16 



The Florists' Review 



iivr i», 1916. 



VIOLETS IN FRAMES. 



Can I grow violets in a hotbed all. 

 winter? I want flow.ers from October 

 1 to the end of winter, and also some 

 pot plants. J. T. B. — Mass. 



Violets, can be grown successfully in 

 coldframes, but you cannot pick flowers 

 from them all winter. They will give 

 a fair crop in the tall, few flowers in 

 winter, and a heavy spring crop. Prin- 

 cess of "WWes is the most satisfactory 

 variety. In a greenhouse they need a 

 low night temperature, as near 40 de- 

 grees as possible in midwinter. 



THE HASDY RUSSIAN VIOLET. 



In the winter of 1910 we wrote ask- 

 ing you for information as to the best 

 violet to grow in this region of the 

 country. The reply, appearing in The 

 Review, was written by H. N., then 

 located at College Station, Tex. He 

 recommended the hardy Bussian, de- 

 scribing it as being small, single and 

 dark blue, and said the plants could be 

 obtained from most of the florists or 

 nurserymen in this neighborhood. He 

 also stated that, on account of its hardi- 

 ness, it was grown quite commonly in 

 yards here. Some reliable nurserymen 

 here described the plant in the same 

 way. We ordered some of the plants 

 and have been growing and shipping 

 them under the name of hardy Bussian 

 violets. Advertisements in your paper 

 during most of the winter months from 

 people in our state offer violet plants 

 which, I am sure, are the same as ours. 

 Now we notiee that C. W. states that 

 the hardy Bussian violet is double. 

 Which is right, or are both right? Are 

 there two varieties, both of which are 

 commercially known as hardy Bussian f 

 There is a big trade here in the .small, 

 single violet, or hardy Bussian. 



A. C. J. & P. C— Tex. ^ 



There are both single and double 

 Bussian violets. The double flower has 

 the stronger odor. Both are dark blue. 

 The double gives a heavy spring crop 

 of flowers, but in the colder states, 

 even when grown under glass, will not 

 flower until quite late. The Varieties 

 Czar, deep blue, and White Czar, are 

 also, I believe, of Bussian origin. 

 These are seldom seen now, but twenty- 

 five or thirty years ago they were com- 

 monly grown under glass. California 

 displaced them, just as Princess of 

 Wales has displaced California. 



C. W. 



Ijomax, HL — Balph J. Pommert, son 

 of Chas. Pommert, in the florists' busi- 

 ness at Amelia, O^ is engaged in truck 

 gardening her \ He also has a con- 

 siderable area in asters. 



OEANT HIOHEB EXPRESS RATES. 



The contemplated increase in express 

 rates reported in The Beview June 3 

 goes into effect September 1, by virtue 

 of an order entered by the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission July 22. The col- 

 lection and delivery service allowance 

 of 20 cents per shipment will be in- 

 creased to 25 cents per shipment, and 

 the rail terminal allowance of 25 cents 

 per hundred pounds will be reduced to 

 20 cents. 



The companies stated that the orig- 

 inal order of the. commission had result- 

 ed in a decrease fro"m $68,969.04 in 1914 

 to a deficit of $2',380,894.29 in 1915, a 

 total decrease of . $2,449,863.33, despite 

 a reduction in operating expenses from 

 $70,011,535.53 in 1914. to $65,835,930.42 

 in 1915. They said the revenues were not 

 sufficient to enable them to continue to 

 furnish a satisfactory and adequate 

 service and that they were operating at 

 a loss. The new rates will, it is esti- 

 mated, add $5,062,634.18 or 3.86 per 

 cent to the gross revenues of the peti- 

 tioning companies, the Adams, Ameri- 

 Cf^:^ Southern and Wells-Fargo express 

 companies. 



The eft'ect of the first change will be 

 to increase the charge on all packages 

 5 cents. The effect of the second change 

 will be to take one-twentieth of 1 cent 

 per pound from that 5 cents, so that 

 the addition is gradually cut down until 

 it reaches eighty-five pounds, when 

 there is no increase at all. On fifty- 

 pound packages the increase would be 

 2y2 cents. 



By these changes there will be added 

 to the average package weighing less 

 than 100 pounds, shipped on first-class 

 rates, 3.932 cents and 1.79 cents on the 

 average shipment on second-class rates, 

 which include nearly all shipments, ex- 

 cept cut fiowers, of florists, nursery- 

 men and seedsmen. The figi^es are 

 based on the total number of packages 

 carried during the year endinjg Jan- 

 uary 31, 1915, divided by the actual 

 transactions on two selected days for 

 each of the companiw. 



Waco, Tex. — Following the Fort 

 Worth meeting of the Texas State Flo- 

 rists ' Association, T. J. Wolfe and 

 Mrs. Wolfe sailed from Galveston July 

 10 on the Concho for New York. They 

 will spend six weeks or so in the north. 



HAIL STORMS 



Royersford, Pa. — The recent hail 

 storm shattered 400 panes of glass at 

 the greenhouses of E. Peterman. 



Martinsville, Ind. — A hail storm, ac- 

 companied by wind of great velocity, 

 visited this town July 20 and played 

 havoc at the greenhouses of Nixon H. 

 Gano. While only a few lights were 

 broken, the outside s^ock was badly 

 mangled. 



Council Bluffs, la. — The damage done 

 at the Manawa greenhouses of J. F. Wil- 

 cox & Sons, by the. hail storm of Sun- 

 day, July 18, is estimated at $30,000, 

 half broken glass and half ruined 

 plants. It is reported that 135,000 feet 

 of glass was broken. The hail was ex- 

 ceptionally heavy, although there was 

 little wind. 



STORM AT FREMONT, NEB. 



The greenhouses of C. H. Green, at 

 Fremont, Neb., were in the path of the 

 hail storm which wrought so much havoc 

 in his section July 18. How complete 

 was the destruction of the glass in his 

 range is easy to see from the accom- 

 panying photographic view. 



HAIL AT COLORADO CITY. 



The same storm that proved so de- 

 structive at Colorado Springs was even 

 more severe at Colorado City, Colo. At 

 the Grand View Greenhouses, 1145 Colo- 

 rado avenue, of which E. B. Bipley is 

 the proprietor, the lights left would 

 not take many fists of fingers on which 

 to count them. The accompanying il- 

 lustration shows how barren thej bars 

 were of glass after July 18. j i 



HAIL AT COLORADO SPRINGS. 



A severe hail storm July 18 broke 

 approximately fifty per cent of the glass 

 in the greenhouses of the Pikes Peak 

 Floral Co., at Colorado Springs, Colo. 

 The storm came up suddenly about 4 

 p. m., from a northwesterly direction. 

 It was preceded by a slight shower of 

 rain, which quickly changed to hail 



Gfeenhouset of E. R. Ripley, G>k>rado Qty, Colo., After Storm of Jaly t8. 



