Januakv 30. 1902. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



3J5 





^r:c-*r->i;.f^^iv«.iv- 



...:;^'.'** 





^^^^ 







House of Carnatioos at the Establishment of Mr. T. B. Stroup, New Philadelphia, O. 



ture is ill my n|iiiiiiiii quite beneficial, 

 thougli it is hill a feu degrees, ami it 

 does not cause anj' more burst calyxes 

 than when the temjierature is held 

 steadily at 55 decrees. I believe the ap- 

 plication of lime has a marked effect on 

 the strength of the caly.v, as we cut very 

 few imperfect flowers. 



Lriist season was our first experience 

 with Crocker and we cut only about half 

 as many blooms up to this time as we 

 have this season, but there was some- 

 thing about it that compelled me to have 

 faith in it. This season, with some 

 ligliter soil, higher temperature and a 

 little more regularity in feeding and 

 culture, I am satisfied that I have made 

 no mistake in giving it the largest bench 

 space on the place. 



The coming season by early planting 

 in field and better culture, I expect to 

 have the plants as large again as they 

 were this season at benching time, Au- 

 gust 1. I am fixed now so I can irrigate 

 from a flowing well the patch where we 

 plant the carnations, and shall use some 

 good cow manure on it. 



Nixon H. Gano. 



A CARNATION HOUSE. 



The accompanying engraving is from 

 a photograph taken shortly before 

 Christmas of a house of carnations at 

 the establishment of Mr. T. B. Stroup, 

 New Philadelphia, Ohio. The house is 

 20x100 and the center bench is planted 

 with Flora Hill, the side benches con- 

 taining Marquis, Lawson and Joost. The 

 side benches had been cut over just 

 before the picture was taken. 



Mr. Stroup writes: "The house was 

 planted August 15, the soil being a 

 sandy loam, not very rich, just a little 

 better than that they were grown in 

 outside. The plants filled the bench 

 nicely with roots in a short time and 

 on September 1 were given a top dress- 

 ing of lime. A mulch of manure, bone 

 meal and soil, thoroughly mixed and al- 

 lowed to stand a few weeks, was put on 

 December 1. 



"Pinching was kept up till Septem- 

 ber 20, only allowing a few of the 

 strongest shoots to bloom. By keep- 

 ing them pinched till that date the num- 



ber of Ihiwers was few until the mum 

 i-eason was nearly over, and the quality 

 of flower and stem was excellent from 

 the beginning. 



"So far this season (up to January 

 17) I have cut 5,200 blooms from this 

 house, which contains 2,000 plants, and 

 the larger part of the cut was in Decem- 

 ber. 



"The house is heated and lighted by 

 natural gas. The benches are 'everlast- 

 ing,' the bottoms being hollow tile of 

 special length, so that two when placed 

 end to end will reach across the bench 

 (5 feet 10 inches). They could be made 

 in one piece, but are more convenient to 

 handle in 29-inch lengths. These are 

 supported by concrete walls four inches 

 thick and twelve inches high. The sides 

 and ends are of brick set on edge, with 

 a good bedding of cement mortar. These 

 Ijedg cost about twice as much as plank, 

 but will last a lifetime." 



LETTUCE FORCING. 



0. H. B. has a house of lettuce which 

 will not head, though seed was sown 

 September 15. He has kept the plants 

 on the dry side, and in a low tempera- 

 ture, using very little manure in the 

 soil, and wishes to know what to do 

 to bring them quickly to maturity. 



Plants from seed sown in September 

 should be ready to cut in from twelve 

 to fourteen weeks, if everything has 

 been favorable to growth. Wliat your 

 correspondent calls running his plants 

 on the dry side may possibly be too 

 dry, and that might account for the 

 delay of the plants heading. Watering, 

 of course, is a kind of instinct to some 

 men, and such men have comparatively 

 few troubles to contend with. While 

 the lettuce is impatient of an over- 

 supply of water and a close, stuffy at- 

 mosphere, still sufficient water must be 

 given the crop to allow it to finish with- 

 out any check. 



Assuming that the plants have re- 

 ceived sufficient water, the low tem- 

 perature your correspondent speaks of 

 should not retard the crop unless, of 

 course, it has been too low. A tempera- 

 ture of 40 to 45 degrees nights suits 

 lettuce first rate. A lower temperature 



would of course retard the crop, and 

 O. H. B. can figure for himself whether 

 that is the trouble or not. For myself 

 1 would raise the temperature some, 

 and give the plants a good soaking of 

 water. Then, if they still refuse to 

 head up, I would sell oflF the crop for 

 what it would bring and figure on re- 

 planting as soon as possible. 



Many of our florists nowadays are 

 growing lettuce in conjunction witli 

 other crops, and so the following notes 

 on culture may be found useful. If let- 

 tuce is desired by the first week in 

 November the first seed should be sown 

 the third week in August. For a con- 

 tinuous succession seed should be sown 

 every week. In about three weeks the 

 seedlings will need transplanting, and 

 then, say three weeks later the final 

 transplanting may be given, putting out 

 I lie plants eight inches apart. 



Your correspondent says he used lit- 

 tle if any manure in his soil. He would 

 possibly have done better had he spread 

 an incii or two of fine fresh stable ma 

 nure on top of the soil, and dug it un 

 der. This will give a very gentle heat 

 at the root of the young plants and 

 encourage root action. After planting 

 a night temperature of 50 degrees may 

 be maintained until the plants are grow- 

 ing vigorously, when the temperature 

 should "be gradually lowered to 40 de- 

 grees nights with 70 to 75 degrees sunny 

 days. The worst enemy of lettuce is 

 green fly, and this must be kept down 

 by mild but persistent fumigation. 



If successional sowings are made one 

 can have young plants ready to replant 

 as soon as the first crop is cut away. 

 Keep the soil well supplied with manure 

 if j'ou want tender lettuce. If the 

 plants are kept too wet rot will set in, 

 but the careful grower will not experi- 

 ence any serious trouble in this direc- 

 tion. Lettuce forcing is now an im- 

 portant industry and the returns, while 

 not perhaps a gold mine,, are generally 

 enough to compensate for the invest- 

 ment. C. H. TOTTT. 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. 



The program and premium list for the 

 meeting and exhibition of the above so- 

 ciety to be held at Indianapolis, Ind.. 

 Febl^ 19 and 20, has been issued. The 

 papers include one by C. W. Ward, of 

 Queens, N. Y., on sub-watering and the 

 use of artificial fertilizers, one by Wal- 

 lace E. Pierson, of Cromwell, Conn., on 

 sterilizing soil for carnations, and one 

 by E. G^ Gillett, Cincinnati, "A Criti- 

 cism of Growers' Methods." 



In addition to certificates and medals 

 for new varieties there are numerous 

 classes with valuable cash prizes for 

 standard varieties and they are so ar- 

 ranged that every one can enter. 



Any one desiring a copy of the sched- 

 ule should address Albert M. Herr, sec- 

 retary, Lancaster, Pa. 



Mansfield, O. — Tlie Berno Floral Co. 

 are building a new house 18x140. They 

 will also open a first-class store at No. 6 

 West Third street on March 1. 



Can't do business without the Re- 

 view. Often I find one article that is 

 worth more than the price of the paper. 

 — M. S. Stegaix, Texarkana, Ark. 



Chariton, Ia. — -The Creston Green- 

 houses have established a branch here for 

 the sale of flowers. I. C. Hon is man- 

 ager. 



