File:The American florist - a weekly journal for the trade (1902) (18133324802).jpg

Title: The American florist : a weekly journal for the trade
Identifier: americanfloristw24amer (find matches)
Year: 1885 (1880s)
Authors: American Florists Company
Subjects: Floriculture; Florists
Publisher: Chicago : American Florist Company
Contributing Library: UMass Amherst Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
'
Text Appearing After Image:
America is "ths Praw of the UessbI; there may be mare camfart Mmidships, but we are the &rst ta touch Unknawn Seas.' Vol. XVIII. CHICAQO AND NEW YORK, FEBRUARY i, 1902. No. 713. flHilE i^JSSiilDiiM! IFlL@lSli€T Copyright 1902, by American Florist Company. Entered as Second-Class Mail Matter. Published btkky Sattjbdat bt AMERICAN FLORIST COMPANY, 334 Dearborn St., Chicago. Baatern Offlca: 79 Milk 5t., Boston. Subscription, (1.00 a year. To Europe, 13.00. Subscriptions accepted only from the trade. SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS AND ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURISTS. OFFiciiRS — John Burton Philadelphia, Pa., president; J. W. C. Deabe, Asheville. N. C, vice- president; Wm. J. Stewart, 79 Milk Street, Boston, Mass., secretary; H. B. Beattt, Oil City, Pa., treasurer. The eighteenth annual meeting will be held at Asheville, N. C, August, 1902. AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY. Annual meeting at New York, March ) 1-13.1903, Leonard Barron, 136 Liberty St., New York, secretary. THE AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. Annual convention at Indianapolis, February, 19 and 20, 1902. AI.BBBT M. Hsbb, Lancaster, Pa., secretary. CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY OF AMERICA. Annual meeting at Asheville, N. C, August, 1902. Edwin Lonsdale, Chestnut Hill, Pa., Sec'y. THIS ISSUE 40 PAGES WITH COVER. CONTENTS. Seasonable notes on Kaster plants 1 John Chambers (portrait) 2 A house of mignonette (iilus.J 2 The business end of horticulturn 2 Lilacs at Kmil Buettner's (illus.) 3 Cypnpedium blooms from I-^ngland (illus.) 5 With the growers—Haskell Avenue Floral Co., Dallas, (illus.) 5 —L. L. May & Co., St. Paul 5 The American Carnation Society 6 A new forcing rose (illus.) 6 Commercial cultivation of the carnation 6 (Sloxinia crassifolia grandiliora (illus.) 8 Trade statistics 8 Carnitions—Keeping quality 8 —Details of seasonable treatment 9 —Carnation Governor Wolcott 9 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society 9 With Indiana growers 9 New York 10 Boston 10 Chicago 11 Philadelphia 11 Canna Mrs. Kate Gray 12 Forcing hydrangeas and roses 13 Trouble with flcus 12 Building and piping a rose house 13 Cleveland 14 The seed trade 18 The nursery trade 20 —To improve rhododendrons 20 Our pastimes (illus.) 22 Cincinnati 24 Lowell, Mass 28 San Francisco 32 Syracuse, N. Y 84 Seasonable Notes on Easter Plants. The preparation of Easter stock is nat- urally one the most important parts of the work of the plant grower at this sea- son, the trade of that festal time in flow- ering plants being by far the greatest for any one occasion of the year. But so much has been said about this portion of the work by various authoritative writers in the past that to old hands at the busi- ness it seems almostlikeuselessrepetition to discuss it at any length. The reason ofiered for referring to the matter is found in the fact that each season pro- duces some beginners in the trade who naturally look tor information to the trade journals, and to ask questions regarding trade matters that are not quite clear to them. The first point of importance, and one that should be kept well in mind from this time forward, is that Lent begins on February 12 and con- sequently Easter falls on March 30, a sufficiently early date to require fairly steady forcing for any glow subjects that one may have to handle. When forcing Lilium longiflorum manj growers nrefer to have the buds in sight on Ash Wednesday, and this rule is espe- cially applicable when preparing for an early Easter, for there may be many dull days in February and March, and if there area few plants that move along too fast it is an easy matter to remove them to a cooler house in order to retard the flowers. Since there has been so much difficulty with diseased lily bulbs of late years, the practice of potting them up in 4-inch pots and afterward shifting the plants into their blooming pots has been much used, this method economizing space during the early part of the season, and also giving a chance to weed out the diseased plants before the final potting. It is also a convenient plan when it is desired to make up some large specimen plants in 8-inch or lOinch pots. The plants, hav- ing been grown in small pots, may be grouped much better in the large pot without disturbing the roots. The repotted lilies require a little judg- ment in the matter ot watering, as at that period it is quite easy to get them sodden, and thus to check their root action to some extent. In fact, during dull weather it is better to be a little sparing with the water on these plants, provided they are not allowed to get very dry, but after the buds are showing, plenty of water will be needed and also some liquid manure at intervals of a few days. Lilium longiflorum, and also its relative, L. Harristi, will bear hard forcing after the buds are up, but under such treatment they require a good deal of moisture, and any neglect in this particular is likely to be shown in tipped leaves, a condition that takes much from their value among a critical trade. A good Easter lily in a 6 inch pot should be about thirty inches high, have clean, dark foliage down to the pot, and carry five to six flowers. Stock of this description seldom fails to find a ready market, a plant of this size being much more salable than those of larger size, and carrying flowers enough to make a paying crop. Another hint in regard to the Easter lily business is that they should be neatly staked and tied and the pots thoroughly scrubbed before they are sent into the store, for a lily in a dirty, slippery pot is an abomination to a care- ful retailer and far from attractive to his customers. Hydrangeas for Easter should be mov- ing along nicely now, for it should be remembered that these plants ought to have fully twelve weeks to bring their flowers to perfection, and many an unfor- tunate grower has had the disheartening experience ot watching the trusses on his hydrangeas still remaining green while the days of Easter week were gliding swiftly by, and the profits of that bench or house were vanishingwith equal rapid2 ity. Those hydrangeas also remind us of the fat boy depicted by Dickens, inas- much that they are always hungry and thirsty, and especially is this the case after the flowers are showing, when liquid manure should be given freely. A steady night temperature of 65° is about right for these plants when brought into heat at the right time, and if they can be brought into bloom in time to give them a week in a cool house to harden them off before being sold, the plants will be much more satisfactory to the buyer. Azaleas do not require much forcing in order to bring them in safely at Easter, and next to the lilies are the greatest favorites with the public, though these plants are so often neglected in the mat- ter of watering that it is not unusual to see many of them in a sadly bedraggled condition by Easter Monday, a condition that should not appear in that short space ot time if the purchasers of these plants would only appreciate how much water such a mass of flowers will evapor- ate in twenty-four hours. The circulars giving information about the treatment of house plants that are being distrib- uted by many retail florists are decidedly beneficial to the trade in general, for the

Note About Images