Fehik AKV If). lOOy. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



483 



ST. PAUL. 



Hobii & Olsen's new plant houses are 

 in very line condition at present and 

 promise niueli for the fvituro, being well 

 slocked witli Easier jilants. palms, ferns 

 and bulbs. Mr. Lu(lwig Anderson, one 

 of the best plantsmen in the northwest, 

 is in chaige. A nice bati-h of young 

 seedling ferns lias just been polled and 

 more are in the pans for future use. 



For Christmas trade he luul a fine lot 

 of azaleas, cinerarias and poinsettias. 

 A small stock of Dracaena Sanderiaiia 

 shows to good advantage, while the Bos- 

 ton ferns are icry fine. A large stock 

 of lilie.s, .hyacinths, narcissus, tulips, 

 etc., is potted up for Easter trade. The 

 houses are 20 feet wide by 100 in length, 

 a steel truss forming the roof support. 

 The foundation is on solid rock, the 

 boiler room being sunk below the sur- 

 face. The water from the nearby hills 

 is causing an endless amount of trou- 

 ble, as it settles in the boiler pit and 

 lias to be pumped out fre<jucntly. 



W. J. Lcmpke purchased tlie business 

 formerly comhu-ted by E. B/-hrens on 

 Kent street. Thei houses are poorly 

 constructed and in rather poor condi- 

 tion, but he is making improvements 

 as rapidly as possible, will build more 

 ill the spring and will undoubtedly build 

 up a nice business, as the location is 

 in the best residence section. E. Beh- 

 reiis is now working for E. F. Lemke. 



Christ Bussjaeger, who lost several 

 valuable palms by freezing in a churcli 

 at Christmas, has been paid the full 

 value of same after placing the matter 

 in an attorney's hands. 



Charles F. Vogt is on the sick list, 

 though able to be about the store. He 

 has been ailing for some months. 



Fred Schaffer has returned from !Mon- 

 tana, where he spent the summer at a 

 private place. 



Ti-ade has improved somewhat and is 

 nearly up to the average of former years. 

 Stock has increased some in quantity 

 and improved in quality, but there is 

 .stiM room for improvement. Tlie sun. 

 which has been in hiding for many 

 weeks, has again shone forth, bringing 

 joy to the florists' hearts. 



The report of the weather bureau 

 shows November to have Ijeen the dark- 

 est one ever known since the bureau was 

 established here, and the December dark- 

 ness only equaled once in nearly forty 

 years. January records will, we think. 

 show equally adverse conditions. Under 

 such discouraging weather conditions it 

 is no wonder that the cut of choice 

 blooms is light. Another discouraging 

 condition of the present season is the se- 

 vere weather and the high price of fuel 

 Vihich has prevented many of the smaller 

 glowers from growing anything for the 

 maiKet. 



Pteceptiona, Ijalls and other society 

 events are now creating a deiiuind for 

 flf)wers, while country trade and funeral 

 work have shown a decided increase the 

 past week. 



Owing to the scarcity of roses and 

 carnations, bulbous stock has been in 

 good demand. Tulips are now in and 

 meet with ready sales. Lilies are also 

 coming in and are in good demand for 

 funeral work. Carnations are fairly 

 ]dentiful, while roses and violets are 

 scaree. Good Beauties are in fair de- 

 mand but almost impossible to obtain. 



X. Y. Z. 



Bbockvillb. Oxt.— The A. L. Fisher 

 Seed Co. has made an assignment. 



CEMENT CONSTRUCTION FOR 

 GREENHOUSE WORK. 



The growing scarcity of lumber suit 

 able for the construction of the walls 

 and outside work of greenhouses has be- 

 come now a serious subject for the flor- 

 ist in his building. As we all know, the 

 life of the best wooden construction for 

 siding, and in fact, any part of a green- 

 house, is very short-lived, and no matter 

 how good tlie material, in a short time it 

 is the harboring and nesting place for 

 all of the insect evils with which the 

 Lord has seemed to bless the florists. 



A new and permanent plan is now de- 

 veloping and will in a short time take 

 the place of lumber almost entirely 

 where the material can be procured for 

 the construction of the walls and out- 

 side of the greenhouses. The adapta- 

 bility of cement is so general and the 

 plan of construction so easily and quick- 

 ly learned by any one who chooses to 

 make it a study, that the ordinary florist 

 will Ije able with very little practice to 

 construct the cement walls for his own 

 greenhouse at an expense very little more 

 than for a good wooden construction. 

 The durability of cement is unquestioned. 

 Cement walls are not only insect proof, 

 but are almost entirely water and frost 

 proof. A cement wall eight inches thick 

 will keep out a zero frost, even if there 

 is no heating behind it. 



The mode of constructing greenhouse 

 walls is very simple, and 1 will try, in 

 as brief space as possible, to give our 

 florist friends the best ideas for the 

 building of same. First, the sub-foun- 

 dation or underground walls must be of 

 siillicient depth to go below the frost line 

 unless tliey are protected on tlie outside 

 with manure, which is not a good |)lan. 

 but the frost line varies so much in 

 diirerent localities that no positive dcplli 

 can he given for the sub foundation. Af- 

 ter the sub-foundation has been made, 

 for which Amerii'an or imported I'orl 

 land cement, for durability, in the same 

 ]iroportions as in use for ordinary >idc 

 walk and cement work. sliouKI be used, 

 the house, or side, construction can 1' 

 be commenced. The whole of this work 

 is done by setting up a mold of plank, 

 the cemont for the sub-foundation beiii" 

 mixed according to any cement formula 

 used for ordinary sidewalk or cement 

 work, as before stated, which formulas 

 differ according to quality of cement and 

 localities, and tlie material then thrown 

 into the mold and tliorouahlv rammed 

 down until it is brought to the surface 

 of (lie ground. 



For durability and strength, barbed 

 wire, cut in pieces long enough to reach 

 from the sub-foundation to the top of 

 the height of the wall when finished, 

 should be used. Tliis barbed wire can be 

 bent so as to take anchor firmly in the 

 suli-foundation at spaces of about four 

 or five feet, and cut long enough, as be- 

 fore stated, to reach the top of the ^o- 

 ishcd wall. After the sub-foundation 

 has Ix-en completed, which need not be 

 more than twelve or fifteen inches in 

 thickness, ifmay then Ije left to set an-l 

 become nearly dry. when the mold-boards 

 of the lower foundation could lie y- 

 nioved and a fill made on both sides and 

 thoroughly tamped in against the sub- 

 foundation. 



Tlie mold can be set up again at n 

 thickness of eight inches on the top r"' 

 the sub-foundation, and the lengths of 

 barbed wire, which will have been pre- 

 viously embedded in the sub-foundation, 

 drawn up through the center of the mold 



and fastened to cross bars, which will 

 hold them up while your wall is being 

 built. When near the top of the wall, 

 bend the ends of the barbed wires down 

 and cover them A\ith the finish cements 

 The mold for the wall or sides of the- 

 greenhouse should be of smooth plank 

 and braced thoroughly on each side, ■ 

 as not to spread while the cement i* 

 being tamped in from the upper portion. 

 The barbed wire, after liaving been drawn 

 up through the center of the mold, should 

 have the cement thoroughly tamped in 

 around it when the mold is l>eing tilled. 

 The center should be filled in with a 

 one to four mixture, tamping sann' thor- 

 oughly with an iron-headed tool while- 

 the mold is being filled up. 



The finish cement, which should be :« 

 mixture of two to one of Portland anii 

 good, sharp sa;id. or very fine gi'avel, 

 should be plastered with a trowel firmly 

 against both sides of the mold. The 

 mold should be filled to within ten or 

 twelve inches of the top, and anchor 

 bolts for holding the plate to the top 

 of the wall should then be located iiv 

 the mold and the cement worked around 

 them tlioroughly. to secure them, so that 

 they may be jjerfectly safe for holding 

 the wooden plate. These anchor bolts- 

 are wliat tlic blacksmiths call "toe- 

 Ixilts;" that is. a bolt with a tee on one 

 end and a thread with a nut on the 

 other. Pieces the thickness of the plate 

 which is coming on the wall to carry 

 the sash bars should then be laid care- 

 fully on top of the mold and an augnr 

 hole bored through them, the point of 

 the bolt put through this auger hole and 

 the nut screwed on in the same manner 

 as the plate when screwed down. The 

 cement should be ]iacked in thoroughly 

 around these anchor bolts and the last 

 two inches in the top finished in with 

 the same mixture as has been used for 

 the sides, namely, two to one. This 

 sliould lie struck and finished off with 

 a level board and made as perfectly 

 smooth as can Ijc. so that there may be 

 no air spaces between the plate and the 

 top of the wall wheii it is completed. 



.After the cement has hardened, say in 

 fair weather without rain, in about tliree 

 days, the mold f(u- the sides can be taken 

 off and used for other work continu- 

 ously, so that it will not be necessary to 

 build a mold for the entire house at 

 once, as two or three lengths of molds 

 will be as much as ordinary workmen 

 can finish in a day. If lumber is plenty 

 and cheap, it is not a bad ide.a to set 

 up a mold of an entire side at one timey 

 as the more of the work that can be 

 finished at once, the better the job is in 

 the end. and there are no cracks or 

 breaks, though these can be avoided if, 

 before oomnipncing on the piece of old 

 work, it is given a thorough wetting, so 

 that the new work may make a thorough 

 bond, and where work should be stopped 

 ofT for any cause, it is well to have the 

 barbed wire lie fore spoken of brought 

 well through, so that the new ami old 

 cement \\ill be thoroughly bound tcf- 

 gether. 



After your molds have bt^en taken 

 down any little holes or cracks or ir- 

 regularities in the surface can be touched 

 up with an ordinary |)lasterins trowet 

 and a whitewasli brush and a little ce- 

 ment, so that your wall may be perfect!;? 

 smooth, and it will have the appearance 

 of a fine, dressed stone wall. If any 

 fancy work is needed in the wall, such 

 as to have it give the appfaranee of 

 stone, little strips of beading nailed oa 



