Connecticut western news., 1889-03-27
THE QUEEN FLOWER.
Forty Thousand Roses Shipped
 Daily From One Town.
Eighty-Five Buildings Filled
 With Buds and Blossoms.

The roses that New York belles wear are raised in Madison, N. J. Probably more roses are grown there and sold than in any other place in the world. There are 85 enormous greenhouses in the town and 150 people are employed in the cultivation of roses, At least a score of men have grown rich from the sale of the queen of flowers. On an average 4O,00O cut roses are shipped from there to New York every day in the year. Two cars bear the fragrant load. They are unshipped at Hoboken and taken across the Hudson by the wholesale dealers, who buy from the Madison horticulturists. From June to September the shipments are heavier and are not confined to New York. Long Branch, Manhattan Beach and, score of fashionable seaside resorts take thousands of the roses. The roses are shipped in small chests, each secured with a lock and bearing the growers name. The chests are returned empty in the evening. There is never any de- lay in the transit. Roses picked late at night are in the hands of wholesale dealers in New York by o'clock the next morning. They are disposed of to retail florists by noon, and hundreds of the bellies and beaux of the metropolis are wearing them by evening. It is sell dom that the supply of the early morn ing is not exhausted soon after dusk. Those that are not sold are readily kept until the day after, particularly in cool weather.
 There are thirty five thrifty rose-rais- ing establishments in Madison. There are half dozen more at Summit, Chat ham and Orange. All the rose cultur- ists, with three or four exceptions, de- pend entirely upon the business for sub sistence. A dozen years ago there wasn't rose establishment in Madison. When the business was started it was started by wealthy residents who built greenhouses for their own diversion, and then found how much money there was in rose-culture. A large amount of money is represented in the greenhouses and their surroundings. The largest es tablishment, has thirteen boilers to ke ep the temperature right. The tempera- ture at night is kept at from 5S to 60 degrees. The roses are mostly grown in open branches, though pots are used in some instances.
 The season for hothouse roses closes early in June. The plants are then all stripped, the loam removed and the benches entirely reflled with new soil. Here the new growth of plants is placed. After the roses are cut, every night, they are taken to the packing rooms, where they are sorted, counted and placed with their stems in water until morning. In the morning early they are packed in the shipping boxes and sent to the station. The varieties sent to the New York market are endless. The "American Beauty is the most popular rose at present. It is very large and has purplish tinge. They brought $1. .5C each at wholesale during the holiday time. The civilian Francis Bennett is another favorite. It is rich, rare rose, rivaling the Jacqueminot in color and fragrance. The "Papa Gautier" is also in great demand this season.
 Green flies are, of course, pests of tho green houses, and tobacco has to be re sorted to frequently in order to kill of the destructive insects. Tobacco stems are burned in blowers made for the pur
 pose and the smoke destroys the pest
 It sometimes injures the roses also.-
 Mal and Express.