16 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



"^ 



NOTSUtBBR 4, 1909. 



A TRIP TO ADRIAN. 



When the west-bound Wabash train 

 pulled out of the Union Depot of Detroit, 

 Mich., at 9 a. m. Saturday morning, Octo- 

 ber 30, there were on board three dozen 

 jolly members of the Detroit Florists' 

 Club, bound for the establishment of 

 Elmer D. Smith & Co., at Adrian, Mich. 



Upon arrival at the city noted for its 

 chrysanthemums and wire fence factories, 

 we boarded a special car for Smith's. 

 The warm reception received here made 

 us feel at home at once. Dividing up into 

 smaller cliques, we were soon scattered 

 around in the various houses, but the 

 same thing was on everyone's mind — 

 mums. Some 25,000 feet are here de- 

 voted to the grand flower of Japan. Many 

 fine varieties were seen, including some 

 good old standbys, such as Appleton and 

 Ivory, others of this year's introduction, 

 and still others which will not make their 

 debut until 1911. 



A yellow which attracted much atten- 

 tion was Golden Eagle. The color is in- 

 tense, the stem good, and the foliage a 

 fine dark green. 



Madame St. Romme, a French variety, 

 the shade of which is quite like our old 

 Daybreak carnation, was much com- 

 mented upon. 



A seedling which Mr. Smith spoke ex- 

 ceptionally well of is a pure white, solid, 

 well-shaped flower. It had a splendid, 

 long stem and fine foliage. One of the 

 parents of this variety is Merza. 



Mr. Smith has much faith in the fu- 

 ture of the pompons and the anemones, 

 and therefore has gone extensively into 

 these kinds. 



One of the most promising looking of 

 all the pompons was a pink seedling of a 

 shade about as near the Enchantress 

 color as a chrysanthemum will attain. It 

 is a free bloomer, with a good, wiry stem. 

 The parents are Lulu and Alena. 



One of the prettiest flowers seen on the 



seen was Tapis de Neige; it is a pure 

 white, with flat flowers, and was well 

 thought of. 



Mrs. John Sligh was one of the finest 

 singles seen. This variety, we were also 

 told, is fine as a pot plant, being dwarf 

 in its habit. 



So many hundred varieties of mums 

 were to be seen that, should I try to 

 mention just the best ones, it would fill 

 a newspaper. 



In the house of seedlings, stems were 

 to be seen that were all of ten to twelve 

 feet long, and not weak, either. 



One thing we could not fail to notice 

 was the lack of foliage on many of the 

 stems. This no one seemed to be able to 

 account for. It surely was not from 

 overcrowding, as most of the plants were 

 planted about ten inches apart each way. 



Some beautiful flowers in the hairy 

 types caused many to wonder why more 

 are not grown. 



All the stock plants are kept in paper- 

 covered houses, planted right on the 

 ground, surrounded by a board to keep 

 them out of the walks. After the bars 

 are in place, the whole house is covered 

 with poultry wire; over this is laid a 

 well-oiled paper, and over the whole is 

 another layer of poultry wire, to prevent 

 the wind from carrying off or tearing 

 the paper. 



Mr. Smith is a strong advocate of 

 Hammond's greenhouse paint. Instead 

 of using the white paint, he uses the blue 

 in all the houses, claiming it has the ad- 

 vantage of not showing the soot marks 

 so soon. 



Mr. Smith's houses are all well pre- 

 served, one house being one of the orig- 

 inal ones built in 1876, and still doing 

 business. 



Cement benches are used throughout 

 the place. The benches are Mr. Smith's 

 own idea, and many of the florists made 

 minute notes of the style of construction, 



Detroit and Toledo Florists at Adrian, Mich. 



place was Little Barbee, a yellow anem- 

 one. The color is a fine shade of yellow, 

 and the plants were one mass of flowers, 

 proving its free blooming qualities. 



Another anemone which made a de- 

 cided hit with the experts was a pretty 

 bronze called Gayety. This variety, Mr. 

 Smith told us, is also well adapted for a 

 pot plant. 



Godfrey Gem is another anemone which 

 will make a splendid pot plant. 



The earliest of all the white anemones 



being so well pleased. Everything is 

 grown on raised benches. 



A clever little idea was noticed on the 

 ventilators. Some houses being rather 

 long, it was found hard to lift the sashes 

 at the farther end of the houses without 

 straining the ventilator apparatus, so Mr. 

 Smith conceived the idea of hanging 

 weights, about every ten or fifteen feet 

 apart, from arms fastened to the ventil- 

 ator pipe, thus offsetting the weight of 

 the sashes. Weights amounting to about 



320 pounds in all were found sufficient 

 for one house. 



About 4,000 seedlings were grown iu 

 1908, and of these only a few were dis 

 seminated, giving you some conception 

 of the amount of work required in get- 

 ting out new varieties. 



Mr. Smith is at present working on ;v 

 strain of chrysanthemums which he hiopis 

 in the course of the next five or si- 

 years to have a good stock of. He is 

 aiming to get away from the varieties 

 having no foliage just below the flower 

 He showed us several kinds which h( 

 could guarantee would have fine foliag(: 

 right up to the flower, thus getting away 

 from the long, barren stem, so often seen 

 for from eight to ten inches below thr 

 flowers. 



One of Mr. Smith's great pleasures is 

 making all his own photographs for his 

 catalogues and trade paper cuts. He has 

 made quite a study of photography, and 

 has a well-equipped dark room and gal- 

 lery. The gallery is a short greenhouse, 

 in which there are no benches. 



It was in this pleasant place that our 

 whole Detroit party was treated to a fine 

 dinner. The way those boys ate was 

 good to look upon. For a while there 

 was not a sound but the munching of 

 pork and beans and pumpkin pie. 



When we had about eaten everything 

 in sight, a bunch of nine Toledo florists 

 entered upon the scene. They had sur- 

 mised that as we were the first on the 

 ground, they had better get a lunch down- 

 town, so they did not have to go hungry. 



President Plumb, of the Detroit Flo- 

 rists' Club, called on Mr. Scribner for a 

 few words, and this gentleman thanked 

 Mr. Smith for his hospitality. Mr. Scrib- 

 ner spoke of the kind feeling which pre- 

 vails among, florists toward each other, 

 Baying that the only time one will not 

 respond if another is in trouble is when 

 it comes to paying his bills. 



Vice-president George E. Brown also 

 referred to the fraternal spirit among 

 the florists. Mr. Bayer, of Toledo, then 

 made a few remarks. 



The Toledo florists were invited to join 

 us on our annual pilgrimage to Mount 

 Clemens, November 4, which invitation 

 was accepted. 



In the Detroit party were: J. F. Sul- 

 livan, Wm. Dilger, Herman Knope, 

 Eobert Rahaley, Wm. Hielscher, W. B. 

 Brown, Thos. Browne, Geo. E. Browne, 

 Chas. Warncke, Chas. Plumb, A. E. Dock- 

 sey, E. A. Scribner, O. A. Stoll, J. De 

 Carteret, C. H. Maynard, J. H. David- 

 son, H. Pickworth, H. Machbeit, G. 

 Taepke, H. Kolbe, A. Von Beversluys, R. 

 Flowerday, Jr., A. Stahelin, E. Beard, B. 

 Schroeter, A. E. Summers, R. H. Ellis, 

 E. Pedrick, F. Cgchion, J. E. Smith, F. 

 Pautke, F. Walling, F. Becker and Hugo 

 Schroeter. 



The Toledo party consisted of E. H. 

 Cushman, George Bayer, John Barrow, S. 

 N. Peck, Wm. Krueger, Otto Krueger. 

 Wm. Phillips, Mr. Hall, of Clyde, 0., 

 and E. A. Kunke. H. S. 



NAME OF FLOWER. 



Will you please tell me the name of 

 the enclosed flower? The plant grows 

 about two feet high and is hardy. 



H. W. 



Achillea Ptarmica The Pearl. C. 



Mt. Vernon, N. Y. — J. Meerkamp 

 Van Emden, who is American agent for 

 a number of European houses, spent a 

 large part of the summer on the Pa- 

 cific coast. His headquarters are here. 



