42 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
While cultivating the soil, lie at the same time began to 
cultivate and elevate public opinion by his writings. 
On all subjects connected with horticulture, he has, as 
a writer, taken a prominent part. Besides hundreds of 
popular magazine articles. Gardening for Profit, Prac¬ 
tical Floriculture, Gardening for Pleasure, The Hand¬ 
book of Plants, and Garden and Farm Topics, are all 
the works of his pen, and liavb added much to his fame. 
When to this we add the fact, that his business as a 
florist and seedsman is one of the largest in the country, 
it can be well understood why Mr. Henderson’s name 
has so long been familiar to all interested in garden 
operations. 
Mr. Henderson’s establishment, located on Jersey City 
Heights, contains nearly three acres solid in glass 
structui'es, two acres being in greenhouses, and one acre 
in pits or frames. In the greenhouse department about 
seventy-five hands are employed in the various operations 
of propagating, growing, packing and shipping of 
plants. Like any other large business it is now worked 
entirely in departments, beginning with propagating by 
cutting and propagation by seeds, both of which are 
under department heads with assistants. In order 
comes the departments for potting-off plants, watering, 
ventilating, firing, and lastly, the order and packing- 
express department, which is the manner, mainly, in 
which all goods are sent. Mr. Henderson deprecates 
the common custom of sending plants by mail to any 
point where there is an express office, believing it is far 
the most expensive and least satisfactory to the pur¬ 
chaser. Of course, when plants are ordered to be sent 
by mail, or when orders are received from places where 
there are no express offices, they are sent by mail, but 
never otherwise. 
Over three millions of plants are annually sent out 
from this establishment, and nearly all are shipped, as 
no plants are forced into flower for market purposes, 
Mr. Henderson’s method being to sell exclusively by 
catalogue description. As one of his methods is to 
grow plants at a low temperature, but few are in flower 
when sold. Of the three million plants sold, there are 
nearly a half-million Roses, the same of Geraniums and 
Verbenas, and the balance in the hundreds of ditferent 
varieties of plants and bulbs grown by the leading 
florists for house culture and garden decoration. 
Attached to the greenhouse, and under Mr. Hender¬ 
son’s personal supervision, is the experimental garden, 
in which are tested the vegetable and flower-seeds sold 
in their seed department. This is one of the most use¬ 
ful and interesting features of this establishment, and 
has done much to give Peter Henderson & Co., their 
high standing as seedsmen, as all seeds sold are first put 
through this crucial test. Mr. Henderson, like all suc¬ 
cessful merchants knows the value of advertising, and 
finds it must be continued. For no matter how well 
the reputation of a business may be, it will soon fall 
back in the face of keen competition unless it is con¬ 
stantly kept before the public. 
A peculiar feature of this establishment, in addition to 
the growth and development of plants, is the develop¬ 
ment of manhood, as here are always from six to eight 
young men, from sixteen to twenty years of age, under 
instruction. Scores apply every season, but of course 
only a limited number are taken, and such only as show 
intelligence and education. For Mr. Henderson holds, 
that with the advantages that every American boy has 
of securing an education, if he has not the ambition to 
acquire it, he is not likely to become an intelligent 
floz-ist, and only such are wanted for apprentices, for 
“hewers of wood and drawers of water” can always 
be had in abundance at the doors. Mr. Henderson 
having had this system in operation for the past twenty 
years, his pupils are now scattered far and wide over 
all parts of the Union, many of them being already 
well-known as successful seedsmen and florists. 
Other florists are now adopting the apprentice system 
on a similar plan, and if the same care is taken in 
selecting intelligent and educated youths, there is no 
question that it will tend, in no small degree to elevate 
the business, which, even with all its refining influences, 
is too often found to be in the hands of ignorant and 
uncultiva J e l men. 
THE WHITE LILY. 
The White Lily will thrive in any fairly good soil, 
but to ensure a free growth and an abundance of flow¬ 
ers, the soil should be rich and deep and moist. It is a 
good practice, therefore, to prepare for the plants suit¬ 
able stations, and, having planted them, the next best 
thing to do with them is to leave them undisturbed for 
several years. It is often thought that Lilies love the 
shade, but that is a mistake; they love the sun and a 
free circulation of air about them. In cold and exposed 
places the White Lily often fails to flower, owing to the 
destruction of the incipient flower-buds by frost in the 
month of May. Henbe shelter from the keen east winds is 
an aid in Lily culture, as is also a plentiful supply of water 
during the month of June, when the stems are rising. 
In respect of taste, the White Lily should be so planted 
that its shabby stems may be concealed, for when wild 
it grows amongst tall grasses, and hence it is that, as 
the flowers expand, the leaves below them usually wither. 
The dashing Tritoma and the quiet Agapanthus are 
good plants to associate with Lilies, for they agree in 
character, and supply ample and elegant green leafage. 
It is not generally known that the common White Lily 
may be grown to perfection in pots, and is well adapted 
for forcing. Its great decorative value, and its emble¬ 
matic character, enhance its importance as a plant 
adapted for culture under glass, to supply its charming 
flowers at an earlier season than they customarily ap¬ 
pear in the open garden. When grown for this pur¬ 
pose, the bulbs should be potted in August, in a com¬ 
post consisting of three parts mellow turfy loam and 
one part each of rotten hot-bed manure and sharp sand. 
Frame culture should suffice untill the end of Feb¬ 
ruary, when the plants may be removed into light, airy 
green-house, and should never have a temperature higher 
than the average of green-house plants. This, with full 
exposure to light and abundant ventilation, will ensure 
an early and a vigorous bloom.— Familiar Garden 
Floicers. 
