2^l 



The Weekly Florists* Review* 



AuuusT 8, 1001. 



HORTICULTURE OF THE PAST 

 CENTURY. 



I Read before the S. 



. Con 



nllon 



; Buffalo.] 



It may be Bafcly said that In no branch of 

 Lrt, science or bualne^ss, has greater advance 

 )een attained than In that of horticulture 

 luring the past century, more particularly so 

 n that part known as the florist branch prop- 

 r. One of the pioneers of the florist ' 



in Ne 

 the I 





die 



nly 



yea 



thlr 



that when he first 

 was. I believe, som 

 carried his whole stock In trade that he had to 

 offer into the city each morning In a basket, 

 and stood on the street corner near the pres- 

 ent site of Trinity Church, which was at that 

 time the fashionable part of the city; at the 

 end of the days sales he thought 75 cents to %\ 

 a good day's business, and if by chance he hap- 

 pened to realize anything over a dollar, he 

 felt extra happy with the result of something 

 a little beyond his dally needs. The class of 

 goods the market required in those days 

 were a few rose geraniums, sweet alyssum, 

 marigolds; pansies about half an inch in 



: considered extra large fine 

 with a few other varieties of 



Imost forgotten, constituted the 

 from. Some few years be- 



flowers. 



whole 11 



fore the venerable ( 



that to see the florl 



back to the dates g 



revelation to him tl 



of handling 



poses, from the elaborate 

 corsage bouquet. 



I fancy some will be Ir 

 this statement, and probably 

 for so doing, when it ' 



ore of a 

 real fact, and he did 

 ecade of the last cen- 



ous decade, not only 

 [ty of flowers, but in 

 business; the method 

 plants by the grow- 

 ■ ' 111 pur- 



decade 



ned to criticise 

 ith good grounds 

 nbered that dur- 



is the following 

 (made of colored imitation flowers): For a 

 fireman who had lost his life in trying to save 

 those of his fellow beings his comrades thought 

 they would show his family some respect; to 

 do so, they consulted a florist, ordering what 

 they thought a nice piece suitable for the occa- 

 sion, but as they were not versed in how the 

 lettering should read, they left the matter 

 judgment as 



appr. 



He 



similar instr 

 in lettering 

 But this wa 

 The company 



florist) thought, I suppose, it would be appre- 

 ciated to have It different from the stereo- 

 typed line of such things, so inserted this: 

 "See you later." 



On another occasion, a fireman having died, 

 his comrades went to a florist with somewhat 

 tlons. This time the florist put 

 read. "Gone to his last fire." 

 not the worst thing about it. 

 to which this highly respected 

 belonged ordered a pillow of all choice 

 fresh flowers; It was made up almost entirely 

 of Immortelles, with the lettering as above in 

 red. These and many similar absurdities, in 

 funeral designs especially, are not creditable 

 to the fiorist business; but they must not be 

 taken as the type of the whole business, as 

 they are the exception and should be so 

 treated. 



In another class of our business— that of 

 lawn and park decorations— some monsters 

 have occasionally been met in the shape of 

 camels, crocodiles, elephants, elongated ser- 

 pents and scorpions, bears, buffaloes, etc., 

 or imitations of them, made up with great 

 labor and expense; but critics should not be 

 too hasty to condemn these, as undoubtedly 

 they were made up in many cases to satisfy 

 the taste of a certain part of the public for 

 something sensational. Fortunately, the gen- 

 eral public are becoming better educated to 

 what constitutes good taste and the proper 

 use to which nature's gems (plants and flow- 

 ers) should be put: happily, these monstros- 

 ities soon lose their attractiveness even with 

 their greatest advocates, and a more graceful 

 and ornamental use la, made of the plants, 

 which adds greatly to the enjoyment of the 

 public at large. Where, a few years ago, the 

 style of flower gardens generally was, strictly 

 speaking, almost exclusively that known as 

 carpet bidding, a change has now come over 

 the same, and many, very many are now 

 adopting a more natural form, adding greatly 

 to the beauty and charm of their gardens and 

 pleasure grounds. This applies not only to 

 the so-called bedding plants in general, but 



mentlng lawns, 'parks, etc. Many of these 

 were formerly pruned - - ■ ' ■ 





I and forms — contortio 

 night ■ 

 All this Is gradually 



natural form allowed to aeveiop. in many or 

 the choice evergreen trees and shrubs their 

 natural form cannot be improved upon. What 

 can be more charmingly beautiful than a fine 

 specimen of the common hemlock (Tsuga 

 cfinadensis), or the Norway spruce (Picea ex- 

 celsa), and very many others, too numerous to 

 mention. 



With the closing of the last century no one 

 can dispute the fact that horticulture In every 

 branch has made vast strides throughout this 

 country; many plants that a decade ago were 

 consl<iered rare and very difficult to grow, so 



much 80 that but comparatively few ^ 

 tempted to try the cultivation of them, 

 instance will be sufficient to Illustrate 

 fact. Take the orchid family; ten years 

 these were considered too expensive a lu: 

 for any except the very wealthy to att€ 

 they were supposed 



cultivate. 



dlffl- 

 and harder to get into bloom. 

 Since that date they have steadily made their 

 way into public favor, till now the blooms are 

 a regular commercial product, and not In lim- 

 ited quantities either. The question will prob- 

 ably be asked, why has It changed so readily 

 from an extreme rarity to an abundance? 

 Simply because some of our more enterprising 

 and thoughtful growers have, by studying 



have adopted a more natural one and far 

 more congenial to the plants. When one con- 

 siders the natural habitat of, say, the Cattleya 

 Trianae, which grows on trees anywhere from 

 15 to 50 feet high, subject to all the winds of 

 the hemisphere. Is it cong'enlal to this plant 

 to place it in a greenhouse kept as hot as 

 July weather and in continual steaming vapor? 

 I should think not; and the same law applies 

 to every plant grown today, and as we apply 

 this more thoroughly to our plants in general 

 the better will be our success. In fact, it Is 

 largely this very factor that has done so much 

 to simplify the cultivation of all plants and 

 flowers for the nineteenth century. 



What will be the outcome of the new cen- 

 tury, I have been asked to tell you. This Is 

 something more of a prophet's problem to an- 

 swer than an every day, ordinary working flor- 

 ist, such as I am; but if indications point to 

 anything, we are, horticulturally, only infants 

 now. We shall have glass houses miles long 

 and 100 feet high, covering a million plants 

 each, and Illuminated by electricity, in the 

 very near future. Roses will have to be sent 

 to market with stems 10 feet long and as big 

 as ordinary walking sticks, with flowers on 

 them as large as pine apples; carnations must 

 be as big as paeonia flowers, with stems five 

 feet long that will not bend when shaken; vio- 

 lets must be as large as silver dollars, with 

 15-inch stems and warranted never to lose 

 their fragrance. All these and every other 

 kind of flowers must be produced in like pro- 

 portion and sold to the dear retailers at— for 

 roses, from two to three dollars per 100; for 

 carnations, 60 cents per 100; for violets, 10 

 cents per 100, etc.. all down the list. Then the 

 growers will think they are making fortunes 

 rapidly, more so even than they do now. The 

 retailers will grumble a little more than they 

 do now at the size and quality, so that the 

 younger generation of growers will have a very 

 happy time of it. 



In the plant life, young roses will be sold for 

 the cost of taking the cuttings from the 

 mother plants, not as they are offered today by 

 so many advertisers at such handsome paying 

 prices as $4 per 100 for 3-inch American Beauty. 

 $2 per 100 for general list of tea roses, etc. ; 

 these prices are ^far too profitable to be main- 

 tained. All other plants will be offered at pro- 

 portionate rates. This. In conjunction with a 

 general and steady advance In prices of all 

 materials the florist needs, such as glass, 

 lumber, iron pipe, etc.. will, of course. Induce 

 all of us to do everything we can to help 

 the trusts make still further combinations. 

 so as to put prices still higher and enable 

 every member thereof to have a fine yacht, 

 sport fancy automobiles, and the various para- 

 phernalia which go with them. Then, I pre- 

 sume, the florists will all be contented with 

 such handsome remunerative prices, particu- 

 larly as the express companies will take all 

 the advantage of the improved times of the 

 florist, and still advance their charges for 

 transportation of the goods to market. 



Some of my brother florists will probably say 

 I am treating the subject of the new century 

 too seriously; so. by the way of diversion, I 

 hope, if they can find any fun in It. they will 



Joing 



roya 



Col. Sellers said "there was millions In it' 

 some of the schemes he was advocating) 

 tVeil. perhaps there is millions in the floris 

 iusiness. and I hope you will all get there. 



THE FUEL QUESTION IN GREEN- 

 HOUSE HEATING. 



Bv Prof. L. R. Taft. 

 [Read before the S. A. P. Convention at Buffalo.] 

 Of the many problems with whose solution 

 every florist is vexed, there Is none, the labor 

 question, perhaps, being alone excepted, that 

 is of more importance than that of the fuel 

 supply. Each one must decide for himself 

 what particular kind, or mixture of kinds, will 

 give the best results under the conditions 

 that he can give them. Having determined 



Fuel. 



The word fuel is applied to any substance 

 that is burned, and in the burning or com- 

 bustion of a fuel a chemical combination takes 

 place between one or more of the substances 

 of which it Is composed, and the oxygen of 

 the air. at such a rate as to produce heat and 

 light. The elements In fuel that are of most 

 value for purposes of combustion are called 



itygen Is 



carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, 

 present In large quantities In the air, It Is 

 of no commercial importance, but It must be 

 present If combustion Is to take place and, 

 for the economical burning of any fuel In a 

 furnace, careful attention must be paid to 

 have the area and openings of the grate and 

 the size of the chimney flues so proportioned 

 as to supply the needed amount of oxygen. 

 As air contains by volume but little more 

 than one-fifth oxygen, the arrangement must 

 be such as to admit nearly four and one-half 

 pounds of air for each pound of oxygen needed. 

 To produce the complete combustion of 

 carbon to carbon dioxide (C02), for one part 

 of carbon two parts of oxygen are required, 

 or. making allowance for the difference In 

 weight, for the combustion of one pound of 

 carbon 2.66 pounds of oxygen 

 and to supply -••-■' 



M pounds of air will be re- 



combustion Is Incomplete, carbon 

 monoxide (CO) will be formed, and for this 

 only one-half as much air. or six pounds for 

 each pound of carbon, will be needed. As 

 will be shown later, the combustion produced 

 when carbon monoxide is formed has less 

 than one-third the heating power of combus- 

 tion to carbon dioxide, and as the one Is pro- 

 duced when the supply of air Is deficient, and 

 the other when it Is ample, the importance 

 ofsecuring a sufilclency is very evident. 



stible element, hydrogen. 



ally 



ated at 



lightest 



the 



eally 



stitutes 



trogen 14 and oxygen 16. It 

 a very considerable portion, by volume, of 

 many fuels. In the combustion of hydrogen, 

 two atoms unite with one of oxygen, produc- 

 ing water, but, using the weights of the ele- 

 ments, one pound of hydrogen joins itself to 

 eight pounds of oxygen, producing nine pounds 



Thus for t 

 1.700 pounds (. 



pounds of air 

 per pound of < 



air 



aplete combustion of the 



12.3 



pound, sufficient draught 

 must be provided for 296.071 cubic feet of air 

 to pass through the grate while one ton of 

 Pocahontas coal is undergoing combustion. 



Air required for the combustion of one ton of 

 Pocahontas coal: 1,700X12-1-100X35 = 23,900 

 lbs., 23.900X12.3888 = 296.071 cu. ft. air. 



As it is not probable that every atom of car- 

 bon and hydrogen will come in contact with 

 the required number of atoms of oxygen. It 

 is necessary In practice to double the above 

 amount of air and furnish 24 pounds for each 

 pound of coal, which Is equal to 48.000 pounds, 

 or 690,624 cubic feet of air. If 12 pounds per 

 hour per square foot of grate are burned, 

 about 3.600 cubic feet of air per hour will be 

 required for each square foot of grate. 



The heating volume, or, to use the correct 

 scientific term, the calorific power, of any 

 combustible substance is found by taking one 

 pound and by burning it. ascertain how many 

 degrees It will elevate the temperature of one 

 pound of water, the combustion taking place 

 at the point of Its greatest density, which 

 Is about 39 degrees. The unit of heat measure 

 In this country is what is commonly known as 

 a British thermal unit, or. abbreviated. 

 B. T. U. This Is the heat required to raise 

 the temperature of one pound of water one 



Having ascertained this for the various ele- 

 ments of which combustible bodies are com- 

 posed, it is only necessary to know their anal- 

 ysis to be able to determine their calorific 



The following Is commonly accepted as the 

 heating efficiency of the substances named; 



Hydrogen to water 62.000 B. T. U. 



Carbon to carbon dioxide 14.500 B. T. U. 



Carbon to carbon monoxide.. 4.450 B. T. U. 

 Carbon monoxide to dioxide.. 4,000 B. T. U. 

 To show the method of determining the heat- 



ing 



nbustlble, 

 certain sample of coal contains 

 5 per cent hydrogen and 



Cent 



cent sulphur. Using the above 

 as showing its calorific value: 

 Heat = C (14.500) X .7 -t- H (62,000) X .05 -^ S 



(4.000) X .02 = 13.330. 

 To secure this resu 

 perfect and all the 

 actual practice this 

 being more than on< 



abustion must be 

 1st be saved. In 

 tosslble, the loss 



Theoretical Value of Fuel. 



The 



lount of heat that can be developed 

 rrom one pound of carbon or from one pound 

 of the better grades of coal is sufficient to 

 evaporate from 10 to 16 pounds of water from 

 and at a temperature of 212 degrees, but even 

 with clean boilers and skilful firing only about 

 three-fourths of this can be secured. Not onlv 

 does coal contain a considerable amount of 

 earthy matter, varying from 3 to 15. or even 

 20 per cent, which remains as ashes or clink- 

 ers, but, especially when slack or other fine 

 coal Is used, a large amount falls through the 



Imperfect combustion also greatly redaces 

 the amount of heat that can be obtained from 

 fuel, as, owing to a small supply of air, the 



suit 



of 



monoxide, instead of carbonic dlox- 



