18 



tliau a pound of cure."' The natural 

 preventive for all these dillereut spots, 

 fairy ring, etc., is nothinjr but fresh, 

 dry air and careful watering. This 

 sliould convince us that syringing is to 

 be discontinued as soon as the weather 

 prevents us, in early Avinti'r, from gi\- 

 ing suilifient fresh air to iieep the at 

 niosphere pure. 



Jiut now, while we are trying to ])re- 

 veut fungous diseases, we cultivate red 

 spider. This is quite a jirobleui. as tiie 

 only real preventive for this obnoxious 

 little animal is cold water, with tliirty 

 pounds oi' jiressuie behind it. J fight 

 it in fall, when the days are still 

 bright and sunny, and give it a rest un- 

 til the days get longer an<l wanner, so 

 1 can open the ventilators to dry the 

 jilants after a good soaking. In f;ict, 

 I would rather have a little rust than 

 a dose of siiid<'i'. ] niu>t not Idi'i^el our 

 otliei' living friend, the gieeii tly. I 

 call it fiiend. It is .-i I'licnd ;is com- 

 )iaie"] \\ith the othei' fellows we ]i;i\e 

 tu I'lit >ip with. There is no I'Xcuse for 

 its being in the greenhouses, as only a 

 Utile smudge e\ei'y week will keep it 

 out entirely. Of course, if it gets its 

 own way it will sjioil the foliagi' ;ind 

 )n;i\- even take enough substanci' out 

 of the buds to cause them to split. Here 

 1 mii^t s.'iy. howe\ci', that this is not 

 I he (inly cause of siilitting. I tliinl; un- 

 e\cH temperature is what chietl\- 'loes 

 1 he work. Of couise. some \;irieties 

 .-ire more subject to it than others, so it 

 <;iii not be jirexciited eiitirelx'. .\s to 

 chemical remedies for .all these ditfer- 

 eiit troubles, 1 have little to say. 1 

 lia\e li'ied a few of them, but with 

 lather jioor results. >^o I ]irefer to 

 -tick to preNcntion; let others take to 

 cure, it' they choose. 



Benches or Solid Beds? 



Which aj'e best for carnations, solid 

 beds or raised benches? To this (pu;s- 

 tion I must giNe the same unswi'r as 1 

 lia\e given nmny times before. In 

 solid lieds T can grow good stock if J 

 am half asleep, but when J grew theni 

 in raised Ijenches 1 found it necessary 

 to be wide awake all the time. This 

 difference lies in the watering. If you 

 can keeji away from the Lose long 

 enough to give them ;i (diance to dry 

 <nit once in a while, solid beds are all 

 right. 



As to till' \arieties to gro\v. 1 leave 

 that to each grower himself. lie 

 knows best which aie the uu)>t ]uofit- 

 able for liiin to grow ami whiidi bring 

 him the most money, oi' which his tracle 

 dem.a nds. 



As to ui'W kinds. I will say it is nice 

 to have something new cvoi'y ye.ir. for 

 the pleasure you get out of it. but 1 do 

 not think it profitable for the smaller 

 j^iower to iu\'est much in things that 

 le does not know, Ijecause e\eiy d(^llar 

 s|ient has to be made again. It is up to 

 tiu' larger' grower to try everything 

 that is promising, and he, if he strikes 

 something good, has the room to make 

 all lie (Till out of it. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



.M.VY 1'.'), I'Jll. 



Timing the Crops. 

 In order to regulate our crops to ad- 

 vantage, we should try to have the 

 heaviest cut in midwinter, be off 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 l)Ioom at a wrong 

 time' This helps to strengthen the re- 

 maining shoots for a good spring crop. 



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 keej) the faker from 

 the streets: li.'i cent sales will not be 

 necessary, and yet we will realize more 

 uionev for our "oods in the end. If till 



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 

 .')() 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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I 



By G. Prickett, Tottenham, England. 



On re.achiiig New York. Americin 

 fi'ieiuls piloted us around the wholesah' 

 florists' stores in the city. .Ml doois 

 were thrown open to us and wi' were 

 interested in the methods explaiiu'd to 

 us. ()ur eyes were opened to the larm' 

 (piantities of roses and carnations han 

 dleii. Cold clunnbers .at all the estab 

 lishments are useful for holding o\'er 

 unsold stock until the following day. 

 In all the cities we visited the ibirist- 

 were most coidial in their welcomes. 

 Their nurseries and seed stores exceed 

 ed my exjiectations, not only in the 

 (piantities of flowers grown but in the 

 methods that ]prevailed. The green 

 houses and heating arrangements are 

 far ahead <d' anything 1 ha\e seen in 

 the old country. .\t Chicago, an unin 

 terru]iteil view of live acres of carna- 

 tions under glass, planted out on raised 

 beds, was a sight nevei' to ho forgotten. 

 T think their methods of greenhou c 

 building are in advance of ours; wit I, 

 them money seems to be no object. 



The Boston show was ;i grand alfair. 

 but in my opinion the old country can 

 go one better, (>xcei>ting. i^'rhajis, on 

 i'os(^s and carnations. In the nurseries 

 the plants for market are not so gool 

 as giown arouiul Loudon for Covent 

 Garden market. Cut roses, carnations 

 ajid sweet ]>eas were grand for the tiiie^ 

 of the year. 



By John S. Gunn, Birmingham. 



In giving my impressions of .\uie;ica, 

 the one which stands out the nib-t 

 |iiomineiit and which ga\e me th.^ most 

 jileasure. was tlie hearty welcome ex- 

 tende(l to us bv all the lloi'i'ts ami 

 growers we met ther(\ and tie ..;en::!| 

 and gooil 1ellowslii|i that the\ li.'ol 'ui 

 each other. 



1 should think that the cut 'IipWc i 

 ti.ade has grown \ery rajiidh diiiin;^ 

 the last ten y(>ars, on account oi the 

 immense glass structures that ha\e 

 been erected during that time, es|pe 

 cially for roses ami carnations, whi(di 

 are grown to the liighest perfection, 

 although some of the \arieties of rose^ 

 would be unsuitalile for our British 

 cut flower trade. .Ml idanfs seem to be 

 looked npon from a cut (lower stand- 

 ])oint only. .Any varieties tint do not 

 gi\e a good and continuous ( ro|i aie 

 discarded by the grower, which leaves 

 the florist with little variety. 



Our visit to Boston sliow was of 

 great interest, as it gave us 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 imdies .and 

 over, carrying large flowers, all winter 

 doweling varieties. They were very 

 good indeed. Two oth(>r \ ery fine ex- 

 liibits were those of Mr. Poland's; one 

 a yroiip of acacias, wadl flowered, in- 

 clmling some idioice varieties; the other 

 rambler roses, well grown and of a 

 yood color. 



The plant trade of America, gen- 

 erally, seems to be in the hands of the 

 \arious seedsmen, who imjiort ]ar;;e 

 ((uantities of roses and llowering shrubs 

 from Ibdiand. Plants used foi' bedding 

 seiiii to be coleus, fuchsias, ludiotroiies. 

 L:eraninms. etc. These are grown in 

 large (]uantities by one or two grow- 

 ers, who sujiply the seedsmen direct as 

 rcijiiired. There is also a large quantity 

 of dahlias in the best varieties grown 

 for this trade. Cannas and gladioli are 

 jilanted very largely, these are grown 

 for the retail trade in California. \o 

 attemjit seems to be made at villa gar- 

 dening beyond leveling th(! turf and 

 lilanting one or two rainldiM- roses and 

 ( lematis to grow over the verandas. 

 This gives the suburbs of the large 

 cities a very hare and impoverished 

 a]>pearancc. There is much food for 

 thought at the way things are done in 

 the I'uited States and the quickness 

 with which they seem to clinch on to an 

 ide.a and carry it through. 



By J. Brown, Stamford, England. 



\t Philadelphia we were the guests 

 of W. Atlee Burpee, who took us for a 

 motor drive around the city and ^larks. 

 An inspection of his seed establishment 

 followed. "We wer(> surprised to find 

 such a large, well ordered establish- 

 ment, from which enormous quantifit's 

 of ^eeds are distributed to all parts. 

 \\C also visited the nurseries of Henry 

 I'lecr. a well-managed jilace, with nmny 

 .acres of glass, Avhere palms, ferns, roses 

 ami stovi' and gre(>nhonse jilants gen 

 er.illy are rei>resent('d in tens of thou- 

 s.inds. Our visit to X'incents' nurseries 

 ;ii White Marsli we looked forward to 

 with pleasure, and Ave were not disap- 

 |ioint('(l. lOnormous (juantities of ge- 

 raniums are sent out, also dahlias, can 

 nas. etc., .aiul c(dery and other \'ege- 

 table plants. Messrs. Vincent must (lis- 

 tribiite 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 Gnde brothers. Amer- 

 ican Beauty roses are a great feature, 

 also carnations, liliums, hydrangeas, 

 <'fc. 1 have very pleasant memories of 

 all 1 saw in Washington. 



