October 20, 1921 



The Florists^ Review 



31 



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CANADA'S LEADING GROWERS 



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VISITING THE GREENHOUSES. 



Richmond Hill Draws Rosarians. 



Several of Canada's most famous 

 ranges attracted the visitors at the 

 F. T. D. convention in Toronto during 

 the periods reserved for siglit-seeing. 

 Indeed, parties were constantly going 

 to and coming from these places. Thurs- 

 day afternoon was especially set as the 

 time for the inspection of the establish- 

 ments in the vicinity of Toronto. One 

 of the most popular destinations on that 

 day was Eichmond Hill, where the big 

 rose houses of Dunlop & Son are located. 



The largest amount of space at this 

 range is given to John H. Dunlop 's own 

 rose, named for his brother, Frank W. 

 Dunlop, a cross between Mrs. Charles 

 Russell and Mrs. George Shawyer. This 

 bright rose-pink variety is much in de- 

 mand in the retail store at Dunlop 's, 

 Ltd., in Toronto, where George M. 

 Geraghty presides, and his praises of it 

 are as loud as those of its originator. 

 The new Montgomery rose, Priscilla, be- 

 ing disseminated by the A. N. Pierson 

 Co., was the object of many visitors' 

 inspection, who were pleased with the 

 way it grew there. Mme. Butterfly and 

 several others of the leaders among the 

 newer roses are grown in considerable 

 numbers. 



When the old range of greenhouses 

 in Toronto was torn down in 1913, plans 

 were made for an extensive area under 

 glass at Richmond Hill, where the higher 

 altitude makes conditions for rose- 

 growing much better. Several big iron- 

 frame houses of Lord & Burnham con- 

 struction were erected. Another house 

 is to be added this autumn, as well as a 

 smaller propagation house. The heating 

 system is planned to accommodate half 

 a million feet of glass eventually. Three 

 horizontal boilers, each of 150 horse- 

 power, do the work at presen+. A trestle 

 runs from the siding to the boiler house, 

 so that cars of coal may be unloaded 

 directly into the storage room easily 

 and quickly. Other facilities are of sim- 

 ilar caliber, making this one of the 

 most up-to-date establishments in the 

 Dominion of Canada and tlie United 

 States. 



Prom Flowers to Real Estate. 



More than a quarter of a million feet 

 of glass, out on Lauder avenue, Toronto, 

 is operated by Miller & Sons. Here are 

 grown approximately 4.'),000 roses, 7-5,000 

 carnations and a large number of chrvs- 

 anthemums; 1,000,000 bulbs will "be 

 forced this year, as well as 10,000 

 azaleas. The available area is utilized 

 to best advantage, and crops are ar- 

 ranged to keep the benches occupied at 

 all tim^g. For instance, the houses now 

 filled with mums will, after a few weeks, 

 contain azaleas, which will be followed 

 immediately with Easter lilies, and then 

 carnations will have use of the soil. 

 Fred H. Miller has constantly in mind 

 how each bench is to be employed, not 

 .iust in the immediate future, but for 

 many months ahead. ^ 



The Gwyn farm, which the elder 

 Miller bought in 1885, is now encroached 

 upon by the advance of the city. The 



greenhouses, built by the King (Con- 

 struction Co. in the last dozen years, 

 will probably give way before long to 

 the extensive real estate operations car- 

 ried on by this firm. Indeed, a new site 

 has already been selected, at Downsville, 

 about five miles outside Toronto. Since 

 4913 the firm has been building resi- 

 dences on its property surrounding the 

 present greenhouses, doing its own sub- 

 dividing and contracting. In that time 

 580 houses have been sold at from $4,000 

 to $12,000 each. Two brickyards have 

 been operated by the firm and carloads 

 of brick have been purchased outside in 

 addition, indicating the extent of the 

 building operations. 



A fine residence on Lauder avenue, 

 not many steps from the greenhouses, is 

 occupied by Fred Miller, who enter- 

 tained the many visitors there in liberal 

 fashion. 



Plant Range at Mimico. 



Most spectacular was the reception of 

 the Toronto visitors at the range of Carl 



EVERY now and then a 

 well pleased reader speaks 

 the word which is the means 

 of bringing a new advertiser to 



Such friendly assistance is thoroughly 

 appreciated. 



Give us the name of anyone from 

 whom you are buying, not an adver- 

 tiser. We especially wish to interest 

 those selling articles of florists' use 

 not at present advertised. 



FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO. 

 500-60 Caxton Bldg. Chicago 





Grobba, at Mimico. From the Lake 

 Shore highway up to the entrance to the 

 greenhouses, a distance of nearly a mile, 

 the road was lined on both sides with 

 splendid tubbed specimens of boxwood 

 and bay trees, placed at intervals of 

 from fifteen to twenty feet. Over 600 

 specimens were used and there were still 

 many more at the range. 



The greenhouses were in the most 

 spick-and-siian condition and showed the 

 utmost economy of spj^ce. The stock in 

 the houses was of the.'fljaest character 

 and speaks well for, tlio energetic direc- 

 tion of this man. Some chrysanthe- 

 Vunms and carnations, a few sweet peas 

 and several benches of asparagus and 

 smilax are grown lor cutting. .Most of 

 the space, however, is given oyer to 

 potted stock. Cherries might be found 

 fruiting under tht benches. Kehtias 

 stood on low benches, while' Boston 

 ferns occupied platforms over? them. 

 Cyclamens in all sizes, from' seedlings to 

 large pots, were in excellent condition. 



Five thousand azaleas were nearly 

 potted up; the remaining 8,000, Mr. 

 Grobba said, had not yet come, as he had 

 prayed they might not while the force 

 was busy adorning the highway for the 

 convention visitors. 



■ The immensi! storage houses contain 

 bulbs for forcing. One, 65x160, contains 

 750,000 bulbs; the other, still in process 

 of completion, is 65x200 and will hold 

 1,500,000. No wonder Mr. Grobba is 

 called "the bulb king of Canada"! 

 On the top of the latter house, which is 

 being provided with a cement roof, Mr. 

 Grobb.'i plans next year to erect a 

 greenhouse. His ground space will cost 

 him nothing and his floor is already 

 made. 



Out in frames are 10,000 stevia, to be 

 left there until November 1. The 

 frames are of 2-inch material and there 

 is an extra quantity of manure below, so 

 that they are well sheltered. 



In Mr. Grobba 's residence was that 

 which drew and kept all the visitors, 

 refreshment in plenty and of a kind not 

 now easily obtainable in either the 

 United States or Ontario. It was a rare 

 and apparently inexhaustible collection. 



Brampton's Boast. 



The largest attendance of visitors at 

 the big range of the Dale Estate, at 

 Brampton, about twenty miles from 

 Toronto, was on the day following the 

 close of the convention. This great 

 establishment is already too famous to 

 need much description. It is an educa- 

 tion for a florist who has not seen such 

 a place — and few are in its class in 

 equipment and scarcely any for size — 

 to see the extreme neatness and care 

 exercised here, to examine the cemplete 

 equipment and to inspect the heating 

 plant, which itself represents a small for- 

 tune in boilers and labor-saving ma- 

 chincrj'. Four 400-horsepower boilers 

 constitute the present battery, which 

 can heat the entire 1,750,000 square 

 feet of glass save in the severest 

 weather, when one of the old batteries, 

 retained for emergencies, can be called 

 upon. Steam is carried, as far as half a 

 mile in some cases, through the mains 

 at 100 pounds pressure, being reduced to 

 twenty, ten or seven pounds in the 

 houses, according to requirements. Coal 

 is unloaded from the tracks by machin- 

 ery directly into a huge storage room, 

 whence scoops and belts convey it to 

 the boilers, into which it is automati- 

 cally fed. By the same motion, the 

 cinders are shaken through the grates. 

 The only work by hand is hoeing the 

 cinders out into pits in front of the 

 boilers. Beneath each pit is a trap, into 

 which the cinders are drawn by suction 

 and then blown through a 6-inch pipe 

 across the road and into a storage shed, 

 from which they are later taken for 

 screening. A crew of four men is suffi- 

 cient to man the entire heating plant, 

 and only two are on duty at this season. 



Tunnels, of great length in some 

 cases, connect all sections of the range, 

 These all lie close together, though the 

 distance between the farthest extremi- 

 ties is considerable. 



The most notable sight for visitors 



