TheWeekly Florists' Review. 



421 



Field of Asters at the Establishment of the Harms Park Floral Co., Chicago. 



new location, where no peas, either orna- 

 mental or culinary, have been grown for 

 several seasons, and with fivorable 

 weather they secure as fine peas and as 

 long a season of bloom as they ever did. 

 For the last three years their chief trou- 

 ble has been with hot, dry weather and 

 the greenfly. They have succeeded in 

 mastering the latter by spraying mth 

 while oil and potash soap. In their 

 trial grounds they have growing side by 

 side trials of seed growii in France, Eng- 

 land, Germany, northern New York, Ore- 

 gon and California, and can detect abso- 

 lutely no difference in the growth of 

 vines from seed grown in these widely 

 <lifferent locations, all being eqiuilly vig- 

 orous under favorable conditions and all 

 equally is susceptible to the blight when 

 the conditions are not favorable. 



ASTERS. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph of part of the field 

 of asters at the establishment of the 

 Harms Park Floral Co., Chicago, recent- 

 ly mentioned in our Chicago notes. There 

 are about 40,000 plants in the field and 

 the cut of flowers has been enormous. 



In the foreground are seen the Carl- 

 son Improved Paeony Flowered type, and 

 this type also predominates in the pic- 

 ture of a vase of aster blooms picked 

 froQi this field. It is this variety that 

 has supplied the finest flowers, and its 

 growth is remarkably ■ vigorous. The 

 plants were placed 15 inches apart in the 

 field and have grown so vigorously that 

 it is difficult to walk in among them with- 

 out injuring them. Next year they will 

 plant 18 inches apart and omit every 

 fifth row. This type comes in three 

 colors— white, pink and lisht lavender. 

 It is ,-erf;nnN ,. -|,l,.|,.]i.l ,^i, ,. 



Th.'V ;il^. ji^. , -. Ml,. ^ -•,. 11 Pink, 



I '•\:>n{ (oil I \ h I 1 1 ' n ,ik and 



I'uritv. -riir l;.tt>M I- ,1 'J I liile, but 



Ibylireak is too light a shade <if pink 

 In liike well in the market, and they will 

 iimI glow it again. 



lie another nearby patch of asters is a 

 liarc spot where tbe plants died out en- 

 tirely. The mystery was explained by 

 the fact that this was where a lot of 



old glass was cleaned with lye water last 

 year. Moral — don't use lye where you 

 expect to grow anything in the future. 



WATER SUPPLY. 



Is there a steam pump on the market 

 for pumping water direct into pipes for 

 watering in greenhouses? "If so, what 

 kind is the best ? Is it necessary to have 

 a governor on same to regulate pressure ? 

 How large a pump would be required to 

 supply water for five houses, each 20x 

 100, and for irrigating an acre of ground 

 in summer time? How large a well is 

 required and what size suction pipe? 

 what size of main flow pipe? 



What kind of valve should we use to 

 keep high pressure of steam (necessary 

 to run pump) from running through 

 greenhouses? L. S. 



There are several steam pumps that 

 will do the work. The brass ball cylinder 

 pump made by the American Well Works 

 Co. would be a good one. Have never 

 heard of a governor on a pump, though 

 there may be such a pump made. 



For the purpose mentioned the pump 

 should have a capacity of 30 to 40 gal- 

 lons a minute, with about a 3-inch flow. 

 The size of well is immaterial, just so 

 you have the flow of water. The well 

 should be one that cannot be pumped dry 

 in dry weather. Sink the well until a 

 good heavy flow of water is struck. 



A valve could be used to hold steam 

 back from the houses, but by no means 

 resort to this method of water supply. 

 Erect a good substantial water tank, of 

 either steel or cypress, and mount it on 

 a strong derrick not less than 45 feet 

 high. This will give you all the pressure 

 you will need. Then put in an Olds 

 gasoline engine of 3-horse power and 

 use a 2 or 2 i -inch flow pipe from engine 

 over top of tank. Attach all supply 

 pipes at bottom of tank. Have a good 

 sized tank, say 600 barrel, and use a 2- 

 inch supply for houses. You can then 

 water all flve houses at one time without 

 any fall in pressure. We have plenty 

 of pressure for syringing with our tank, 

 which is 45 feet high. 



Be sure to place tank where it will not 

 have to be moved when you build addi- 

 tional houses. We have a system like 

 the above in operation and we have 

 plenty of water. The cost of running 

 our gasoline engine does not exceed an 

 average of 18 cents a day, and we pump 

 water for nine large houses and nu- 

 merous frames and lath structures for 

 summer plunging. 



If you pump direct into your pipes 

 you will have to use a tank with a ball 

 safety valve for high pressure, set to 

 any pressure you desire, and then when 

 you close off the spigot the pressure will 

 operate the valve and the tank will 

 catch the supply; otherwise you would 

 have a "bust up," for there would be no 

 outlet to take the pressure off pipes and 

 engine. F. W. Beach. 



Dallas, Tex. 



Eeplying to the inquiry about water 

 supply, I have always used direct pres- 

 sure, to which I attribute the success 

 that has followed my syringing with a 

 pressure at the nozzle of 65 to 90 Iba. 



I use a No. 3 Columbus pump direct 

 into water service of IJ-inch main, 

 which divides as it passes through 

 center vestibule into I-inch outlets, 

 distributed along the beds by f- 

 inch faucets. I use two hose at a 

 time, taking the water from each aide 

 of the main, thereby syringing each half 

 of the house simultaneously. 



Steam is derived from a SO-horse power 

 boiler, pressure 55 to 60 lbs. No con- 

 troller is necessary. Water is dead- 

 headed when not used, which affects the 

 pump very little. Service of our pumps 

 lasts ten to twelve years without any re- 



pa i 



at all. 



This would, I believe, fill the bill for 

 h. S. In fact, I have never been able 

 to understand why this system is not 

 more commonly used. 



Chas. Eaynek. 



Anchorage, Ky. 



In answer to L. S. in your issue of 

 29th inst., would say we have a country 

 place consisting of three greenhouses, 



