832 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



t.r.- ■..! haski t ■•! the world, as it 



. ii., i, w |.- : ,si iliis was tbe writ 

 p.ricii.f al'trr a v.-r> i-n.i<<yaliIo visit. 



THE POT WASHER. 



One man to whom the grower, or at 

 least the grower's helper, should be 

 grateful is our old-time friend, (.'. E. 

 Finley, of Joliet, the lawn rake in- 

 ventor, who lias recently eome forward 

 with a pot-washing machine which has 

 proven a great labor-saver in practical 

 a. The machine was shown at 

 the S. A. V. convention at Milwaukee 

 and probably attracted more attention 

 from the growers than any other one ex- 

 hibit in the hall. The machine is simple 

 m its construction and is built to run 

 either with foot power or a small, inex- 

 lec! ric motor. 



The pot washer has a hollow brush, 

 carried on a hollow shaft, and is made to 

 revolve rapidly; is provided with a hose 

 connection, the water allowed to pass 

 down through the hollow shaft and mil 

 at the end of the brush, while the brush 

 is in motion. The brush and shaft being 

 on an incline, the water flows down to 

 the bottom of the pot, where the brush 

 can pick ii up to scrub the inside and 

 butt. mi of the pot while it is held on the 

 brush by the operator. The outside of 

 the pot is washed by reversing it. The 

 pots having been soaked, a small amount 

 of water is required and there is but 

 little slop. The brush is made of fiber, 

 and is cylindrical in shape to fit the pot. 

 The inventor says in his literature that 

 with the machine one can easily wash 



-'. pots a day; growers who have 



have been able to wash 10,000 a 

 day with a man at the machine and two 

 boys to bring and carry away the pots. 



Another of Mr. l-'inley's devices is a 

 mulch truck, a three-wheeled deep box 

 built for use in the narrow walks of a 

 greenhouse. 



PITTSBURG CLUB EXHIBITION. 



At the regular monthly meetii: 

 Pittsburg and Allegheny Gardeners' and 

 Florists'" Cluft Tuesday' evening, October 

 ii, we had a big attendance of members 



■ | nt display of nil 

 Four new names were proposed for mem- 

 bership. Among our visitors were Prof. 



u. 



dis- 



plaj s of i-ui flowei - of lati -blooming, 

 hardy perennials from Henry A. Dreer, 

 Philadelphia, of now .annas from Conard 

 ,\ Jones, W'osi Grove, Pa., and of dahlias 

 from P. R. Pierson Co., Tarrytown, N. 

 ST.; I.\ Vincent, Jr., & Son. White Marsh, 



Md.. and from W. P. Pel k. Atco, X. 



J. A ig h.. in.- .i (Jus and Julius 



l.u.lwig showed .in ias, John Bader lily 

 of the valley, and Schenlej park a mis- 

 cellaneous assoi i mi al of flowei s. I n 

 fact, so vasl was the aggregation of beau- 

 tiful blossoms that the club dot. irmined 

 the proper thing to do on such an ocea- 

 snui would be to o.i a hall and make a 

 public exhibition, free to everybody, and 



tins is probably what will be done next 

 year. 



In the afternoon the flowers had been 

 :i 1 1 a nged on long tables around the hall 

 and each exhibit kept by itself. In the 

 evening a long table was set in the cen- 

 ter of the room and on it wore placed all 



of the flowers i u exhibitor. Then 



the flowers wen- separately examined and 

 thoroughly ilis.-ussoil. \\ lion finished, this 

 exhibit was cleared away to one of the 

 side tables and the next exhibitor's flow- 

 on the center table, and so on un- 

 til all were seen and considered. Then, 

 after the meeting, each newspaper re- 

 porter got a big bunch of fine flowers to 

 carry home to his family; so did each 

 of our visitors, and the remainder were 

 apportioned among the members. And 

 going home along the street and in the 

 cars didn't we make a sensation with our 

 arms full of dahlias and cannas! On the 

 ear I had to open my bunch and give a 

 bloom to every man and woman in the 

 ear and to the conductor too, and before 

 long we were all acquainted and all talk- 

 ing flowers. 



Henry A. Dreer 's exhibit came first 

 upon the table and it was an eye-opener 

 to mosi of us. It contained sueh subjects 

 as bloom naturally in the late summer 

 and fall months and comprised three 

 colors of Japan anemones, the red, the 



m i lharlotte and the white 



Whirlwind, also rosy purple long wands 



of the blazing star (Liatris pycnostach- 

 ya i, I.-. the way, some of our florists, at 

 the time of the Milwaukee convention, 

 saw a florist's window in Chicago with 

 a full decoration of one of the liatrises 

 and described it at our September meet- 

 ing as being one of the most striking 

 things in the flower line they had seen 

 on the trip. The ageratum-like Cono- 

 i liniuin ci'lcstinum, one of the tall, blue- 

 flowered veronicas, V. maritima; the 

 narrow-leaved Texas ironweed (Vernonia 

 Lindheimeri), several kinds of rudbeekia, 

 and a fine form of the elegant little cone- 

 flower, Lepachys eolumnaris, were also 

 shown. 



Tins year Mica's ] pie made a spe- 

 cial seed novelty of Stokesia cyanea, a 

 beautiful thistle-like composite with very 

 large, bluish-purple flowers. Although 



i. i\ i grown this plant for thirty years, 

 1 never before saw it in such fine form 

 as it was shown at our meeting. Every- 

 liu.lv was in love with the long, branch- 

 ing, wand-like, snow white spikes of 

 A.u:i Japonica. Even Mr. Randolph 

 whetted his lips when he thought of the 



off 



And thei 



nese-blue 



a bunch 



pelianum 



Tartaric! 



t tl 



nations. 

 Ilv, Chi- 

 l'obelia, 

 n. Kup- 



of 



ired flowers, was extra fine; it is one 

 our latest blooming plants. And 



there was a profusion of bin 

 Caryopteris Mast acanthus, 

 useful is this plant for S 

 October work. Although no 

 under a lioa\ y mulching it s 



brought int 



spinca, 



ng how 



for September and 



igh not quite hardy, 

 ig it survives fairly 

 ants are lifted and 

 fame now and kept 

 over winter, they may be brought into 

 heat a little later, when they will start 

 into free growth and then they may be 

 propagated from cuttings almost as read- 

 ily as eoleus. They bloom the first year 

 from seed. 



Another of Dreer 's flowers was the 

 showy, rose-purple Echinacea purpurea. 

 Henry H. Negley told us that he chewed 

 some ripe seed of this plant once and his 

 tongue became partially paralyzed. He 

 then called the attention of his neighbor, 

 Dr. Shafer, to the fact and the doctor 

 tried it, with the same result. A big 

 bunch of fiery pokers or torch lilies, 

 interna, or kniphofia, as they are now 

 called, set the boys agog. They were 

 mostly Pfitzeri and corollina. Some 

 urged that they would be of no use in 

 smoky Pittsburg; the soot in the atmos- 

 phere would blacken them to unsightli- 

 ness; whereupon the president took an- 

 other bunch that had come from Schen- 

 ley park, which is in one of the sootiest 

 parts of the city, and at a little distance 

 the members couldn't tell the difference 

 in brightness between the torch lilies of 

 Pittsburg and those of Philadelphia. One 

 of the prettiest Schenley flowers was the 

 perennial scabios, Scabiosa eaucasica. It 

 is nasi I v raised from seed and keeps in 

 bloom until hard frost stops it. 



On account of wet and stormy weather 

 and the lateness of the season the cannas 

 throughout the country were in poor con- 

 dition. We didn't expect to have any, 

 but we were most agreeably surprised. 

 Antoino Wintzer, of Conard & Jones, 

 West Grove, Pa., stopped over here on 

 his way to the S. A. F. convention and 

 told us of his success in breeding these 

 indispensable flowers and promised to 

 show them to us at our October incline. 

 and he did so magnificently — a great 



