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The Weekly Florists^ Review- 



■ . J.' 



June 27, 1907. 



robustus, introduced from Turkestan in 

 1874. This variety produces spikes seven 

 to nine feet high, of soft, rose colored 

 flowers. E. Himalaicus grows equally 

 strong and bears pure white flowers. E. 

 Bungei attains a height of tour to five 

 feet. Its flowers are of a beautiful 

 golden yellow color. E. Elwesii is a 

 form of robustus, which it much resem- 

 bles, but flowers earlier and grows even 

 more vigorously. E. Turkestanicus pro- 

 duces reddish brown flowers, while in E. 

 Korolkowi they are bright rose in color. 

 There are a number of other species, 

 including a few garden hybrids of great 

 merit. These magnificent members of the 

 liliacea; family are worthy a place in 



every well regulated garden, and the com- 

 mercial grower wh > can show his cus- 

 tomers flowering plants cannot fail to 

 have orders for them. W. N. Craig. 



PAPER WHITE NARCISSUS. 



Can Paper White narcissus be forced 

 the second time? Last season I grew 

 quite a few of them. Those brought 

 in first did well, but those brought in 

 late did not flower well. Will they be 

 of any value f E. C. E. 



It will not pay to force Paper White 

 narcissus a second season, nor, indeed, 

 any other bulbs, with the possible ex- 



ception of freesias, which, if not cut 

 with too long stems, will produce fine 

 flowering bulbs in flats. We think the 

 probable reason that your later Paper 

 Whites failed to do well was that they 

 were kept too cold and possibly damp. 

 They are more delicate than the so- 

 called Dutch bulbs. They also start to 

 grow very early and cannot be kept 

 back very late without injuring the 

 crop of flowers. A little frost will in- 

 jure them, as will a soggy condition at 

 the roots. They should not be sunk 

 outdoors in a pit, as are tulips, daffodils 

 and hyacinths. Their low price would 

 make any attempted carrying over poor 

 policy. C. W. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 



Its Past, Present and Future. 



Continuing the subject, as presented 

 before the Boston Gardeners' and 

 Florists' club and reported in last week's 

 Keview, C. H. Totty said: 



Influence on Exhibitions. 



The chrysanthemum accomplishes every 

 year a great work in bringing the gen- 

 eral grower and his wares before the 

 public at the fall shows. How many 

 towns ever attempt even to hold a show 

 except in the fall, when the mums are 

 at their height? Spring and summer ex- 

 hibitions can be counted on the fingers 

 of one hand, almost, in the entire coun- 

 try, but when the fall comes nhows 

 spring up from one end of the country 

 to the other, and, though the chrysan- 

 themum is the principal attraction, it 

 affords the rose men, the carnation men 

 and the new-plant men a chance to ex- 

 hibit their stock to a large section of 

 the flower buying public that could 

 otherwise only be reached through the 

 medium of the retail store. 



The average retailer is more inter- 

 ested in keeping his trade down to the 

 staples in the trade than he is in push- 

 ing a lot of new things that he will 

 have to sink his money into and run his 

 chances on selling them afterwards to a 

 fickle-minded public. As an aid to in- 

 structing the public and giving an im- 

 petus to the fall trade, just at that time 

 opering up, the chrysanthemum per- 

 forms a service to the florist that can- 

 not be measured in actual dollars and 

 cents. 



One of the most encouraging features 

 to me in the chrysanthemum business is 

 the increasing number of exhibitors. 

 True, some of the older ones drop out 

 from one cause or other, but this is only 

 to be expected, and the number of new 

 men coining up is greatly in excess of 

 older men going out. 



Societies. 



The various local societies have helped 



to bring about this condition and I pray 

 it may continue, for when the local in- 

 terest dies and the local show is discon- 

 tinued, then do we see the horticultural 

 interest in that particular section, so far 

 as the chrysanthemum is concerned, fad- 

 ing away. 



While I give place to none in my in- 

 terest and loyalty to my local society, I 

 believe it is the duty of every chrysan- 

 themum lover to affiliate himself with the 

 national chrysanthemum society also. In 

 union there is strength and I woull like 

 to see the Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America with thousands of members 

 where it now has hundreds only, for 

 members of this society should not forget 

 that the present head of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum Society is a Massachusetts man, 

 Air. Lioveless, of Lenox, and as a matter 

 of state pride I know you will help him 

 all you can. To a grower interested in 

 chrysanthemums the list of varieties is- 

 sued by the society is worth much more 

 than tne annual dues amount to, not to 

 mention the good work it does in recog- 

 nizing new and meritorious varieties, 

 winnowing the wheat from the chaff 

 and occasionally in detecting old varie- 

 ties that once in a while, whether by ac- 

 cident or design, are renamed and offered 

 to the trade as new varieties. 



The Future. 



And now what of the future? I am 

 neither a prophet nor the son of a 

 prophet, and when dealing in futures it 

 is the unexpected that always happens. 

 So far as one can see along the pathway 

 at this time, the future is bright, very 

 bright for the chrysanthemum. C'hanges 

 will come, unquestionably; in fact, they 

 are already looming up in a reaction in 

 some sections from the large blooms 

 solely. 



The last year has witnessed a to me 

 remarkable turn in favor of the single- 

 flowered types. The singles cannot be 

 called new, for I recall we made an un- 

 successful effort to have the market take 

 them up ten years ago, and the market 

 laughed at them. True, varieties have 



improved greatly since then, but the mar- 

 ket at that time was not in a receptive 

 mood. It was merely a big flower, the 

 bigger the better, with a stem like wire 

 and foliage hugging the flower. Today 

 it would seem that the artistic taste is 

 more developed. We see it in the in- 

 creasing popularity of single flowers, not 

 only in chrysanthemums, but also in roses, 

 dahlias and other flowers. Light, grace- 

 ful, natural effects can be produced, im- 

 possible of duplication with the heavy, 

 large, double flowers that have been the 

 florists' ideal for so long. The single 

 varieties now seem to be coming into 

 their own after years of neglect, and the 

 next year or two will see them popular. 



I notice that several new singles were 

 awarded certificates in London last fall. 

 Such a thing would have been heresy not 

 so long ago, and I regard it as an indi- 

 cation of the trend of the times. The 

 pompons or hardy types, too, will be 

 planted much more largely in the next 

 few years. With the spread of the civic 

 improvement ideas, of a city beautiful in- 

 stead of an aggregation of bricks and 

 stones, a demand will come for these 

 humble but welcome flowers, blooming, 

 as they do, when everything else is gone, 

 and pointing an object lesson of hopeful- 

 ness long after every other flower has 

 succumbed to the rigors of early winter. 



Big Flowers Secure. 



Will the big flowers stay? I say, yes. 

 For large, massive decorations they are 

 unsurpassed; to make a showing in an 

 exhibition, they are indis|>ensable, and 

 as evidences of cultural skill they tell 

 their own story. That new types will 

 crop' up and have a share of the popu- 

 larity is certain. The human mind from 

 earliest history is perpetually craving for 

 something different and in this respect 

 modern civilization differs not one whit 

 from the ancient Greeks and Romans. 

 The large flower in its proper place has 

 a certain nobility about it that is not to 

 my mind approached in any other flower, 

 but its place is not stuck in a low bowl 

 to form part of a dinner-table decora- 



