Februaky 18, 1904 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



597 



treme warm ends, where the main steam 

 pipe is. These are syringed every day 

 and the walks dampened down. I gen- 

 erally syringe about twice a week in 

 other parts of the houses. As the sea- 

 son advances daily syringing is grad- 

 ually given on all bright days, and twice 

 a day in hot weather, with plenty of 

 water at the roots. I should have stated 

 before that the houses are left wide open 

 day and night except in stormy weather 

 until cold weather approaches, then a 

 pipe is turned on, with enough air to 

 maintain the right temperature. Thera 

 are very few days in the season but what 

 some ventilation is given, if only for a 

 couple of hours. 



The temperature for those varieties 

 that do best in a cool house is about 50 

 degrees. A variation of a degree or so 

 cither way is allowed. In the warmer 

 house about 54 degrees is kept, the varia- 

 tion the same. This, of course, is the 

 night temperature, the day being from 

 10 to 15 degrees higher, with abund- 

 ant ventilation. I ilever force carna- 

 tions for any occasion except to allow 

 the houses to run about 3 degrees higher 

 than the normal. Tliis is not forcing. It 

 stands to reason that it must weaken 

 the stock to a certain extent. 



As .soon as possible, even if the weath- 

 er is warm, I fumigate in the old fash- 

 ioned way, just closing the house for nn 

 hour or two and then opening up again 

 for the night. Fumigation is kept up 

 throughout the season, Ughtly, about 

 once a week, and I have never seen any 

 bad effects on blooms, though some ex- 

 perts differ on this, and as far as odor 

 jrom tobacco is concerned, T have never 

 noticed it on the blooms after being in 

 the cellar in water a couple of Lours. 



I have never shaded carnations after 

 being established, but have no doubt 

 where large quantities arc grown it is 

 beneficial to do so with scnio varieties 

 that are inclined to fade as the weather 

 f},vt'} warm in the spring. IXiving tiie 

 clirysanthenuim season I only hIIow 

 ;iboi:t a quarter of the plaMs to bloom.. 

 "When the buds get a fair size we cut 

 them back as you would a bloom. Dis- 

 budding is attended to throughout the 

 sr^Rson. Sometimes when very busy this 

 is ceglscted; if so I always look after 

 the colored ones first, as the white va- 

 rieties can be used in design work for 

 our retail trade. 



Blooms are picked early every morn- 

 ing. They are allowed to develop fairly 

 well, as I think when they are picketl 

 too closely it causes them, to go to slee 

 much quicker. At least this is our ex- 

 perience, as we never have complaints 

 from our customers. On the contrary, 

 we often have compliments as to the 

 keeping qualities. After being picked 

 they are placed at once in cool water and 

 set on a cemented cellar floor, never in 

 the ice box. "We always maintain a fair 

 price, no bargain days, but in periods of 

 glut give our customers the benefit by 

 giving them liberal count. This we have 

 found to be very satisfactory and it pays 

 much better than selling at cut rates. 



As to Varieties. 



Mrs. E. A. Nelson is the best with me 

 this season in quality and quantity of 

 good flowers. Flora Hill is next in pro- 

 ductiveness. It is about the same as 

 wh^n I first grew it, but the quality is 

 not so good; a granel summer bloomer, 

 however. For red we have Crane. 1 

 have Murphy's "\\niite and Lillian Pond 

 in small quantity and am inclined to 



Desifn for the Funeral of a Member of the Masonic Older. 



(B.v Will. H. McDouL'a 1. Chica^ij. i 



think they will take the place of old 

 Flora for winter bloomers. These va- 

 rieties are in the warmest house. 



In the cooler house we have olel Day- 

 break. This will be the last season we 

 shall grow it, as it has deteriorated too 

 much. The Marquis is a grand variety, 

 we think, for retailing, but it is always 

 late in coming into bloom and after the 

 heavy spring crop is of no further use, 

 therefore not being profitable for whole- 

 saling. Hoosier Maid is really a white 

 Daybreak, only a medium-sized bloom but 

 very productive; takes the place of Flora 

 Hill in midwinter; it blooms from early 

 to late. Mrs. Higinbotham and Gaiety 

 are failures with me. 



Enchantress is a very fine variety but 

 I have lost about one-half of the hun- 

 dred which I had, with stem-rot. When 

 I planteel them in they were the finest 

 plants that I ever had, about twelve 

 inches in diameter. I only gave them 

 about eleven inches of room each way 

 and I think probably that was the main 

 cause of losing them, by not having 

 sufficient soace to allow free circulation 

 of air. "We live and learn and if we 

 wish to improve we must try some new 

 varieties each year auel if we only find 

 one or two better than we had, it certain- 

 ly pays. I have not room enough to 



plant many new ones, as I only grow 

 about 3,000 plants. 



In closing, I hope I have not wearied 

 you with this long essay. All the points 

 covered are founded on practical experi- 

 ence, not theory, and I think we should 

 all strive to raise the best blooms that 

 are possible. By this way of doing them 

 there would be less danger of gluts and 

 certainly more credit and pleasure to the 

 grower. I know I am never satisfied, 

 but you all know my situation. If I 

 had the same advantages as some of my 

 friends here I think I might be able to 

 raise as good blooms as they do, which 

 I am not able to do in my present loca- 

 tion. 



A Reverie. 



Just at this time I fell into a reverie 

 and saw that gay though antiquated "Wil- 

 liam Scott with that aged but good old 

 spinster, lizzie McGowan. But being 

 full of Gaiety he became enamored with 

 Flora Hill and exclaimed, "You are my 

 Enchantress. ' ' About this time that 

 noble Marquis came on the scene with 

 the modest Hoosier Maid, not even notic- 

 ing the beautiful Lady Bountiful, who 

 very quickly made the acquaintance of 

 Apollo, though he was admiring the popu- 

 lar favorite, JNIrs. Lawson. About this 



