14 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



December 23, 1009. 



ings and must be removed as they begin 

 to lose color. The Hiawatha color is 

 deep crimson, with the petals shading to 

 pure white at the base. La Fiamma is 

 carmine pink, shading to white and light 

 pink in the center. 



By White Baby Rambler I do not 

 mean Schnewitchen or Catherine Zeimet, 

 which are also called white Baby Ram- j 

 biers and catalogued as such by some 

 firms. In the White Baby Rambler I 

 refer to, the flowers are borne in clus- 

 ters of fifty to seventy-five individual 

 flowers one inch in diameter, double to 

 the center and pure snow white. It has 

 the same habit of growth and is just 

 as hardy as the red Baby Rambler. I 

 have found it a good seller at Easter. 



Other New Plants. 



Gladiolus America and Mrs. Francis 

 King are two I have found of real merit 

 and selected by the retail trade in pref- 

 erence to all others, and at a much bet- 

 ter price. 



Hydrangea arborescens grandiflora 

 alba is a new hardy hydrangea intro- 

 duced to the trade about three years 

 ago. It has proved valuable for outdoor 

 planting. One of its most valuable char- 

 acteristics is its coming into bloom the 

 last part of June, just after the passing 

 of all the early spring shrubs, and con- 

 tinuing until early September. Form 

 and size of flowers are much like Hy- 

 drangea Hortensia, only of a pure white. 

 I have never been successful in forcing 

 in pota, although I believe it has been 

 done. 



There are many new chrysanthemums, 

 carnations, cannas, etc., introduced every 

 year, as you all know. I try a number 

 of new ones every year, and as this is a 

 large subject, I will not dwell on it, 

 but leave that for someone else. 



I have mentioned in this paper only 

 such plants of recent introduction as 

 have proved valuable to me. J. have 

 tried a great many more, and sortie that 

 did not prove of value, but that: part I 

 will forget and continue to buy all nov- 

 elties which appeal to me as improve- 

 ments over existing sorts. I would rec- 

 ommend all florists to do likewise. 



FLORIST TO KING LEOPOLD. 



It will interest readers of the Review 

 to know that the late Henry Lee Knight, 

 father of Thomas Knight, of Knight & 

 Struck, New York city, was until his 

 death, eleven years ago, superintendent 

 and manager of the estates of the late 

 King Leopold in Brussels, Laeken, Cierg- 

 non (Luxemburg) and Ostend for seven- 

 teen consecutive years. 



He had under his direct supervision 

 over 1,200 men, which involved considera- 

 ble responsibility, owing to the fact that 

 each estate was separated from the others 

 by a distance of several hours' railroad- 

 ing, with the exception of the Laeken 

 estate, which is a country suburb of Brus- 

 sels. 



Under his care a range of glass, call- 

 ing for an expenditure of over 500,000 

 francs, was erected, and the palm house 

 contained — and contains today — one of 

 the choicest collections of palms and tree 

 ferns in existence. This house had fabu- 

 lous dimensions, being over 150 feet in 

 height. The other houses contained flow- 

 ering plants. One interesting feature 

 about this range was the palm house 

 church or chapel. In other words, one of 

 the recent conservatories was built for 

 the holding of the king's devotional serv- 

 ices, where Monsignor Sinion at that time 



was the dean to His Majesty. It is said 

 that there is not a finer collection of 

 hardy roses in existence than here, for it 

 was a regular thing for Mr. Knight to 

 buy anything that was new in this line, 

 these being the king's favorite flowers. 



Mr. Knight's position has been vacant 

 ever since, for some reason or other, 

 although the place has been managed by 

 several "chef de cultures," or depart- 

 ment managers, in different sections. 



Thomas Knight, the son, says that as a 

 boy he was fond of King Leopold, and, 

 as far as he can recollect, the king always 

 treated him with kindness and was quite 

 genial. As a matter of fact, the king 

 used to come over to the "Farm" where 

 the Knights Uved, and one day, as he was 

 accustomed to ride a tricycle, he asked 

 Thomas, then a boy of 12, if he would 

 care to try the machine. "Well, Sire," 

 said the young man, "I am sorry my 

 legs are too short to tackle it." 



Before holding this position, the senior 

 Mr. Knight was head gardener to the 

 Right Hon. Smith, of Henley on Thames, 

 London, and also to the Duchess of Rox- 

 burgh, at Kelso, Scotland. Under him 

 several gardeners, in prominent positions 

 in this country today, worked at that 

 time. The young Duke of Roxburgh mar- 

 ried Miss Goelet, of Newport, R. I. 



NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



Horticultural Societies. 



There has been a decided atmosphere 

 of horticulture in London this week. All 

 sections of the trade have been in evi- 

 dence in Horticultural hall, in the streets, 

 in the hotels and in the theaters. From 

 the far north and from the south, even 

 from Guernsey, all ranks have come to- 

 gether to attend general meetings, to 

 receive the reports for 1909 and to pre- 

 pare plans for 1910. The outlook is 

 particularly bright as far as pertains to 

 the societies devoted to the rose, the 

 sweet pea and the carnation. 



National Fruit Growers' Association. 



A meeting was held on Monday, 

 December 6, when a considerable amount 

 of routine business was transacted, the 

 land question and railway rates coming 

 in for discussion. 



Royal Horticultural Society. 



The usual fortnightly show was held 

 December 7. Chrysanthemums were well 

 represented. Mrs. W. Parker, a beau- 

 tiful blush single from F. Brazier, gained 

 an award of merit, and Kathleen May, 

 from H. J. Jones, Lewisham, was simi- 

 larly honored. This variety will prob- 

 ably become popular for market, its 

 most striking feature being its yellow 

 anemone center, surrounded by several 

 rows of large, reflexed, crimson petals. 

 Wells & Co., Merstham, staged a fine 

 display of Japanese and single varieties. 

 Cypripedium Lion, from Sander & Sons, 

 St. Albans, received an award of merit. 



An extensive and most interesting col- 

 lection of well grown vegetables was 

 shown by Sutton & Sons, Reading. It 

 included many varieties rarely seen. 

 Splendid types of cabbages, Brussels 

 sprouts, savoys and kales were shown 

 and the collection was awarded a silver 

 Knightian medal. 



Perpetual Flowering Carnation Society. 



The annual winter show was held De- 

 cember 8 and was quite up to its usual 

 standard. The hall was gay with a 

 decorated temple of carnations in the 



center, from Stuart Low & Co., Bush Hill 

 Park, bowers of carnations from several 

 growers and grand collections. 



The richest and most comprehensive 

 display was made by C. Engelmann, 

 Saffron Walden, and a gold medal was 

 awarded. It contained about 1,600 

 blooms. A fine bank of Carola formed 

 the centerpiece and there were good 

 vases of May Day, Viola, Superior, O. P. 

 Bassett, Wanoka, Ruby, Apple Blossom 

 and many other popular varieties. 



Silver gilt medals were awarded to 

 collections from W. H. Page, Hampton, 

 and H. Burnett, Guernsey. Silver medals 

 were awarded to Young & Co., Chelten- 

 ham, Stuart Low & Co., and Cutbush & 

 Sons, London. Blackmore & Langdon, 

 Bath, secured the only award of merit 

 given to a new variety, for their novelty 

 Mary Vilven. 



The American Society challenge cup 

 was awarded to Bell & Sheldon, Guern- 

 sey, in the class for three vases of Amer- 

 ican novelties distributed since January 

 1, 1907. They put up Winona, May Day 

 and Pink Delight. H. F. Mason, Hamp- 

 ton, came next, with May Day, Pink 

 Delight and Ruby. 



The president's challenge cup was re- 

 tained by C. F. Raphael's gardener. 



In the class for the best group of cut 

 carnations the gold medal was awarded 

 to C. F. Waters, who had five vases of 

 White Enchantress, Mrs. Burnett, Britan- 

 nia, Winsor, Harry Fenn, Aurora, Mi- 

 kado, Victory, Rose Dore, Pink Delight, 

 etc., and the silver medal was awarded 

 to S. Mortimer, who put up Winsor, 

 Nelson Fisher, Rose Dore, Mrs. Burnett 

 and Enchantress. 



The society's silver gilt medal for the 

 best vase in the show went to a fine ex- 

 hibit of Britannia from Bell & Sheldon. 



In the color classes, W. H. Lancashire, 

 D. M. Collins and C. Engelmann put up 

 the best vases of whites, all three show- 

 ing White Perfection. For blush or pink^ 

 Bell & Sheldon were first with Winona, 

 W. H. Lancashire and D. M. Collins 

 following with Enchantress. W. H. 

 Lancashire was first in the rose or salmon 

 class, with Rose Dore, followed by A. F. 

 Dutton and Bell & Sheldon. For deep 

 pink or cerise. Bell & Sheldon were first 

 with Afterglow, followed by W. H. Lan- 

 cashire with Lawson, and C. Engelmann 

 with Afterglow. For crimson W. H. 

 Lancashire was first with President; 

 second, C. Engelmann with Carola; third, 

 A, Smith with Union Jack. For scarlet, 

 Britannia from Bell & Sheldon led, then 

 Robert Craig from W. H. Lancashire, 

 followed by Britannia from C. Engel- 

 mann. 



The prizes were well contested for in 

 all the classes, over forty in number, of 

 which the foregoing were the principal. 



In the evening the members dined to 

 gether in the Hotel Windsjjr. After the 

 usual toasts had been duly honored, th^: 

 general meeting was held. The report"^ 

 showed the society to be in a prosperous 

 condition. 



The oflScers were reelected, namely: 

 Chairman, J. S. Brunton; vice-chair- 

 man, S, Mortimer; secretary, Haywara 

 Mathies, Lucerne, Stubbington, Farehair, 

 England; treasurer, L. J. Cook; exhibi- 

 tion superintendent, E. F. Haines. W- 

 H. Page was elected chairman of the 

 floral committee. The society's year 

 book will be published early in January. 



National Rose Society. 



The annual general meeting was heW 

 December 9. The balance sheet shows a 



