The Weekly Florists' Review. 



8n 



THE FLORISTS' REVIEW 



G. L. GEANT, Editor and Manaoeii, 



prm-iSHKD EVKuy thuusday dv 



The FLORISTS' Publishing Co. 



530-535 Cltxtuu ItulldiiiK, 

 334 Dearborn Street, CliioiiKo. 



Entered at the Chicago t 



PREVENTION vs. CURE. 



By far the larger part of tlie progress 

 made in the growing of plants and How- 

 ers has been due to the discovery of 

 means of prevention of the action of un- 

 favorable agencies rather than their re- 

 moval or cure after once obtaining a 

 foothold. The man who discovered that 

 the fumes from sulphur painted on the 

 heating pipes largely prevented the ap- 

 pearance of mildew in rose houses that 

 were otherwise correctly handled really 

 made the production of roses as carried 

 on today a possibility, and he is en- 

 titled to a place alongside the man who 

 found out that tobacco would keep green- 

 fly in cheek. 



Nowadays, instead of waiting for the 

 appearance of certain destructive worms 

 we endeavor to kill the adult insects that 

 lay the eggs from which the worms are 

 hatched, and the killing of one adult 

 means the non-appearance of hundreds 

 and sometimes thousands of worms. It 

 is the same as regards fungous pests, 

 and in all these cases the old adage that 

 an ounce of prevention is worth a pound 

 of cure applies with emphasis. 



We anticipate great advances along 

 these lines in the future. The way has 

 been clearly pointed out and the wise 

 will travel it as rapidly as possible. And 

 in view of the serious damage frequently 

 done to roses by the eel-worm, that 

 microscopic imp of perdition, we feel 

 sure that sterilizing the soil for rose 

 houses is bound to become universal. It 

 is merely a question of getting it done in 

 the cheapest and most expeditious way. 



To this end we reprint in this issue 

 the record of the experiments carried on 

 by the Hatch Experiment Station of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College at 

 Amherst, and some observations by oth- 

 ers who have given the matter some 

 thought and attention. 



We are sure it will pay every grower 

 of roses (especially those who use steam 

 for heating and therefore have steam 

 readily available) to use sterilized soil 

 in at least one house the coming season 

 and note the results compared with the 

 roses in his other houses. 



SOIL STERILIZATION. 



[Some extracts from Bulletin No. 55 of 

 the Hatch Experiment Station ot the Mas- 

 sachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst.] 



In our experiments relating to soil 

 sterilization we have tried many methods 

 and found the tile system as used by 

 Oalloway cheap, and satisfactory for 



many purposes, especially when we wish 

 to sterilize the soil in the bed in which 

 the crop is to be grown. Another ad- 

 vantage which it possesses is that it can 

 bo used for subirrigating purposes. To 

 ascertain the best method of using tile 

 ue arranged them in beds of equal size 

 idutaining the same amount of similarly 

 prepared earth. The beds were 18 feet 

 long, 30 inches wide and 1 foot deep, and 

 lach contained 45 cubic feet of soil suit- 

 able for growing cucumbers. Part of the 

 soil had been used previously for cu- 

 cumbers and tomatoes and was well in- 

 fested with nematodes, and previous to 

 sterilization it was mixed with fresli 

 horse manure. The beds contained a dif- 

 ferent number of feet of pipe which were 

 laid in various ways and in each case 

 they were placed about 2 inches from the 

 bottom. 



For details concerning the manner of 

 piping see the engraving. Bed (a) was 

 piped with two lengths of tile without 

 any end connection. Bed (b) was piped 

 with three lengths of tile with end con- 

 nections, thus forming a continuous cir- 

 cuit. Bed (c) was piped with two 

 lengths of tile with end connections and 

 cross tile every two feet. Bed (d) was 

 piped with three lengths of tile as in 

 ( b ) . Each bed was treated separately 

 from a four horse-power portable boiler 

 having a pressure of steam varying from 

 40 to 80 pounds. The steam was con- 

 ducted from the boiler through a ^-inch 

 pipe provided with a valve, and this led 

 into a 1-inch pipe which had a four-way 

 connection, the ends of which were in- 

 serted into the free open ends of the tile. 

 The connections were easily made with 

 the boiler and when one bed was steri- 

 lized it was disconnected and the pipe 

 attached to another bed. The steam was 



conlined by means of boards placed over 

 the top, although straw mats or blankets 

 would have served the purpose better. 

 The valve regulating the amount of 

 steam from the boiler was never turned 

 on more than half way, this being found 

 sufficient to supply all the steam re- 

 quired, and it was, moreover, necessary 

 in using so small a boiler in order to 

 keep the pressure of steam high. 



The results of these experiments are as 

 follows: 



Bed (a) was heated to 204^ F. in 1.15 

 hours. 



Bed (b) was heated to 204" F. in 4.') 

 minutes. 



Bed (c) was heated to 204° F. in 1 

 hour. 



Bed (d) practically the same as (b). 



These experiments show that bed (b) 

 which was piped with three lengths of 

 tile gave the best results, with bed (c) 

 following, and the most unsatisfactory 

 results were given by bed (a). Bed (d) 

 gave practically the same relative re- 

 sults as (b). Bed (b) contained a few 

 more feet of pipe than (c), and more 

 than one-third more than (a), and for 

 this reason alone it might be expected 

 that the heating of the soil in the bed 



(b) would be more effective. There is 

 another more important difference, how- 

 ever, and that is in the method in which 

 the steam circulated. The cross tiles in 



(c) were not nearly as effective as the 

 middle lengths in (b), neither would 

 they have been even if they had con- 

 tained the same linear feet. Bed (a) 

 would have heated more effectually if 

 there had been a continuous loop. Had 

 llie four beds been piped the same and 

 all connected at once with a large boiler 

 maintaining a high pressure of steam 

 they could have been heated in two hours' 



J . I j , u I U I U I ^i' I V I 'i' I -M a 



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Arrangement of tiles for sterilizing soil in beds. 



