June 24, 1916. 



The Florists^ Review 



17 



View in Horticultural Hall, Boston, During the Peony Show, June 19 and 20, 1915. 



glass. This new building will not be 

 so large as the one recently completed, 

 in which the tropical plants and ferns 

 are kept, but will be of handsome de- 

 sign. It also is proposed to make, ex- 

 tensive improvements this summer in 

 the tract of land purchased last year 

 by the board between the garden and 

 King's highway. 



TULIPS AND HYACINTHS. 



Will you kindly tell us what variety 

 of tulips and hyacinths can be forced 

 for Christmas? M. B. — Kan. 



Koman hyacinths can be easily 

 flowered for Christmas, but none of the 

 Dutch varieties are suitable for so 

 early a date. The little dwarf Due Van 

 Thol and Tournesol tulips can be 

 flowered for Christmas. It is also pos- 

 sible to get in small batches of White 

 Hawk, La Reine, Yellow Prince and 

 Proserpine, if you can secure your 

 bulbs early. Those grown in southern 

 Europe have smaller bulbs than the 

 Dutch, but are much earlier bloomers 

 and the best for Christmas flowering. 



C. W. 



Cobden, 111. — In addition to growing 

 vegetables for market, J. B. Fitch 

 makes a specialty of gladioli and 

 peonies. 



Bellwood, Pa. — C. F. Luse, who grows 

 both flowers and vegetables at his 

 greenhouses, finds present business first- 

 rate. 



West Grove, Pa. — A severe hail storm 

 visited this place June 22. The Dingee 

 & Conard Co. lost 6,000 panes of glass 

 on the north side of their houses. There 

 was no insurance, but the stock was 

 not injured. M. Henry Lynch says it 

 was the worst storm in his thirty years' 

 experience. 



Vegetable Forcing 



MAKING A MUSHBOOM BED. 



Will you please give me some infor- 

 mation on mushroom growing? How 

 long can the spawn be kept? Can good 

 mushrooms be grown under the benches 

 in greenhouses? L. L. — Iowa. 



Mushroom spawn, if stored in a cool, 

 dry place, can be kept as long as a 

 year and will still produce mushrooms, 

 but it is vastly more productive when 

 obtained as fresh as possible. Mush- 

 rooms can be quite successfully grown 

 under greenhouse benches in winter, but 

 it is much too warm for them there in 

 summer. Make up the greenhouse 

 mushroom bed about the last of Octo- 

 ber or later, protect it from drip and 

 hang cloths around the sides to exclude 

 light and air and to prevent the bed 

 from drying out. Fresh horse manure 

 should be collected a week or two be- 

 fore the bed is to be made. Discard 

 the long straw. Throw the manure in 

 a heap and turn it over each day to 

 allow the rank heat to escape. Add 

 one-fourth as much pasture loam to 

 the manure, to prevent burning; it also 

 helps to hold moisture. 



When the rank heat has subsided, 

 make up the bed. Spread out a layer 

 and tramp or pound it as hard as possi- 

 ble. Continue adding layers and tramp- 

 ing until the bed is nine or ten inches 

 thick. It is important to firm the ma- 

 nure thoroughly, as it will then retain 

 heat longer and the spawn will run 

 better. Plunge a thermometer into the 

 bed. The mercury may run up to 115 

 or 120 degrees. Spawn it when it has 

 declined to 85 or 90 decrees. Break the 

 spawn in pieces the size of a walnut 



and plant these a foot apart each way 

 in the bed, and two inches deep. Eight 

 or ten days later give the bed a top- 

 dressing of a couple of inches of fresh 

 pasture loam; then leave the bed alone 

 until mushrooms appear. If there is 

 any danger of the surface drying out, 

 this can be avoided in large measure by 

 giving the bed a covering of excelsior, 

 hay, cocoanut fiber refuse or moss. It 

 is best to remove this as mushrooms 

 appear, which may be in a month, but 

 more frequently it takes six or seven 

 weeks and occasionally double that 

 time. When the surface dries, water 

 with hot water, at a temperature of 

 100 to 120 degrees. 



The two principal spawns used are 

 American Pure Culture and English 

 Milltrack. The first named will appear 

 the first and the mushrooms are large. 

 The Milltrack mushrooms, however, are 

 generally preferred in the market. 



In the hot months, mushrooms can 

 only be grown successfully in a cool, 

 well darkened cellar or pit, where the 

 maximum temperature does not exceed 

 70 degrees. Ventilation should only be 

 given on cool nights. Given suitable 

 conditions, immense crops can be pro- 

 duced in summer, and mushrooms al- 

 ways realize the highest market prices 

 during the hottest months. C. W. 



Wolfe City, Tex.— Mrs. P. P. Allen 

 has found the florists' business a quite 

 profitable line since her entry into it. 

 Present business is good. 



Aalsmeer, Holland. — It seems to 

 growers here that the astilbe (spirjea) 

 must have gone out of favor, especially 

 in America. Of all Holland plants ex- 

 ported in quantity the decrease in the 

 sale for the astilbe was most pro- 

 nounced last season and at all growing 

 centers in Holland large quantities re- 

 main unsold. 



7 



