836 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



November 13. 1902. 



25 feet of waste room between them, and 

 are awkward and expensive to work. 

 They get no more light than an equal 

 span in the dark days, and in the sum- 

 mer months they are frightfully hot. 



After seeing a good many ranges of 

 glass built in this way during the past 

 two or three years, 1 cannot help being 

 a disciple of an entirely new style of 

 architecture, and as imitation is the sin- 

 cerest flattery, I have followed suit. 

 These houses run east and west; except, 

 perhaps, for roses and carnations they 

 might be just as useful running north 

 and south. They are from 17 to 26 feet 

 from gutter to gutter, supported at the 

 gutter by a 2-inch pipe or an arch of 

 pipe and the walk beneath the gutter. 

 One imijortant requisite of these houses 

 is that the gutter should be high and 

 the benches low, particularly so if the 

 houses run east and west, because when 

 the gutter is high there is less shade on 

 the benches in the next house to the 

 north, and what shade there is is not 

 constant, but continually moving. Tliis 

 is simply demonstrated by holding your 

 outspread hand a foot from, say a din- 

 ner plate. Your hand would cast a 

 shadow over a considerable portion of 

 the plate, whereas, if held feet from 

 the plate, the shade would be scarcely 

 noticeable. 



I am not an advocate of the benches, 

 whether for roses, carnations or violets, 

 being on the solid ground, however well 

 drained it may be, and in the cultiva- 

 tion of chrysanthenuims it has been 

 proven over and over again, and in this 

 I can speak from experience, that 4 

 inches of soil is sufficient and will grow 

 and prodiice finer flowers than a bed of 

 10-inch, or what may be called a solid 

 bed, that is 5 or 6 inches of prepared 

 soil with the natural soil beneath. In 

 houses of this style it is necessary to 

 have some material to separate them 

 from Mother Earth. Boards of plank 

 on a 2x6 scantling resting on the ground 

 is one plan, but necessitates repairing 

 and renewal. A 2x8 plank for an edge 

 board with 2 or 3 inches of rubble-stone 

 and the soil on top is another plan, and 

 doutless will grow any of the important 

 plants I have mentioned equally well as 

 any material for a bottom, but when it 

 comes to renewing the soil it is a very 

 awkward and annoying job. One big 

 grower, who likes the rubble-stone, says: 

 "Well, we don't take out all the soil ; we 

 leave an inch on top of the stone and 

 sprinkle some lime over it." Then they 

 have an inch of exhausted soil just where 

 the roots will be looking for the best 

 nourishment. 



In my humble opinion there is nothing 

 for the bottom of the bed so good and so 

 desirable as a 3-inch tile, or better still, 

 the hollow brick used so much in our 

 modern buildings. Those I used this 

 summer are 5 inches wide, 4 inches thick 

 and 13 inches long, but if they were 

 largely used in any locality, the local tile 

 yard would make a tile of any dimen- 

 sions to suit the florist. With a brick 

 set on edge in cement, or a cement edg- 

 ing of 4 or 5 inches in height and lA 

 inches thick you have a bed that is prac- 

 tically everlasting. It must be perfect 

 drainage. Air is passing through the 

 tile, so that you cannot say there is 

 dampness or coldness. I have in the past 

 few months seen the best roses I have 

 ever seen in my life growing on such a 

 bed as I have described, and if they will 

 grow roses, surely they will grow chrys- 

 anthemums. 



This, then, is my ideal place for the 



mums. There are many advantages in 

 having them down on the ground. If 

 planted on a bench 3 feet from the 

 ground, the later varieties will be away 

 above your head before the3' arc in flow- 

 er, and" the labor of tying and disbudding 

 them will be treble what it is when they 

 are under your eye. Think of the labor 

 and annoyance saved, but above all think 

 liow we swear and tear and lose our tem- 

 per when we discover that many new 

 boards are needed in the bench, or that 

 the whole bench must be renewed. I 

 saw at Lake View Rose Gardens, James- 

 town, N. Y., several houses this fall 

 that had benches of mums planted on 

 such beds as I have described. It was a 

 pleasure to look at them, and in some 

 cases down on them, instead of having to 

 be lifted up on a bench to squint over 

 them. 



Now, you will say: "What are these 

 beds good for when the mums are gone?" 

 They are just the beds, with an inch 

 or so of sand or ashes spread over the 

 soil, or the soil removed to within an 

 inch of the tile, and in the very best po- 

 sition for lilies, azaleas, hydrangeas, 

 Rambler or hybrid perpetual roses, spir- 

 aea, rhodondendrons or any other Easter 

 stock; and although if my business were 

 confined to small shipping stock, I 

 sliould rather for convenience's sake have 

 them on a raised bench, yet they would 

 do just as well on these beds. I believe 

 tlie days of wooden raised benches with 

 their continual decaying are numbered. 

 The cost of benches and keeping them in 

 repair would not be a serious considera- 

 tion if there were any decided advantage 

 in the raised benches, but I have seen 

 enough to convince me absolutely that 

 there is none. 



The matter of ventilation is of import- 

 ance. Although the chrj'santhemum 

 withstands the great heat of our un- 

 shaded houses in July and August when 

 the thermometer goes up to 120, which 

 it often does inside, it nmst be a strain 

 on the vitality of the plant, and there- 

 fore ample means of ventilation should 

 be afforded to modify as much as possi- 

 ble the unnatural and intense heat. A 

 house, whether detached or in a block 

 of houses, should have continuous venti- 

 lation at the ridge. It is far better to 

 have a 30-inch continuous than 4x4 and 

 an interval of several feet. It is well 

 agreed that at no time during their 

 active growth should a chrysanthemum 

 be shaded, or rather, I should say, have 

 a permanent shade — the curse of many 

 of our plants. Yet some varieties, not- 

 ably the deeper colored, do bleach out 

 under the bright suns of October and 

 November, and some shading for them is 

 desirable. I also believe if .some move- 

 able shade that could be easily adjusted 

 on and off could be found, that it would 

 be of great benefit to the plants in the 

 hot summer months. Tliey are frequent- 

 ly seen to wilt, however moist they may 

 be at the root, and when they wilt some 

 exhaustion has taken place. 



I say in conclusion that those who 

 have ever had under their care a bed 

 of chrysanthemums on the ground will 

 kick vigorously if they have to climb a 

 step ladder to get on an even footing 

 with Mile. Ligcr. 



PACKING CUT BLOOMS, 



BY E. E. PIESER. 



[Preaontod to the Cbrysantliemiim Society of 

 America at the Chicagro conveutlon.] 



Having for years taken special inter- 

 est in the handling of cut flowers, from 

 the receiving end to getting them to the 



trade in small towns and large cities in 

 the best possible shape, causes one to 

 try the many ways to pack tlie blooms. 

 Now, we have found, except in very 

 warm weather, ice is not wanted. We 

 have also found that as near dry as you 

 can get your stems before packing brings 

 the stock through the best. We have 

 also found that where one can get boxes 

 long enough, packing the head of the 

 flowers all one way with a light cleat 

 about the center of the box, is an im- 

 provement. This we do not follow our- 

 selves, as we have not the space to carry 

 these large boxes and also in many cases 

 the small buyer complains of the use 

 of a large box, as he says express eats 

 him up. 



I would say that it is not so much the 

 packing of flowers that the trade has to 

 complain of, but it is more often the 

 fault of the flowers. In chrysanthemums 

 especially this is noticed, as the grower 

 does not leave them on the plant long 

 enough to have them well done, or 

 "finished,'' as the term is often used, 

 and flowers of this stage, no matter how 

 carefully packed, would not carry ten 

 miles. The same fault again applies 

 when the grower goes the other way and 

 lets them get over-ripe ; the softness 

 that shows in a chrysanthemum not yet 

 done will spot and looks like an over- 

 ripe apple packed in the middle of a 

 barrel, when over-done, or left on the 

 plant too long. 



As near as I can learn from what I 

 see in our place, as well as in others, 

 just as soon as a grower hears that a 

 certain thing is a bit scarce he goes 

 home and at once starts to count how 

 many pennies or dollars there are in 

 sight, and goes at the cutting regardless 

 of their completeness. This is a great 

 mistake, for a dozen first-class chrysan- 

 themums will bring more than ten dozen 

 poor ones. Another thing comes before 

 we get to the packing. Eleven No. 1 

 chrysanthemums and one "ringer" does 

 not make a dozen first quality flowers. 

 The same applies to all flowers, roses, 

 carnations. Beauties, valley, violets, etc. 



If I raised flowers to be sold on a 

 wholesale market, or if I were a buyer 

 on a large scale, I would furnish my 

 own boxes and never have a box over 

 six to seven inches deep for roses, carna- 

 tions and that class of flowers. For 

 chrysanthemums 1 would advise a flat 

 box, wide enough for four to six and 

 long enough so that they could be packed 

 flat, with an extra light white wax tissue 

 between each row of blooms. Never pack 

 chrysanthemums one on top of another. 



I have mentioned above that I believe 

 all flowers should be as near dry as pos- 

 sible before packing; this I am sure ap- 

 plies to every flower except the violet, 

 and, while it is never followed, I believe 

 that a damp tissue on the stems and 

 each bunch with white wax would im- 

 prove them on their journey. Above all 

 things, don't try and put all the violets 

 you can possibly gather into one box, 

 but stand them up and make rolls of 

 nice clean paper between each row. A 

 violet takes the odor of printers' ink, 

 so I say "pass up" old newspapers for 

 this one flower and give them enough 

 space so as not to crush the end row 

 either forward or back. In cold weather 

 put heavy paper and plenty of old news- 

 papers outside of the box to keep out 

 frost. 



Experience is the best teacher and a 

 grower often wonders why his neighbor 

 gets more for his flowers than he him- 

 self gets, even though they both sell 



