338 



PRESENT CONDITIONS IN COMMERCIAL HORTICULI URE. 



at this season, a little artificial heat will be found useful 

 in order to dry the atmosphere in the house. Generally 

 speaking, hard-wooded greenhouse plants do not require 

 much heat during the winter ; an average temperature of 

 40-45°F. will be most suitable. Therefore fire is needed 

 most during the night and in the early morning. In 

 regard to watering, it is better to keep the plants rather 

 dry during winter, but if hot-water pipes run under their 

 stages, it will be necessary to look them over every day 

 and give water to all plants in need of it. The shelves 

 should be dampened early in the morning, and also in the 

 evening as long as artificial heat is given, in order to pre- 

 vent the atmosphere from getting too dry. 



During the winter, look all plants over and wash off 

 any dirt which may be upon their leaves with a sponge 

 and soapy water. Also stake plants which are not able 

 to support themselves. The insects which trouble these 



plants most are greenfly, thrips and mealy-bug. The 

 two former may be kept off by syringing the plants 

 occasionally with strong tobacco-water ; mealy-bugs may 

 be destroyed by syringing them with strong soapsuds to 

 which a portion of parafiine is added. This is to be used 

 very carefully and it must not be applied to very tender 

 plants. The latter should be washed with soapsuds or 

 syringed with clean water, after dipping them in strong 

 soapsuds. The insects are stupified by the soapsuds and 

 the syringe afterward removes them. Promptness in 

 fighting all these insects is of vital importance. 



Toward spring the plants will start fresh growth. They 

 should then be watered more freely and given air when- 

 ever the weather will allow it. With spring, potting-time 

 will come round again, and this brings us to the point 

 from which we started. Paul Lesser. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, Kezi.<, Eng. 



PRESENT CONDITIONS IN COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE. 



RECENT ADVANCES REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT INTEREST IN FINE PLANTS FERNS, ORCHIDS, CHRYSAN- 

 THEMUMS INDEPENDENT SHOWS NEEDED FLOWER MARKETS AN APPRENTICE SYSTEM WANTED. 



iVERY intelligent grower or dealer 

 can trace a remarkable growth 

 in floriculture, even within the 

 last decade. Looking backward, 

 it seems but yesterday when all 

 the roses were " Boston buds ;" 

 when the funeral designs all 

 looked as if they were made by 

 a mason, in good serviceable 

 mortar ; and when a hand bou- 

 quet, wooden-stemmed and tightly bound, looked for all 

 the world as if modelled after a Devonshire birch besom. 

 The camellia — familiarly called a Japonica — was then 

 the queen of flowers. Had anyone then predicted the 

 present fancy for orchids or chrysanthemums he would 

 have been regarded as but two removes from active 

 lunacy. Looking at the remarkable development in 

 horticulture within a few years it may be especially 

 noted that it is all in the direction of better taste — no 

 doubt the result of popular education in the art idea. 

 Men who depend on their work for a livelihood cannot 

 afford to be in advance of popular demand ; they must 

 simply keep up with it. As one clever designer recently 

 remarked to the writer, men who strike out on an en- 

 tirely new idea rarely realize as much from it as those 

 who take it up afterward. 



A remarkable change in commercial horticulture is the 

 increase in the use of plants for decorative purposes. 

 The extent of the palm trade alone is now really enor- 

 mous, and the increase in the use of ferns is almost as 

 large. Many trade-growers who formerly devoted them- 

 selves entirely to cut-flowers, such as roses and carna- 

 tions, now find the sale of such palms as arecas, kentias, 

 seaforthias and latanias to be the most profitable part of 

 their business. This is not because the flower trade has 



decreased of late, but .because of the great and recent in^ 

 crease in the plant trade. 



Again, ferns were formerly regarded as among the 

 least profitable things, commercially speaking ; the use 

 of fronds was comparatively limited, and few of the 

 plants were called for in trade. Now we find adiantum 

 and pteris perpetually in demand ; in fact, last winter, 

 though the supply was large, 'the demand was still larger, 

 and at one time there was a positive famine in small pot 

 ferns. We find these pot ferns continually used in con- 

 junction with cut-flowers for decorative purposes, having 

 advantages both in appearance and economy. 



Naturally these changes in the trade have produced 

 changes in the growers, and we find this essentially an 

 age of specialties. Among wholesale growers we often 

 find a man devoting himself entirely to one flower, some- 

 times only to one variety. The American Beauty rose 

 is essentially a specialist's flower. Again, we find an- 

 other grower giving his undivided attention to Easter 

 plants, content to reap his harvest at that one season. 



A notable change made in recent years was the rise of 

 the chrysanthemum. This flower was comparatively un- 

 known in America ten years ago, outside of the trade. 

 The general public knew little of the flower, excepting 

 as the old-fashioned artemisa, until the large exhibitions 

 in New York, Boston and Philadelphia laid the founda- 

 tion of the chrysanthemum craze. Since then the num- 

 ber of chrysanthemum shows has increased annually, 

 many being held in the smaller towns, where one would 

 hardly look for the luxury of flower-shows. The chry- 

 santhemum is now the most popular of all autumn flow- 

 ers, and though for a time it seemed as if the efforts of 

 growers were directed rather towards eccentricity than 

 beauty, they have now returned to a better standard of 

 excellence. 



