



1 »T '• 



18 



than a pound of cure." The natural 

 preventive for all these difiEerent spots, 

 fairy ring, etc., is nothing but fresh, 

 dry air and careful watering. This 

 should convince us that syringing is to 

 be discontinued as soon as the weather 

 prevents us, in early winter, from giv- 

 ing sufficient fresh air to keep the at- 

 mosphere pure. 



But now, while we are trying to pre- 

 vent fungous diseases, we cultivate red 

 spider. This is quite a problem, as the 

 only real preventive for this obnoxious 

 little animal is cold water, with thirty 

 pounds of pressure behind it. I fight 

 it in fall, when the days are still 

 bright and sunny, and give it a rest un- 

 til the days get longer and warmer, so 

 I can open the ventilators to dry the 

 plants after a good soaking. In fact, 

 I would rather have a little rust than 

 a dose of spider. I must not forget our 

 other living friend, the green fly. I 

 call it friend. It is a friend as com- 

 pared with the other fellows we have 

 to put up with. There is no excuse for 

 its being in the greenhouses, as only a 

 little smudge every week will keep it 

 out entirely. Of course, if it gets its 

 own way it will spoil the foliage and 

 may even take enough substance out 

 of the buds to cause them to split. Here 

 I must say, however, that this is not 

 the only cause of splitting. I think un- 

 even temperature is what chiefly does 

 the work. Of course, some varieties 

 are more subject to it than others, so it 

 can not bo prevented entirely. As to 

 chemical remedies for all these differ- 

 ent troubles, I have little to say. I 

 have tried a few of them, but with 

 rather poor results. So I prefer to 

 stick to prevention; let others take to 

 cure, if they choose. 



Benches or Solid Beds? 



Which are best for carnations, solid 

 beds or raised benches? To this ques- 

 tion I must give the same answer as 1 

 have given many times before. In 

 solid beds I can grow good stock if I 

 am half asleep, but when I grew them 

 in raised benches I found it necessary 

 to be wide awake all the time. This 

 difference lies in the watering. If you 

 can keep away from the hose long 

 enough to give them a chance to dry 

 out once in a while, solid beds are all 

 right. 



As to the varieties to grow, I leave 

 that to each grower himself. He 

 knows best which are the most profit- 

 able for him to grow and which bring 

 him the most money, or which his trade 

 demands. 



As to new kinds, I will say it is nice 

 to have something new every year, for 

 the pleasure you get out of it, but I do 

 not think it profitable for the smaller 

 grower to invest much in things that 

 he does not know, because every dollar 

 spent has to be made again. It is up to 

 the larger' grower to try everything 

 that is promising, and he, if he strikes 

 something good, has the room to make 

 all he can out of it. 



Timing the Crops. 

 In order to regulate our crops to ad- 

 vantage, we should try to have the 

 heaviest cut in midwinter, be oflf crop 

 in Lent and come in again heavier for 

 Decoration time, when flowers as a rule 

 are not too plentiful. To accomplish 

 this, a little pruning is essential. Dur- 

 ing winter, while taking cuttings, I 

 trim out all weak growth which is 

 likely to come in bloom at a wrong 

 time. This helps to strengthen the re- 

 maining shoots for a good spring crop. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 25, 1911. 



At this time of the year it is far bet- 

 ter to have a slightly smaller number 

 of flowers and to have them good. This 

 will also help to keep the faker from 

 the streets; 25-cent sales will not be 

 necessary, and yet we will realize more 

 money for our goods in the end. If all 



the growers work toward this end, a 

 great deal can be accomplished. I 

 know the retailer will appreciate it. It 

 is pretty hard to ask 75 cents or even 

 50 cents a dozen for carnations if on 

 the other side of the street they are 

 sold for 25 cents. 



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IMPRESSIONS 



OF AMERICA 



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By a. Prickett, Tottenham, England. 



On reaching New York, American 

 friends piloted us around the wholesale 

 florists' stores in the city. All doors 

 were thrown open to us and we were 

 interested in the methods explained to 

 us. Our eyes were opened to the large 

 quantities of roses and carnations han- 

 dled. Cold chambers at all the estab- 

 lishments are useful for holding over 

 unsold stock until the following day. 

 In all the cities we visited the florists 

 were most cordial in their welcomes. 

 Their nurseries and seed stores exceed- 

 ed my expectations, not only in the 

 quantities of flowers grown but in the 

 methods that prevailed. The green- 

 houses and heating arrangements are 

 far ahead of anything I have seen in 

 the old country. At Chicago, an unin- 

 terrupted view of five acres of carna- 

 tions under glass, planted out on raised 

 beds, was a sight never to be forgotten. 

 I think their methods of greenhou.e 

 building are in advance of ours; with 

 them money seems to be no object. 



The Boston show was a grand affair, 

 but in my opinion the old country can 

 go one better, excepting, perhaps, on 

 roses and carnations. In the nurseries 

 the plants for market are not so good 

 as grown around London for Covent 

 Garden market. Cut roses, carnations 

 and sweet peas were grand for the time 

 of the year. 



By John S. Gunu, Birmingham. 



In giving my impressions of America, 

 the one which stands out the most 

 prominent and which gave me the most 

 pleasure, was the hearty welcome ex- 

 tended to us by all the florists and 

 growers we met there, and the genial 

 and good fellowship that they h.-id for 

 each other. 



I should think that the cut flower 

 trade has grown very rapidly during 

 the last ten years, on account of the 

 immense glass structures that have 

 been erected during that time, espe- 

 cially for roses and carnations, which 

 are grown to the highest perfection, 

 although some of the varieties of roses 

 would be unsuitable for our British 

 cut flower trade. All plants seem to be 

 looked upon from a cut flower stand- 

 point only. Any varieties that do not 

 give a good and continuous crop are 

 discarded by the grower, which loaves 

 the florist with little variety. 



Our visit to Boston show was of 

 great interest, as it gave ns a more 

 general idea of what is grown in this 

 country. As we expected, the roses and 

 carnations were very fine, as also were 

 the sweet peas. Plenty of the latter, 

 shown on the first prize table of Mr. 



Sim, had stems eighteen inches and 

 over, carrying large flowers, all winter 

 flowering varieties. They were very 

 good indeed. Two other very fine ex- 

 hibits were those of Mr. Eoland's; one 

 a group of acacias, well flowered, in- 

 cluding some choice varieties; the other 

 rambler roses, well grown and of a 

 good color. 



The plant trade of America, gen- 

 erally, seems to be in the har^ds of the 

 various seedsmen, who impbrt large 

 quantities of roses and flowering shrubs 

 from Holland. Plants used for bedding 

 seem to be coleus, fuchsias, heliotropes, 

 geraniuins, etc. These ajp grown in 

 large quantities by one or two grow- 

 ers, who supply the seedsmen direct as 

 required. There is also a large quantity 

 of dahlias in the best varieties grown 

 for this trade. Cannas and gladioli are 

 planted very largely, these are grown 

 for the retail trade in California. No 

 attempt seems to be made at villa gar- 

 dening beyond leveling the turf and 

 planting one or two rambler roses and 

 clematis to grow over the verandas. 

 This gives the suburbs of the large 

 cities a very bare and impoverished 

 appearance. There is much food for 

 thought at the way things are done in 

 the United States and the quickness 

 with which they seem to clinch on to an 

 idea and carry it through. 



By J. Brown, Stamford, England. 



At Philadelphia we were the guests 

 of W. Atlee Burpee, who took us for a 

 motor drive around the city and parks. 

 An inspection of his seed establishment 

 followed. We were surprised to find 

 such a large, well-ordered establish- 

 ment, from which enormous quantities 

 of seeds are distributed to all parts. 

 We also visited the nurseries of Henry 

 Dreer, a well-managed place, with many 

 acres of glass, where palms, ferns, roses 

 and stove and greenhouse plants gen- 

 erally are represented in tens of thou- 

 sands. Our visit to Vincents' nurseries 

 at White Marsh we looked forward to 

 with pleasure, and we were not disap- 

 pointed. Enormous quantities of ge- 

 raniums are sent out, also dahlias, can- 

 nas, etc., and celery and other vege- 

 table plants. Messrs. Vincent must dis- 

 tribute millions of plants in a year. 

 The sons are all good business 'men. 

 Yes, altogether a smart business place. 

 While at Washington, a fine city, with 

 magnificent buildings, we visited the 

 nurseries of the Gude brothers. Amer- 

 ican Beauty roses are a great feature, 

 also carnations, liliums, hydrangeas, 

 etc. I have very pleasant memories of 

 all I saw in Washington. 



