April 7, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



139 



At Louis Schmutz's place on Clarkson Street were two 

 houses of Hydrangeas, some of them far enough along to be 

 kept cool now, with the advantage of hardening off and thus 

 lasting longer in the purchaser's hands. Plants of Azaleas and 

 Deutzia gracilis were also held in check. Among odd speci- 

 mens collected during a long business course were old-fash- 

 ioned plants of Myrtle, popular for making wreaths for Ger- 

 man weddings; an old Marechal Niel Rose, trained to a trellis 

 and in luxuriant bloom; the flowers sell for $3.00 a dozen, whole- 

 sale. One of the ten houses contained tall old Camellias, some 

 of the larger ones crowded to the peak of the roof, fifteen feet 

 above. Two of these venerable trees were covered with flowers 

 and buds, and time's mockery was illustrated in the changed 

 fortune of these once fashionable and costly flowers which now 

 find sale only on the Bowery, for funerals. In this house was 

 also a sturdy plant of Daphne odora, left over from the years 

 when these plants weretound in every Camellia-house, and a 

 standard Acacia pubescens, twenty-five years old, which meas- 

 ured eighteen inches at the base of a trunk of almost that cir- 

 cumference for five feet, when it divided into branches under 

 which one could stand, with room to spare. The flower-sprays 

 of this tree-like standard had been cut recently, but the grace of 

 its form and foliage still remained. There were showy plants of 

 the tender Streptosolon Jamesoni, with drooping sprays of rich 

 orange nasturtium-like flowers, Swainsonia, and sturdy well- 

 grown English Primroses and Daisies in frames. Three hun- 

 dred plants of Crimson Rambler Rose are being forced here for 

 Easter and for Memorial Day. Two-year-old plants, wintered 

 out-of-doors under glass, were brought into heat two months 

 ago. They are in six-inch pots and trained to an arch two feet 

 high. This Rose breaks earlier than any other, and the plants 

 seen here last week carried large clusters of tiny buds with the 

 pink just beginning to show. They are already engaged at 

 $18.00 a dozen, wholesale. 



On the same thoroughfare Charles E. Koch has twenty-seven 

 houses, besides 300 sash in frames. In a large variety of bed- 

 ding plants were 30,000 Geraniums, half of which were the 

 brilliant double General Grant. Even this large stock is but a 

 small part of the Geraniums used in the cemeteries in this dis- 

 trict. Eight houses of Carnations supply cut flowers, and 1,000 

 to 1,200 blooms of Lizzie McGowan alone were cut on some 

 days last winter, and 2,400 spikes of Mignonette were part of 

 the Easter stock last year, when this movable feast came 

 earlier. 



George E. Bennett, successor to William Bennett, among 

 the pioneers in this business in Flatbush thirty-two years ago, 

 has fifteen houses devoted entirely to Carnations and Mignon- 

 ette. Besides the usual market varieties of Carnations, Mr. 

 Bennett has a promising sport from Daybreak. About 1,800 

 Carnations are marketed daily now, and as many as 6,000 a day 

 during the midwinter holidays. 



In a line with the other establishments on Clarkson Street 

 is that of Mrs. Meissner, and here fourteen houses were 

 taken up with Easter stock and bedding plants, all of which 

 had found ready buyers. Two thousand five hundred pots of 

 Lilies, equally divided between L. Harrisii and L. longiflorum, 

 thrifty small plants of Hydrangea Otaksa and of Azalea, were 

 among the Easter stock. Small plants of Pteris densa com- 

 pacta, grown from spores, made a stretch of beautiful bright 

 green. Here, as elsewhere, plants of the Bermuda Lily con- 

 trasted unfavorably this season with those of Lilium longi- 

 florum. The complaint is general that the Bermuda bulbs are 

 each year less satisfactory ; that they are not properly ripened, 

 the tops being cut while yet green. Lack of proper cultivation 

 of the bulbs is also alleged to account for their inferior quality. 

 While many of the Lilium Harrisii from Bermuda show defec- 

 tive and worthless buds and spottedfoliage, itis quitecommon 

 for a bulb of L. longiflorum to have two and even three and 

 four stalks, with abundant buds. 



Of the five acres of the Messrs. Dailledouze Brothers, 45,000 

 square feet of ground is covered with glass. Carnations occupy 

 three-fourths of the twenty-four houses, several being in use 

 for the exceptionally large strain of Mignonette grown by this 

 firm, and which has a place all its own in the New York trade. 

 The end of the season is approaching, although there will be 

 cuttings until the middle of June. Closely flowered spikes hav- 

 ing a diameter of two to two and a half inches for six inches 

 and more are typical of this strain. With no special prepara- 

 tions for Easter, these houses were none the less interesting, 

 with large collections of all the best Carnations grown to per- 

 fection. The selling qualities of William Scott are shown in 

 the fact that one-third of all the Carnations grown are of this 

 variety ; Lizzie McGowan ranks next in popularity, with Day- 

 break third. These bring an equal price, while smaller quan- 

 tities of the variegated Helen Keller and Minnie Cook, the 



light yellow Eldorado and the scarlet Hector bring one-third 

 more. Of the regular sorts as grown here Meteor is found to 

 be too single, and the blooming season of three months in 

 midwinter is too short. A good crimson seedling is needed 

 to supersede it. John Burton's new white Carnation is here, a 

 perfectly clear white, the petals cup-shaped and shorter than 

 those of Lizzie McGowan, flowers of medium size, with a good 

 stem. They are almost camellia-like in their whiteness and 

 regularity of form. Alaska has also done well here. Helen 

 Keller is particularly successful here, owing to the soil, Mr. 

 Dailledouze thinks, and perhaps nine-tenths of the carnations 

 sold in New York come from these houses. Minnie Cook 

 they find apt to burst in the calyx. Eldorado flowers fairly 

 well, though not freely, and is a good keeper. The clear light 

 yellow petals, which are deeply serrated and delicately touched 

 on the edges with rosy pink, suggest the flowers of Andalusia, 

 a variety introduced from France seven or eight years ago 

 and discarded in a few years as not free-blooming. The 

 even distribution of the petals of this very full Carnation 

 helps to make a pleasing flower, and its color is charming. 

 Bouton d'Or has proved satisfactory here, but Buttercup is too 

 shy during winter, though it is said to be entirely satisfactory 

 in this respect in some parts of Connecticut. Eldorado is said 

 to do well out-of-doors, and also to flower well under glass in 

 summer, as do William Scott and Lizzie McGowan, while Day- 

 break is not so good in summer, Minnie Cook only fair, and 

 Helen Keller does not flower at all. Among new carnations 

 being tested are a silver-pink seedling not yet named, and 

 known as No. 3. The light outer petals shade deeper to the 

 centre and the flower has a spicy fragrance. The calyx, stem 

 and other characteristics are altogether superior, and its uni- 

 form good qualities won a certificate of 100 points from the 

 American Institute recently. A new deep rich crimson under 

 trial promises to make good the weak points of Meteor in flow- 

 ering early and late in the season. Cuttings made at Christmas 

 for next season's flowers will be planted out from the middle 

 of April to the first of May, and brought in late in August. 

 Flowers are cut from September until July, 1,000 to 2,000a day 

 now, and for Christmas and New Year's, when they can be 

 held on the plants for a week or two, from 8,000 to 10,000 

 every twenty-four hours. They are allowed to develop freely 

 before cutting, but not to be overgrown, and are kept cool 

 twelve to eighteen hours before delivering to buyers. The 

 propagation of Chrysanthemums for cut flowers is just begun. 



The adjoining houses belong to Joseph Gard, who, fresh 

 from a wide experience in Switzerland and France, in 1862 

 established a nursery of twenty-five acres of trees and shrubs 

 on this site in partnership with the elder Dailledouze and 

 Zeller. After the dissolution of the firm and division of the 

 ground, Mr. Gard adapted his business to trade demands, and 

 for many years grew Marie Louise Violets with marked suc- 

 cess. His output some years ago averaged 16,000 a week, and 

 $3.00 a hundred was the uniform price paid him for all his 

 stock throughout one season. Later, $2.50 was obtained from 

 November until New Year's, when the price fell to $1.25, and 

 in March to sixty cents. Within the past four years Violets 

 have done indifferently here, and Mr. Gard notes a similar 

 want of success with Roses in Flatbush, owing, he thinks, to 

 changed atmospheric conditions. He states that he used to 

 gather Tea Roses by the bushel out-of-doors in summer, and 

 now these plants do not flourish at all. Bedding plants are the 

 main = crop here, and Verbenas a specialty, 25,000 of these 

 plants being sold during spring. 



Returning to the heart of the town by way of Lenox Road, 

 Mr. G. Messeberg's place may be visited, established twenty- 

 nine years ago by the father of the present owner. Thirteen 

 well-kept houses, besides many frames, were filled with Easter 

 and bedding plants. The Longiflorum Lilies grown here this 

 year are from Japanese bulbs, and the experience of Mr. 

 Messeberg shows that these produce more and better flowers 

 than the same sized bulbs of L. longiflorum from Bermuda, and 

 he thinks it is only a question of time when Bermuda bulbs 

 will be discarded. He considers L. longiflorum superior to 

 L. Harrisii for a late Easter, as the flowers have more sub- 

 stance and keep longer, and are, besides, more graceful, while 

 a few hot days wilt Lilium Harrisii. Bulbs of the latter from 

 Bermuda cost Mr. Messeberg $20.00 a thousand, and those of 

 L. longiflorum, from Japan, $38 00. But these more costly ones 

 can be depended upon for a full and healthy crop, and the 

 flowers sell for two cents apiece more at wholesale. Hydrangeas, 

 Cinerarias and the best standard sorts of Azaleas filled several 

 houses. The best red Azalea was Madame Van der Cruyssen, 

 the richly colored flowers having fluted edges ; the double 

 Vervseneana and the single Comte de Chambord were the 

 best pink ; Bernard Andre alba and Raphael were among 



