The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-08-18
WHAT THEY SAW ABROAD.
American Florists Come Back from Europe
with ideas of Horticulture Extended.

Anthony Wiegand, has just returned
from Europe, whittier he went in company
with two other florists. L. G. Hill, of Rich
mond, and Robert George. Of gainesville,
o., to look through the great gardens of
England and the continent. 1--WE were
gone ten weeks" said Mr.. Wiegand, and
had not only an instructive business tour
but a most delightful visit. All of us have
come home somewhat humbled by the
grand things we saw abroad in flowers and
plants. England amazed us in the wealth
of her plants and flowers. The special
things there are roses and fancy shrubbery.
The English have wonderful things. too. in
ornamental tress. But roses! The display
was magnificent. l saw roses and rhOdO-
dendrons by the fifty acres. and there were
growers who had as much as four hundred
acres of fine plants and flowers. In
Chester, Worcester, and many other places
within n circuit of fifty miles of
London, are scores of these fine places,
We were at the famous gardens at Kew.
and at COvent garden, which is q whole
sale market of flowers and plants. There
were thousands of market men handling
these things. / believe with the flowers /
SiW ole mOIul1lK jill COulu StIcN w dSulIB-
ton street for four miles from sidewalk TO
sidewalk O foot deep. and then there would
be plenty left. At Chelsea we attended the
orchid show. 1t Is useless to attempt to de-
scribe it. After looking at the display we
were all ready to say that the United States
was one hundred years behind the times as
regards Horticulture. These plants repre-
scented more than half a million dollars. and
there were single specimens there valued at
5000.
'Holland is the place for bulb and orna-
mental ~plants,n continued Mr.. Wiegand.
You can bave no idea how fine they are,
and the clematises are magnificent. In HOl-
land it seemed to me to BIO a race between
bulb plants and COWS as to which
would possess most of the landscape. The
Dutch are great for butter and cheese,
which they ship to England. while the
bulb plants go all over the world. Near
Erfurt. Germany, are immense gardens and
nurseries. For many kinds of flowers they
furnish seeds for the whole world. After
looking at Erfurt pansies. | sadly admitted
that we had no pansies in America. At one
of these seed-farms L saw more than hive
hundred kinds of carnations; think of that.
In America the c%arnation Is held next to
the rose in popular estimation, but in
Europe they have quite different things,
such as gloxinias, tuberoses. rooted bego-
Mas. etc. Clematises, especially, In England
and Holland, are raised by the hundred
thousand.
,"It appeared to me THAT the English are
better patrons of the florist than the
French. In France the florists are,
district You will not find much else than
gladiolus; in another almost exclusive at
tention is given to roses, and in another to
cannas, and so on. In one place l ound a
man with six acres of mignonette, and an
other cultivated nothing but cacti. The
French roses, in my opinion, do not COM
pare with the English, as the English eli
mate is more favorable to their culture.
One can have no idea Of what fancy shrub
berry is until he visits the nurseries of Eu-
rope. Palms are everywhere popular as
decorative plants. and are used with the
greatest profusion. We were treated roy
ally. When they found we were American
FORTS the could not, seemingly, do enough
for lis in hospitality. Many of the florists
there are miIionaires. and look upon the
United States as "a great market. We had
dinners and carriages everywhere, n the
florists did not talk trade to us at all. They
merely showed us what they had"