16 



The Florists^ Review 



Febbuaey 18, 1915. 



mulch. Can nitrate of soda be sprin- 

 kled on the surface, or must it be dis- 

 solved in water and applied with a 

 can? Also, is this fertilizer good for 

 carnations and what quantity should 

 be usedf A. S. C. 



OPEN U^XTB^y^ DEADEIiB 



MORE ABOUT AVERAGE PROFITS. 



I noted an inquiry from S. C. C, of 

 Kansas City, Mo., on page 14 of The 

 Eeview of January 28, with reference 

 to what could be made from two houses, 

 each 36x200, one planted with carna- 

 tions and the other with roses. The 

 inquiry was answered in a general way 

 by A. F. J. Baur. As I have had some 

 experience in the vicinity of both Kan- 

 sas City and Omaha, as an employee in 

 charge, possibly a few approximate fig- 

 ures based on mj' experience would not 

 ■come amiss. 



S. C. C. does not state whether he ex- 

 pects to wholesale or. retail his crops; 

 consequently it would only be specula- 

 tion to try to figure the cost of produc- 

 tion and marketing and the probable 

 receipts, but, provided the houses are in 

 the hands of a first-class grower, I be- 

 lieve a good general idea of the pro- 

 ■ductiveness of two such houses can be 

 given. 



The rose house, if planted with Kil- 

 larneys, Richmonds, Sunbursts, Shaw- 

 yers or Russells, would contain about 

 4,250 plants. If planted with Beauties, 

 it would contain about 3,750 plants. 

 The Killarneys, Shawyers or Bichmonds, 

 under proper culture, ought to pro- 

 •duce not less than twenty-five to 

 thirty flowers per plant and un- 

 der the best of conditions might ex- 

 ceed even that number. Beauties under 

 the best conditions, judging from many 

 years' experience in growing them, are 

 giving a good account of themselves if 

 they produce from ten to fifteen good, 

 marketable flowers in a season, say 

 from September 1 to June 1 or 15. 



I would be inclined to doubt the ex- 

 pediency of growing Beauties in a place 

 of that size, unless both houses were 

 devoted to them and there was a cer- 

 tainty of being able to dispose of them. 

 My experience with Sunburst here, in 

 the vicinity of Fremont, Neb., has been 

 that it will not produce as many flow- 

 ■ers per plant as our other standard 

 forcing varieties. 



The carnation house would hold about 

 ■6,900 plants and A. F. J. B. 's estimate 

 of an average of fifteen flowers per 

 plant on Enchantress varieties is ap- 

 plicable to the Kansas City district. I 

 am of the opinion, however, that S. C. 

 C. would be more likely to find the 

 market glutted with carnations in Kan- 

 sas City than he would with a good 

 ■quality of roses. Kansas City possesses 

 some fine carnation growers; they cer- 

 tainly produce the goods. 



I figure that the ten benches will re- 

 ■quire in the neighborhood of 190 to 200 

 <ubic yards of soil or compost. Fuel in 

 the Kansas City district is much cheap- 

 er than at Chicago or Omaha, and, as 

 the warm season is longer at Kansa.«i 

 City, it would require less to heat the 

 same area of glass there than in the 

 other two districts. 



Now, if S. C. C. will take these fig- 

 ures and compute the cost of soil, fuel, 

 stock of plants, etc.; if he will then get 

 as accurate information as possible 

 from the wholesalers and commission 



men of Kansas City as to the probable 

 average price he would receive for his 

 crops, and if lie will also add to the ex- 

 penses the probable cost of the services 

 of a first-class grower and one good 

 helper, he ought to arrive at an ap- 

 proximate estimate of what he would 

 net from two such houses, providing he 

 had good luck and anything like a 

 normal season. If, as I judge, he is 

 already running an area of glass in 

 other crops, he ought to be able to get 

 at the cost of maintenance, interest on 

 investment, wear and tear on equip- 

 ment, houses, etc., better than anyone 

 unacquainted with the local conditions. 



H. E. Humiston. 



FERTILIZER FOR SMILAX. 



I wish to ask you for some informa- 

 tion on smilax. I am just about half 

 through cutting the first crop, which was 

 planted in July on raised benches, in 

 five inches of soil. Kindly tell me how 

 to treat it from now on, stating what 

 chemical or commercial fertilizers to 

 use and. what quantity per bench, as 1 

 cannot get manure, except a little for 



After the crop is cut, the Bmilax 

 should be kept, somewhat drier for a 

 week or two, until the new growth gets 

 a start, but if your stock is planted on 

 a bench it will take more water than 

 it would when grown in a solid bed. 

 Then give a mulch of good stable ma- 

 nure, cow manure being the best fer- 

 tilizer to use for smilax. 



I would not advise the use of .nitrate 

 of soda for this purpose, as it is likely 

 to make the smilax too soft, so that it 

 would not keep. For the same reason 

 it is not a good fertilizer to use on 

 carnations, for it makes the flowers too 

 soft. One of the best chemicals to use 

 for stiffening weak growth on carna- 

 tions is kainit, which may be mixed 

 with some soil and applied as a top- 

 dressing in the proportion of ten to 

 fifteen pounds of kainit to 500 square 

 feet of bench, at intervals of two to 

 three weeks. W. H. T. 



BUSINESS EMBARRASSMENTS 

 Akron, O. — J. J. Walland, 565 Bowery 

 street, filed a voluntary petition in 

 bankruptcy in the Federal court in 

 Cleveland Monday, February 8. His 

 liabilities were listed as $2,851.92 and 

 his assets as $1,140. 



isloition and 



Leg^ Decision 



STOCK FROZEN IN TRANSIT. 



Shippers of plants and other stock 

 perishable through freezing will be in- 

 terested in a decision handed down the 

 other day by the Maine Supreme Ju- 

 dicial court in the case of Ross vs. 

 Maine Central Railroad Co., 90 Atlan- 

 tic Reporter 711. The case involved a 

 shipment of potatoes, but the legal 

 principles announced by the court are 

 equally applicable to the transporta- 

 tion of florists' and nurserymen's stock. 

 It is held that a railroad company in 

 Maine which received a shipment in- 

 tended for final delivery at a point on 

 another line in New Jersey did not 

 impliedly agree to heat the cars, by 

 loading the goods on "heater" cars 

 furnished for the purpose by a connect- 

 ing railroad company, where the re- 

 ceiving company merely issued a bill 

 of lading over its own line; but that 

 the connecting road which issued a 

 receipt for full through heater charges 

 did impliedly agree to heat the cars to 

 their destination. In holding that the 

 initial carrier was not liable for any 

 damage sustained through failure to 

 keep the cars heated, but that the con- 

 necting line was, the Supreme Judicial 

 court said: 



"If the Bangor Railway & Electric 

 Co. was under no obligation under its 

 general bill of lading to heat the cars, 

 and we think that it was not, it is dif- 

 ficult to perceive upon what ground 

 it can be held liable for the nonper- 

 formance of a special agreement to 



heat, made by a connecting carrier. We 

 think that such responsibility is not 

 contemplated by the Carmack amend- 

 ment." (The Carmack amendment is 

 the act of Congress which makes an 

 initial carrier of a through interstate 

 shipment liable for loss arising on a 

 connecting line.) "The agreement to 

 heat made by the defendant was inci- 

 dental to its general duty as a carrier 

 under the bills of lading issued by it, 

 and must be construed with them. The 

 defendant was the first carrier to con- 

 tract with the shipper with respect to- 

 heating. And we think that, as to de- 

 faults in heating during the course of 

 transportation, it is to be deemed the 

 initial carrier. We may properly add 

 that the point seems to be a novel one 

 in cases involving a construction of the 

 Carmack amendment. Our attentioii 

 has been called to no case, and we 

 have found none, like this one. We 

 base our conclusion upon what seems 

 to us to be a reasonable construction 

 of the statute." 



It was further claimed by defendant 

 railway company, on review of the 

 case in the Supreme Judicial court, 

 that plaintiff was not entitled to re- 

 cover damages for defendant's failure 

 to keep the cars heated, because there 

 was no showing that a claim for dam- 

 ages had been presented within four 

 months, as required by the terms of 

 the bills of lading, but the court de- 

 cided that this defense was waived by 

 failing to plead the same in the trial 

 court. S. 



