Jaxuaky lo, l'J03. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



289 



House of American Beauties at Geo. Reinberg's, Chicago. Photographed Oct. 15. 



the fact that the soil was too poor to 

 carry them through tlie holidays. 



Tlie main lot should have done well, at 

 least with a sliglit tup dressing, the fer- 

 tilizing qualities of which have been car- 

 ried into the soil by watering. It will 

 be found on examination that tlie soil 

 is well tilled with a network of roots. 

 In view of this there is good reason to 

 believe your stock is in a condition to 

 relish and digest well prepared carnation 

 food in a liquid form -and will give good 

 returns for an outlay of material and 

 work bestowed. 



We u.se barrels in tlie boiler room, 

 which arc filled with water into which 

 bags of sheep or cow manure are put : 

 the very warm temperature there soon 

 causes the bags to float; after floating 

 24 hours these "dead dogs." as the boys 

 call tliem, are taken out and allowed to 

 drain over night. This gives a clear 

 solution wliich is pumped and forced, by 

 n special pump, through hose to any part 

 desired. One nuin at pump, another in 

 the lioTise will distribute a large amount 

 in half an hour. 



For a change of diet we adil at in- 

 tervals to the manure a small quantity 

 of hen manure or fine ground bone but 

 never chemical manures, using this on a 

 few designed for experimental purposes. 

 We allow one half bushel manure to .50 

 gallons water and soak each bag twice, 

 allowing more time for the second soak- 

 ing. A great deal depends upon the 

 quality of manure as to what strength 

 of solution you will obtain, but see to it 

 that it is not too strong; the color of 

 medium strength cotl'ee is about right. 



As to time and condition of soil when 

 applying, my opinion is that early in 

 the morning of a bright day and when 

 the plants are not suffering for water. 

 If any dry spots exist in the bench, water 

 first, endeavoring to have the soil even- 

 ly moist, not soaking wet nor by any 

 means dry. The operation of feeding 

 can hardly be taught, especially when one 

 is not on the ground to investigate. It 

 will do no good to feed a batch of sick 

 plants. 



The condition of soil when plants were 

 benched mvist te considered, also the 

 amount of bloom that has been cut from 

 a certain variety, thereby impoverishing 

 the soil ]u'oportionately. Certain varie- 

 ties, notably liradt and most reds, have 

 strong appetites, while Eldorado does 

 best on rather poor soil, with possibly a 

 week decoction just before Memorial Day. 

 A perfectly safe rule to follow is not to 

 feed stnmgly at long intervals, but often- 

 er, employing a solution of medium 

 strength. 



I'^rom reports I learn the disciples of 

 sterilized soil are compelled to feed quite 

 early in the season. However, this may 

 be one of the features of the method. 

 Geo. S. Osbor.v. 



RHUBARB-LETT U CE-HEN 

 MANURE. 



Last season my rhubarb was a com- 

 |dete failure. I let it freeze thor- 

 ouglily before putting in house, and 

 ]ilanted under center bed of vegetable 

 liduse. Please advise me how to grow 

 it and about what time to bring it in 

 so as lo liave it ready by March 1. 



My lettuce is running up and not 

 heading as in previous seasons. Is it 

 the fault of bad seed or of the hot 

 f;ill? 



Would a compost of ashes and hen 

 manure at the rate of two bushels of 

 ashes to one of hen manure make good, 

 strong fertilizer? How would it com- 

 pare with bone flour for strength? 



L. H. W. 



It is possible that the rhubarb roots 

 were placed too close to the heating 

 pipes and were consequently too warm 

 and dry. If this was not the case they 

 nuist have been old worn out plants 

 or h. H. W. would have got something 

 out of them. 



Rhubarb sliould be forced gently, a 

 temperature of 55 to 00 degrees being 

 quite high enough. The freezing of 

 the roots before getting them inside 

 was all right, providing they were 

 thawed out very gradually. It is a 



wrong policy to move rhubarb or any 

 other roots that are to be forced into 

 a warm house while they are in a 

 frozen condition. Leave them stay out 

 in a cool shed for a day or two, then 

 set your plants closely together in the 

 place where they are to be forced, fill- 

 ing in the intervening spaces with soil 

 and covering the crowns to the depth ' 

 of seveial inches. Water as often as 

 the ecjndition of the soil demands, and 

 it should not be over six weeks before 

 the rhubarb will begin to give some 

 return. 



The first stalks should be pulled 

 very carefully so that the coming crop 

 will not \>e iniured, and then the same 

 plants will give a reasonable succes- 

 sion of stalks. The cooler the atmos- 

 jdicre the larger and heavier will be 

 (he crop, though it will take a corre- 

 sponding length of time to come to 

 maturity. L. IL W. should get in his 

 roots at once to have a crop ready 

 by March 1. If rhubarb is grown in 

 the dark it is much better, contains less 

 acid, and therefore is much sweeter than 

 stalks developed in daylight, and the 

 leaves being of a beautiful reddish color 

 give it a much more attractive appear- 

 ance. 



To get the best results in forcing 

 rhubarb the plants should be specially 

 grown for two or three years in very 

 rich soil, the richer the better, thus 

 insuring vigorous, healthy crowns. 

 Old worn out roots cannot be expected 

 to force with any degree of success. 



Kxti-eme dryness at the roots will 

 cause lettuce to "bolt," as it is termed, 

 as will also too high a night tempera- 

 ture. L. H. W., if he has successfully 

 grown lettuce previously, should be in 

 a jiosition to know if he has observed 

 the same cultural details as before. I 

 thiid'C tlie trouble must be in the grow- 

 ing. A temperature of 40 to 45 is 

 ample for nights. A warm fall seems 

 to me a pretty remote cause for plants 

 failing to head up in .January. The 

 trouble should not be from the seed 

 unless your correspondent has got hold 

 of Grand Rapids or some other variety 

 that docs not make a solid head. 



Hen manure certainly makes a strong 

 fertilizer — too strong, in fact, unless 

 used carefully. So far as the actual 

 analysis goes I know nothing of the 

 relative "strength" of the two manures, 

 but I would personally have no use for 

 chicken manure if I had to choose be- 

 tween that and bone flour. Bone flour 

 is safer, cleaner and better in every 

 way for greenhou.se culture. Hen ma- 

 nure is very caustic and probably the 

 safest way to use it is in liquid form, 

 putting 5 or 6 pounds into a 50-gallon 

 barrel of water. I have used it in a dry 

 state wlhen old. to mix with soil in 

 the proportion of a 4-inch pot to a 

 wheelbarrow of soil, with apparently 

 good results, but I cannot say that I 

 have much use for it as a fertilizer. 

 Chas. H. Totty. 



CALLAS, 



In last week's issue Bro. Scott, in 

 replying to a question, seems to he un- 

 aware of the fact that in recent years 

 a disease among callas has developed, 

 particularly among those farmed on the 

 Pacific coast, which has proved very 

 destructive imder indoor culture. To 

 convince him that the trouble does not 

 always arise either from ignorance or 

 carelessness in the method of culture, I 



