The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



Max 28, 1908. 



Tlie defendant company carried on busi- 

 ness until a year or two ago as the 

 Ashbourne Agricultural Co., of which 

 Alexander Dickson Avas the head, as- 

 sisted by two sons. The title was now 

 changed and many people were misled 

 by the advertisements of the defendant 

 company, who, though their business was 

 mainly a seed business, headed their ad- 

 vertisements ' ' Alexander Dickson & 

 Sons, Woodlawn Nurseries, the Home of 

 the I?08e. " - 



Evidence was given by Alexander Dick- 

 son and George Dickson, of the plain- 

 tiff company, showing how customers had 

 been misled. The treasurer of the Na- 

 tional Rose Society and others gave evi- 

 dence, and Alexander B. Scott, nursery- 

 man, of Philadelphia, stated that there 

 was no other Dickson known in Amer- 

 ica but the plaintiff firm, ' 



Mr. Campbell, K. C., in opening the 



case for the defendant, said his client, 

 Alexander Dickson, had all his life been 

 engaged in Dublin in the seed trade and 

 he did not enter the nursery trade until 

 plaintiffs had seriously attacked him in 

 the seed business. 



Defendant, in his • evidence, said that 

 he bought the nuirsery at Dundrum in 

 1905. Jt would not have been convenient 

 or desirable to carry on a nursery busi- 

 ness under the title of the Ashbourne 

 Agricultural Co. ; hence the title ' ' Alex- 

 ander Dickson & Sons," but he admitted 

 he was the sole proprietor; his sons were 

 not partners in the business. 



Counsel replied on behalf of the plain- 

 tiffs. On the legal side he admitted that 

 every man was entitled to use his own 

 name in carrying on his own trade,, but 

 maintained that he h*d no right to use 

 his own name for the passing off of his 



own goods as the goods of his namesake. 

 In the present case he had used his own 

 name plus an addition which was not 

 true in fact, as there was no partner- . 

 ship with his two sons. On the facts, t. 

 counsel submitted that the defendant • 

 had been proved to have used his name 

 for the purpose of obtaining the advan- ^ 

 tage of the reputation of the plaintiffs. ' 



The Master of the Rolls, in giving 

 judgment, came to the conclusion that 

 the defendant had used for the purpose 

 of his advertisements a name to which 

 he had no right, and a name which was 

 assumed for the purpose of attracting 

 business which belonged to another man. 

 He adopted the name of Alexander Dick- 

 son & Sons in revenge against the plain- 

 tiff firm for having successfully com- 

 peted with him for a heavy seed contract 

 with the Agricultural Department. The 

 injunction would be granted, with costs. 



SINGLE-STEMMED PLANTS. 



Varieties to Choose. 



Plants for growing to single stems 

 should be rooted any time in the next 

 ten days or so. The varieties selected 

 for this work are, of course, the dwarfest 

 kinds only, or at least they should be. 

 I am no admirer of a 6-inch pot plant 

 that is three feet high. It destroys the 

 sense of proportion. Such plants look 

 top-heavy, and nothing like a Merza or 

 a Beatrice May that is not over a foot 

 high and is crowned with an exhibition 

 sized flower. Either of these varieties 

 is ideal for this work and they are 

 exhibited every year at the eastern 

 shows in splendid condition. 



Other varieties that are always shown 

 in the winning classes are Morton F. 

 Plant, Mrs. A. J. Miller, Cheltoni, F. A. 

 Cobbold, Nellie Pockett, Lady Hope- 

 toun, Glenview, Mrs. G. Heaume and 

 Mrs. H. Partridge. The last named 

 seems to be one of the few varieties 

 that are better when struck late than 

 when started early. One reason for this 

 is that it is a hard, stocky grower natu- 

 rally, and when it is started too early 

 and gets dried put a few times it takes 

 on a hatd, knotty growth that is almost 

 impossible to get growing right again. 

 Such varieties need to be rushed along 

 from start to finish and never allowed to 

 linger by the wayside. 



The individuality of different vari- 

 eties is one of the first things that 

 strike the '■ observant grower, and the 

 kinds that are known as poor doers are 

 always kinds that are very marked in 

 this respect. Take the case of Mon- 

 tigny, for instance. This variety takes 

 ten days longer to root than the average 

 variety and its peculiar habit of wilting 

 on a hot day, combined with a strong 

 •lisposition on the part. of the flowers 



to spot and burn, has caused it to be dis- 

 carded by many exhibitors. And yet, 

 as it was set up last fall in New York, 

 it was peerless in every way. 



Take also the case of Beatrice May. 

 In the bands of some growers the foli- 

 age of this variety spots so badly as to 

 render the flowers almost unsalable. A 

 little study and experiment have proved 

 that in a semi-shaded situation, and with 

 a good proportion of nitrogenous ma- 

 nure applied, Beatrice May produced al- 

 most as good foliage as any other va- 

 riety. 



Glory of the Pacific and Polly Pose 

 are two varieties that have never been 

 very satisfactory with me. The plants 

 made such short joints that they were 

 little else but a bunch of leaves with 

 a flower on top. Calling on a grower 

 whose flowers of these varieties are al- 

 ways fine, I found, his plants in an old 

 house facing almost north and with 

 heavy sashbars, the resulting shade be- 

 ing just what these kinds needed to 

 draw them up and give the stem a de- 

 cent length. 



These instances could be multiplied 

 almost indefinitely and only go to prove 

 that in growing mums, as in anything 

 else, the largest measure of success will 

 come to the man who studies his business 

 closely and does not leave everything to 

 blind chance. 



Getting back to the cutting bench, 

 there is still ample time to propagate 

 for July planting, ilsing the midseason 

 and late varieties. Tt is not so easy to 

 root plants at this timfe of year" as it 

 is in February, or March, unless one 

 has a house for' the pul^ose. The cut- 

 tings must be kept from wilting, if pos- 

 sible, and to this end should be kept 

 copiously sprayed, well shaded and free 

 from drafts. , A drying wind blowing 

 over the cuttings will do them serious 

 harm. This can be avoided by the use 



of cheesecloth hanging in front of the 

 bench. 



The stock plants from which the cut- 

 tings are taken should not get too much 

 water. If they are kept soaked all the 

 time, the cuttings are very soft and will 

 melt away like snow in a spring sun 

 when put into the sand. The happy 

 medium in watering gives cuttings with 

 backbone enough to hold their own and 

 root without so much trouble. 



Too Early Buds. 



Every spring we hear of some grower 

 who is troubled by his plants running 

 to bud instead of making growth, but 

 never have I heard of such general com- 

 plaint from the growers as this year, 

 letters reaching me from Pennsylvania, 

 Massachusetts and Illinois during the 

 last week, and all on this subject. In 

 many cases this can be traced directly to 

 the carelessness or inexperience of the 

 grower in repeatedly permitting the 

 plants to get dust-dry, causing them 

 to get hard and hidebound, which condi- 

 tion will invariably produce a crop of 

 buds. In other cases, varieties like W. 

 R. Church, that always go to bud, will 

 cause lots of trouble and worry. 



This year, however, I am inclined to 

 believe that climatic conditions have had 

 something to do with the case. It would 

 be hard, perhaps, to say in just what 

 ^yay this has been brought about, but 

 when good and careful growers rise up 

 to testify it can safely be said that the 

 underlying cause is deeper than neglect. 



As to a cure for this trouble, I know • 

 of none, only to keep the buds closely 

 picked off, and the plant will eventually 

 produce a shoot or sucker that will go 

 ahead and take the lead. When one 

 can get a sucker up from such a plant, 

 it will often make a remarkable growth 

 and catch up with plants that seemed 

 to have it hopelessly beaten. This is 



M t-t. . 



