676 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



October 1G, 1902. 



manure one month before spawning. He 

 also advised never to sprinkle the mush- 

 room beds until the mushrooms are 

 nearly due. 



From England we went to France. 

 Paris, the gay and beautiful city, is well 

 worth a \isit. The grand buildings, the 

 beautiful and very clean street*, the 

 broad boulevards with well trained and 

 well kept trees are great objects of in- 

 terest. France has a tremendous sized 

 seed establishment, where I spent three 

 days to inspect the trial grounds and 

 warehouses. I was greatly impressed by 

 their perfect system of handling seeds, 

 their elaborate and expensive seed test- 

 ing apparatus and facilities. I certainly 

 obtained some very valuable information 

 at this place. I must also not fail to 

 speak in the highest terms of the grand 

 entertainment accorded us by our host 

 and hostess. 



Paris has some of the finest public 

 parks in the world, for instance, the Bois 

 de Boulogne, the Versailles parks and 

 a large number of others, all laid out 

 in beautiful walks, which radiate prin- 

 cipally from circles. By standing in any 

 of these circles you have a view as far 

 as the eye can reach of about six ave- 

 nues of trees from each circle (very much 

 resembling spokes of a wheel), a grand 

 sight indeed. 



After our stay in Franc-e our next 

 place was Switzerland, which happens 

 to be my native country. I naturally 

 felt very much at home during our whole 

 stay in this beautiful country, noted for 

 its natural scenery, with mountains 

 nearly reaching the skies, and lakes by 

 the score, one more beautiful and fasci- 

 nating than the other. In Zurich is 

 located the most complete station in the 

 world for testing seeds. A number of 

 professors are engaged in this very im- 

 portant work, which is a state institu- 

 tion. The principal places we visited 

 were Beme, the capital of Switzerland: 

 luterlaken and Luzerne, two of the grand- 

 «t places on this earth. 



Our trip then took us into Germany. 

 Munich was the first large city for us 

 to visit. The grounds of the king's pal- 

 ace were handsomely laid out with car- 

 pet bedding designs, fountains and grand 

 immense lawns carefully kept in order. 

 Another great attraction in !Munich is 

 the immense breweries, some of which 

 have very large gardens attached to them. 

 These gardens are filled every evening 

 with the population, rich and poor, all 

 enjoying the large steins filled with the 

 purest quality of beer. One garden has 

 a seating capacity of 8,000. I was in- 

 formed that it was filled every evening 

 during the summer. I would have liked 

 to have you all with me on the evening 

 I spent there. Not one disorderly or in- 

 toxicated person is seen in these popular 

 places. Fathers bring their wives and 

 children to hear the military bands, 

 which perform up-to-date music for the 

 entertainment of guests. 



Among the other places in Germany we 

 visited Frankfort. Wisbaden. Cologne 

 and Erfurt. The last named place is one 

 of the greatest seed gron-ing districts 

 abroad. I spent considerable time post- 

 ing myself in the varieties, methods and 

 crops. It really does us seedsmen good 

 to freshen up our records and knowledge 

 by occasional visits. These seed farms 

 are so large that it takes a long while 

 to go over thorn and take notes of inter- 

 est. 



A few specials of note are: Gladiolus 

 Queen Wilhelmina, pur-e white with rich- 

 ly marked bright red throat resembline 



a Maltese cross. This, I think, will be- 

 come a leader. 



Linaria Elegans, small white flowers 

 in great profusion, adapted espetial'v for 

 cutting; annual. 



Gilia Dichotoma, a choice annual, for 

 pot plants and for use as cut flowers. 



Tropaeolums. i\T- leaved foliagi?, prom- 

 ises to become very popular; fine seed. 



Scabiosa Metaxa, white, very large, 

 should prove a valuable addition as cut 

 flowers, indoor or outdoor. 



Strawberry "Four Seasons," from 

 seed, excellent flavor ben-y. 



And many others which lack of time 

 prevents me from mentioning. 



Vienna, one of the grandest of all Eu- 

 ropean cities, was our next point, and we 

 were well repaid for this long joilrney. 

 The Imperial grounds and buildings are 

 a sight never to be foigotten. Tlie Prater 

 park is immense in size and is patronised 

 by nearly the whole population. The 

 day we spent at this park there inust 

 have been over 100.000 people enjoying 

 it, and no doubt the same occurs nearly 

 every clear day. In the Emperor's 

 Palace Gardens, Shoenbrun, the bedding 

 was on an inmiense scale. Piincipally 

 carpet bedding is done here, although a 

 large number of beds were made of the 

 yellow daisy. Chrysanthemum Segetum 

 ■'Gloria'" (which is the largest flowering 

 yellow daisy in the market), and bord- 

 ered with beautiful blue Browallia spe- 

 ciosa major. These two plants made a 

 handsome effect indeed. In the first-class 

 florists' show windows I especially no- 

 ticed several strikingly handsome effects 

 made of six long stalks of pink holly- 

 hocks placed in jjink crepe paper baskets, 

 tied %vith same colored broad ribbons, 

 and all delicately intertwined with As- 

 paragus plumosus. Tliese window dis- 

 plays were greatlv admired bv the pub- 

 lic.' 



Our next destination was Belgium and 

 Holland, both countries noted for their 

 production of bulbs, etc.. the first named 

 for gloxianias, which thrive luxu- 

 riantly and develop perfect bulbs. 

 Holland is a most interesting coun- 

 try to us. I was pleased to hear 

 that the hyacinths had turned out 

 so well, which Avill partly make up 

 for the past unfavorable seasons. One 

 of the items of especial value was to hear 

 the splendid reports from the new spiraea. 

 Gladstone, which won all the first prizes 

 for spiraea wherever they were exhibited. 



This wound up our trip in Europe, 

 and we were well repaid for the time 

 consumed. I thank you all for your 

 close attention to the.se rambling re- 

 marks, and hope I have not taken up 

 too much of your valuable time, which 

 you could probably have spent more in- 

 terestingly on the club bowling alleys, 

 billiard tables and shuffle boards. 



VENTILATION. 



L. S. writes: "Will Mr. William Scott 

 kindly give his reasons for placing venti- 

 lators on the east side of a greenhouse 

 running north and south when opened 

 at ridge? Would not the cold west winds 

 be troublesome when open?" 



I don't remember where or when I 

 did give that advice, and have not the 

 opportunity for reference at this mo- 

 ment. The evolution of greenhouse con- 

 struction has been very rapid the past 

 four or five years, arid without defending 

 or apologizing for that opinion, if I am 

 the author of it, it would be more to the 

 point to tell you what is my present 

 opinion on this important question, and 



this opinion is the result of looking at 

 a good many modern ranges of glass, 

 boti large and small. We will take 't 

 for granted that in the great majoritv 

 of locations the west, northwest, north 

 and northeast are the cold winds, and 

 the east and south and southwest are 

 usiuilly mild or warm. That's about how 

 things are in western Xew York. All 

 houses in our northern states built for 

 gro\ving cut flowers, roses and carnations 

 particularly, should run east and west, 

 or. what is better still, several points 

 east of south, so that the sun will warm 

 up the houses before it would if the 

 houses faced due south. 



Tliese houses, in my opinion, should 

 have the ventilators on the north side 

 and open at the ridge, so when the wind 

 blows from the northwest or north the 

 draught would not be rushing down on 

 the plants, but would pass over. If 

 there is a cap on the ventilators, closing 

 down and covering the ridge, no ice will 

 ever bother you. If the warm south 

 winds blow it will l)e felt in the houses, 

 and that you don't mind. There is no 

 doubt about the ridge being the place 

 for the opening, for there is where the 

 heated air will be. and you want it to 

 escape. Another point is that it is one- 

 third the strain or work for your ven- 

 tilating apparatus. A house with contin- 

 uous ventilation hinged at the ridge 

 would want at least two. yes, almost 

 three, machines to do the work of one 

 if hinged on a header and opening at 

 the ridge. 



A house running north and south is, 

 I presume, built for growing, perhaps 

 palms, smilax or many other plants not 

 requiring every possible ray of sunshine 

 that can be gathered in. If the correct 

 way to ventilate is at the ridge, then 

 it is as good for these house-s as for the 

 others, and I would most assuredly put 

 the ventilators on the west side. If you 

 hinged at the ridge in a north and south 

 house, then by all means the east side is 

 the place for the ventilators, because 

 there would be many frosty, bright morn- 

 ings in February and March that a littje 

 ventilation would be very necessary, but 

 the sash would be frozen down. 



There are several advantages in venti*- 

 lators opening at the ridge, and I know 

 of only one disadvantage. If causht in 

 a sudden shower and you had a foot of 

 ventilation there would be some wetting 

 of the plants, but vigilance can overcome 

 that, and you can always have two or 

 three inches of ventilation in wet weath- 

 er if the ventilator has the necessary cap, 

 which closes over the edge. I think I 

 have answered the question and a little 

 more. Wilu.^m Scott. 



CORRECTION. 



The Reviews juDnf reader is n. g. No, 

 he is a good one — it is my horrible 

 scribble and I will take all the blame. 



In last week's Review I was made, to 

 say three things that must have sounded 

 absurd to those who favored me with 

 a perusal. In the description of the rf- 

 ment edges to the beds on the Dale Es- 

 tate it read about IJ inches high and 

 li thick. It should, of course, be 4* 

 inches high. 



The boxes of valley when put out of 

 doors for the winter should be covered 

 with two or three "feet" of soil. Holy 

 farmer, where would one get all the 

 soil ? Two or three inches sounds bet- 

 ter. 



Then I made the startling statement 

 that when the eucharis was started into 



