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464 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



August 4, 1904. 



house to be a lean-to, the south wall 

 eight feet high and the front wall five 

 feet. This house has a northern aspect, 

 with one bench and one path and, with 

 the exception of a few months in sum- 

 mer, no direct sun rays enter the house. 

 Then, again, at large carnation special- 

 ists' you will see the propagating house 

 an equal span twenty or more feet wide, 

 with three or fo\ir benches. I much pre- 

 fer the lighter house. If propagating on 

 a large scale I would prefer a house 

 20x100 feet to one 10x200, but remem- 

 ber you can root a great lot of cuttings 

 in a bed three feet wide and 100 feet 

 long. 



There is a period of a week or two 

 after the cuttings are rooted and potted 

 off that it is most essential that about 

 the same conditions should be given the 

 little plants as they had in the sand, 

 viz., a little heat in the sand or ashes 

 that the pots are set on, and this brings 

 us to the subject of the great difference 

 in the requirements of our young plants. 

 "While the slightly warm bench will be 

 of the greatest benefit to young roses 

 when first potted from the sand, and 

 also almost all our bedding plants, it 

 would be perfectly superfluous for car- 

 nations. Many of our carnation grow- 

 ers don't believe in any bottom heat for 

 rooting them. 



Now if I built a special propagating 

 house, it would be difficult to improve in 

 any feature on one the writer operated 

 many years ago, for it was perfect. Let 

 it be any desired length, ten feet six 

 inches wide and the pitch of roof a lit- 

 tle less than 45 degrees. The width will 

 give you plenty of path room without 

 walking sideways, and two convenient 

 benches. One bench you can use for 

 propagating and the othiir for the plants 

 when first potted. Don't build the 

 benches fastened to the posts of the 

 side walls. It rots the posts as well as 

 your benches. Build the benches inde- 

 pendent and board them up tight back 

 and front. On the front or path side of 

 your benches let the second board from 

 the top be hinged so tluit when desired 

 you can raise it and fasten it up so that 

 the heat from the pipes beneath the 

 bench will warm the house. In severe 

 weather this works well, because too 

 much hot pipe would make the sand un- 

 duly warm and you need the beat in the 



house. In moderate weather you would 

 want no heat in the house, but a little in 

 the sand. For the bottoms of both beds 

 we used to use common roofing slate. 

 When firing hard they get too warm and 

 they even rot. Use a tile, not a drain 

 tile, but a solid tile about one and a 

 half inches thick. "We bought them last 

 year 18x12 inches. 



Now, if you can use tee-iron for sup- 

 ports of these tile, it will be far more 

 lasting than wood. Use four inches of 

 sand on the tile and let the surface of 

 the bed be a good three feet above the 

 level of the path. You don't want to 

 be bending your back while putting in 

 cuttings. Of course the tiles on the 

 bench for potted plants need only an 

 inch or less of sand or ashes. 



This size house is easily shaded with 

 cheese cloth suspended with small brass 

 rings and two wires running lengthwise 

 of the house on each side, but that's an- 

 other story and would take too long to 

 tell, j-et very simple. Unrooted cuttings 

 and plants for a few days from the 

 cutting bed want shade when the sun 

 shines, but more shade than is necessary 

 to keep them from wilting is an in- 

 jury. 



If you are using steam you will put 

 that into your propagating house. If 

 water, you will want to continue, but if 

 you have neither and are starting, then 

 by all means use hot water for such a 

 house as I have described. Eun two 

 2-inch flows and two 2-inch returns under 

 each bench and you will need no heating 

 pipes above the benches. Don't, for 

 heaven's sake, listen to that fallacy 

 about running a 2-inch or 3-inch pipe 

 along under the ridge pole, branching 

 at the farther end and returning under 

 the benches. Don 't do it. Far better 

 to si)end $100 extra in getting your 

 heater six feet below the level of the 

 greonliouse floor. Ste;im heat is con- 

 trolled by valves; it is steam or noth- 

 ing. Hot water is controlled by the 

 furnace door and damper. 



The ventilation of this houso, if it 

 runs north and south, which is the better 

 plan, should be continuous and open at 

 the ridge. It is far bettor, for cuttings 

 especially, to have one inch of continuous 

 ventilation than three inciies in some 

 places and none in others. 



About solid beds. Much as there is to 



recommend low, well drained beds for 

 roses and carnations or anything that 

 is planted out, don't think of them for 

 geraniums or our ordinary run of bed- 

 ding plants. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I am egotist enough 

 to believe I have described an ideal 

 propagating house, yet if a man is a 

 gardener he can propagate a whole lot 

 of tilings, roses, carnations and chrysan- 

 themums, on any ordinary bench, for in- 

 stance, a side bench in a carnation house. 

 Yet for many things it's a comfort to 

 have a regular propagating house. 



W. S. 



A Portion of the Range of J. B. Goetz, Saginaw, Mich. 



(Wrecked by Hall .luly 22.) 



HAIL AT SAGINAW. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 the effect of the hail which struck the 

 establishment of John B. Goetz, at Sag- 

 inaw, Mich., July 22. The photograph 

 shows about one-third of the glass area, 

 which is about 32,000 square feet. The 

 entire place was riddled. 



The Eoethke Floral Co., not far away, 

 had sixteen houses in which practically 

 all the glass was broken. At both places 

 new houses were added this spring, the 

 past season having been a most prosper- 

 ous one. The loss is not alone in glass, 

 but the young stock was very badly cut 

 to pieces. 



The Florists' Hail Association has had 

 many heavy losses to pay this season and 

 has been of prime importance in putting 

 many growers back on their feet, but in 

 this case no assistance will come from 

 that quarter, neither Mr. Goetz nor the 

 Eoethke Co. being a member. 



The establishment of Chas. Frueh & 

 Sons and others on the east side escaped 

 unscathed. 



THE ORIENTAL POPPY. 



The poppies are classed among the 

 most popular of garden flowers. The 

 oriental poppy is the longest lived of the 

 genus and has the largest and most 

 striking flowers. C. 'S. Harrison, of 

 York, Neb., says it has lx?en known to 

 bloom for twenty-five years in Succes- 

 sion. The plant is fnm two to four 

 feet in height and the flowers are often 

 six or seven inches across. The 

 color was originally scailet, with a black 

 spot, but since the late eighties a con- 

 siderable variation in color has been 

 obtained by crossings and the color now 

 shades from red to salmon and pale 

 pink. The black spot on each petal has 

 in some cases given way to delicate 

 pencilings and some are unmarked. The 

 plant has a root like a small parsnip, 

 which increases to a heavy stool. It is 

 easily propagated by division or by seed. 

 T. D. Hatfield, of "Wellesley, Mass., says 

 that the dividing should be done after 

 blooming, in late July or August, as 

 they will then start and make good 

 growth before freezing weather, flower- 

 ing well the next season. Mr. Harri- 

 son says they should be planted in 

 groups of not less than a dozen, as the 

 individual flowers last but a few days; 

 however, new ones come on and keep up 

 a succession for several weeks. 



Nashville, Tenn. — B. T. Heard, 

 florist at the capitol grounds, is ill. 



Marengo, Ia. — B. Frederickson is add- 

 ing two houses to his plant, using Dietsch 

 material. 



Geneseo, III. — Harry E. Felger has a 

 jJInntation of 10,000 gladioli. The blooms 

 will be cut and shipped to Chicago. 



