16 



The Florists^ Review 



NOVXMBIIB 5, 1914. 



MOTT-LY MUSINGS. 



At Houston, Tex, the buy-a-bale move- 

 ment is just now taking precedence over 

 the buy-a-bunch-of-mums custom, al- 

 though business generally, and especial^ 

 ly in funeral work, proceeds satisfac- 

 torily- V* 



The chrysanthemum show in Houston 

 is predicted to be the biggest yet held 

 hei/B. Sobert C. Kerr, president of the 

 Texas State Florists' Association, re- 

 ports entries of e;?cceptionally ivell 

 groiwn stock from Dallas and Fort 

 WjQirth. He took a prominent part in 

 th$;/eceut convention of nurserymen at 

 ForUWorth. 



';. T,' 



Robert Hewitt, of Brazos Hotel 

 Greenhouses, Houston, is growing a fine 

 lot of Bougainvillea Sanderiana on trel- 

 lises in various forms, such as the 

 "Lone Star," butterfly, balloon, etc. 

 It certainly makes up well. 



The Moers Seed Co. and the Eeichardt 

 & Schulte Co., of Houston, report excel- 

 lent business. £. Schwenke, of the 

 latter house, says the largest shipment 

 of Early Snowball cauliflower to one 

 grower this season was eight pounds, 

 which order later was duplicated to the 

 same grower. 



S. J. Mitchell, of Houston, who keeps 

 in close touch with Mexican affairs, 

 says the harvests have been good. The 

 gray back bug has been busier than 

 usual, owing to the dry season. 



The run from Houston to Galveston, 

 Tex., is made through a grazing country, 

 T^here the famous long-horned Texas 

 steers are seen in large herds in grass 

 almost shoulder-high. The roadsides are 

 blooming with wild forget-me-nots, 

 lupines, gypsophilas and gaillardi§s. 



M. P. Hargreaves' Seed Store, at Gal- 

 veston, proposes next season, owing to 

 the continued shortage of the northern 

 bean crops, to secure a crop of seed 

 from the spring sowing for fall sowing 

 the same year, as two crops are grown 

 in this latitude each year. Spinach will 

 be experimented with in the same man- 

 ner. It is generally known that four 

 crops of this vegetable are raised here 

 in one year. A market gardener told 

 me he received a revenue of $4,000 from 

 a 20-acre truck farm here last year, 

 which was, he thought, pretty good. 



Harry Papworth, of the Metairie 

 Ridge Nursery Co., New Orleans, La., 

 opines that with a rift in the clouded 

 cotton situation, business will assume 

 normal conditions. While the volume 

 of business has been almdst equal to 

 that of onlinary seasons, large jobs of 

 planting that have been figured on and 

 prepared for are still in abeyance. His 

 best patrons are members of the cotton 

 exchange, A leader here is the Louisi- 

 ana orange, of which there is a large 

 and thrifty lot — a little gold mine, as 

 the canker is rampant both in Florida 

 and Texas, but has not yet appeared 

 here. Some stock imported and found 

 infected was immediately destroyed. It 

 is contagious and can be carried even 

 on one's clothing. One of the most 

 promising orange groves was recently 

 planted in a cypress swamp, where, 

 after simply blasting the stumps, all 

 that was necessary was the filling in 

 when planting. An exhibition is held 

 at the nursery on the Sunday preceding 

 All Saints' day, when society, headed 

 by the mayor and mayoress, usually 

 attends in crowds, and the venture has 

 been found to be ft profitable one. This 

 year even more elaborate preparations 



were made for the affair. Chrysanthe- 

 mums, especially Robinson and Ramapo, 

 are in grand shape. Gardenias bloom 

 here perpetually. Arecas, Phoenix Roe- 

 belenii and latanias luxuriate. Adiantum 

 Glory of Mordrecht is fine, but the 

 fronds age more quickly than those of 

 Farleyense. Rose growing under glass 

 is uphill work here, with constant fight- 

 ing of insects and watching of the 

 weather, and even then the success is 

 not so great as is deserved. 



The Hugh Scales Floral Co., of 

 Birmingham, Ala., is fortunate in bring- 

 ing chrysanthemums in between rose 

 crops. Mr. Scales has taken hold at 

 the store, where he seems to be unfor- 

 tunate in the securing of help. Stock 

 at the greenhouses is in prime shape. 



The McVay Seed Co., of Birmingham, 

 is enlarging the cut flower department, 

 now under the charge of E, U. A. 

 Doetsch, formerly of Minneapolis. 



The Barber Bros. Seed Co. and the 

 Gorman-Gammill Seed Co., of Birming- 

 ham, moved into their respective new 

 stores about a year ago and, as they 

 are directly opposite, the buyers' needs 

 can surely be well supplied. 



The Rosemont Gardens, of Montgom- 

 ery, Ala., won the majority of the 

 prizes, as usual, at the state fair held 

 here last week. Will Cook took an 

 active part. In fact, he is a genius, 

 as is evidenced by the fact, for in- 

 stance, that at his time of life, when 

 most workers think of taking things 

 more easily, he" has joined the Shriners' 

 band as second alto and, I understand, 

 has already made many of the wearers 

 of the fez ascribe extraordinary musical 

 powers to him. 



The Harvey Seed Co., of Montgomery, 

 is already figuring on several large 

 plantings of seed to take the place of 

 cotton for next year. W. M. 



Paris, France. — Monsieur le Comte 

 d'Estienne, of Vilmorin-Andrieux ^ 

 Co., states that Monsieur Philippe de 

 Vilmorin has received the appointment 

 of interpreter attached to the staff of 

 the Indian army now serving in France. 



Berlin, Germany. — Every florists ' 

 motor truck in the city was comman- 

 deered at the beginning of the war for 

 use as an army transport. Not that 

 the loss mattered much, as the business 

 has been extremely light, though pos- 

 sibly more than those on the outside 

 would expect. 



Orleans, France. — E. Turbat, general 

 secretary of the Federation Natioriale 

 des Syndicats Horticoles de France, has 

 sent out word that arrangements have 

 been completed between the organiza- 

 tion and the French railways for the 

 safe transport of nursery stock to the 

 following seaports: Havre, Dieppe, 

 Honfleur, Nantes, St. Nazaire and Bor- 

 deaux. Further arrangements are in 

 prospect, but those now reported are 

 thought to insure that "everything 

 will go as usual from France to the 

 U. S. A." 



Yokohama, Japan. — In spite of a cur- 

 tailment in European orders for gigan- 

 teum bulbs due to the war and to dif- 

 ficult financing, the giganteum crop is 

 reported short, especially in large sizes. 

 It is said there will be practically no 

 surplus bulbs this year. The Canadian 

 Pacific steamers have nearly all been 

 withdrawn from the service. The only 

 American ships are the Pacific Mail 

 boats to San Francisco and the Japa- 

 nese shippers will not ship that way in 

 quantities, owing to the fact that they 

 regard the California law as "danger- 

 ous for bulbs and plants." So imports 

 are slower than usual this season. 

 Steamers leaving Japan are scarce and 

 if it were not for the fact that bulbs 

 are first-class freight, steamers would 

 not accept them now. Tons and tons of 

 merchandise are left lying on the docks 

 waiting to be exported. 



Rotterdam, Holland. — The azaleas got 

 out just in time. Transportation from 

 Ghent and vicinity to this port closed 

 shortly after the fall of Antwerp, and 

 even communication now is cut. 



Quedllnbnrg, Germany. — The usual 

 lists of German seed and plant novelties 

 will be greatly reduced this year. Con- 

 ditions are not right for sending out a 

 real novelty in Europe. 



Yokohama, Japan.— Several Japanese 

 and foreign exporters located at Yoko- 

 hama lost heavily this fall owing to 

 European shipments of lily bulbs being 

 dispatched on three German steamers in 

 July and August. One boat, the Doer- 

 flinger, was seized near the Suez canal 

 and the bulbs were lost. Another, the 

 Kleist, diverted her course to Sumatra 

 and unloaded the bulbs there, and the 

 other boat, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, is 

 still loaded up with bulbs lying in the 

 harbor at Tsing-tau. No insurance can 

 be collected, owing to the fact that at 

 the time the steamers left port war was 

 not announced and war risks were not 

 covered. 



Versailles, France. — This is by A. 

 Truffaut: "Since, thanks to the par- 

 ticipation of the English army, we have 

 been able to avert the invasion of 

 Paris and the surrounding neighbor- 

 hood by the Teuton hordes, the horti- 

 cultural establishments in Paris and its 

 environs have not suffered; but, in con- 

 sequence of this wretched war, which 

 has dragged from their hearths all the 

 gardeners from 18 to 40 years old, 

 work has been obliged to cease every- 

 where. Moreover, the sale of plants in 

 Paris is nil, and the city presents an 

 aspect of the utmost dreariness; the 

 greater number of the shops are closed 

 in the most fashionable quarters, and 

 in particular the flower stalls, which 

 usually constitute one of the chief 

 charms of Paris. The horticultural 

 journals have ceased publication and 

 the Horticultural Society of France has 

 suspended its activities and the publi- 

 cation of its journal." 



