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Jdlt 22, 1915. 



The Florists* Review 



15 



is solvent, he has not contested the in- 

 voluntary bankruptcy proceedings start- 

 ed against him. B. B. M. 



St, Paul, Minn. — Frank Gustafson, 

 conducting the St. Paul Floral Co., at 

 Dale street and Como avenue, filed a 

 voluntary petition in bankruptcy July 

 13 in the United States District Court. 

 He scheduled liabilities amounting to 

 $4,099.53 arnd assets of $2,692.42, list- 

 ing $350 as exempt. 



LIGHTENING THE LABOR. 



At this season of the year, when so 

 many carnation growers are perspiring 

 as they work the soil out of the 

 l)enches and in again, the accompany- 

 ing illustration will be specially time- 

 ly as showing how the operation of 

 grinding soil and manure is performed 

 at the greenhouses of Herman Bros. 

 Co., Council Bluffs, la. It is a home 

 invention, but the machine has inter- 

 ested so many visitors that O. H. Her- 

 man has built many of them for other 

 jxrowers. Their first soil grinder was 

 designed four years ago. The present 

 one is power driven, but h^nd ma- 

 chines also have been built. The ma- 

 chine has two styles of grinders, one 

 consisting of a cylinder equipped with 

 teeth four inches long passing between 

 ji row of stationary teeth held in place 

 by a balance weight. The other 

 grinder has 2-inch knife blades in- 

 stead of teeth. Should a rock or any 

 other substance too hard for the grind- 

 ers get into the machine, the bal- 

 ance weight releases it and prevents 

 damage. The machine is mounted on 

 *a set of low iron wheels for easy 

 movement. In practice, the Hermans 

 stack their soil close to the ends of 

 the greenhouses, just as practically all 

 other growers do. When it comes 

 time to refill the benches the machine 

 is rolled into position so that the con- 

 veyor drops the compost in a handy 

 place near the door through which the 

 wheelbarrows take it. 



A PANSY SEED GROWER. 



Growing pansy seed is an interesting 

 business, is one's conclusion after visit- 

 ing Charles Frost, grower of the Kenil- 

 worth strain of giant pansy seed, at 

 Kenilworth, N. J. But the visitor is 

 also impressed with the fact that it is 

 no sinecure. After seeing the tens of 

 thousands of plants and the scores of 

 plots of different varieties, one can 

 readily realize the great amount of care 

 required, not simply in growing the 

 flowers, but in keeping the varieties 

 true to name — gathering the seed, dry- 

 ing it, threshing and cleaning it, and 

 preparing it for shipment without mix- 

 ing any of the varieties. 



In growing pansy seed there is danger 

 of cross fertilization of varieties near 

 one another, unless great care is ex- 

 ercised. Because of this, the plots con- 

 taining different varieties are separated 

 by wide paths, and in some cases by 

 several rows of privet, sweet peas, or 

 other high plants. 



The section shown in the accompany- 

 ing illustration is only a small part of 

 the land under cultivation by Mr. Frost 

 in the growing of his pansy seed. All 

 of the land so under cultivation is di- 

 vided into plots, each variety being in 

 a plot by itself. These plots are in 

 rows, and each row and plot is num- 

 bered on a map of the grounds which 

 ^Ir. Frost has in his office. He thus 



Power Driven Soil Grinder at the Establishment of Herman Bros. Co. 



keeps a record of each plot, with the 

 name of the variety grown there, etc. 

 If, when the flowers begin to come, 

 any plants are found to bear flowers 

 that are not true to name, such plants 

 are immediately pulled up and thrown 

 away, unless the flower gives promise 

 of developing into a new variety, or a 

 pleasing variation of the same variety, 

 in which case it is given special cul- 

 ture and marked by a stake, so that 

 the seeds can be kept separate from 

 those of other plants in the plot. The 

 next year these seeds are tested out 

 more thoroughly, to find whether it is 

 worth while to grow them. 



Picking pansy seed is a tedious job, 

 and good pickers are scarce. Mr. Frost 

 has three men engaged all the season 

 in picking seed. As the seed pods from 

 a plot are picked they are put in a 

 muslin bag which bears a tag on which 

 is the number of the row and the plot 

 in which the seed grew. The tags used 

 are of different colors, to designate the 

 different sections under cultivation. 



This prevents mixing the varieties dur- 

 ing the drying, threshing and cleaning. 



After the seeds have been picked, 

 the muslin bags containing them are 

 hung on a line to dry. The seeds are 

 allowed to dry from four to seven days, 

 according to the weather, and then they 

 are threshed, cleaneil and put up for 

 shipment. 



Mr. Frost is always trying out new 

 varieties from this country and Europe. 

 American-grown pansy seed is found 

 to produce larger blossoms than Euro- 

 pean seed if given the proper care. 



E. B. M. 



Chillicothe, Mo.— Thomas Edds, fore- 

 man at the iaherwood Greenhouses, left 

 •Inly 1.5 with his wife for Albert Lea,. 

 Minn., for a fishing trip. 



Aurora, 111. — The victim of the 

 "weeping" forger who visited this 

 place recently was not the Freeman. 

 Greenhouses, as M'as reported, but P. 

 Tremulis. 



Charles Frost, of Kenilworth, N. ]., Among His Pansies. 



