14 



The Florists' Review 



JULT 9, 1914. 



A NORTH CAROLINA RANGE. 



A little over two years ago S. A. 

 Starr, then one of the proprietors of the 

 Starr-Denmark Floral Co., at Goldsboro, 

 N. C, leased the range in the center of 

 the town from J. L. O'Quinn & Co., of 

 Kaleigh, N. C, and H. C. Smith, of 

 Goldsboro, and since that time has run 

 this establishment under the name of 

 the Goldsboro Floral Co. The two years 

 have been spent in building up a good 

 business locally, and the range in the 

 center of town, a bird's-eye view of 

 which is given herewith, now takes care 

 of the business of the 10,000 inhabitants 



of Goldsboro and ships stock to Raleigh. 

 The two interior views of the range, 

 one of the carnation house and the 

 other of the house of chrysanthemums 

 last fall, show what care is taken not 

 only with the stock but also to keep 

 the houses in the best possible condi- 

 tion. In this range is used the Skinner 

 irrigating system, and a Kroeschell hot- 

 water boiler heats the houses. Not only 

 cut flowers, but also pot plants and bed- 

 ding plants of the leading kinds are 

 grown. In the view of the chrysanthe- 

 mum house may be seen the proprietor, 

 S. A. Starr, and his wife. 



BENCHING THE PLANTS. 



Moderation in Shading. 



Having filled the beds with soil, you 

 are ready to get in the plants and set 

 them in their winter quarters, but 

 before you begin digging, it will be 

 well to see that everything is in readi- 

 ness to take the best of care of the 

 plants after they have been lifted. 



Years ago we sprayed a heavy mud 

 shade on the glass, to darken the house 

 and prevent wilting. This was never 

 entirely satisfactory, because, while it 

 prevented wilting, it also caused the 

 plants to become soft unless it was re- 

 moved carefully and gradually after 

 root action started. Now we put on 

 practically no extra shade, beyond what 

 was put on while the blooming stock 

 was in the benches. If that was taken 

 oflF by the rain, then we replace it 

 about as heavily as was considered 

 right for the blooming plants. In- 

 stead of using clay or lime for shading, 

 we now use whiting. Mix the whiting 

 with water, making it about like thick 



cream. Let it stand a day and dilute it 

 further with water, adding a 3-inch pot- 

 ful of linseed oil to each three gallons 

 of the finished liquid. We spray this 

 on with a hand syringe, producing on 

 the glass countless little spots of va- 

 rious sizes. A little practice will en- 

 able you to distribute it evenly over 

 the glass, and when the work is well 

 done we consider it a better job than 

 could possibly be done with a brush 

 and in one-tenth of the time. 



Moistening and Marking the SoiL 



If the soil has dried out somewhat 

 after the beds were filled, it should be 

 moistened to the proper state before 

 any plants are set. Have it in just 

 about the same state as you prefer it 

 for potting. Plants set in dry soil will 

 suffer a great deal more than when set 

 in soil that is moist enough to keep 

 the roots fresh. We do not mix in 

 any fertilizer before planting. Years 

 ago, we invariably raked into the soil 

 a good dressing of ground bone, but 

 experiments have proved that this is 

 not beneficial and so we discontinued it 

 entirely for carnations. Now we sup- 

 ply what food is needed after the plants 

 have resumed their growth. 



Many growers use a marker to si;t 

 the plants by. Heavy nails are driven 

 through a board at the distance thiy 

 wish to space the rows. This is dragged 

 across the soil both ways, marking oflf 

 the bed in squares. We stretch a line 

 down the center of the bed to indi- 

 cate where the center row should lie 

 set. A long pole, properly notched, is 

 used to indicate the distances betwdn 

 the plants. The rest of the plants are 

 set according to those in the center 

 row. We find this a convenieat and 

 satisfactory method. Either way is 

 good. 



We always have a man planting on 

 each side, so as to bring the planting 

 of the entire bed right along. The ad- 

 vantages of this are numerous, but per- 

 haps the greatest benefit is that you can 

 follow more closely with the watering. 

 If the day is bright and warm, you 

 must follow with the watering pretty 

 closely, watering each plant separately, 

 rather than soaking the whole bed. 

 Then wet down the walks heavily and 

 spray the plants overhead frequently 

 to prevent wilting. The more sharply 

 you look after this during the first 

 week, the better will it be for your 

 plants. 



The Spacing of the Plants. 



The distance apart to plant may de- 

 pend largely on the variety being 

 planted, but growers differ somewhat 

 in opinion even in regard to the same 

 varieties. More beds are built five feet 

 wide than perhaps any other width; so 

 we will use that width as a basis on 

 which to calculate. We set seven plants 

 of Enchantress across a bed of that 

 width. If the plants are extremely 

 large we space the rows twelve inches 

 apart, but if they are of medium size 

 we space the rows ten inches apart. We 

 find that a bed 5x120 feet, containing 

 600 square feet, will hold just 1,001 

 plants. That would be 86.4 inches to 

 the plant, or about 8%xl0 inches. Such 

 varieties as Victory and Gloriosa can 

 be planted a trifle more closely without 

 crowding them in the least, unless you 

 get larger plants than most of us Jo 

 of these varieties. We do not like the 

 practice of putting two or three plants 

 together, as a rule. We do it some- 

 times, if the plants run unevenly, hut 



Bifd'»-eye View of the Range of the Goldsboro Floral G)., Goldsboro, N. C. 



