FEBRUART : 



, 1S99. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



299 



representatives of that city happened 

 to be present. 



Sub-Watering. 



The paper by Prof. Arthur on Sub- 

 irrigation was received with much ap- 

 plause. There was inquiry as to the 

 cost of benches erected as described by 

 Prof. Arthur. Mr. F. Domer, .Jr., said 

 they liad built only 25 feet of the 



the old way of doing things and was 

 not disappointeflT It is easy to overwat- 

 er with this s.vstein and this bench was 

 heavily overwatered at first. But the 

 plants in the bench with brick l)ottom 

 and surface watering were markedly 

 in advance of anything else in the 

 house. Conditions were made as uni- 

 form as possible and plants of the 

 same size and vigor were planted in 



Wm. P. Craig, President-Elect American Carnation Society. 



bench in an experimental way and he 

 thought the cost was about 20 cents a 

 square foot. They planted four differ- 

 ent varieties on this bench. They found 

 it reduced the labor of watering about 

 75 per cent and it seemed very benefi- 

 cial to the plants. The stems of the 

 flowers were stronger and the blooms 

 came more even. 



Mr. J. L. Dillon thought that those 

 wishing to try the system, and having 

 solid beds now. would And cement l>ot- 

 toms economical and satisfactory. 



Mr. W. N. Rudd said he had tried 

 the system in a small way. He had 

 laid off two S-foot sections of a 6-foot 

 bench, one section arranged for sub- 

 irrigation and one with the brick bot- 

 tom alone, using surface watering. He 

 did this because he thought the bricks 

 had something to do with the extra 

 growth noted. He rather looked for 

 failure of the sub-irrigated bench 

 through the adherence of the men to 



the old way in the same house, but he 

 did not consider the matter settled. He 

 intended to try it 'again next year. 

 One difficulty he noted was that the 

 south side of the bench had more light 

 and the evaporation was greater there, 

 and the back rows showed signs O'f 

 overwatering. 



Prof. Arthur said that the beneficial 

 effect of the brick bottoms, even with- 

 out sub-irrigation, was due to the fact 

 that more air was admitted to the soil, 

 which was a very decided advantage. 



Mr. Dorner said their bench had 

 been imperfect as they had failed to 

 provide an overflow, but they had 

 placed a plug in the bottom which 

 could be removed and the bench drain- 

 ed when too much water had been 

 given. He recommended a means of 

 draining the bench as well as an over- 

 flow. He told of a Tennessee florist 

 who had tried sub-irrigated benches 

 and was so well pleased with the sys- 



tem that he was preparing to extend 

 it through all his houses. 



The members expressed great ap- 

 preciation of the efforts of Prof. Ar- 

 thur to solve cultural problems of this 

 character, and this crystallized into 

 the following resolutions which were 

 adopted by a unanimous vote: 



Resolved. That the American Carna- 

 tion Society, in convention assembled, de- 

 sires to express its thanks to Professor 

 J. C. Arthur, of the Indiana Experiment 

 Station, for the paper he has just read 

 to us, giving the results of his experi- 

 ments in sub-irrigation, and at the same 

 time to urge on the National Govern- 

 ment the importance of the work of the 

 Experiment Stations throughout the 

 country, and the necessity of more lib- 

 eral appropriations to enable them to 

 carry on the work which has already 

 proven to be of incalculable value to the 

 farmers and florists of America. 



In the cultivation of plants and flowers 

 millions of dollars are invested, and this 

 business is now one of the growing in- 

 dustries of the country, adding to the 

 higher enjoyments of the people and de- 

 serving of every encouragement from the 

 Government. ■ - 



Change in Scale. 



There was considerable discussion of 

 the President's suggestion regarding 

 changes in the scale for judging, and 

 finally a new scale was adopted as fol- 

 lows: 



Color 25 



Size 20 



Calvx 5 



Stem 20 



Substance 10 



Form 15 



Fragrance 5 



Total 100 



New Competition. 



Mr. Eugene Dailledouze suggested a 

 new competition for next year in 

 Which each competitor should contrib- 

 ute toward prizes for the winners. The 

 proposition was finally submitted and 

 adopted as follows: 



Moved, that this society shall sanction 

 a competition at the next meeting, to be 

 held in Buffalo in February, 1900, to be 

 governed by the following rules: 



First — Each competitor shall deposit 

 with the treasurer in advance of the 

 meeting a deposit of $5.00. and an addi- 

 tional 5^.5. no when he stages his flowers. 

 The number of blooms exhibited shall 

 be twelve. No first year seedlings shall 

 be allowed to compete. The judging shall 

 be according to the scale of points adopt- 

 ed by this society. Size shall be deter- 

 mined by a measurement of the largest 

 diameter and the length over the top. di- 

 viding the product of these measure- 

 ments by two. 



The premiums shall be two in number, 

 first and second, the first to be two-thirds 

 of the amount subscribed and the second 

 premium the remaining third. 



No competitor shall be allowed to seire 

 as a judge. Any competitor may enter 

 one or more varieties by paying the entry 

 fee for each variety. 



Those Present. 



Among those present from New 

 York and vicinity we noted John N. 

 May, C. W. Ward, Chas. Weathered, 

 P. O'Mara, Eug. Dailledouze, Ernst 

 Asmus, H. C. Roth, A. Herrington, W. 

 Duckham, C. Resold, J. G. Bsler, W. 

 A. Manda. H. A. Siebrecht, C. H. Al- 

 len, Alex. Wallace, J. W. Withers, L. 

 Wood. 



