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38 



The Weekly Florists^ Revie#» 



NOTEMBBB 12, 1908. 



AT THE NATIONAL SHOW. 



.High Quality of Exhibits. 



There is one thing which is beyond 

 any question, and that is that the average 

 quality of the blooms staged is of an 

 extremely high order. I dare say that 

 some of the vases are so good that if 

 the same varieties are shown as good at 

 Indianapolis^ in January, they will surely 

 land inside the money, I will not try 

 to cover the whole list of classes in a 

 reportorial way, but will merely give a 

 few of the impressions as they came to 

 me while I looked over the show. To use 

 a slang phrase, we will merely "touch 

 the high places." 



The one thing which has impressed 

 itself most distinctly on most of us is, 

 that in white there is at this date noth- 

 ing which can compare with White Per- 

 fection as an exhibition variety. In fact, 

 there seems to be no variety of any color 

 which, for form of flower, size, stem, 

 calyx and general excellence, can com- 

 pare with-it. It might be called the all- 

 around champion, which it proved to be 

 here, when the vase^f 100 blooms from 

 Poehlmann Bros, carried off the sweep- 

 stake gold medal in the class for 100. 

 It is also worthy of note that all three 

 prizes in the class for 100 white went to 

 this variety, in spite of several grand 

 vases of White Enchantress and a fine 

 vase of Rudd's Mrs. J. C. Vaughan. This 

 latter variety looks to be a splendid 

 thing, though it needs a little more time 

 to fill out the blooms right. 



The Pink Classes. 



In flesh pink. Enchantress was the 

 only variety staged in the 100 class. This 

 variety is so well grown around Chicago 

 and in such quantity, it never fails to 

 make a fine show. In this color there 

 seems nothing in sight to displace it, so 

 far as this exhibition would indicate. 

 Sev»al varieties were shown in smaller 

 quantity, which will likely turn out to be 

 first-rate commercial sorts. Noteworthy 

 among th^se is Dorner's variety. De- 

 light. (I understand this name is to be 

 changed.) This is a smooth-edged vari- 

 ety, of beautiful build and fair size, and 

 has a texture which enables it to stand 

 rough handling. Knopf's Mrs. Charles 

 Knopf also looks good. In the main it 

 resembles Enchantress, but on closer ob- 

 servation it lacks some of its weaker 

 points and is equally strong in its good 

 points. 



In the rose-pink class, Eose-pink En- 

 chantress Stands at the head again, with 

 Winsor coming up and Winona proving 

 itself a fine shipper and keeper, but un- 

 dersized in competition. Mr. Heacock's 

 variety in this color looks to be a splen- 

 did thing. At a first glance one might 

 suppose it to be a vase of Eose-pink 

 Enchantress, but a closer look proves 

 that it has a better form and a more 

 perfect calyx. No doubt it is a good 

 thing. 



In dark pink, Aristocrat knocked the 

 persimmon, with Afterglow a close sec- 

 ond. A few vases of Mrs. Lawson 

 showed that, when well done, this variety 

 is still to be reckoned with. 



Some of the Reds. 



In red, O. P. Bassett led the way, 

 principally on account of its grand stem. 

 The bloom is good and has a good red 

 color; in fact, it is strong all around. 

 Beacon needs a few more weeks to take 

 on its proper form and color. Some nice 

 vases were shown. Victory was here in 

 fine shape, but, though strong in texture 

 and color, it lacks form and stem thus 

 early, Pres. Taf t is a full double flower, 

 which ought to be a good shipper. It 

 is of good size, with a good stem. Its 

 light red color suffers when placed along- 

 side of Victory. 



Bertermann's James Whitcomb Eiley, 

 which is a pure yellow, made a nice ap- 

 pearance. An average commercial sized 

 bloom, of splendid color, with good form 

 and stem, always appeals to the grower. 



The 100 blooms mixed proved quite an 

 attraction to many. The winning vase, 

 by Poehlmann Bros., was made up from 

 standard varieties, all in fine shape. More 

 interesting, however, was the vase of seed- 

 lings from Dorner's. This is a class in 

 which this firm is always strong with 

 the growers. They enjoy standing by 

 and dreaming of how, when this one or 



that one comes out, they will surely get 

 in on it and make a hit. They have 

 wonderful visions of bud-laden benches, 

 producing blooms of the very top grade, 

 for which the trade will clamor aS never 

 before. 



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The Seedlings* 



In seedlings there are several which 

 give promise of being good, Apple Blos- 

 som is shown pure white, with good form, 

 stem and calyx. Georgia traveled in good 

 shape and reminds one much of Vesper, 

 being about the same size and build. 

 Hill's red has fine stems, fine color and 

 form, and fair size, A crimson from 

 the same firm looks good all around and 

 of average size. Euby has fine, large 

 blooms, and stands up nicely. A deep 

 pink from Zweifel looks like a splendid 

 thing. No, 108, A white. No. 36, from 

 Dorner's, has good size, form, calyx, 

 stem and texture, and looks a really good 

 thing. Their scarlet 175-06 is a fine, 

 bold, deeply fringed bloom, on a good 

 stem, and the color is fine. A pure yel- 

 low, of fine color, also looks good. A 

 mottled variety from the Chicago Car- 

 nation Co. made a beautiful appe9.rance, 

 much prettier than Prosperity, on ac- 

 count of the mottling being pink. Wan- 

 oka has a good crimson color, has a good 

 stem and looks nice. 



The pot carnation Alvina, from H. 

 Eichholz, should appeal to every plant 

 grower. It makes an enormous plant and 

 throws its blooms in crops, enabling the 

 grower to get plants with many blooms 

 at one time. 



The temperature and ventilation in the 

 hall are good and as most of the stock 

 looks in prime condition the carnation 

 show should be good for several days. 



A. r. J. Bauk. 



ROSE WM. R. SMITH. 



I have noticed various items of late, 

 especially by Edwin Lonsdale, in regard 

 to the rose Wm. E. Smith, and as we 

 have grown this rose for the last four 

 years, possibly more extensively than any 

 other firm (having at present nearly 25,- 

 000 plants), I believe that a few more 

 words concerning its good qualities will 

 not come amiss. , 



Our possession of the Wm. E. Smith 

 rose was an accident. About four years 

 ago we purchased a quantity of roses 

 from the E. G, Hill Co., for field plant- 

 ing. For lack of space these were plant- 

 ed in a very poor place in the field. The 



soil, too, was old rose soil. Needless to 

 say, the roses did not do well, but 

 among the lot we noticed four plants of 

 a different nature from the others, with 

 different foliage and different growth. 

 What the roses were we did not know, 

 but we lifted and potted them, propa- 

 gated all we could and have been grow- 

 ing them extensively and successfully 

 ever since. We called Mr. Hill's atten- 

 tion to the plants, and he immediately 

 told us they were Wm, E, Smith, 



It is unquestionably the best summer 

 forcing and field rose we have ever seen. 

 It is the freest in every way, the strong- 

 est and most rampant grower of any 

 roses we have ever had, and the house in 

 which it is now planted looks like a jun- 

 gle. Its stems are stiff and strong, often 

 growing from three to four feet long 

 (we have it staked on 5-foot stakes). Its 

 foliage is as large as the Beauty's, its 

 color deeper than the Carnot's. It has 



