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10 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



December X9, 1907. 



carried some good flowers, but these were 

 rather short-stemmed compared to Ameri- 

 can varieties. Octoroon is the best crim- 

 son, coming in earlier than Fenn, of a 

 better color and with no split calyxes. 

 Fair Maid will not be grown after the 

 present season. A pure white sport 

 looked well and. should prove valuable to 

 all who can grow Fair Maid profitably. 

 A nice lot of cyclamens, geraniums 

 and azaleas were ready for Christmas 

 retail trade, while good batches of mar- 

 guerites, mignonette, single and double 

 violets, French Trumpet major narcissi 

 and other flowers for the same occasion 

 were noted. The propagating house con- 

 tained quantities of carnation cuttings. 

 Everything on the place was the picture 

 of neatness. 



A short walk took the visitors to 

 William Nicholson's, where carnations 

 are also a prime attraction. Mr. Nichol- 

 son, Sr., has been compelled to refrain 

 from active duties for a year, being run 

 down by many years of hard work, but 

 it is hoped will soon be himself again. 

 His stalwart son, William E. Nicholson, 

 now has charge of the place and its 

 condition goes to show that the son is 

 a true chip of the old block, for every- 

 thing was in good shape. Carnations 

 were fine, stems long and stiff and 

 blooms large. A large house of After- 

 glow was keenly scrutinized. Many of 

 the plants were cut down for stock, but 

 sufficient were in evidence to prove the 

 merits of this fine carnation. In stem, 

 form and color it is ideal, and it is 

 destined to become one of the most popu- 

 lar varieties another season. Heavy 

 orders have already been placed for 

 it. In light pinks. Enchantress was 

 good. Some Fair Maid are still grown, 

 but do not compare with Enchantress. 

 Rose-pink Enchantress was fine. Win- 

 sor, while it was blooming freely, was 

 short-stemmed and had all the charac- 

 teristics of Lawson. It will probably 

 be fine later in the season. In scarlet. 

 Beacon seemed to be the leader. Victory 

 does not do so well. Ked Chief, a new 

 sort, is proving satisfactory. In crim- 

 sons, Harry Fenn is mostly depended 

 upon. In whites, we were pleased to 

 see Governor Wolcott stiil grown finely. 

 White Perfection was splendid. Some 

 Bountiful are still grown and Queen is 

 looked upon as a money-making sort. 

 Prosperity does probably as well here as 

 anywhere in America and some fine 

 flowers were open, and a good crop in 

 sight for Christmas. A few Mrs. Patten 

 are still grown. Quite a number of 

 promising seedlings are on trial. 



In addition to carnations a general 

 assortment of other florists' stock is 

 handled. White and yellow marguerites 

 are a specialty and were already flower- 

 ing nicely. Some magnificent mignonette 

 attracted much notice. Cyclamens, gera- 

 niums, stevia and other seasonable plants 

 were in good shape for Christmas. Many 

 thousands of shamrocks were coming 

 along for St. Patrick's day. Farquhar 

 violets in pots were extra fine. 



After an inspection of the greenhouses 

 a generous collation was served, after 

 which President Westwood, on behalf of 

 the club, called for cheers for the en- 

 tertainers, which were given with a will. 

 Bemarks were made by Messrs. F. E. 

 Palmer, T. J. Grey, S, J. Goddard, W. 

 A. Hastingsj J. T. Butterworth, W. Nich- 

 olson and others, after which a short 

 walk carried the visitors to their car, 

 which arrived in Boston about 6:30. 

 Snow still fell heavily at this time, and 

 owing to train delays, consequent on | 



snow blockades, it was morning before 

 some of the members reached home, but 

 all pronounced the outing most interest- 

 ing and none complained of the little 

 wetting they got. W. N. C. 



CURE FOR MILLEPEDS. 



Kindly advise me as to a good remedy 

 for the thousand-legged worm, which 

 infests our soil to such an extent as to 

 ruin our crop of sweet peas, eating the 

 seeds and also damaging the roots of 

 other plants, so they make only a stunt- 

 ed growth. A. A. - 



The thousand-legged pest referred to 

 is very annoying and destructive, when 

 it is present in such numbers as de- 

 scribed. Sterilization of the compost on 

 the benches or on the compost heap 

 before housing makes sure work of this 

 and all other pests. This remedy is 



out of the question on benches with grow- 

 ing plants, of course, and I would sug- 

 gest the use of carbon bisulphide in 

 your benches. Make holes eighteen inch- 

 es apart each way with a pointed stick, 

 and pour in a few drops of the carbon in 

 each hole, covering it up immediately. 

 Go over the whole of your benches in 

 this way and, while it may consume 

 some time and be a little tedious, it 

 will undoubtedly kill the thousand-legs. 

 It is better to have the soil quite moist 

 when applying this remedy. Be careful 

 not to use any matches or naked light 

 while using this remedy, as it is explosive. 

 It will not harm any of your plants in 

 the least. 



Tobacco dust dropped on the surface 

 of the benches is occasionally used to 

 good advantage, but I think you will 

 find the carbon bisulphide remedy the 

 most effective. Another season it will 

 pay to sterilize your compost. C. W. 



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ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENTS. 



Slipper and Hamper. 



In each of the accompanying illus- 

 trations the slipper is filled with gar- 

 denias, and may be used as a favor at 

 a cotillon, as a gift, or even as a dinner- 

 table decoration. The hamper, filled with 

 lilies of the valley, orchids and Farley- 

 ense, is arranged with the charming 

 taste which always characterizes the work 

 of Charles Henry Fox, at the Sign of 

 the Bose, Philadelphia. 



TEMPERATURE FOR ICE-BOX. 



Please let Ae know the proper tem- 

 perature for a refrigerator for keeping 

 cut flowers. 



W. E. H. 



Experience has shown that slightly 

 different degrees of temperature and 

 moisture are best adapted to keeping 

 different varieties of cut flowers, but 

 for a general purpose ice-box in the re- 

 tail store, a box which runs 52 to 55 

 degrees will answer well. R. F. D. 



PLANT NOMENCLATURE. 



"We call the rose the queen of flow- 

 ers, and the Chinese call the tree peony 

 meu-tang, the king of flowers. In 

 Greek it was the name of a god of 

 mythology. 



"Another mythical personage com- 

 memorated in a flower is Narcissus, the 

 beautiful youth who fell in love with his 

 own image. He pined away, and was 

 metamorphosed into the flower. This, 

 at any rate, was th,e view at the time of 

 Ovid, though there is some reason to sup- 

 pose that in earUer times narcissus was 

 the word used for what was later called 

 the hyacinth, and was probably our 

 Martagon lily. 



"The tobacco plant got its name 

 through a curious mistake. The Span- 

 iards adopted the word from the In- 

 dians of Cuba, but instead of taking the 



word 'cohiba, ' which was the name of 

 the plant, they took 'tobacco,' which 

 was the name of the pipe in which it 

 was smoked. The botanical name of the 

 tobacco plant, nicotiana, is in honor of 

 Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Por- 

 tugal, who sent seeds of the plant to 

 Queen Catherine de' Medici. 



* ' The pansy is said to have received 

 its name from its quaint shape. It is 

 the French pensfie, that is, thought, the 

 'There is pansies, that's for thoughts,' 

 of Ophelia. It provokes thought or 

 fancy. Botanically the pansy is a viola, 

 derived by cultivation from Viola tri- 

 color, and perhaps others. Florists, 

 however, seek to restrict the word 

 'viola' to a strain of bedding pansies, 

 thus ignoring the fact that all pansies 

 are violas. A country gardener, a great 

 prizetaker at the local shows, heard of 

 the much advertised violas and deter- 

 mined to try some. 'They were nobbut 

 pansies,' he remarked contemptuously 

 after seeing them flower, 'and not very 

 good 'ens at that ! ' So the florist who 

 grows his prize ranunculus ignores the 

 fact that the plebeian buttercup which 

 disfigures his lawn is also a ranunculus. 

 And in using the words 'hepatica' and 

 'auricula' we lose sight of the fact that 

 the former is an anemone and the latter 

 a primula." 



CRAMBE CORDIFOLL\. 



I have some roots of Crambe cordi- 

 folia given to me to grow, which were 

 sent here ftpm England, and I do not 

 know how to handle them. They are 

 new to me. In giving me this informa- 

 tion you will greatly oblige me. 



G. A. 



Crambe cordifolia is a well known 

 hardy herbaceous perennial in Europe; 

 a member of the crucifersB family and a 

 native of the Caucasus. It carries large 

 leaves and attains a height of six to 

 seven feet. The crambes are but little 

 grown in America, although they are 



