

28 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Decdmbeb 12, 1907. 



year with the singles and I supposed they 

 would take the same soil as Marie Louise. 

 A good many of the few flowers that 

 come have very short stems, not more 

 than two inches, though the flower itself 

 is large and of good color. H. A. P. 



Your failure with Princess of Wales 

 violets is not at all exceptional. It is 

 due to a cause which some of our best 

 growers have had to learn from experi- 

 ence, namely, too early housing. Double 

 violets require to be lifted early ; in fact, 

 many growers keep them under glass all 

 the time, but the singles need radically 

 different treatment. They should. never 

 be planted indoors before the early part 

 of October, and from the middle to the 

 latter part of the month is to be pre- 

 ferred. A good freezing is required to 

 stop leaf growth; otherwise you will get 

 an abundance of foliage at the expense 

 of flowers. A temperature -of 10 to 12 

 degrees below freezing will put the nec- 

 essary check on growth and not in the 

 least injure the plants. 



Many people are unaware of how hardy 

 Princess of Wales violets are. Some 

 plants we left out last fall came through 

 the winter without any protection, al- 

 though exposed to temperatures 10 to 15 

 degrees below zero. One grower at least, 

 to our knowledge, leaves a large bed out 

 all winter, merely covering with salt hay 

 after the ground freezes, and gets a 

 splendid crop late in the spring. 



The only way you can now benefit your 

 single violets will be to allow them to 

 freeze moderately in the house in order 

 to check the leaf growth. A little frost 

 will not hurt your Marie Louise, but no 

 doubt you could place some covering 

 over them to make sure that they are not 

 damaged. Try this plan and you will 

 find you will get more flowers, but not as 

 fine nor as many as if your plants had 

 been left outdoors a month later. 



Next season do not house your sin- 

 gles until after a good frost. 



C.W. 



A VISIT TO MADISON, N. J. 



Mr. Tott/s Place 



C. H. Totty is doing a large and in- 

 creasing business in chrysanthemums. 

 His trade, in fact, has grown so much 

 of late that he finds he will need to 

 restrict himself to the queen of autumn 

 or build more glass. Many of the best 

 single-stems had been cut for Madison 

 and other shows at the time of my visit, 

 but enough remained to satisfy anyone 

 that the quality would be haid to beat. 

 Among the new varieties I was par- 

 ticularly attracted by Mrs. W. Wells, a 

 bright bronzy-orange flower, similar in 

 form to Old Gold, but a larger and 

 better bloom. Mme. Simon Jossier is 

 a good incurved white, but the gem of 

 this color was W. Moir, with which Mr, 

 Totty won the gold medal at the C. S. A. 

 show in New York for the best novelty, 

 Dubuisson Foubert, tawny yellow, was 

 unique and of a pleasing color. Of the 

 older varieties Mrs. D. V. West seemed 

 to be weak-necked. Miss Miriam Hankey 

 was the best in the pink class. Lady 

 Hopetoun was also good. Dakoma, 

 bronze yellow, had the earmarks of a 

 good commercial variety. 



Singles are being brought into promi- 

 nence at Madison, and Mr. Totty has a 

 fine collection of them. Some -of the 

 best were Kitty Bourne, Pretoria, Annie 

 Holden, Kathleen Bunyard, Golden Star 

 and Lily Beard in yellows; Irene Cragg, 

 Gertrude and Nancy Perkins, whites; 

 Nellie Coppard, Mrs. E. Eoberts, Lady- 

 smith, Mrs. Untermyer (new) and J. T. 

 Angus, pink; Crotvn Jewel, bronze; Mrs. 

 T. C. Warden, sulphury white; Miss 

 Baillie, Mary Kichardson, salmon red; 

 Hilda, deep orange. All these singles 

 are much better grown undisbudded, and 

 nearly all make excellent pot plants. 



Florham Earms. 



At Florham Farms we found A. Her- 

 rington, who escorted us over his im- 



mense department. At the commercial 

 range, the large house, 40x200, of mums 

 was largely cut over, but sufficient re- 

 mained to show the high quality of the 

 blooms. Boses and carnations looked 

 well in several houses, Cattleyas, Tri- 

 ana?, labiata, Mossise and other stand- 

 ard varieties, filled several large houses. 

 Of Cypripediums Leeanum and i^signe, 

 Mr. Herrington has undoubtedly the fin- 

 est houses in the country. The wonder- 

 ful vigor of the plants is quite a reve- 

 lation. As many as 10,000 flowers of 

 C. insigne are cut in a season from one 

 house, Calanthe Veitchii filled a long 

 lean-to house. Bulbs were a foot long 

 in some cases, and spikes of great vigor, 

 as fine as I had ever seen. A span 

 house formerly occupied by Gros Colman 

 grapes is now planted with peas, beans 

 and tomatoes, Colmans at 50 cents per 

 pound at Christmas were not a paying 

 crop; hence the change. Some Muscats 

 still hung in the house devoted to them, 

 and were of a rich amber color. The 

 early grape house will be started about 

 December 1, In nectarines. Early Riv- 

 ers, Cardinal and Lord Napier are 

 grown, 



A drive through the attractive and 

 fertile park brought us to the private 

 block of glass. Here are three divi- 

 sions of Adiantum Farleyense, much in 

 demand for large table decorations, and 

 splendidly grown. Three houses are de- 

 voted to melons. Royal Jubilee being 

 the favorite sort. Gardenias occupy one 

 house, Cattleya Trianse, newly imported, 

 another; the immense specimens of 

 azaleas some nine to ten feet across 

 still another. In another house some 

 specimen plants of double and single 

 chrysanthemums were in evidence. The 

 roomy palm house contained some superb 

 specimens. A pair of Kentia Belmo- 

 reana are probably the finest in the 

 country, and will soon be too large for 

 their present quarters. 



The numerous specimen bay trees, 

 Chamarops humilis and other plants 



Two of the Popular Christmas Plants with the Average Florist. 



