

<^;. rpt-\-- .-.•^ %_.l , , ;/, 1 



February 13, 1008. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Rose House of Stockton & Howe, Princeton, N. J. 



scholars from the farm homes in the 

 township, including about twenty-five 

 square miles, are gathered up every day 

 by the school wagons and brought to the 

 institution. Frank Banning, who is well 

 known to the trade, is one of the prime 

 movers and writes as follows with regard 

 to the school : 



"I am engaged in building up a li- 

 brary for our new Centralized Farm 

 School, principally along agricultural 

 and horticultural lines, such things as 

 will encourage the farmers to improve 

 their homes and make their surround- 

 ings more attractive for their families; 

 also in teaching the management of 

 farm work with more system and order. 

 The school is doing a great work in in- 

 teresting our boys and girls in the won- 

 derful beauty, pleasures and possibili- 

 ties of country life; it is doing much 

 to keep them on the farm. In acting 

 as librarian, I am doing this work at 

 my own expense, with what help I can 

 get here at home and from those of my 

 friends in the trade. The school is 

 doing much good work in the direction 

 of giving special horticultural educa- 

 tion, as well as general knowledge, to 

 the rising generation in this vicinity, and 

 if we had more such institutions work- 

 ing along the same lines, it would be 

 greatly to^the interests of horticulture." 



THE READERS' CORNER. 



Ten Years of Expansion* 



I saw by the cover of last week's Ke- 

 viEW that my subscription expires with 

 this week's issue. I could not possibly 

 give up the Eeview, so enclose $1 for 

 the year 's subscription. 



The other day, in looking over some 

 of the early issues of the REViEV*r, I 

 came across the first special number, 

 which was the Annual Carnation Num- 

 ber of February 24, 1898, containing 

 thirty-six pages — a good and large issue 

 at that time. The paper certainly has 

 been expanding since then, with its 

 double that number of pages in nearly 

 every issue and its recent specials of 116 

 and 120 pages. Such a growth surely 

 must be very encouraging to the pro- 

 moters. 



I wish you a Happy and Prosperous 

 New Year, with a 100-page issue every 

 week. John Beimford. 



A Standard Bunch of Green. 



I would like to inquire, through the 

 Review, what constitutes a commercial 

 •mnch of Asparagus plumosus or 



A. Sprengeri. At present, as the writer 

 understands it, each grower makes his 

 own bunch and, of course, no two bunches 

 of the same size. When we speak of 

 a 4-inch flower-pot we have a standard 

 size all over the United States and 

 know just what it means. Why not make 

 the asparagus the same way? Make a 

 bunch weigh so much and have that 

 weight a standard, the same as the 

 flower-pots. Would not this make it 

 better for both the grower and the re- 

 tail florist? Could not the S. A. F. act 

 on this, to the advantage of all con- 

 cerned? H. 

 Warwick, R. I. 



English Gtmation Growers. 



I enclose you international post-oflBce 

 order for 10 shillings ($2.50), my sub- 

 scription to the Review for 1908. I 

 should not like to be without it for three 

 times $2.50. I congratulate you upon 

 a fine paper. 



I met J. R. Fotheringham, of the 

 F. R. Pierson Co., at the Winter Flow- 

 ering Carnation Society's show, London, 

 in December, and he told me he was much 

 pleased with our show and that the qual- 



ity of bloom was about equal to that of 

 the best American flowers. This was 

 very encouraging to our growers, as, un- 

 less one had been fortunate enough to 

 see your blooms in America, we had 

 really nothing to go upon to form 

 opinions as to whether we were progress- 

 ing or not. 



There is no doubt that we get some fine 

 blooms here now, and I must say that 

 the best come from Guernsey, owing to 

 the brighter and sunnier weather there, 

 and the special attention given by the 

 growers to the culture of the plants. 



There are many new varieties in the 

 hands of the growers on this side, and 

 I would advise your specialists to go in 

 for Marmion and Mikado. The former 

 is the forerunner of a new race of car- 

 nations, being a hybrid between a Mal- 

 maison and tree (Prosperity, I believe). 

 It is a pink with a white edge and 

 measures 4 to 5 inches across the blooms, 

 upon exceptionally stout and strong 

 stalks. Mikado is a self-colored plum 

 or purple, and a great favorite here with 

 the ladies. It is a money maker. 



Alva J. Hall. 



Harrogate, England. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



Hydrangeas. 



Hydrangeas which are wanted for Eas- 

 ter should now have little flower heads 

 peeping in the end of the shoots. If 

 they are thus far advanced, they will be 

 in flower in time. Give them a night 

 temperature of 55 degrees until the heads 

 are well developed. It is easy to remove 

 them to a slightly cooler house if they 

 later require retarding. Do not allow 

 aphis to get any foothold on the plants, 

 or the pest will do great damage. If 

 you attend to the weekly fumigation, in- 

 sects will not trouble you. Hydrangeas 

 are thirsty subjects and require a lot of 

 water. A severe root dryness will cause 

 losb of foliage, which should be guarded 

 against. You can feed liberally as soon 

 as the flower beads appear, alternating 

 liquid stimulants with a surfacing of 

 some well concentrated chemical fertil- 

 izer. It is a little early yet to start your 



plants for Memorial day, but it would be 

 well to overhaul them. Top-dress where 

 this will suflSce. Repot where necessary, 

 and place in a cool house until you can 

 spare room in a warmer division for 

 them. If you have forgotten to put in 

 any cuttings, there is still time to do so. 

 Select them from plants which are not 

 flowering freely and which would not, 

 therefore, be very salable. 



Bouvardias. 



The flowering season for bouvardias 

 is ended and, if stock for another sea- 

 son is wanted, root cuttings should be 

 placed in a warm propagating bench at 

 once. Use the thicker portions of roots 

 and cut these a fourth to half an inch 

 long. Keep well watered and in two or 

 three weeks some of the little shoots will 

 appear. Wait until they are making 

 young roots before you lift and pot them. 

 I Bouvardia Humboldt ii corymbiflora prop- 



