io8 



Garden and Forest. 



[April 25, 1888. 



jar (ugly enough to have been Rosamond's in Miss Edge- 

 worth's famous story), relieved against a purple velvet hang- 

 ing — his flowers are painted with little tenderness or charm, 

 and his color scheme is sombre and unattractive. And as for 

 Mr. John F. Weir's large picture of Peonies, it quite deserves 

 that an action for libel be brought against it. 



Little variety is shown in the choice of subjects. Roses and 

 Clirysanthemums preponderate — the best being Mr. Ramsey's 

 [link and yellow Roses on a pink cloth, and Mr. Binford Mc- 

 Closkey's yellow and white Chrysanthemums against a dark 

 red background. But neither of these pictures is remarkable, 

 and not much can be said in praise of any of the Hollyhocks, 

 Pansies or Geraniums, which include almost all the other 

 flower paintings. The best of them are very prosaic in effect, 

 and if prose in painting is ever to be condemned as such, it 

 must surely be in the case of pictures of flowers — unless, of 

 course, they are intended to have a merely documentary, 

 scientific value, in which case the higher canons of art cannot 

 be applied to them. The very essence of a flower that is worth 

 painting at all is that it has poetic quality of some kind — either 

 of the bold, brilliant and emphatic kind which touches senti- 

 ment on its more sensuous side, or of the idyllic, subtile kind 

 which touches it in its tenderest and most delicate fibres. 

 Tliere is music in the blare of trumpets as well as in the tones 

 of a violin; and so there is pictorial poetry in Chrysanthemums 

 and Peonies as well as in the Wild Rose and the Narcissus. 

 And whoever paints either the one or the other without trans- 

 lating and accentuating this sentiment, fails in the essentials of 

 his task, however correctly he may seem to have drawn and 

 colored, however gracefully he may have grouped his flowers. 

 From this point of view there seemed to me only one really 

 good piece of flower painting in this exhibition — Miss Conkey's 

 simple little picture of pink Chinese Primroses in a broken 

 liasket has much more true sentiment in it, more truth to the 

 charm of its subject, more tenderness and poetry than any of 

 the others. 



The fruit pictures, among which I beg leav^e to include two 

 or three excellent pictures of Onions, are much better as a rule 

 than the flowers. Mr. W. J. McCloskey has done excellent 

 technical work in his little painting of Tangerine Oranges 

 wrapped in white papers; Mr. Conely's " Pan of Apples" is very 

 good; and Mr. Harry Eaton's "Fruit" — Oranges and black 

 Grapes on a white cloth — is admirable. There is very clever 

 handling in it, and there is also the great desideratum — a touch 

 of true pictorial sentiment. 



If it seems to be difficult to paint flowers well, and especially 

 Roses, what must it be to carve them in marble ? Yet even 

 this task is not beyond the power of a good artist. The Roses 

 which the lady holds in her hand whom Mr. St. Gaudens has 

 portrayed in a marble low-relief, are absolutely perfect in their 

 truth to the grace, the delicacy and the poetry of the flower. 



Jlf. G. van Rensselaer. 



Vanilla Flower and its Fertilization, JSullctin, Royal 

 Gardens, Kew ; March. 



Urena Tenax, Bulletin, Royal Gardens, Kew ; March. A 

 valuable fibre plant from Natal. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Odontoglossum crispum Gouvilleanum, Revue Hortiiole, 

 March i6th. 



Prunus Capuli, Revue Horticole, March i6th. The plant here 

 figured appears to fie Prunus serotina, which is sometimes 

 seen in Frencli nurseries under the name of P. Capuli, a 

 Mexican and South American tree for which the oldest pub- 

 lished name is P. salicifolia. 



CraSSULA LACTEA, Gardener's Chronicle, March loth. 



Begonia Lubbersii, Gardener's Chronicle, March loth. 



Phal/ENOP.SIS, JohnSeden, Gardener's Chronicle, March lytli. 

 A hybrid raised in the establishment of the Messrs. Veitch from 

 P. ainabilis oi Blume, crossed with the pollen of P. Laddenian- 

 niana. The flower is described as " three inches in diamater, 

 ivory white, densely and vniiformly spotted all over lioth 

 sepals and petals with small dots of a beautiful light purple, 

 the lip sulfused with light rc)Sy pm'ple." 



CARYcri'A .soBOLIFERA, Gardener's Chronicle, March I7tli. 



H YACINTHUS CORYMBO.SUS, Bullcliito dela R Socicta Toscana di 

 Orticultura, Fel.iruary. A dwarf purple-flowered Cape species. 



Pear ; Pierre Tourasse, Bulletinodcla R. Socicta Toscana di 

 Orticultura, Fefiruary. 



Tea R<j,se ; Mademoiselle Francisca KrIjger, Journal 

 des Roses, March. 



Gladiolus Oberprosident von Seyderretz ; Gartenjlora, 

 March. A semi-double and not very attractive variet}'. 



Begonia Lubbersii, Revue de V Horticulture Beige, March. A 

 showy Brazilian species with pale flowers and beautifully 

 marked foliage. 



Odontoglossum Insleayi, var. Leopardinum, Revue de 

 V Horticulture Beige, March. 



Retail Flower Markets. 



New York, April zoth. 



Trade is generally good throughout the city. It is lirisk in Broad- 

 way shops that catch the cream of it, as a rule. The supply of cut 

 flowers is very full, yet really choice flowers are scarce. (July per- 

 fectly grown Roses, thath.ive not been injured after having been cut, 

 will satisfy the patrons o£ florists in first-class localities ; but selected 

 hybrids bring 75 cts. The average run of them are sold for 50 cts. 

 Puritan Roses cost 40 cts. Very large La France — and tliere are some 

 grand specimens brought in from Hudson River localities — are offered 

 for 50 cts. each. Tliere are quantities of indift'erently grown ones ar- 

 riving, which bring $3 a dozen. Catherine Mermets have improved in 

 quality ; tliey sell for %i and'$3 a dozen. Bride Roses are 20 cts. each, 

 and Perlesdes Jardins, Souvenir d'un Ami, Papa Gmifier and Niphetos 

 cost $1 a dozen. There are a limited number of Papa Gontiers arriv- 

 ing, which are very large and handsomely colored, that bring $2 a 

 dozen. Mde. Cusins costs $1.25 a dozen and William Francis Bennetts 

 are $1.50. Tliere is a glut of Lilium longijlorum, the best of which are 

 sold for $3 a dozen. These flowers were disposed of for $5 a hundred 

 early in the week, at wholesale. Callas cost 25 cts. each. The aver- 

 age Lilies-of-the- Valley of indifferent quality bring 75 cts. a dozen, and 

 the best bring $1. Tulips, Daffodils, Roman Hyacinths and Poet's 

 Narcissus cost 75 cts. a dozen. Cut spikes of Dutch Hyacinths sell for 

 $1.50 a dozen. Daisies are 25 cts. a dozen, and Meteor Marigold is 

 50 cts. a dozen. Mignonette is very handsome, and brings from 50 cts. 

 to 81 a dozen. Both white and purple Lilacs are of excellent ciualily, 

 (ind are in good demand at ^2 a bunch. Violets are opening their eyes, 

 and becoming poor. They bring from 75 cts. to $1,503 dozen. Orchids 

 are so scarce that the shops show none. Gardenias bring S3 a dozen. 

 Smilax is 40 cts. a string, and Aspa)-agus temussiiiius is 50 cts. a yard. 



PHILADEI.rHIA, April sotli. 



There has been no serious break in the flower market, no glut, since 

 the heavy Easter traffic, owing to the numerous dinners, receptions, wed- 

 dings and other festal gatherings in society. Good flowers are plenti- 

 ful, excepting Lilies-of-the- Valley. The price of these, however, re- 

 mains at $1 per dozen. Tulips are steady at the same quotation. 

 Owing to flie great numbers of the single Trumpet Daffodil which are 

 now blooming freely in the open air, the price has dropped to 50 cts. 

 per dozen ; Van Sion, the double variety, which can only be obtained 

 in quantity from green-houses, holds to the price of $1 per dozen. 

 Plants in full flower of varieties of Primula vulgaris are becoming 

 more plentiful. The strain in cultivation here is now so mixed by 

 cross fertilization, that it is difficult to distinguish the Polyanthus of our 

 youth from the English Primrose, or, rather, we, have Polyanthuses 

 with flowers of the English Primrose. They are \-ery showy and 

 beautiful. One of the most effective uses to which they can be put is, 

 when growing in two-and-one-half or three-inch pots, to arrange them 

 as growing plants in plateaus for dinner-table or other decorations. 

 Forget-me-not is used in the same way. Jaciiueminot Roses sell at 

 $3 per dozen. American Beauty, Mrs. John Laing, Baroness Roths- 

 child, and its white variety, Merveille de Lyons, sell at from $4 to $5 per 

 dozen. French Marguerites sell at 25 cts. per dozen; Carnations 35 cts.; 

 Astilile 50 cts. per dozen sprays. Smilax remains scarce. Asparagus 

 teninssimus is plentiful and very fine. At a recent dinner an effective 

 centre piece was a flat, circular basket, five feet in diameter, filled with 

 Callas, from which yellow Tulips arose. 



Boston, April 20th. 



The cut flower market continues in an unsettled condition, the re- 

 sult ]trincii>ally of o\'er production. The ]iast winter has been unfa- 

 vorable to heavy cropping, this being especially true regarding Roses, 

 and now the plants seem to be bent on making up for lost time. So 

 flowers are too plenty and prices unusually low. I3ut this condition is 

 not caused by a reduced demand, for it is xcxy e-\ddent from the num- 

 ber of buyers, and the enormous quantities of flowers handled, that 

 flowers are not in the least losing their hold on our people. Corsage 

 bouquets of Roses and spring flowers are very generally worn on the 

 street, and have become almost an essential part of a lady's theatre 

 costume. Such varieties as the Poet's Narcissus, Mignonette, Forget- 

 me-not and Violets are extremely popular for this purpose. There 

 seems to be a very general dislike of strong-scented flowers. Dutch 

 Hyacinths, which are now abundant, are almost unsalable, for no 

 other reason, apparently, than their heavy odor. Though offered in 

 almost every color of the rainbow, and dazzlingly brilliant in mixed 

 collections, these good qualities seem to count for nothing. Violets 

 are getting quite small, as they always do on the approach of warm 

 weather, but they are not abundant, and sell readily for 75 cts. per 

 bunch. Roses remain as at last report, with a downward tendency in 

 prices. Carnations, like Violets, are seen reduced in size, and they 

 are abundant and cheap. Lilies of all kinds are offered in large quan- 

 tities at low figures. They make more show in large decorations than 

 anything else that can be obtained at present for the same price. 

 Bullions flowers of all kinds are plenty, fn general, the prices and 

 quantities of flowers offered are such that, for the present, at least, no 

 one need be without them. 



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