The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



367 



Pond of Hardy Aquatics at Lincoln Park, Ciiicago. 



.Scirpus polyphj'llus on the brink. The 

 first is the well known bulrush and the 

 latter is more like a sedge. 



At the cape in the center of the view 

 is a dark group of Aster vimineus flanked 

 at the left with golden rod and Heliopsis 

 lievis and farther left a group of Helian- 

 thus grosse-serratus. Following to the 

 right at the far end of the pond the 

 margin is acorus and sagittaria var., 

 with S. gracilis. Near the white birch 

 at the right is a group of Pontederia cor- 

 data just in bloom. The rest of the 

 margin is made up chiefly of plants al- 

 ready enumerated, with Mimulus ringens, 

 Lobelia syphilitica and minor water 

 plants. 



The groups of nymphaea include Nym- 

 phsea albida, N. candidissima, N. tube- 

 rosa, N. Marliacea alba, N. Mar. carnea, 

 N. Mar. rosea, N. Mar. chromatella and 

 N. rosea. 



AIL of the growth in this pond is per- 

 fectly hardy and well established and the 

 eft'eet is largely the result of natural 

 adjustment. John Higgins. 



Chicago. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Supporting Carnations. 



There are about as many methods of 

 supporting carnations as there are grow- 

 ers, and, of course, each claims that his 

 method is the very best of all. It would 

 be difficult to say which method is supe- 

 rior to all others in every respect, as 

 each has its weak points as well as its 

 strong points. 



Many growers use wire supports of one 

 kind or another, either home-made or 

 one of the many kind offered by wire- 

 workers. There is a great difl'erence be- 

 tween the styles or shapes of the differ- 

 ent makes, but they nearly all have the 

 bad fault of l)eing rigid or unadjustable. 

 Such spare growers as Mrs. Bradt can 



hardly be expected to stand up straight 

 in a wire ring which is large enough to 

 span a large plant like Crocker or White 

 Cloud. 



The one exception to this rule, that 1 

 know of, is a home-made affair, and, by 

 ;the way, this is the way our best inven- 

 tions and most useful appliances are 

 .worked out, and the reason is that there 

 is always practical experience behind it. 

 Use vpire of good strength Cabout No. 16, 

 I think) and cut into 3i-foot lengths. 

 T?ind the center, and wind around some- 

 thing round, about 4 inches in diameter, 

 leaving twelve inches of each end 

 straight. Wind around one and a half 

 times and bend the ends so they will 

 hold the loop horizontal when the legs 

 are stuck into the soil. Turn up about 

 three inches of the ends so as to give a 

 better foothold in the soil; if the legs 

 are too long for the plants, turn up 

 more. This support can be adjusted 

 from four inches to as large as six inches 

 across the loop, which is large enough 

 for most plants. Ajiother ring is made 

 with longer legs, to support the blooms 

 later on. Some growers use these wire 

 supports only for supporting the body 

 of the plant and later on put on a net- 

 work of wire and twine to support the 

 blooming stems. 



Another system used a good deal is 

 what is known as the Dorner system. 

 After all the weeds are thoroughly 

 cleaned out, get some woven wire fenc- 

 ing about fifteen inches wide. Cut into 

 lengths to reach across the bench, bind 

 into an angle and lay between the rows 

 with each edge resting on the soil close 

 to the plants. After putting these in 

 place, stretch wires between the rows, 

 lengthwise of the bench, and weave a 

 series of diamond-shaped openings all 

 over the bench by running cotton twine 

 diagonally across the bench, wrapping 

 the twine around each wire as you go 

 aci'oss the bench. The only objection we 



have to this method is that it is almost 

 ^impossible to do any weeding after the 

 wires are put in place. 

 ; We use instead of the wire fencing a 

 network of wire and twine, which we like 

 better, as we can get between the plants 

 to work the soil or to pull the weeds, of 

 which there are always a few coming up 

 all through the season. We stretch a 

 wire lengthwise of the bench between 

 each row of plants and another along 

 each edge of the bench, about six inches 

 above the soil, and tie cotton twine 

 straight across the bench (two strings 

 between each row of plants), tying to 

 each outside wire and wrapping once 

 around each wire as you go across. Nail 

 a wooden strip Jxl* across the bench 

 under the wires, about 20 feet apart, to 

 keep them up off the soil. We used to 

 use wire stretched across, but wire| will 

 stretch some, and in a few months the 

 whole thing will be let down a few inches, 

 thus destroying its effectiveness. Before 

 beginning to tie on the strings we meas- 

 ure the length of string required and cut 

 a lot of them the proper length. Now, 

 this suggestion may not be new to you, 

 but some other brother may not have 

 thought of this simple little trick which 

 will save him lots of valuable time. 

 Drive two nails in a bench just one-lialf 

 the length of your string apart. Tie the 

 end of the string to one of the nails and 

 pass over the other nail and back until 

 you have a ball of twine used up. Then 

 cut the strand open on one side and you 

 have a hundred strings cut just the same 

 length in less time than it would take to 

 cut ten strings one at a time. One man 

 takes a bunch of these strings and begins 

 on one side, tying to the opposite wire 

 and wrapping around each wire half way 

 across the bench, when another helper 

 takes it up and finishes up by tying to the 

 other outside wire, and so on until the end 

 of the bench is reached. You would be sur- 

 prised to see how quickly two active lads 



