Fbbbuabx 25. 1915. 



The Florists' Review 



23] 



Mrs. Eanst was 68 years of age. She 

 was well known to the older members 

 of the trade in Chicago, as her husband 

 was one of the early leaders. Many 

 years ago they took up their residence 

 in a cottage in Washington park, when 

 the park was an almost treeless tract, 

 and there they lived until a short time 

 ago, when the cottage had to be re- 

 moved to make way for the new ad- 

 ministration building. There are three 

 children. One is Mrs. Stella Gurney, 

 of St. Louis. The youngest son is Ed- 

 win A. Kanst, for several years sec- 

 retary of the Horticultural Society of 

 Chicago and active in the management 

 of its largest shows, now superintendent 

 of Lincoln park, Chicago. 



MAY BE DUE TO ESCAPING QAS. 



Under separate cover we are sending 

 you three plants for your inspection. 

 Everything was doing finely here until 

 January 8. For instance, the orchids 

 were in perfect condition and had been 

 blooming nicely. I know that on the 

 date mentioned there were orchids ready 

 to cut and other buds were nearly ready 

 to open. On the morning of January 9 

 these blooms did not look right, and the 

 next morning they showed decidedly 

 that there was something wrong. From 

 that time the flowers gradually dried 

 up and died. In a few days the plants 

 themselves began to show there was 

 something wrong and they have con- 

 tinued uijtil they are in the condition 

 of the plant we are sending you. These 

 orchids have been on the place more 

 than five years, and have been cared for 

 by myself for the last three years. The 

 plant that we are sending you shows 

 that it has had a good deal of water. 

 There are other plants in the lot that 

 have not been repotted for two years; 

 half their roots are outside and they 

 have never had too much water. 



The lilies were potted about the mid- 

 dle of November and were stood on the / 

 cement floor in the basement in iden/^ 

 tically the same position in which we' 

 placed our lilies last year. They were 

 benched about January 8, apparently all 

 right, but never have grown as they 

 should, although we have produced fine 

 lilies heretofore. The whole bunch of 

 geraniums look like the little sample 

 sent, or worse. They have lost all their 

 leaves and show a weak, spindling 

 growth; some of the smallest ones have 

 died. Kindly let us know at your 

 earliest convenience what you think is 

 the trouble. W. W. S. 



The cattleya certainly looked as 

 though it had been having a hard time 

 of it. No overwatering or the reverse 

 could cause your plants to go to the 

 bad 80 quickly, and the same holds true 

 of your geraniums. At the coldest sea- 

 son of the year there are always cases 

 of serious injury to greenhouse plants 

 from escaping gas. I am inclined to 

 think that either sewer gas or illuminat- 

 ing gas is escaping into your houses. 

 The injury is never serious until we 

 get severe weather, with the ground 

 hard frozen and covered with snow. 

 During such weather a minimum of ven- 

 tilation is given even in the daytime 

 and none at all at night, and even our 

 toughest palms and foliage plants will 

 show the effects of the gas. Cattleyas 

 have tough foliage, and no amount of 

 neglect could produce such serious in- 

 jury in so short a time. 



I. think an investigation, which, how- 

 ever, cannot well be carried out suc- 

 cessfully while the ground is sealed 



tight, will prove that gas in some form 

 is responsible for the condition of your 

 geraniums and cattleyas. 



As to the lilies, their condition also 

 may be due to gas, or may be due large- 

 ly to the unfitness of the bulbs. The 

 enclosed lily shoot was diseased; the 

 growth made had been feeble and the 

 leaves were curled. Any giganteum 

 lilies on which the foliage curls in this 

 way, although apparently green and 

 healthy, are utterly worthless. A fre- 

 quent cause of this condition is prema- 

 ture digging of the bulbs. Your trouble 

 is not at all a rare one; in fact, there 

 are few batches of lilies to be found 



without a percentag€t of, these diseased 

 plants. Improper treatment after pot- 

 ting has a tendency to produce sickly 

 plants. Too much moisture in the early 

 stages of growth is bad, as is a low 

 temperature. Giganteums must be 

 grown warm from the start; 60 degrees 

 at night is a suitable temperature, and 

 they can have 10 degrees more when 

 well started, if necessary. However, as 

 your plants were all right a year dgo, 

 I conclude that your treatment is not 

 at fault and that the conditipn of your 

 lilies is due either to escaping gas, to 

 immaturity 'of the bulbs or to a com- 

 bination of the two causes. C. W. 



Cleveland, O. — Florists of Cleveland 

 held a benefit card party Thursday af- 

 ternoon, February 18, at the Hotel Hol- 

 lenden. Proceeds were for the assist- 

 ance of horticulturists of Europe. 



Scranton, Pa. — William McClintock, 

 C. W. Baldwin and William McDonald 

 compose the committee named to make 

 plans for the annual flower show to be 

 held in Town hall, ojiening March 23, 

 under the auspices of the Scranton 

 Florists' Club. 



Cleveland, O. — Sealed proposals will 

 be received at the office of the clerk of 

 the board of education up tp noon 

 March 8, for the labor and materials 

 for a greenhouse on the East Technical 

 high school property, in accordance 

 with plans and specifications on file in 

 the office of the architect of the board 

 of education. 



Newark, N. J. — The Essex County 

 Florists' Club gave its annual banquet 

 February 18, at the Krueger audito- 

 rium. A feature of the dinner was the 

 elaborate floral decorations, each mem- 

 ber trying to outdo his neighbor in dis- 

 playing the choicest . blooms. Plates 

 were set for eightj^-flve. There was 

 speechmaking.. 



New Orleans, La. — The motion for a 

 new trial of the expropriation suit of 

 the Orleans-Kenner Electric railway 

 against the Metairie Eidge Nursery Co., 

 reported in The Keview for February 

 18, was denied by Judge Edrington. 

 Harry Papworth is now blocking the 

 construction of the line through his 

 property by an injunction. 



Gibson City, HI. — Andrew Peterson 

 has bought the C. W. Moore green- 

 houses at Clinton, 111., and leased a 

 store on Court House square, where he 

 will carry a general stock of cut flow- 

 ers, plants and seeds, drawing the 

 greater part of his supplies from the 

 newly, acquired greephouses and from 

 his range of 100,000 feet of glass in 

 Gibson City. The business at both 

 places will be conducted under the 

 name of the Peterson Floral Co. , 



Massillon, 0. — Fire at ; the green- 

 houses of Frank Whitmore February 8 

 destroyed the boiler room and damaged 

 the greenhouses. The crop of lettuce 

 was greatly injured. - 



Bucsrrua, O,.— F. J. Norton will en- 

 large, his greenhouses on Charles street 

 and £sMer avenue as soon as the spring 

 rush is over. The two hoi;th houses wiU 

 be replaced by one 34x84 feet._ 



Hudson, N. Y.^ — The greenhouses of 

 Richard W. Allen, whose death, Janu- 

 ary 10, was reported in these columns, 

 have been purchased by Leon Hathe- 

 way, assistant treasurer of the Union 

 Mills. He will continue the business, 

 moving to the Allen residence about 

 April !.■ - 



Zanesvllle, O. — In a quarter-page ad- 

 vertisement in the Zanesville Times-Re- 

 corder February 20 C. L. Humphrey of- 

 fered roses at 75 cents, carnations at 

 35 cents and daffodils at 25 cents per 

 dozen at a special sale at his market 

 stand only. Cyclamens and primroses 

 are also offered at his special sales. 



Great Falls, Mont. — Appropriate 

 notes on the bottom of January state- 

 ments, general reminders with all orders 

 sent out from the first of the month 

 and a small newspaper advertisement 

 made St. Valentine's day trade of more 

 than usual importance at the store of 

 the Electric City Conservatory. Cor- 

 sages in red heart-shaped boxes pierced 

 with arrows were the leaders, but spring 

 flowers sold well. 



Johnstown, Pa. — Bruce H. and George 

 Walker, who recently took over the flo- 

 rists' business of William Schmidt, now 

 occupy their new location at 111 Mar- 

 ket street. Messrs. Walker will use the 

 beautiful mahogany cases from the 

 Coldren & Monaghen store, all of which 

 are nicely adapted to the purposes of a 

 flower store. The large central one in 

 the rear of the room will be fitted up 

 as a refrigerator, which will enable a 

 fine display of cut flowers to be shown 

 to best advantage. 



