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Mav 13, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



J3 



FICUS AND PHOENIX IN FLORIDA. 



August Van Eepoel believes there is a 

 ^oicat future in the groAving of ficus and 

 many palms under lath shade in Florida. 

 Jle is located near Tampa, and semis the 

 photograph from which the accompany- 

 ing illustration was prepared, and 

 writes : 



' ' The picture of phoenix and aranca- 

 lias I hope you will put before your 

 readers, to show them the possibilities 

 of this climate. These plants are grown 

 jji open air, under shade, the year around. 



"I was in the florists' business ten 

 vcars ago in Europe, but since then have 

 ,aken up farming and breeding of fidl- 

 Mooded stock. As a pastime I have kept 

 i;p my old occupation — just for amuse- 

 ■iicnt. I have no greenhouses or glass of 

 ;iuy kind. Some plants grow well here; 

 ithcrs do not. Eubbers, phoenix, arau- 

 .arias and arecas do wonderfully, and I 

 til ink good money could be made here by 

 ;i lowing those plants for northern mar- 

 kets. Some northern florists think Flor- 

 i<la grown stock is forced or long- jointed. 

 'I'liis is not so; outdoor stock here is 

 stronger than northern stock grown un- 

 der glass, and will stand more rough 

 usage. 



' ' The Phoenix Canariensis shown in the 

 picture are 4 years old, and the avau- 

 <arias ly^ years old. "When I iiir{)orted the 

 nraucarias they were from eight to twelve 

 inches high; now they stand as high and 

 strong as four-year-olds, though they 

 have had only nine months' growth in 

 Florida. They might have done better; 

 tlicy did not have the needed potting, 

 as a shipment of pots got lost and was 

 more than two months on the road. 



' * The bottom row of araucaria consists 

 of the glauca variety, which does not 

 yi'ow so fast. 



"Eooted cuttings, twelve inches high, 

 of Ficus elastica will grow three feet in 

 one year, with leaves only two or three 

 inches apart, but they cannot stand over 

 three degrees of frost, and this is a 

 drawback to their outdoor culture in 

 Florida. The other plants will stand 

 five degrees of frost, and this we rarely 

 iiave. 



"The water I use contains sulphur 

 and other minerals, which do not affect 

 the growth of the plants, as some believe. 

 1 grew all kinds of bulbs and they multi- 

 plied so fast that I had to throw them 

 away. The Holland varieties and lilies, 

 liowever, do not do well." 



OBITUARY. 



Mrs. O. P. Bassett. 



Mrs. Orland P. Bassett. of Hinsdale, 

 111., wife of O. P. Bassett, senior part- 

 ner iu the firm of Bassett & Washburn, 

 died May 7 in the Mary Thompson hos- 

 pital, Chicago, as the result of tropical 

 intestinal fever. She contracted the dis- 

 lase in Hot Springs, Va., about a month 

 •'go. It was pronounced rare by attend- 

 ing Chicago physicians. Mrs. Bassett 

 'nme home three weeks ago to see her 

 ■iged mother, who was then in the Mary 

 Ihompson hospital and who later recov- 

 I'led. Mrs. Bassett was well known in 

 Ifinsdale society. She is survived by Mr. 

 ^^iissett, her mother, Mary E. Andrews, 

 "f Berwyn; one sister, Elizabeth Fox, 

 "f the same suburb, and four brothers, 

 *'• P. and D. E. Andrews, of Berwyn, 

 'nd N. C. and H. W. Andrews, of Coloma, 

 -\Iioh. The funeral was from the family 

 icsidence in Hinsdale, Sunday, May 9, 

 ■■'nil was largely attended. Many flowers 



Araucarias and Phoenix Grown in Florida. 



were sent by friends and business asso- 

 ciates, among them being pieces from 

 several Chicago retailers. 



J. N. Holland. 



J. Newton Holland, of Greenville. S. 

 C, died May 3, under an operation for 

 appendicitis. 



William Miller. 



The death of William Miller, who for 

 upwards of forty years Avas gardener to 

 the Earls of Craven, at Combe Abbey, 

 Warwickshire, occurred April 16. Mr. 

 Miller belonged to the old school of 

 Scotch gardeners, and not a few of the 

 Scots now in America owe much of their 

 success to the training received at his 

 hands, for many young men passed under 

 his discipline in the old days. A few 

 years ago Mr. Miller resigned his posi- 

 tion at Combe. Being well over 70 years 

 of age at the time, he might reasonably 

 have claimed some rest after an excee«l- 

 ingly energetic and busy life, but instead 

 he preferred to commence a business and 

 nursery at Berkswell, near Coventry. 



John Fottler. 



John Fottler, who had been christened 

 by a former Boston mayor as the father 

 of Boston's park system, one of the old- 

 est and best known citizens of Dor- 

 chester, Mass., died at his home May 5, 

 in his ninety-sixth year. 



Mr. Fottler came to America seventy 

 six years ago, with his parents, brothers 

 and sisters, from Bavaria. After a short 

 stay in the west, Mr. Fottler returned to 

 Boston and first secured employment in 

 Quincy market. When the public gar- 

 dens were opened, .John Fottler had the 

 distinction of delivering the first load of 

 plants to be set out there. As far b:ick 

 as the early seventies, Mr. Fottler con- 

 ceive<l the idea of a great system of free 

 public parks for Boston, to be owne<l Dy 

 the city, and to no man was greater 

 credit due for the inception of Boston 's 

 present magnificent park system. Mr. 

 Fottler 's business was the raising of 

 small fruits and vegetables for the Bos- 

 ton njarket. He retired from business a 

 number of years ago. He married Miss 

 Mary MacDonald in 1838, who prede- 

 ceased him. Four sons and two daugh- 

 ters survive. 



AN EQUALIZER OR AIR ESCAPE. 



The season for storms and high winds 

 is at hand, and many of us have already 

 snff'ered losses from this source. 



I was much interested in reading the 

 accounts in the Chicago news letter in 

 the Eeview of May 6, and note the ref- 

 erence to a point which has puzzled me 

 for a long time — the outward pressure 

 on the glass during high winds, causing 

 the roofs to heave and the ventilators 

 to strain their fastenings, as well as 

 blowing out all loose glass. 1 have stood 

 many a time and watched this perform- 

 ance going on, trying to get at the 

 cause, so that a remedy might be applied. 



It seems to me that it must be caused 

 by an unequal atmospheric pressure, antl 

 if this is so, we ought to have an equal- 

 izer or vent of some kind on our houses, 

 which would open outward autonmtically, 

 allowing the air pressure within to con- 

 form witii that outside. This would 

 lessen the strain on the glass, as well as 

 on the nerves. J. L. J. 



PLANT INDUSTRY. 



The Bureau of Plant Industry was es- 

 tablished by Congress by the act mak- 

 ing appropriations for the Department of 

 Agriculture for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1902, approved March 2, 1901. 

 It was a consolidation of the former di- 

 \isions of botany, pomology, vegetable 

 physiology and pathology, agrostology, 

 experimental gardens and grounds, and 

 seeds. At the date of its establishing it 

 numbered 203 employees. July 1, 1908, 

 at the beginning of the current fiscal 

 year, the number of employees was 976. 

 It is explained that ' ' the increase in the 

 force of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 is due to the increase in the demands 

 on that Bureau for scientific work and 

 information respecting seeds, plants and 

 crops of all kinds from different parts of 

 the country. ' ' 



Newfaxe, N. Y. — Warren Tumber is 

 having a good season at his vegetable 

 houses, on East avenue. He grows good 

 quantities of tomatoes, celery and other 

 plants, and the greater part of his stock 

 is usually contracted for in advance. 



