..•/•■^>. «(«■■•. 



14 



The Weekly Horists'' Review. 



JtJNB 20, 1907. 



large, full and of exquisite form, the 

 buds long and pointed, color shell pink, 

 reflex of petals blush, base of petal 

 veined and suffused peach, with a yellow 

 tone; delightfully fragrant. 



Mrs. Harold Brocklebank (H. T.) — 

 The growth is robust, flowering freely 

 and continuously; the blooms, which are 

 produced on erect foojstalks, are large, 

 full and of perfect formation and sweet- 

 ly perfumed; the color is creamy white, 

 center buff, base of petals soft golden 

 yellow, outer petals frequently tinted 

 with salmon rose, buds with a flush of 

 salmon pink. 



Souvenir of Stella Gray (Tea) — The 

 flowers are of medium size, full, per- 

 fectly formed and most freely produced. 

 The shades of color are hitherto unknown 

 in any rose; the predominating tone is 

 deep orange, with splashes or venations 

 of yellow, apricot, salmon and crimson. 



W. E. Lippiatt (H. T.)— This is a 

 most welcome addition, supplying a color 

 much required — brilliant velvety crim- 

 son, shaded maroon. The blooms are 

 large, full, symmetrically formed, with 

 high-pointed center and strongly per- 

 fumed; growth vigorous. 



TO DESTROY RATS. 



Rats, as well as other rodents, are 

 sometimes a great pest in greenhouses, 

 and those who have experienced the diffi- 

 culty of getting rid of them will be in- 

 terested in a new bulletin of the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture entitled 

 "Methods of Destroying Rats." The 

 rat has been a resident of the United 

 States since 1775 and the bulletin says it 

 is the worst mammal pest in the land, 

 doing millions of dollars of damage each 

 year. In spite of constant warfare, its 

 numbers are increasing rapidly, for it 

 breeds three or four times a year, produc- 

 ing six to twelve at a litter. Of numer- 

 ous poisons the following is recom- 

 mended : 



' ' One of the cheapest and most effec- 

 tive poisons for rats and mice is barium 

 carbonate, or barytes. This mineral has 

 the advantage of being without taste or 

 smell; and, in the small quantities used 

 in poisoning rats and mice, is harmless 

 to larger animals. Its action on rodents 

 is slo^y, but reasonably sure, and has the 

 further advantage that the animals be- 

 fore dying, if exit be possible, usually 

 leave the premises in search of water. 

 Its employment in houses, therefore, is 

 rarely followed by the annoying odor 

 which attends the use of the more viru- 

 lent poisons. 



"The poison may be fed in the form 

 of a dough made of one-fifth barytes and 

 four-fifths meal, but a more convenient 

 bait is ordinary oatmeal, with about one- 

 eighth of its bulk of barytes, mixed with 

 water into a stiff dough; or the barytes 

 may be spread upon bread and butter 

 or moistened toast. The prepared bait 

 should be placed in rat runs, a small 

 quantity at a place. If a single appli- 

 cation of the poison fails to drive all 

 rats from the premises, it should be re- 

 peated with a eWnge of bait. ' ' 



In greenhouses there frequently is 

 much water, and the rats may not leave 

 to die. Then, to prevent odor, trapping 

 is necessary. 



' ' Trapping, if persistently followed, is 

 one of the most effective methods of de- 

 stroying rats. The improved modern 

 traps with a wire fall released by a 

 baited trigger and driven by a coiled 

 spring have marked advantages over the 

 old forms, and many of them may be 



used at the same time. These traps, 

 sometimes called guillotine traps, are of 

 many designs, but the more simply con- 

 structed are to be preferred. Probably 

 those made entirely of metal are the best, 

 as they are less likely to absorb and re- 

 tain odors. 



"Guillotine traps should be baited 

 with small pieces of Vienna sausage 

 (Wienerwurst) or bacon. The trigger 

 wire should be bent inward, to bring the 

 bait into proper position to permit the 

 fall to strike the rat in the neck. ' ' 



MUSHROOMS OUTDOORS. 



Would it be possible to grow mush- 

 rooms outdoors in the open; that is, not 

 in caves or cellars? How could it best 

 be accomplished! I have an orchard 

 available for the purpose if it is worth 

 trying. L. R. K. 



I do not think that mushroom culture 

 in the open air would prove at all a 

 success. It is practically impossible in 



Here ii the dollar for another year. 

 I cannot do without 



m 





as it has sold all of my plants and 

 from its advertisers I have purchased 

 what I needed to buy. 



J. H. HOLLY. 

 Neodesha, Kan. 

 June 9, 1907. 



our climate to give them anything like 

 an equable temperature, something 

 necessary for successful mushroom cul- 

 ture. I have seen the experiment tried 

 and while on one or two occasions a 

 few mushrooms have appeared, no real 

 crop has been secured. If it is decided 

 to experiment outdoors, it will be neces- 

 sary not only to mulch the beds, but 

 also to protect them with shutters from 

 soaking rains. It will, however, be far 

 better to spawn beds in cellars or sheds 

 where a night temperature of 56 de- 

 grees to 60 degrees can be maintain^ 

 and from which light can be excluded. 

 As the late fall and winter months are 

 those in which mushrooms sell especially 

 well, the earliest bed, if spawned about 

 August 1, should come into bearing about 

 the middle of September. As we usually 

 have killing frosts early in October, such 

 a bed even, with ideal outdoor condi- 

 tions, would not yield much of a crop 

 unless carefully protected. 



In England mushrooms are grown on 

 quite a large scale outdoors, but it must 

 be remembered that their climate is very 

 different from ours, being much more 

 humid and with a generally lower and 

 more even temperature, conditions which 

 mushrooms like. C. W. 



NEVYORK. 



The Market 



The outdoor flowers are here and never 

 have we seen finer weigelias, spiraeas 

 and snowballs. They have been used lav- 

 ishly in decorations. Wagon-loads of 

 snowballs were used in the church decora- 

 tions by«Wadley & Smythe, put up for 

 the wedding of the daughter of Stuyve- 

 sant Fish. The delayed season seems to 

 have been just what these nursery spe- 

 cialties needed to make their bloom per- 

 fect. 



Beauties at their best still command 

 $15 a hundred. A few even sold higher 

 on Monday, but the tendency is toward 

 a lower level. If the heat continues I 

 will not be surprised to see 10 cents top 

 by Saturday. Bride and Maid will likely 

 go to 3 cents for selected stock and $5 to 

 $10 a thousand for the lower grades. 



Carnations are melting fast and $1 per 

 hundred promises to be the top for good 

 stock before the week is over. Even now 

 $2 will purchase the best stock that 

 reaches the market. It is simply the ex- 

 pected that has happened, only the sum- 

 mer break is a month later than usual. 

 Everybody is philosophical about it and 

 no one seems especially surprised or pes- 

 simistic. 



Lilies are down to $4 and valley to 

 $2 per hundred for the best. Sweet 

 peas and everything else have joined the 

 procession. 



Weather and Auctions. 



When New York decides to do any- 

 thing worth while, it does it well. So 

 when the hot weather came, as it did in 

 earnest on Saturday last, it was hotter 

 here by several degrees than anywhere 

 else in the United States. The hot wave 

 continued through Monday and at this 

 writing seems to have come to stay. The 

 welcome it has received demonstrates 

 how unpopular has been the long stretch 

 of unseasonable weather. Even in a day 

 the vegetable and fruit markets show the 

 benefit of the change in increased re- 

 ceipts and more reasonable prices. 



The fruit auction market is a most in- 

 teresting study. The enormous daily re- 

 ceipts of fruit of every kind from the 

 south and distant west are disposed of 

 by auction every morning and the speed, 

 system and thoroughness of the work are 

 a revelation. I am indebted to John P. 

 Cleary for the details of the interesting 

 methods whereby the vast receipts are so 

 safely and completely disposed of. He 

 is making a fine success of this auction 

 business. At Cleary 's Horticultural Hall 

 Ambrose Cleary now presides and twice 

 weekly large quantities of bedding plants 

 and nursery stock are sold. Elliott & 

 Sons maintain their extensive distribu- 

 tions by the same method every Tuesday 

 and Friday. 



The auction season has broken all rec- 

 ords this year in prices and attendance, 

 at times there being lack of even stand- 

 ing-room at the busy marts. Prices often 

 reached abov^ regular retail rates. The 

 ladies were much in evidence at Elliott's. 

 The veteran has a very persuasive voice 

 and at times it is irresistible. 



Various Notes. 



The travel to Europe and to the sum- 

 mer resorts around New York has begun 

 in earnest. Down at Newport Siebrecht 

 & Son, Leikens, Wadley & Smythe and 

 Hodgson have opened their branch stores 

 and business has begun. 



The early closing movement by the 



