)' .'. 



June 2, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



61 



A Single Shipment of Pahm from th« Albert Fuchs Place, Chicago. 



A PALM SHIPMENT. 



The accompanying illustration is a re- 

 production from a photograph of a ship- 

 ment of palms recently sent by Albert 

 Fuchs, Chicago, to the Foster Floral Co., 

 St. Louis. The plants were all of good 

 size and a furniture car, double decked, 

 Avas required to hold this single order. 

 Both decks were covered with a deep lay- 

 er of shavings to receive the plant's and 

 th.ey arrived without a pot broken. 



HYDROCYANIC FUMIGATION. 



Method of Making the Gas. 



* ' The materials required in fumigating 

 with hydrocyanic acid gas are ninety- 

 eight per cent cyanide of potassium, 

 broken in small lumps, best secured in 

 ten or twenty-five pound cans at 30 to 

 40 cents a pound, and commercial sul- 

 phuric acid at 3 to 4 cents a pound by 

 the carboy. 



' ' For an ordinary house or frame, good 

 vessels for liberating the gas are one 

 and a half or two-gallon earthen jars of 

 as small diameter as possible, so as to 

 insure the immersion of the cyanide of 

 potassium when it is dropped into the 

 acid. One jar should be used to about 

 every twenty-five feet 'in length of green- 

 houses of ordinary width, in order that 

 the gas may be quickly distributed when 

 set free. When the jars are placed in 

 position the next 'step is to arrange to 

 lower the paper bags xjontaining the de- 

 sired amount of cyanide into the jars, 

 from the outside. This is best done by 

 passing a. cord through a hook or screw- 

 eye attached to the roof over each jar 

 in such a manner that when the string 

 or strings are loosened from the outside 

 the bags of cyanide will be lowered into 

 their respective jars. 



"When the strings are ready and the 

 quantity of chemicals dttermined, divide 

 the amount of cyanide to be used into 

 parts corresponding to the number of 

 jars. Wrap each part up in a single 

 thickness of ordinary newspaper and 

 put in ordinary brown paper bags, and 

 attach the bags to the strings. While 

 the jars are empty test the arrangement 

 to see if it works satisfactorily. After 

 each bag is suspended in place, the other 

 end of the string securely fastened where 

 it can be reached from the outside and 

 the arrangement tested, move the sus- 

 pended bags to one side so they will 

 be out of the way while putting the 

 water and acid in the jars. When this 



is done, pour into each jar an amount 

 of water about equal to the bulk of the 

 potassium cyanide in the bag. Eight 

 ounces of cyanide vdll require about a 

 half a pint of water. The sulphuric 

 acid should then be poured in untiiAsteam 

 rises from the water. This would require 

 for a pint of water about a pint and a 

 half of acid. It is not necessary, how- 

 ever, to measure the acid, as the evolu- 

 tion of steam indicates when the right 

 amount has been poured in. Always put 

 the water in first and then pour in the 

 acid. As soon as this is done place 

 the bags over their respective jaris. "When 

 all is ready go out, close the door and 

 carefully loosen the strings, allowing the 

 bags to settle into the acid. 



"While the method just described is 

 desirable for a large house or series of 

 houses from which exit would be difficult 

 after dark it is not necessary to go to 

 the trouble of lowering the cyanide into 

 the acid by strings in" most cases. 'When 

 the jars containing the water and acid 

 are properly placed the cyanide in the 

 paper sacks, as previously described, may 

 be set beside the jars; then the operator, 

 starting in one end of the house, may 

 carefully drop the bag into the water 

 and acid, coming out the other end of the 

 house. If there are two sets of jars in 

 different paths it will be necessary for 

 two operators to start, one in each path, 

 working in the same direction, at about 

 the same rate of speed. In this way the 

 cyanide can be placed very quickly and 

 easily in quite a large series of jars, 

 taking care that no cyanide is placed in 

 a jar in such a way as to cut off the 

 exit of any operator from the house. 



"This method of hand dropping is now 

 the one most largely used. The gas will 

 very soon be given off and fill every por- 

 tion of the house. It is colorless and 

 smells and tastes like peach pits. A lit- 

 tle of it is harmless, but too much will 

 cause death. A small quantity will leak 

 out of the house; avoid positions where 

 it can be smelled. The time of exposure 

 should be reckoned from the lowering of 

 the cyanide into the jars. When the 

 proper time has elapsed, varying for dif- 

 ferent plants, quickly open the ventila- 

 tors from the outside, so that the gas can 

 escape as rapidly as possible. It will 

 all be gone from a large house in half or 

 three-quarters of an hour, and the venti- 

 lators may then be closed if necessarv. 

 Next morning the material left in the 

 jars should be emptied into a hole and 

 buried." 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



We experienced the first genuine warm 

 wave of the season during the past week, 

 temperatures ranging from 85 to 87 de- 

 grees from May 24 to 27. Cooler condi- 

 tions prevailed for the great Decoration 

 day market on Saturday, the air beii^ 

 crisp and cool, fine weather lasting over 

 the holiday itself. During the early 

 part of the week the hot weather caused 

 a heavy glut in the market, but a per- 

 ceptible shortening was noticeable by 

 Thursday, growers holding back their 

 stock. Most of the florists have a very 

 heavy local trade to supply for Memo- 

 rial day and consequently bring less than 

 their usual supplies into the market, 

 which causes prices to harden. 



The general opinion among wholesal- 

 ers and retailers appears to be that Dec- 

 oration day trade was equal to any past 

 year's record in most respects and supe- 

 rior in some. A little more outdoor ma- 

 terial was available than a year ago,- 

 but this seemed to have no effect on- 

 prices of greenhouse stock. Roses were 

 quite plentiful but cleared out easily, 

 colored varieties as usual selling best. 

 There was no decided advance in prices; 

 $12 to $iJO seemed to be the ruling price 

 on Beauties. Brides and Bridesmaids 

 made from $4 to $12, a few extra fine 

 ones going above these prices. Liberty, 

 Meteor and hybrids were scarce and 

 eagerly snapped up at advanced prices. 

 The output of carnations, while very ^ 

 large, was less than had been expected, 

 many being held back for local trade; 

 $3 to $3.50 per hundred seemed to be 

 the ruling price for good average stock, 

 some selling at $4 and fancies $5. Crim- 

 son and scarlet varieties were in strong- 

 est demand. 



There was a big output of feverfew, 

 stocks and white candytuft, which sold 

 generally at 50 cents per bunch. Antir- 

 rhinums and spiraeas were fairly plenti- 

 ful and sweet peas went at from 25 

 to 50 cents per hundred. Very little 

 bulbous stock appeared except a few 

 Narcissus poeticus and some of the late 

 flowering tulips. Outdoor lily of the 

 valley was extra fine, selling at $1 to 

 $2 per hundred. Callas, Lilium longi- 

 florum and L. candidum. Gladiolus Tlie 

 Bride and Gandavensis hybrids, Iris 

 Germanica in variety (the variety Mme. 

 Chereau being the best seller), lilacs 

 and Spanish iris comprised the bulk of 

 the remaining stock sold. Retailers 

 used flowers of gloxinias, zonale and 

 fancy pelargoniums, hydrangeas, loni- 

 ceras, viburnums, hardy azaleas, native 

 cypripediums and in fact about every- 

 thing procurable to help fill their numer- 

 ous orders. The wholesalers were very 

 busy and did an enormous trade, having 

 to hire considerable additional floor 

 space. While Friday and Saturday were 

 their busiest days, they were quite act- 

 ive on Monday morning, the wholesale 

 market cleaning out well on that day. 

 A great many artificial wreaths and 

 bouquets were disposed of and. taken all 

 in all, the Memorial day trade of 1904 

 was an eminently satisfactory one. 



Business during June will be material- 

 ly assisted by the numerous weddings 

 and class day gatherings. As many grow- 

 ers also start to pull out their rosea 

 and carnations after Memorial day, this 

 further restricts the output and prevents 

 a glut. 



Peonies, except officinalis, are never in 

 season for our Memorial day trade, but 



