It 



The Florists' Review 



Jamuabx 14, 1915. 



.M. 



ing placefor constant currents of warm 

 and cold air that are flowing over the 

 surface of the earth, and the continuous 

 mingling of these currents produces gen- 

 eral cloudiness. These currents of air 

 may be compared to the currents of wa- 

 ter that produce the dreaded fogs of 

 Labrador, for precisely the same rea- 

 son. The fact that in this latitude the 

 sun is not so strong in winter as in 

 summer, and therefore cannot do feo 

 much toward dissipating the moisture, 

 accounts mainly for the worse condi- 

 tions in the dark months, as we have 

 termed them. 



Iiittle Sun, Large Growers. 



It is one of nature's pranks, or one 

 of the unfortunate coincidences of the 

 human lot, whichever way you choose 

 to put it, that the large growers are in 

 the cloudy sections. The two states. 

 New York and Pennsylvania, which 

 lead the other forty-six in the produc- 

 tion of flowers, are among the darkest 

 during the months when florists feel the 

 absence of Old Sol the most. Neither 

 New York nor Pennsylvania, however, 

 suffers to an equal extent from lack of 

 sunshine throughout its entire territory. 

 The eastern sections, where the largest 

 city of each is located, do not fare so 

 badly as do the western parts. No place 

 in Ohio, however, is ordinarily favored 

 bj' a large amount of sun at this time 

 of year, although, of course, there are 

 years when conditions are much worse 

 or much better than in other years. 

 Illinois, which is behind all three of 

 these states, as well as Massachusetts, 

 in number of greenhouse establishments, 

 but leads them all in total glass area, 

 suffers from lack of sunshine at this 

 time of year, though perhaps not so 

 badly as the sections referred to above. 



Generally speaking, the only state 

 within hailing distance of the largest 

 flower centers of the middle west that 

 has an abundance of sunshine at this 

 season is Colorado. Denver receives 

 809 hours for the four months, while 

 Pueblo goes as high as 917. Iowa, Ne- 

 braska and Missouri are above the aver- 

 age, and the cities of the eastern sea- 

 board about the same. 



How the other sections rank can be 

 found from the accompanying table. 

 This presents the average number of ac- 

 tual hours of sunshine for each month, 

 the total for the four months printed in 

 black-face type, the total for the year, 

 and the per cent of the total possible 

 received for the year. 



The Practical Application. 



In the past greenhouse establishments 

 have been located more or less by 

 chance. In the beginning a man chose 

 a site for a greenhouse about as care- 

 fully as he selects a peg on which to 

 hang his hat in a restaurant. Even- 

 tually some attention began to be paid 

 to character of soil and contiguity of 

 markets. In the last few years it has 

 become apparent that large places are 

 fearfully handicapped if not located 

 where a railroad sidetrack can be run 

 to the boiler-shed, and attention there- 

 fore now is paid to transportation. But 

 we never heard of but one man who in- 

 vestigated the amount of sunshine va- 

 rious localities received when consider- 

 ing a choice of locations for a new 

 range. Investigation often shows that 

 physical characteristics of the country 

 round about a good market give one 

 locality much more or much less winter 

 sun than is available at another spot 

 only a few miles away. Other things 



being equal, the importanceof obtain- 

 ing the greatest possible amount of 

 winter sun is obvious. No large green- 

 house, establishment ever will be built 

 in a city; if a large range is planned 

 it will go a few miles~into the country. 

 If another twenty, or thirty or even 

 fifty or a hundred miles will put it 

 outside the city's cloud belt, increas- 

 ing the hours of winter sun even in 

 small degree, the gain in quality and 

 quantity of winter crops will offset all 

 the disadvantages. 



often aggravated by the plants being 

 too long in the cases before forcing. 

 This has been true of many shipments 

 in the present season, owing to the 

 European war. Soak all the balls in 

 a tub of water on arrival. 0. W. 



pus: 



EMBABBASSMENTS. 



AZALEAS DBOPFINQ LEAVES. 



Our azaleas, principally the white 

 oiies, are dropping their leaves. The 

 leaves appear nice and green, but when 

 the plants are shaken, just loads of the 

 leaves drop off. Can you tell me the 

 cause of the trouble? D. V. 



This is probably due to the azaleas 

 having become dry at the root in 

 transit from Belgium. The trouble is 



Nevraik, N. J; — A voluntary petition 

 in IjpjUtruptcy was filed December 29 

 in the United States District court by 

 Timney & Kugel, who started in busi- 

 ness at 41 Market street last Septem- 

 ber. Assemblyman-elect H. E. ' Wolf 

 was appointed receiver by Eeferee At- 

 wood L. De Coster. The petition, filed 

 by George Furst, attorney for the flo- 

 rists, states that the liabilities are about 

 $2,500 and the assets about $1,500. 



Boston, Mass. — William H. Tomliu- 

 son, who conducted the Kosemere Con- 

 servatories, at 38 King street. Dor 

 Chester, has filed a petition in bank- 

 ruptcy. Liabilities are scheduled at 

 $.3,097.35 and assets at $684,14. 



ODEN LETTER3^"' liEADEn^ 



IS THIS A BECOBD? 



I see in The Review that Christ- 

 mas business was gooti with most of 

 the -florists, some fifty or sixty per 

 cent better than a year ago. Really, 

 that's nothing. I can beat that dou- 

 ble, and then some. Listen to this: 

 My Christmas sales this season in cut 

 flowers were 125 per cent greater than 

 a year ago, while plant sales increased 

 seventy-five per cent. I attribute the 

 gain to advertising. Besides the *hews- 

 paper, I used handbills and the screen 

 in the moving picture theaters. One 

 way or another, I managed to let 

 most of the people in town know that 

 flowers make the most appropriate of 

 gifts. L. B. Westholder. 



CABNATIONS AND TOMATOES. 



Carnations with us do not pay for 

 the space they occupy, so we have 

 grown tomatoes between. We aim to 

 have good tomato plants in 3-inch or 

 4-inch pots and plant a row on each 

 side of the bench. We do not pull any 

 carnations out, but just tie every 

 other plant in a little more closely. 

 That gives the tomatoes anout eight- 

 een inches in the row. They soon 

 grow out of the carnations. 



We hold the tomato plants to two 

 slioots, breaking out all si<le growth, 

 and as soon as they crowd we trim the 

 foliage in half, as we must have car- 

 nations. 



We do not raise tlic tcmpcvaturp, as 

 it does not retard the tomatoes. They 

 grow nicely, bloom well and set fruit. 

 We tie all wood closely to cane or 

 lath stakes, preferring these to string, 

 as the fruit gets heavy when there are 

 five or six sets on. We tie the canes 

 to horizontal wires and these to cross 

 wires between the purlins. That 

 makes a rigid contrivance when we 

 get five or six sets of fruit. We cut 

 the tops out, keeping all side shoots 

 out and mulching with foy\ manure. 



Tlie \arietics we have tried are 

 Comet, Lorillard, Sutton's Earliest of 

 All and Bonny Best. We have found 

 Bonny Best so far ahead of the rest 

 that now we grow it exclusively. It 

 produces the finest, smoothest, most 

 oven-sized scarlet fruit we have ever 

 seen. It is common to find from eight 

 to sixteen and often more full-sized 

 tomatoes to a setting. 



As to revenue, in June our toma- 

 toes brought more money than the car- 

 nations did the whole season, and kept 

 it up till the last of August. We were 

 getting 15 cents per pound and our 

 tomatoes were purchased in preference 

 to outside fruit. Here in northern Illi- 

 nois, at least, southern shipped-in stuff 

 does not compete with ours. We start 

 planting in the middle of February and 

 plant some in March. That gives us 

 a conti«uous crop, 



Benj, B. Pohlmann. 



THIS LADY DOESN'T ADVEBTISE. 



I wish to call your attention to the 

 article in The Review of .lanuary 7 

 under the heading, "The Christmas 

 Lesson," on which, I am sorry to say, 

 I disagree with you; otherwise what 

 The Review says and does is gospel to 

 me, I cannot approve this article, and 

 I will tell you the reason why. To 

 begin with, we are located at 3704 

 North Western avenue, Chicago, and 

 have two houses, each 25x100, devoted 

 to the growing of pot plants. It is 

 only a little cubby hole compared with 

 the big fellows; still, we were not able 

 to sell our products and so did not ex- 

 perience any prosperity at all. Now I 

 can hear you say, "Raise something a 

 little better than the other fellow. ' ' 

 We do this, for we specialize in Prim- 

 ula obconica, and, without flattery, I 

 can say that we grow them better than 

 anybody in the city of Chicago; they 

 are beautiful beyond description. I in- 

 vito any grower, any retailer or re- 



