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OCTOBER 22, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



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MOSCHOSMA RIPARIUM. 



The merits of the new winter flower- 

 ing plant, Moschosma riparium, seem to 

 be overlooked by the majority of florists. 

 Like many other novelties, it has to go 

 through the ordeal of neglect or indif- 

 ference before its beauty and utility are 

 recognized. 



It is a plant of the easiest culture, is 

 not particular about soils and needs no 

 pampering. Insects give it a wide berth. 

 The leaves have an agreeable, musky 

 fragrance. It is easily propagated. Cut- 

 tings put in 2-inch pots and placed in 

 full sunshine, just as we do with gera- 

 niums, are rooted in a few weeks. Plants 

 well grown for one year make fine speci- 

 mens, two to three feet high and as much 

 through. The growth is compact, large 

 plants having over 100 stems, which, 

 when densely covered with fine white, 

 spirsea-like flowers in midwinter, are 

 really beautiful oTbjects. 



As a spraying flower in fine cut flower 

 work there is nothing more useful in its 

 season of bloom, which lasts about ten 

 weeks. It is in its best condition at 

 Christmas and New Year's. 



E. Fryer. 



NAME OF FLOWERS. 



Please tell me the name of the flowers 

 [ enclose. These were in a sheltered 

 place soitth of a building, so frost did 

 not reach them. C. H. K. 



The name of the flowers is Calendula 

 officinalis Orange King, commonly called 

 pot marigold. 



SALTFORD AT HOME, 



George Saltford, the New York whole- 

 sale florist, achieved his first distinction 

 as a violet grower at Rhinebeck, and he 

 still has interests "up the river." The 

 accompanying illustration shows him 

 keeping abreast of progress in the vio- 

 let world, picking flowers in one of his 

 houses. It is the report from Rhinebeck 

 that the stock throughout that district 

 is in excellent shape and that all which 

 is needed to give thoroughly satisfac- 

 tory flowers is a little cool weather. The 

 weather at Rhinebeck has been much too 

 warm in the last fortnight, tempera- 

 tures having gone up to almost 90 de- 

 grees around October 15, and under 

 such conditions the best of quality can- 

 not be expected, even if the plants are 

 clean and free from disease. 



ENGLANiyS LARGEST PLACE. 



During a recent meeting of the Horti- 

 cultural Trades' Association of Great 

 Britain an afternoon was devoted to 

 Thos. Roch ford's mammoth establish- 

 ment at Turnford Hall Nurseries, and 

 proved all too short for the purpose, as 

 will be easily understood when it is 

 stated that the glass houses cover an area 

 of fifty acres. One new house, just fin- 

 ished and being filled up with bulbs. 



George Saltford Picking Violets. 



measured 35x500 feet. The Turnford 

 Hall Nursery contains a stock of com- 

 mercial plants, mostly in enormous num- 

 bers and all showing marvelous cultiva- 

 tion. Kentias are grown literally-by the 

 acre, and range from seedlings to speci- 

 mens twenty feet high, the big palm 

 house being one of the finest sights. The 

 old latania is still grown here in quan- 

 tity, and there is a grand stock of the 

 newer Phoenix Roebelenii. 



House after house of crotons was really 

 a blaze of color, and one of Pandanus 

 Veitchii was fine. Asparagus Sprengeri 

 and plumosus are in immense quantities, 

 and ferns also, though only in two or 

 three varieties. The now well-known 

 Todeaoides was in splendid order; one 

 plant over five feet across and perfect 

 all around. A number of this lovely 

 fern had been established on pieces of 

 dicksonia stems, forming exquisitely 

 draped pillars of greenery; more delight- 

 ful decorative subjects it would be diffi- 

 sult to imagine. A novelty in ferns was 

 shown, in a most beautiful variety of 

 Polypodium glaucum, but this will not 

 be in commerce for a while. 



The stock of pot .roses outside, more 

 especially climbers, was an eye-opener, 

 some of the latter being fully twenty 

 feet long and splendidly furnished. 

 These were almost as attractive to a 

 grower as when seen in their beauty in 

 the spring. An interesting trial on view 

 was a large batch of Richmond, Liberty 

 and the new Rhea Reid, all planted side 

 by side in a house for comparison. The 

 new-comer is said by some to excel in 

 freedom of blooming, but the experi- 

 ment was not sufficiently advanced to 

 form a reliable opinion. 



Tons of grapes had to be passed with 

 a rapid glance through the door, but 

 many of the members stopped to see the 

 working of a machine quite new to most 

 of them. This was in the nature of a 

 forge bellows and sent a strong air blast 

 down a flexible pipe. The current was 

 directed against each bunch of grapes 

 in turn, blowing out spiders and their 

 webs and any dust accumulated on the 



berries. We could not help noticing' 

 that in all the ksgo vineries not a twig 

 was out of place or a superfluous leaf 

 allowed, the attention to detail being as 

 marked here as in the plant department. 



An almost unique feature at Roeh- 

 ford's is the up-to-date cold storage 

 plant, the details of which were explained 

 by Mr. Kelsey. Two big engines supply 

 the requisite power, and it was curious 

 to see within a foot or two of the one 

 at work, a thick covering of hoar frost 

 on the pipes conveying the cold air to 

 the storage chambers. In the large stor- 

 age rooms were great stacks of boxes of 

 lilies of the valley, spiraeas, lilacs, lilies, 

 and other retarded stuff. These are now 

 the material of a large trade, as well as 

 supplying the immense requirements of 

 the firm. The bulbs, etc., are stored in 

 the exact temperatures found by prac- 

 tice to be the most favorable. Under 

 the old system, when they were stored 

 with other firms, it was found that the 

 temperatures were regulated to suit meat 

 and other stock and the results were so 

 unsatisfactory that the firm put up a 

 plant of its own, with most satisfactory 

 results. 



At the entrance stands the institute 

 for the nursery employees, a model in 

 every way; fitted up with every possible 

 convenience from books to billiards, and 

 managed by the men themselves for the 

 common benefit. 



St. Charles, III. — Henry Swaby has 

 completed his greenhouse, has it stocked 

 and is ready for business. 



Newton, Mass. — On the evening of 

 October 10, F. William Rane and Harry 

 F. Hall, the owners of a stable and 

 greenhouse on Moffat road, suffered a 

 heavy loss by fire. Mr. Rane is state 

 forester and Mr. Hall is his business 

 associate. The fire, which was caused by 

 an explosion of the gasoline tank of an 

 automobile, destroyed the stable and its 

 contents, including two valuable horses, 

 and greatly endangered the greenhouses. 

 The damage was estimated at $7,000 and 

 is partly covered by insurance. 



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