 

 of the wood in a way that no soaking, 

 dipping or brushing process could do it 

 — it has become a j)art of the substance 

 through ages of growth and through evo- 

 lution of the tree thousands of years ago. 

 Tt is this peculiar quality in cypress that 

 gives it sucli groat durability — which 



