•'''VTZv^Zy^^^''"^'^^''-^.- r't ■■ -i-yr.^.i?' .'I. -^w >(vv*". -nr—y^j-v-y^ yr^ ; 



Mahch 24, 1910. 



I 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



niflcent collection of .over ,700 photo- 

 graphs of the flora, fauna and scenery 

 oi the portions of China explored. The 

 Boyal Horticultural Society of England 

 tias already similarly honored him. His 

 lecture in Horticultural hall January 8 

 attracted a large and deeply interested 

 audience, while before the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club January 18 he had 

 one of the largest and most enthusiastic 

 gatherings the club has ever had. 

 ^ W. N. Ckaig. 



LORD & BURNHAM BUILD WEST. 



The Lord & Burnham Co., New York, 

 ha? plans well under way looking toward 

 bnaking ground about June 1 for a 

 western manufacturing department. 



i if teen acres of land , have been ac- 

 quiied at Des Plaines, 111., seventeen 

 miios from Chicago. There are railroads 

 on three sides of the property and the 

 company has the assuraijce that upon the 

 completion of its plant Chicago freight 

 rates will apply, George Sykes, manager 

 of the Chicago ofl&ce of the Lord & Burn- 

 ham Co., established June 1 last year, 

 spent the greater part of three months 

 time in visiting available sites around 

 Cliicago and has picked the Des Plaines 

 property as exceptionally well adapted 

 for the purpose. A few details remain 

 to be adjusted, but it is expected that 

 about June 1 a start will be made on a 

 foundry, an iron-working shop, a wood- 

 working shop and an erecting shop. It is 

 intended to provide facilities for the 

 manufacture of boilers, as well as green- 

 house material, turning out the full line 

 which the Lord & Burnham Co. now is 

 making at Irvington, N. Y. The plans 

 are being drawn with the view to the 

 extension of the factory buildings as rap- 

 idly as the western business makes ad- 

 visable. 



The Lord & Burnham Co, has had a 

 western branch in mind for some years. 

 A western office, in the Rookery building, 

 Chicago, has been operated for ten 

 months under the direction of Mr. Sykes 

 and the amount of business produced in 

 this short time has doubtless been a large 

 factor in determining the company to 

 proceed at once with the construction of 

 the manufacturing plant. It is reported 

 that the western office has turned in thus 

 far three or four times as much business 

 as was expected of it in its first year. 

 All these have been private greenhouse 

 contracts, no effort having been made to 

 secure commercial business. The western 

 plant will remove the handicap of freight 

 charges from Irvington and will put the 

 company in a position to compete on any 

 class of houses. 



To handle the western business, the 

 Lord & Burnham Co., Chicago, has been 

 incorporated under Illinois laws, with an 

 authorized capital stock of $50,000. The 

 certificate of incorporation was issued at 

 Springfield March 17. The incorporators 

 are George Sykes and his son and office 

 assistant, George Frederick Sykes, wdth 

 !■'• S. Munro, an attorney in the Rookery 

 building. 



WELL WATER FOR PLANTS. 



The following is an analysis of the 

 ^^'ter which I am now using in my 

 gi'^enhouses: Parts in 100,000— Odor, 

 slightly earthy; sediment, slight; free 

 ammonia, ,0030; albuminoid ammonia, 

 ••^'•08; nitrates, .5000; nitrites, .0010; 

 chlorine, .70; hardness, 3.2. Source of 

 sample, well. 



Can you tell whether there is anything 

 '11 the composition of this well water 



Begonia Pink PeaxL 



that is injurious to plants? It is the 

 only supply available at present. My 

 geraniums do not thrive, but seem to 

 lose all their roots by rotting. The aver- 

 age temperature in the house is 52 to 54 

 degrees at night and 60 to 65 degrees 

 with sun heat. The plants are in a house 

 with carnations. They are kept on the 

 dry side, being watered only when it is 

 absolutely necessary. R. C. 



Judging from the analysis given, there 

 is nothing in the water that is likely to 

 affect the growth of your geraniums, 

 unless it is the chlorine, and I know of 

 no experiments that show just how small 

 a proportion of this would have an in- 

 jurious effect. While it would not require 

 a large amount, either as chlorine gas 

 or combined with sodium as common salt, 

 it would hardly seem that one part in 

 100,000 could do any serious harm. 



To test the matter, I would suggest 

 that two lots of cuttings be started and 

 given the same treatment, except that 

 rain water is used for one lot and the 

 well water for the other, and if the 

 difference in results is noticeable it can 

 probably be ascribed to the water. 



Can the injury be caused by the use 

 of tar on the benches or heating pipe? 



BEGONIA PINK PEARL. 



It is pretty well understood by all in 

 the trade that in England the tuberous 

 begonia is a much more important plant 

 than it is in this country. There is noth- 

 ing finer for bedding under English cli- 

 matic conditions, and it may almost be 



said that what the geranium is to the 

 average American florist, the begonia is 

 to the Englishmen. There are several 

 large firms in England which make the 

 tuberous begonia their specialty, employ- 

 ing large ranges of glass and sending 

 out immense quantities of stock each 

 year. These firms have all been diligent 

 hybridizers and each year send out sets 

 of novelties, just as the American raisers 

 of new chrysanthemums do. Through the 

 efforts of these hybridizers great advance 

 has been made in the plant, in habit as 

 well as in size and color of flower. The 

 accompanying illustration represents one 

 of the season's leading novelties. The 

 variety was raised by Blackmore & Lang- 

 don, of Bath, and is named Pink Pearl. 

 The large flowers are almost rose-like, of 

 a lovely shade of salmon pink, carried in 

 profusion. The plant is said to be vig- 

 orous and of dwarf, upright habit. When 

 the variety was staged at the Temple 

 show in 1909 it was unanimously voted 

 the award of merit by the committee of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society. 



The tuberous begonia is coming into 

 more general use in some parts of the 

 Ufiited States and in Blackmore & Lang- 

 don 's catalogue they make use of a letter 

 in which James Fraser describes the sat- 

 isfactory results he has had at Cedar 

 Court, Morristown, N. J. 



Batavia, N. Y. — W. Stroh, of Buffalo, 

 now with W. J. Palmer & Son, and his 

 brother, Albert Stroh, will become asso- 

 ciated under the name of C. L. Stroh & 

 Sons, and begin at once the erection of 

 greenhouses that will cover 70x150 feet. 



