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The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



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June 1, 1011. 



world is treating us in the same way, 

 but it takes the gloss off to know that 

 the party in the next street is practic- 

 ing systematic undercutting. As I have 

 said before, the American florists and 

 growers, as I saw them, are a decent 

 lot, and even after allowing that they 

 were on their best behavior, I think 

 the same expression is applicable. Not 

 a few are prepared to do their bit in 

 the way of tall-talk, but I nevertheless 

 believe that the bulk of the Ameri- 

 canized Britishers are ready, if tackled 

 on the square, to admit that the "old 

 country" isn't such a tarnation one- 

 horse show as some would have us be- 

 lieve. 



As a grower of both plants and 

 blooms, I was disappointed at the 

 meager show of goods obtainable in 

 the markets. "Whether climate has any- 

 thing to do with it, I cannot say, but I 

 give it to our U. S. A. friends that we 

 can whack 'em all over. Mr. Vincent, 

 who, by the way, proved a good pilot, 

 does a big trade in pot lines, but mostly 

 of the bedding type. At E. G. Hill Co. 's 

 Bichmond quarters, things were done 

 well, but I candidly confess that roses 

 and carnations were beginning to pall 

 upon me before I reached there. It 

 seems as if America lives on roses and 

 carnations and I was mortally sick of 

 them after I viewed the great concern 

 of P«ehlmann Bros. Co., at Chicago. 

 The stock was indeed wonderfully well 

 done. I give the Yankees credit that 

 they can do these two lines on a vast 

 scale in a very even manner. I don't 

 pretend to know anything about these 

 lines, but all the same I can express 

 an opinion as an outsider, and it is 

 this: "The best American grade car- 

 nation or rose is no better than the 

 best home-grown as I've seen them." 

 But the Americans certainly have a 

 long pull when it comes to production 

 in quantity, for the simple reason that 

 in America the firms put down acres 

 to these two crops. Poehlmanns' have 

 forty-five acres given almost entirely 

 to them, and I own that when I fin- 

 ished my survey, I didn't care a red 

 cent whether I saw another rose or 

 carnation during the next two years. 

 Poehlmanns' attracted me more on ac- 

 count of its phenomenal size and the 

 labor-saving methods than the produce 

 did. 



The Boston show to American eyes 

 may have been the biggest on earth — 

 the building certainly eclipsed any- 

 thing of the kind that I know — but I 



nevertheless think that to best our 

 Temple or Holland House shows the 

 U. S. A. men have a long way to go. 

 Some of the Boston exhibits were good, 

 really good, and I almost went down 

 on my knees when I came across Far- 

 quhar's cyclamens. This firm can do 

 these plants in style. The whole Far- 

 quhar exhibit was very creditable. The 

 rose exhibits were good, naturally, as 

 were some of the carnations. As a 

 sweet pea grower, I confess that Wm. 

 Sim can lick us into a cocked hat when 

 it comes to early bloom. Sim is a 

 credit to Old England, or rather to 

 Scotland, and his sweet peas made 

 me feel small. The plant exhibits gen- 

 erally were only moderate, but Mr. Eo- 

 land's were an exception. Taking the 

 plant lines as I saw them in America, 

 it seems to me that the growers there 

 depend largely upon hard-wooded im- 

 ported stuff. 



Just how many times I heard, "Very 

 pleased to meet you," I cannot say, 

 but I used to pity the poor Yankees 

 every time they were introduced to our 

 crowd. By the time each had greeted 

 us, he was out of breath and hugging 

 a sore hand. Most of them said: 

 "Come right along." Our trip was 

 one series of banquets and functions. 

 The florists' clubs 'of each town vied 

 with each other to give us a good time. 

 It really seemed as if one crowd hung 

 on our heels until the next lot came 

 to meet us. At one place, Washington, 

 if I remember rightly, we had two 

 banquets. Washington, by the way, is 

 a fine place, but Boston more closely 

 resembles London than any place we 

 visited. Taken on the whole, I gained 

 some amusement and a good deal of 

 knowledge from my tripj but leisure I 

 never had. Dog-tired every day, Sun- 

 days and all. The club boys never 

 let us rest. They are born pilots, for 

 they took us to all points where things 

 were to be seen; buildings or parks, 

 they knew every crook and cranny, and 

 I venture to say with their help we saw 

 more of America in three weeks than 

 the average tourist would see in three 

 months. 



THE BOSEOOF EXHIBITION. 



Julius Eoehrs, Eutherford, N. J., was 

 a member of the international board 

 of judges for the great flower show at 

 Boskoop, Holland, in April. This was 

 the first attempt of the Boskoop nurs- 

 erymen to give an exhibition of this 

 magnitude and they are more than 



pleased with the results. Altogether, 

 60,000 persons visited the show in the 

 fourteen days of its duration, and 

 among these were leading men in the 

 trade from all the countries of Europe. 

 Of the plants shown, rhododendrons 

 and azaleas naturally occupied first 

 place, but there were large and fine 

 displays of lilacs, roses, hydrangeas, 

 Japanese maples, viburnums, magnolias, 

 prunus, cytisus, malus, Crataegus, clem- 

 atis, deutzias, kalmia, robinia, staphy- 

 lea, spiraea, weigelia, peonies, lilies and 

 all the • decorative plants for which 

 Boskoop is known the h,orticultural 

 world over. 



AT THE ABNOLD ABBOBETUM. 



The lilac display at the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum, in Boston, was at its height 

 May 20, when these notes were written. 

 A quantity of large sized specimens 

 were moved last fall, many of them 

 being cut down near the ground, and 

 are now breaking nicely. The undis- 

 turbed plants are in fine flower. 



A few of the best varieties noted 

 were: Aline Mocquery, single dark 

 purplish red, dwarf habit; Mme. Le- 

 moine, still the finest double white; 

 Philemon, single, dark purple, immense 

 panicles, one of the finest lilacs grown; 

 Frau Bertha Dammann, large pure 

 white panicles; Guizot, fine single light 

 lavender; Ville de Troyes, rosy lilac, a 

 splendid grower; Volcan, a grand single 

 dark purple variety, similar to Phile- 

 mon; Dr. Masters, double blue, erect 

 panicles, good; Louis Henry, much 

 branched panicles, rose with lavender, 

 a good double; Le Printemps, double 

 pink suffused with lavender, large flow- 

 ers; Prince Imperial, single, airy-look- 

 ing branched panicles, light blue; 

 Michael Buchner, double, pale lilac, 

 erect; Negro, single, dark purple, a 

 grand variety; Macrostachya, the most 

 beautiful of all the single light pinks, 

 immense erect panicles; Senateur Vol- 

 land, an excellent double, light pink; 

 Ambrose Verschaffelt, light single pink, 

 large panicles; Souvenir de Ludwig 

 Spaeth, single, deep purple red, still one 

 of the best; Doyen Keteleer, double, 

 pale lavender; Lemoinei, fine double 

 blue; Nigricans, a cheery single light 

 pink — Nigricans is something of a mis- 

 nomer for this variety; Marie Legraye, 

 still the finest single white; caerulea 

 superba, excellent single deep blue; 

 Belle de Nancy, bright satiny rose; 

 Geant des Batailles, fine single, light 



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The Exhibition by the Nurserymen at Boskoop, Holland. 





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