50 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 



Planting for the mid - season crop 

 should be proceeded with as soon as 

 the plants get into proper condition. 

 Have them well rooted and they will 

 start away at once. Tall growers, as 

 Dailledouze, Bloodgood, Pres. Smith, 

 etc., have their place in the center of 

 the bench, grading down to the dwarf- 

 er ones for the front rows and sides. 

 A little care in this direction makes a 

 big difference in the appearance of the 

 house when the plants are in flower, 

 and also gives each variety an equal 

 chance for light and room. 



Those who are growing Frank Hardy 

 for the first time will do well to re- 

 member that it is a robust grower and 

 should not be cramped for room. Two 

 benches here containing 000 plants 

 each of this variety are already a 

 splendid sight. Every plant is the 

 picture of health and as nearly aliko 

 in height and foliage as it is possible 

 for plants to be. Would that every 

 new variety had its constitution. 



Some growers have a decided pref- 

 erence for solid beds for growing all 

 but the early kinds, but we have al- 

 ways had splendid success with an or- 

 dinary bench. Where five inches of 

 soil will answer there is not much 

 gained by using more. The ideal 

 bench for mums in our opinion is the 

 usual 5-inch bench lowered to within 

 about a foot of the ground level. This 

 will afford ample room for the water 

 to drain away easily and yet is not 

 sufficiently high up to dry out too 

 quickly. Good drainage is essential if 

 the foliage is to be kept fresh from 

 leaf spot. There should be an inch of 

 space between each board in the bot- 

 tom of the bench. The lumps of turf 

 can be put along the seams, and if a 

 little soil does trickle through, it is a 

 mere nothing compared to the benefits 

 derived from a free aeration of the 

 soil. 



Watering. 



While the mum is not by any means 

 the aquatic some growers think it is, 

 judging by the quantity of water they 

 give it, still the fact remains that the 

 plants on bright, warm days fairly 

 revel in copious syringings. This helps 

 to keep down the ravages of insects 

 and is the only way to get fine foliage 

 and keep it during the hot months. 



The soil in newly planted benches 

 should not be allowed to get wet and 

 sour, or the root fibers only rot as 

 rapidly as they are made, and the 

 foliage, instead of being a deep, glossy 

 green, will turn pale and sickly. Soil 

 differs a good deal in texture, and 

 What would be all right in light soil 



would drown out the same plants if in 

 a very heavy loam. 



If much manure has been mixed with 

 the soil, it will act a great deal like a 

 sponge in retaining moisture, and the 

 quantity needed must be governed ac- 

 cordingly. It is best to keep on the 

 dry side till the plants get well estab- 

 lished in the bench. C. TOTTY. 



USEFUL DEVICES. 

 Messrs. Garland Bros., Des Plaines, 

 111., are blessed with considerable me- 

 chanical skill and have filled their 



A Double End Truck Gear. 



establishment with labor-saving and 

 money-saving devices. 



In their houses the old soil is taken 

 out and new soil brought in in small 

 cars that run on temporary tracks 

 made of 1-inch pipe. These sections 

 are five or six feet long, spiked to 

 light-weight cross ties, and at one end 

 a piece of i/i-inch pipe is riveted in; 

 this fitting into the end of the next 

 section, makes a fairly firm connec- 

 tion. This temporary track can be put 

 down and taken up very rapidly, and 

 in the case of a path with a bench on 

 each side, the temporary track is laid 

 across the path on the edges of the 

 benches. 



In the long boiler shed permanent 

 tracks of 1-inch pipe are laid leading 

 from the coal supply to each boiler 



To Straighten Crooked Telegraph Wire. 



pit, and an ingenious hand-power ele- 

 vator lowers the loaded car into the 

 pit. In taking out the ashes the load- 

 ed car is raised from the pit and 

 pushed along the track to a switch 



which leads up to an elevated position 

 and the contents dumped direct into 

 the ash-wagon that stands there. 



In the houses where a track cannot 

 well be laid, a double-ended truck is 

 used. A sketch of the gear is present- 

 ed herewith. With this gear a sharp 

 corner can easily be turned, and as 

 there is a king-pin at each end, the 

 tongue can be shifted from one end to 

 the other and the truck be drawn 

 either way with equal facility. This 



To Cut Heavy Wire. 



avoids any necessity for turning the 

 truck around. 



They make their own wire rose 

 stakes and they have found a very 

 material saving in buying second-hand 

 telegraph wire and straightening it 

 themselves. The accompanying sketch 

 shows their device for straightening 



Wire Brace for Bench. 



the wire. The spindle is of %-inch 

 pipe bent into the form noted and fixed 

 in journals, with a small pulley to 

 turn it. This spindle is revolved very 

 rapidly — up to l,."iOO revolutions a min- 

 ute. The crooked wire is passed into 

 the spindle and drawn through it, 

 coming out as straight as can possibly 

 be desired. The twisting given by the 

 spindle takes every kink out of it. 



The wire is cut into suitable lengths 

 by another simple device of their own, 

 of which a sketch also appears here- 

 with. It is a block of wood to which 

 two second-hand horseshoer's files 

 have been fixed, as shown, the upper 

 file having a length of inch pipe to give 

 leverage. The wire is passed between 

 the two files, and a comparatively 



