yw^mr^fW'^^?^ 



NoVskBKB IS, 10U9. 





The Weekly Florists' Review/ 



U 



MENDEL'S NEW STORE. 



Not by any means all the flowers sold 

 in 'a big city go to the fashionable dis- 

 tricts; indeed, if it were not for the 

 stores that do thriving business in the 

 workingman 's parts of town the trade 

 could not be the success it is. To those 

 who do not visit the southwest side of 

 Chicago it is a surprise to know that 

 some of the largest flower buyers in that 

 market have their stores located there. 

 J. A. Mendel makes no pretense of being 

 a * ' big ' ' florist, but he has sold so many 

 flowers on West Eighteenth street that 

 one store no longer serves his needs and 

 he now runs two within three blocks of 

 each other. The new store, to which 

 headquarters was transferred last July, is 

 shown in the accompanying illustration. 

 The trade there is steadier than it is in 

 the society section, for the use of flowers 

 is largely for funerals and weddings. A 

 large quantity of stock is worked up each 

 day. ^___ 



PROnT IN GOLDFISH. 



A large number of retail florists are 

 now handling goldfish as a side line and 

 find them surprisingly profitable, as a 

 globe of them placed in a window at- 

 tracts attention and not only sells the 

 fish, but also helps the sale of the 

 flowers. 



It is popularly supposed that goldfish 

 are hard to handle and die quickly, but 

 such is not the case. If handled accord- 

 ing to the directions given by the houses 

 that specialize in this line, they will be 

 found to be practically no care whatso- 

 ever and a good investment for any en- 

 terprising florist. 



ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. 



I usually read "The Eising Eastern 

 Market," as I like to keep up with what 

 is going on as to flowers at the hub 

 (so far as this part of the country is 

 concerned). In the issue of the Review 

 for November 14, I noticed your Floral 

 Calendar, and was surprised to see that 

 you had omitted February 14, St. Valen- 

 tine 's day. I find here in North Carolina 

 that on February 14 a good many flowers 

 are sent as valentines. I wonder if this 

 is not the case in the larger cities also? 

 Howard Gardner. 



IMPROVEMENT IN THE CANNA. 



Work of Van Fleet and Wintzer. 



It was one of those sunshiny days in 

 October when there is any amount of 

 work to do on the place that would be 

 the better for doing at once. Yet there 

 was no work that had to be done and 

 frost was but a few days off. It was now 

 or never, for, as everybody knows, can- 

 nas are apt to be at their best just be- 

 fore Jack mars their beauty. West 

 Grove, Pa., is the home of the canna. 

 From West Grove have come the most 

 valuable additions to the canna family in 

 recent years. West Grove is known the 

 world over for these marvelous intro- 

 ductions, pink and white cannas with 

 flowers of immense size, gladiolus type, 

 adding a range of color unknown and un- 

 dreamed of before the hybridizing days 

 of Van Fleet and Wintzer. 



Dr. Walter Van Fleet commenced the 

 work, producing some wonderful seed- 

 lings that showed the possibilities within 

 the range of the hybridizer. His seed- 

 lings were handed over to Antoine Wint- 

 zer, who continued the work as a hobby 

 in his hours of recreation — continued it 



Canna Rosea Gigantea. 



so skillfully that two years ago the Lon- 

 don Horticultural Society awarded the 

 highest honors to his productions. 



The cannas are not at their best this 

 season, for the long periods of drought 

 have had their effects on this water-lov- 

 ing plant. Perhaps for that very rea- 

 son an hour or two spent in the canna 

 fields is of unusual interest, showing, as 

 it does, the varieties that appear to aj^- 

 vantage under trying conditions. Rosea 

 Gigantea, last year's introduction, is a 

 most beautiful pink, of a shade that 

 jmigbt at random be compared to the 

 tulip Salvator Rosa. The gladiolus-type 

 flowers are, as the name implies, of im- 

 mense size. The plants under the drought 

 conditions are dwarf and vigorous, show- 

 ing extraordinary freedom of bloom. 

 There was a clearness, a depth, a bril- 

 liancy in the color of Rosea Gigantea that 

 go far to convert the believer in reds and 

 yellows only as canna colors. Minnehaha, 

 another introduction of last year, makes 

 a beautiful foil to Rosea Gigantea; a 

 soft, delicate shade of blush pink evenly 

 diffused throughout the immense flowers. 

 The aim in naming the bronze-leaved 

 cannas is to use Indian names for all of 

 this type, so it is unnecessary to say 

 that the Laughing Waters is a bronze 

 canna. 



Experiments in Selection. 



The field devoted to last year's seed- 

 lings under number has many varieties 



of great merit; so many that the retain- 

 ing of a few of the best is a task of un- 

 usual difficulty, a task that must be ac- 

 complished for fear of a financial crisis, 

 lest the canna should overflow its space 

 and drive every other species of plant 

 from the neighborhood. The most strik- 

 ing novelty in this field was a seedling 

 obtained from a cross between Blanche 

 Wintzer (large flowering white) and 

 Maiden Blush, both Mr. Wintzer 's earlier 

 varieties. There are fourteen plants of 

 this novelty, bearing large gladiolus-type 

 flowers of a pink and white that Mr. 

 Wintzer assured me closely resembled La 

 France rose. It has many of the quali- 

 ties of a great canna, and will be watched 

 with intense interest. The name Mrs. 

 Alfred F. Conard is suggested for this 

 variety. 



This is the period of selection for 

 hybridizing, when choice clumps are care- 

 fully housed with due regard to consti- 

 tution, color, habit and foliage, as sub- 

 jects for the potent spells of the camel's- 

 hair brush. The work is done, never at 

 random or haphazard, but with a definite 

 object in view. It takes years of careful 

 work to eliminate the tiger spots from 

 the yellow field, to improve the size and 

 freedom of Mont Blanc, to produce a 

 pink of surpassing beauty, like Rosea 

 Gigantea, or a bronze-leaved blush, like 

 Minnehaha. The world recognizes Will- 

 iam Saunders as Mr. Wintzer 's greatest 





^Mir^(i 



