443 



H ORT1 CU LTU R £ 



October 3, 1908 



THE WHILLDIN POTTERY COMPANY 



THE LARGEST MANUFACTURERS OF 



STANDARD FLOWER POTS 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. LONG ISLAND CITY, N. Y. JERSEY CITY, N. J. 



STANDARD POTS IN RELATION 

 TO CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS. 



The late editorial in HORTICUL- 

 TURE entitled "Standard" (lower pots 

 touched our chemical nervous system 

 and we are obliged to respond to the 

 stimulus. While it may seem a far 

 cry from flower pot to chemical fer- 

 tilizers (and other things) this is more 

 apparent than real, and the farness is 

 close to being nearness. 



We presume the great intrinsic value 

 of "Standard" whether applied to iron 

 piping, diameter and threading of 

 same, to threads on bolts, or what not, 

 Is generally admitted without cavil — 

 it is a self-evident proposition. Are 

 there or are there not as many ad- 

 vantages and of a similar nature, in 

 the case of flower pots? If so there 

 remains but the stumbling block of 

 what or whose standard, to our minds 

 an inferior desideratum in compari- 

 son with the advantages to be de- 

 rived from any fairly universal stand- 

 ard. As far as that goes if one had 

 even two we would be better off than 

 with no one knowing just what his 

 flower pot did represent. 



The great advantage of a standard 

 is in knowing what to expect, whether 

 this be a question of size, capacity of 

 pipe with the attendant known areas 

 and delivery, whether price, or ability 

 to replace similar parts at once from 

 convenient commercial stocks ready to 

 ship. All this is common information: 

 nothing new or startling and doubtless 

 realized by the trade. 



There can be nothing new in the use 

 of flower pots as standards of dry (or 

 wet) measure and therefore to this 

 extent standards of weights. Often we 

 note a direction of some kind given 

 in terms of a "two inch pot," "level 

 full" and so on. As the relation be- 

 tween dry measure and weight is easily 

 found out and fairly constant we have 

 here a substitute for weighing by 

 scale. Although the time is at hand 

 when every greenhouse establishment 

 must have one of these useful machines 

 at hand to use for a variety of pur- 

 poses they are not carried about very 

 easily and often pot measure is just 

 the thing. 



We plead ignorance of what may 

 have been done in the past to choose 

 standard sizes, and it may be that at- 

 tempts have been made to have pots 

 hold so much water which is a univer- 

 sal standard for weight and this pro- 

 cedure would appeal at once to the 

 person who might have to figure this 

 thing out, as that would save time. 

 But this is trivial in comparison to 

 the saving if we could have some 

 standard, however arbitrarily chosen. 



If we try to avail ourselves of flower 

 pots as a measure for fertilizers it is 

 most pertinent to inquire the accuracy 

 of such a method. 



A\ ith any material, using any kind 

 of measure, and flower pots are no ex- 



ception, we must take cognizance of 

 these factors: 



(1) Purity of material; (2) Mechan- 

 ical fineness; and (3) Amount of 

 packing (tapping or shaking the pot) 

 compression. 



We will not talk about purity of 

 substances, but will mention fineness 

 of grain and packing. There is not 

 so much difference as might be 

 imagiu ci between the weights of a fine 

 ground and coarse ground (or un- 

 ground) common salt except that the 

 levelling can not be very good when 

 large coarse particles are on top. 



We found it possible to make a con- 

 siderable difference in the content of 

 the pot by continual shaking or tap- 

 ping with successive partial fillings 

 but we believe that with one filling, 

 then a tap or two, then leveling off 

 with no pressing of the straight edge 

 that rapid and satisfactory measuring 

 may be done in this way and no doubt 

 is being done every day. Such work 

 should come well inside the limit of 

 error of 10 per cent which with our 

 present knowledge is sufficiently ac- 

 curate for many operations. With a 

 few trials we believe that it would be 

 possible to halve this error. 



The idea was to see if ordinary help 

 could do this sort of weighing out with 

 any degree of hopefulness and if it 

 would be possible to construct a table 

 showing all such weights of various- 

 sized pots. To start at the beginning 

 of the pot we made bold to ask manu- 

 facturers i£ they cared to give any 

 information about sizes of pots when 

 made and so on, and to our surprise 

 « hile several answered us courteously, 

 giving us some information about the 

 "Standard" pot they had nothing to 

 say about standards in general nor 

 much about the figures concerned in 

 their own pots. 



We should like to ask them if there 

 is not some value in pots as a measure 

 and could not the hole be omitted 

 without much expense and a few 

 be stamped with the average weight of 

 the pot and its cubic contents to save 

 calculation? 



DUDLEY M. PRAY. 



TELEKIA CORDIFOLIA. 



This perennial grows to a height of 

 four to six feet, and flowers from June 

 until October. The branches are stout, 

 the leaves heart-shaped and double 

 serrate, and the flowers are about 

 three inches in diameter, of a reddish 

 yellow and purple color, and quite nu- 

 merous. Either as specimen plants, or 

 in front of tree plantations, Telekia 

 cordifolia makes a good effect. 



A plant closely related to this is the 

 variety speciosa, which is an Alpine 

 plant. — From Holler's I), at. Ztg. 



"WIRELESS" FROM WESTERLY, 

 R. I. 



S. .1. Renter & Son have demolished 

 seventeen houses in their big range at 

 Westerly, R. I., this season and built 

 in their place three modern iron- 

 frame and concrete-foundation houses 

 each 35xlS5. During the coming sea- 

 son ten moie of the old range are to 

 come down, to he replaced by two of 

 the new t; in. This is only a part of 

 the improvements contemplated in the 

 near tilt in e. 



In the carnation houses the variety 

 Splendor holds a position of high es- 

 teem with Mr. Renter. It seems to be 

 a particularly good variety for early 

 blooming, the color similar to that of 

 Afterglow. As an early and all around 

 useful white, White Perfection has no 

 rival here. It leads them all. 



Chrysanthemums look very promis- 

 ing except only the variety Golden 

 Glow, which for some reason came 

 with the foliage badly yellowed, and 

 Mr. Renter is interested to learn 

 whether any other growers have had 

 a similar experience with this variety. 

 In the rose houses Rhea Reid is hav- 

 ing a trial along with most of the 

 other recently introduced candidates 

 for popular favor. Its status has not 

 vet been decided. One thing Mr. Reu- 

 ter is willing to say about it is, "that 

 it requires oceans of water." 



H-HEWSSCj 



F. Y\ . Fletcher & Co. have leased for 

 five years the Seaverns Lane Green- 

 houses at Weston, .Mass.. and will de- 

 vote them exclusively to Marguerite i 

 growing. There are four houses in ' 

 the range. I 



^ i — Bail 



10. 





cV- Cl T 



pREf 



STANDARD FLOWER POTS 



Packed Id small crates, easy to handle. 



Price per crate 

 .500 2 in. pots in crate $4.88 



IJCO.H 

 ijooiH 

 10003 



800 37, 



5004 



3303 



1446 



5-»5 

 6.00 

 5-00 

 3.80 

 4-50 

 «-5i 

 3.16 



Pnce per crate 

 120 7 in. pots incrate$4.ao 

 60 8 *' " 3.00 



HAND MADE 

 48 9 In. pots In crate $3.60 

 4* io " " 4.8* 



34 11 " " 3.60 



24 ra " " 4.80 



13 14 " '* 4.80 



6 16 4.30 



Seed pans, umc price as pot«. ' Send lor price list ol 

 Cylinders lor Cut flowers, Hanging Baskets, Lawn 

 Vases, etc. Ten percent. oBforcash with order. Address 



ailflnper Bros.,Pottery,Fort Edward.N.Y. 



luguit flolker * Son., Agt»., 81 Barclty St., N. 1. City. 



Standard 

 Flower . . 



POTS 



If your greenhouses are within 500 miles of 

 the Capitol, write us, we can save you money 



W. H. ERNEST 



28th and M Stmt WASHINGTON B. C 



