SEPTEMBER 13, 1900. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



445 



Members of the Canadian Horticultu-al Association at Montreal, August, J900. 



tilation you can have the remainder 

 for Decoration Day. 



I prefer to grow a larger proportion 

 of longiflorum, as they make a health- 

 ier growth and have larger flowers. 

 The Harrisii are to supply early flow- 

 ers. I believe this is the cheapest way 

 to grow lilies for cut flowers. 



PAUL KOPANKA. 



AMONG CHICAGO GROWERS. 



Bassett & Washburn. 



The big establishment at Hinsdale 

 has this year been extended by the 

 addition of three new houses, each 

 28x600. They are all three-quarter 

 span and with the long span to the 

 south ,and separated by a space of 

 18 feet between them, indicating that 

 Mr. Bassett is working away from the 

 short-span-to-the-south and connect- 

 ed houses. Of these houses two are 

 planted with American Beauties and 

 the other with carnations. On the 

 rose houses the long span is 22 feet 

 and the short one 12 feet, while on the 

 carnation house the long span is 20 

 feet and the short one 14 feet. Each 

 house contains four benches, of which 

 three are 5 feet wide and one 4 feet, 

 with walks against the wall in each 

 case. In the rose houses the benches 

 grade up like steps from south to 

 north, each one being 7 inches higher 

 than the one in front of it. The same 

 plan is followed in the carnation 

 house, but the difference in height 

 of benches is only about 3 inches. 



These houses, like all the others in 



this establishment, are fitted with the 

 round tile bench bottoms, and con- 

 tinued experience simply emphasizes 

 their faith in them. Mr. Andrew Ben- 

 son, the foreman, says it probably re- 

 quires a little more watering on the 

 tile bench bottoms, but the drainage 

 is so rapid and perfect that there is 

 much less danger from overwatering 

 and less likelihood of damage in case 

 a stretch of dark weather should fol- 

 low a watering. And aside from all 

 this they are much the cheapest in 

 the end on account of their lasting 

 qualities. But on these tile bottoms 

 they use full 6 inches of soil, the 

 drainage being rather too rapid for a 

 shallower depth. 



Their whole place is heated by 

 steam. We noted a 20-barrel iron 

 tank being placed in position just 

 outside of the boiler house of the lat- 

 est range, to receive the condensa- 

 tion from the steam heating pipes in 

 the houses. The water in this tank 

 is pumped into the boilers, which are 

 on the ground level. To this tank is 

 attached an escape pipe about 6 feet 

 high, and this is the only vent in the 

 whole system. There are no pet cocks 

 anywhere. The 20-barrel tank re- 

 ceives the condensation from piping 

 heated by boilers with a total of 350- 

 horse power capacity. It is consid- 

 ered essential to the proper working 

 of the system that this tank be of 

 ample size so that condensation will 

 be complete before attempting to re- 

 turn it to the boiler. And the sup- 

 ply of fresh water for the boilers is 

 so arranged that this cool water is 



mixed with that from the tank be- 

 fore entering the boiler. The vent on 

 the tank has a valve and this is fully 

 opened only when steam is first en- 

 tering a coil of pipes. When the pipes 

 are clear of air the valve is turned 

 almost off and under certain condi- 

 tions of hard firing is closed tight. 



For this season they have benched 

 a little over 100,000 roses, of wh'ch 

 43,000 are American Beauties and the 

 remainder Brides, Maids, Meteors, 

 Perles, Kaiserins, Golden Gates and 

 Liberty. Of the latter they have 3,000 

 plants. They plant their Beauties in 

 rows 13 inches apart and the plants 

 17 inches apart in the row. The idea 

 is to let as much light as possible in 

 between the plants. The teas are 

 placed 13 to 14 inches apart each way. 



Of carnations they have benched 

 about 60.000 plants, the varieties di- 

 v;ded as follows: 6.000 each of White 

 Cloud. Flora Hill, Frances Joost and 

 Mrs. Bradt: 5,000 each of Crane and 

 America: 7,000 Triumph;' 3,000 each 

 of Mrs. Thos. W. Lawson and Mary 

 Wood; 2,000 each of Ethel Crocker 

 and Mrs. Jas. Dean; 1,500 Gold Nug- 

 get; 1,000 each of Red Bradt, Cerise 

 Queen, Maceo and Morning Glory; 500 

 each of The Marquis and Jas. Whit- 

 comb Riley, and a few hundred each 

 of some other new ones. 



The soil question is naturally an 

 important one on such a large place, 

 and a pile containing already over a 

 thousand loads is being built to her- 

 culean proportions for next year's 

 use. 



