16 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



PEBllUAIlY 10, 1910. 



■ent center the activities that have dom- 

 inated and developed for a quarter of a 

 century in this important department of 

 the florists' business. 



Mr. Hunter, for many years with J. 

 H. Small & Sons, New York, and for- 

 merly in the wholesale business with Mr. 

 Hammond, was run over February 4 by 

 in automobile. A rib was broken and he 

 was badly shaken, but is progressing 

 nicely towards recovery. 



George Saltford has been serving his 

 country on jury for the last three weeks. 

 Interesting cases, involving all manner 

 of crimes, make a return to the whole- 

 sale flower business seem like a rest. 



Flowers are being suggested in many 

 of the florists' retail windows for St. 

 Valentine's day. Heart-shaped boxes are 

 the principal kind to be used. The cus- 

 tom of sending flowers on that day is 

 growing rapidly. 



John A. Foley, of Leeakes & Co., has 

 added another wagon to his express en- 

 terprise. 



Myer Othile, of A. J. Guttman's staff, 

 celebrated his thirty-first birthday Satur- 

 day, February 5. He is now one of the 

 veterans. 



G. E. Bradshaw has gone up higher in 

 the Coogan building, to the second floor. 

 B. S. Slinn, Jr., needs all of his big store 

 for his violet shipments. 



The last reports from John Beimels, 

 \Yho was taken suddenly ill at Pittsburg, 

 are encouraging, and his full recovery is 

 assured. 



Charles A. Krick is now proprietor of 

 the business of the late W. C. Krick, 

 Brooklyn, having purchased the interest 

 of his mother. Mrs. Krick starts in a 

 few days for a visit among relatives in 

 southern California. 



J. Austin Shaw. 



KANSAS QTY. 



The Market 



Good roses are not plentiful and Amer- 

 ican Beauties are scarce. Carnations art- 

 abundant but prices are good, from $3 to 

 $4 per hundred. Narcissi are plentiful 

 but Eoman hyacinths are scarce. Daffodils 

 and jonquils are making their appear- 

 ance and sell well. Tulips are not very 

 plentiful. There are quite a few violets 

 on the market and they meet with ready 

 sale. 



Azaleas seem, to be a glut and the 

 demand after Christmas seems to be get- 

 ting less every year. Primroses are sell- 

 ing well at 50 cents a pot, but cyclamens 

 seem to go rather slow. 



Funeral work is keeping up well and 

 some of the florists have as much at 

 times as they can handle. The weather 

 has been fine, with good sunshine, and 

 all stock is taking on a better hue. 



Various Notes. 



The Wm. L. Eock Flower Co. green- 

 houses are a pretty sight. The carnations 

 are in full crop. 



James Payne 's show window was well 

 decorated last week. His Primula ob- 

 conicas seem to be perfection. 



There is a rumor that in the near 

 future there will be built a large plant 

 to raise cut flowers for the Kansas City 

 market. All we can say is that there is 

 room for such a place that can grow first- 

 class stock and can furnish it when 

 needed. 



The Geo. M. Kellogg Flower & Plant 

 Co. is established in its new quarters at 

 1123 Grand avenue. It is a large room 

 and the new fixtures are fine. The loca- 



tion is more central and the manager is 

 catering for more retail business. 



Your correspondent made a visit to the 

 W. A. Rule farm, which is located a mile 

 and a half south of a small town named 

 Dodson, a suburb of Kansas City. There 

 are 240 acres in this farm. Ed Pratt, 

 formerly a florist of this city, is superin- 

 tendent. He has built three large green- 

 houses, one 30x250 and two 28x250, 

 heated by steam. Everything is up to 

 date. Mr. Pratt is growing one house in 

 tomatoes, which are eight feet tall, grown 

 to single stem, and there are about 2,000 

 plants in this house, loaded with fruit 

 from the bottom to the top. He is now 

 picking ripe tomatoes, from fifty to 120 

 pounds a day, and brings them to the' 

 city in an automobile. The present price 

 is 20 cents a pound, wholesale. He also 

 has part of one house in sweet peas, in 

 full bloom ever since Christmas. He 

 picks from 2,000 to 3,000 a day. One 

 florist takes them all at 75 cents per hun- 

 dred. Part of this house is in leaf let- 

 tuce and beets. The third house is in 

 liead lettuce, which is fine. His stock 

 plants of mums are looking well and he 

 expects to plant about 25,000 for the 

 Kansas City market. He has plans 

 drawn for a large violet house which will 

 be built this summer. He also expects to 

 plant a large lot of snapdragon for cut 

 flowers. They have an abundance of 

 water, a large lake within 150 feet of the 

 greenhouses. There are five acres of 

 water in this lake, which is stocked with 

 fine fish. There is a boathouse with a 

 gasoline launch to use in the summer, 

 also a bath house. A steam pump stands 

 on the shore that forces the water to a 

 big reservoir upon a hill uinety.-five feet 

 above the lake. The water for the green- 

 houses is taken from this and the force 

 on the water is good. They have also a 

 garage for three automobiles, next to the 

 boiler room, heated by steam. All bunch- 

 ing and packing is done in this large 

 room, which has a cement floor. The soil 

 on this farm is excellent. Mr. Pratt 

 attends to the marketing of the output 

 and his foreman, Walter Bridges, over- 

 sees all of the work and men. They have 

 six men at present. A large ice house by 

 the lake contains 8,000 tons of ice twelve 

 inches thick. W. H. H. 



AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY. 



The executive committee and other 

 members of the American Rose Society 

 have held two conferences in New York 

 in regard to the details of the coming 

 rose show. The total amount of prizes 

 offered in the schedule reaches some 

 $1,500. In conjunction with the rose 

 show the Horticultural Society of New 

 York has a preliminary prize schedule, 

 the total of which comes to $700. 



S. S. Pennock-Meehan Co., Philadel- 

 phia, offers a special prize of $25 to be 

 awarded in the discretion of the com- 

 mittee. 



Moore, Hentz & Nash, New York, offer 

 a silver cup valued at $50 for the best 

 six roses, two to be white and four to be 

 red, pink or yellow, American Beauties 

 excepted, 



Wm. F. Kasting Co., Buffalo, offers a 

 prize of $25 Avherever it can be best used. 



The Toronto Horticultural Society of- 

 fers its silver and bronze medals. 



Arthur T. Boddington, New York, 

 offers a cash prize of $25. 



Stumpp & Walter Co., New York, 

 offers a special prize, for private garden- 

 ers only, for twenty-five Richmond roses, 

 •iilO and $5. 



A valuable paper is being prepared - 

 W. S. Sibson upon northern Pacific com i 

 roses. 



The Horticultural Society of New Yo,,v 

 will issue jointly with the American Ro, 

 Society the Preliminary Prize List a)i ' 

 rules within a few days. Joseph .. 

 Manda has been appointed superintc 

 deut of exhibits. 



AMONG BOSTON GROWERS. 



Backer & Co., of Billerica, are amou,' 

 the best known of the carnation specia; 

 ists shipping their cut to the Bostoi 

 market. Their new scarlet seedling, Rf;<! 

 Prince (Manley x Queen), was carrying 

 a tremendous crop when seen, but E. T. 

 Wheeler, of the firm, said it was ofi 

 crop as compared with Christmas. Tt 

 has a long, wiry stem and is of clear 

 seajrlet color. A seedling with somi 

 Prosperity blood in it is grown in quaii 

 tity. It has some color in midwinter, 

 but comes pure white later. It has an 

 ideal stem and is fragrant. Outside of 

 a tendency to split at times, it would 

 seem to be a valuable thing. While the 

 greater part of the bench space is de 

 voted to home raised seedlings, Varie 

 gated Lawson, Winsor, Ruby, May Day, 

 Pink Delight, Beacon and other standard 

 sorts are also grown. The grower, Gus- 

 tavo Thommen, believes there is a good 

 field open in the hybridization as against 

 cross fertilization of carnations, and is 

 intending to follow this upon the same 

 lines as A. C. Zvolanek in producing his 

 winter race of sweet peas. With this 

 object in view, he has procured seeds 

 from Italy, Germany, France and Spain 

 of various species of dianthus which he 

 intends to work with. Many of these 

 are now almost in flower, and it will be 

 possible to start hybridization soon. The 

 getting away from the constant in-breed- 

 ing and the infusion of other blood i& 

 an interesting experiment, the results of 

 which will be watched with much inter- 

 est. 



L. E. Small, of Tewksbury, has a nice 

 house of sweet peas, from which he has 

 been cutting since August, the variety 

 Mrs. A. Wallace being specially good. 

 A house of Carnation Fair Maid looked 

 well. Winsor, Fenn, Beacon, Queen and 

 White Fair Maid are also grown. A 

 bench of Dimorphotheca aurantiaca was 

 just coming into flower, and its beautiful 

 orange flowers should sell well. Single 

 and double violets and marguerites are 

 also grown here. 



At Albert Roper's, Fair Maid, one of 

 Mr. Roper's introductions, fills tw(. 

 houses and is found a paying sort. Thi^ 

 variety, carried over two years in thf 

 same benches, has netted $1.50 and $1 

 per plant, a record which would be hare 

 to beat. Considerable space is devotei 

 to the new scarlet seedling, Williar 

 Penn. It has been Mr. Roper's inter 

 tion to disseminate this variety in 1910 

 but some stem-rot showed itself, and un 

 less this has disappeared by another sen 

 son it will not be sent out. Several loni 

 benches are planted with Bay State, sen 

 out in 1909 and winner of the gold raeda 

 at the last convention of the America' 

 Carnation Society. One or two othc 

 seedlings are grown in quantity, while ; 

 bench containing a considerable numbo 

 of new seedlings is interesting. Sonr 

 have the earmarks of good things. 



Forest City, Ia. — Willard Secor, of 

 the Hill City Greenhouses, is vice-pres' 

 dent general of the National Society o' 

 the Sons of the American Revolution. 



