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14 



The Florists' Review 



JUNi 80, 1021 



G. S. Ramsburg. 



plant, and we have observed that, where 

 a grower was successful with snap- 

 dragon, he had other stock coming in 

 good shape. Daily watch over all plants 

 is none too close attention. Note the 

 slightest change and immediately apply 

 a remedy. If green fly is present, fumi- 

 gate at once. If yellow spots appear on 

 leaves, pick such leaves and destroy 

 them. Do not wait to see if it means 

 rust, which always shows first on the 

 top of a leaf. If rust should develop, 

 this watchful method will keep it in 

 check. Should rust be discovered in 

 small seedlings, destroy each ' affected 

 plant, together with all the plants 

 around it. A small fire is easily 

 quenched, and the loss of a crop may be 

 averted by the sacrifice of a few plants. 

 Be watchful and act quickly.. 



As to the marketing of snapdragon 

 blooms, we have found no trouble in 

 getting customers. Shapdragons, when 

 well grown, are good keepers, ship well, 

 and satisfy all classes of trade. The 

 spikes should be cut when from four to 

 eight buds are open, especially in sum- 

 mer, when bees of various kinds are 

 operating. Flowers soon wilt and drop 

 off after a visit from any bee, while, 

 if bees are kept away or if it is a sea- 

 son when there are no bees, flowers will 

 remain good and hold on tor days and 

 even weeks. In sections where bees 

 are abundant it pays to screen the win- 

 dows, or screen the flowering beds to 

 protect the blooms. If it is desired to 

 protect only a small lot of blooms, it 

 would be cheaper to screen the plants. 

 If a house of plants is to be protected, 

 screens may be placed over the win- 

 dows, using ordinary cloth netting. By 

 the use of screens, a crop of blooms may 

 be held in perfect condition on the 

 plants for two or three weeks. 



Sowing Seeds. 



The best method for shipping blooms 

 is to tie them in bunches of twelve 



to twenty-five spikes, wrap them in 

 tissue and then in heavy paper, always 

 leaving the top open. This not only 

 makes a neat package, but makes one 

 that carries well and makes delivery 

 safe, which is important. 



If flowers are wanted in the fall or 

 early winter, seed should be sown in 

 June or July, according to the section 

 of country. For plants to follow chrys- 

 anthemums, allow seventy-five to ninety 

 days from the sowing of the seed until 

 planting out. Note again that the use 

 of small plants is advised, principally 

 to avoid any check in growth. 



As to culture, snapdragons grow well 

 in either light or heavy soil, prepared 

 with about one-fifth well-rotted dress- 

 ing. If plants are to remain over one 

 crop, light feeding may be done. At 

 this time it is not wise to cultivate 

 the soil, as the roots are too near the 

 surface. Apply dressing as a mulch or 

 in liquid form and see that the soil 

 is kept moist. Healthy plants will use 

 quantities of water, as their root sys- 

 tems are heavy. Plants suffer on bright 

 or windy days from wilting, if they are 

 not kept watered, but water may be 

 withheld in cloudy or rainy weather, 

 thus avoiding excessive moisture in the 

 houses. 



The outlook for snapdragon is bright. 

 Growers have overcome minor obstacles 

 and reports of great success come from 

 every section. We climb the hills to 

 view the valleys, and growers of snap- 

 dragon will conquer its enemies to gain 

 the reward, and have for their satisfac- 

 tion an abundance of blooms of this 

 grand flower in any desired color. 



quarantine measures against Canada qq 

 account of the discovery in Ontario of 

 the European corn borer. It was ti lid 

 that Canada had not made any partiu. 

 lar provision to combat this pest, ui. 

 though J. M. Swaine, acting Domin on 

 entomologist, in a telegram to the bo rd 

 stated, "Our quarantine extremly 

 thorough and would seem that if > ou 

 quarantine material from our infec ed 

 counties in Ontario you would av id 

 any danger." 



The board is taking the matter un^ or 

 advisement, but it is probable that a 

 blanket order embodying the terms of 

 Quarantine 37 against all plant pr d- 

 ucts will be adopted and that exc p- 

 tions will be made to take care of in- 

 infected sections of Canada. 



T. N. S. 



EOST DESCRIBES COAL SAVING. 



MAY QUARANTINE CANADA. 



W. E. Walton and L. H. Worthley, of 

 the Department of Agriculture, en- 

 gaged in corn borer work, appeared 

 June 28 before the Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board to urge the adoption of 



Forced Draft Aids Combustion. 



A grower since he started to work f-^r 

 Pitcher & Manda, at Short Hills, N. .1., 

 in 1890, S. A. Kost, whose soil pul- 

 verizer is helping solve a problem for 

 many florists, is always interested in 

 whatever concerns a greenhouseman '3 

 interests. Talking with a prominent en- 

 gineer on the combustion and ignition 

 of gases, on a Mississippi river steam- 

 boat a short time ago, Mr. Kost gained 

 an inkling of how to save as much as 

 twenty-five to fifty per cent of the coal 

 the average grower burns. 



"This heating engineer," says Mr. 

 Kost, ' ' has invented a machine to blow 

 finely pulverized coal dust into the 

 boilers. With a forced draft arrange- 

 ment, as high as sixty per cent of the 

 fuel is saved. We talked on combus- 

 tion and the proper mixture of the ele- 

 ment of oxygen with carbon gas. A 

 proper mixture is necessary for the 

 ignition of fuel gases. By obtaining 

 the most efScient mixture the waste 

 that goes up the chimneys of nearly 

 every boiler is saved. This engineer is 

 at the head of a large corporation and 

 is installing this system in many large 

 factories. ' ' 



An Inexpensive System. 



How the average grower can install 

 his own system for less than $100 is de- 

 scribed by Mr. Kost in this way: 



' ' Get an ordinary blower, driven with 

 a small electric motor. Install this 

 under your grates. With the increased 

 amount of oxygen blown under the 

 grates a proper mixture of gases for 

 ignition is made, thereby burning up 

 the most vital energy of heat units in 

 coal, which is carbon. You will have 

 little smoke and twenty-five to fifty 

 per cent more heat from the same 

 amount of coal. The reason the draft 

 of a chimney does not properly mix 

 the elements of carbon gas and oxygen 

 is that the lighter carbon gas is drawn 

 up the chimney first, and you thereby 

 lose vital fuel heat units. 



"Carbon gas will not ignite unless 

 a proper mixture with oxygen from the 

 air is made. Another point is that ex- 

 cessive heat drives out the oxygen, so 

 that a forced draft under the grates is 

 necessary. If you run an automobile 

 and overheat the engine, the reason it 

 loses its 'pep' is that the heat drives 

 out the oxygen and an improper mix- 

 ture is the result^ causing poor igni- 

 tion." 



