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802 



ThcWeckly Florists^ Review* 



Septbicbsb' 15, 1904. 



but a heavy mulching of manure will be 

 of benefit in early spring. Many grand 

 borders of Lilium auratum are seen in 

 the temperate countries of Europe and 

 those seen in England are often grown in 

 peat, a soil that seems to suit them 

 grandly. 



L. auratum and the varieties of L. 

 speciosum rubrum and album are hardy 

 here, at least as far north as Vermont. 

 If you could obtain the bulbs of these, 

 say in early October, you could plant them 

 then and if protected so that little, if 

 any, frost touched the bulbs, it might be 

 successful. But we don 't get the bulbs of 

 these lilies until December and sometimes 

 later. Therefore I would rather keep 

 them in cold storage, covered with dry 

 earth or sand, and plant out as soon as 

 the ground could be worked in spring. 

 We see beautiful flowers of album and 

 rubrum in the gardens of our villagers 

 that we believe receive no more care 

 than the ' ' piny ' ' root, yet a good winter 

 covering to keep out hard freezing is a 

 great essential. 



Some annuals that are not of too 

 strong growth might be scattered among 

 the lilies, but don't overdo it. Portulaca 

 would be pretty and there are others. 



W. S. 



SOW BUGS. 



Will you kindly tell us how to get 

 rid of sow bugs? A Subscuiber. 



Sow bugs or wood lice may be trapped 

 in various ways; for example, with slices 

 of potato or turnip laid around the 

 greenhouse, these insects creeping be- 



COKE VS. PEA COAU 



A correspondent writes that he * * w6uld 

 like to open a discussion as to the rela- 

 tive merits of coke and anthracite "f^ 

 coal as a fuel, particularly in hot water 

 plants. Is coke at $3 per ton cheaper 

 than anthracite pea coal at $4 per tonf 

 The question of additional attention and 

 night fireman would perhaps come into 

 this, but we would take it for granted 

 there would have to be a ni^ht fireman 

 in any case, so that question can, I 

 think, be eliminated." 



Before entirely eliminating the ques- 

 tion of a night fireman, let me say that 

 there are any number of small places 

 heated, perhaps, wi^h one or two cast iron 

 heaters. I call them heaters, because 

 they don't boil. If properly set, with 

 good circulation and sufficient pipe, the 

 fuel for them is the best hard coal, egg 

 or grate size. The place is too small to 

 employ a night fireman and the boss fires 

 himself and if, adequately heated, he can 

 fire up, at 11 p. m. and find his houses 

 all right at 6 a. m. That he can't do 

 with pea coal or coke. 



Now to the specific question, coke 

 versus pea coal. It is impossible to give 

 an opinion on this unless you state what 

 kind of a boiler you are using. If it is 

 a cast iron pot, which nearly all these 

 greenhouse heateis are, whether they are 

 sectional or not, then I think that pea 

 coal is most unsatisfactory for use in 

 them. It soon deadens over, quickly 

 clinkers, needs continual renewing, if 

 only a shovel full, and would not be 

 nearly as cheap as furnace coke at the 

 prices quoted. Hard or furnace coke, such 

 as Connellsville, is the most satisfactory 



New Gunation House of P. R. Quinlan & G>., Syracuse, N. Y. 



neath such an object to feed upon its 

 lower surface, but naturally this method 

 requires quite a little time fn the part 

 of the trapper in order to catch and de- 

 stroy the insects. 



A less troublesome method would be 

 to secure a few common toads and place 

 them in the greenhouse, these homely an- 

 imals having a wonderful appetite lor 

 80W bugs, ants and mary other insects, 

 and doing no harm whatever to vegeta- 

 tion. W. H. Taplin. 



and cheapest fuel you can use in these 

 cast iron heaters. 



Particularly is this the case if you are 

 not over-supplied with pipes and in cold 

 weather you have to make the heater do 

 all it can, that is, keep it at full blast 

 all night. I would say under these condi- 

 tions, which too often prevail, that pea 

 coal in a cast iron heater would be fifty 

 per cent more expensive than furnace 

 coke at the prices quoted. 



The writer has had occasion during the 



last thirty-six years in this, country to 

 use most every kind of available fuel 

 from Lehigh lump . to cord wood, hard 

 coal, Loyal Sock coal,. soft coal, ^rd coke 

 and gas-house coke. Now, if you put in 

 a steel tubular boiler or a tubular boiler 

 with cast iron tubes, which is fibout the 

 same, there is no fuel so effective and 

 cheap as good Pennslyvania i^oft coal. 

 I am speaking now of using these boilers 

 for circulating hot water, but if for 

 making steam it is all the same, for what 

 will make water hot will also make it 

 boil. 



Soft coal necessitates cleaning of the 

 flues frequently and in some surround- 

 ings your neignbors kick, but otherwise 

 soft coal is the fuel for a tubular boiler. 

 Pea coal is used by some large eastern 

 firms in these boilers and with, irequent 

 attention it does very well, but it can- 

 not give as good results as soft, coal. The 

 flame traveling^ beneath the length of the 

 boiler and back through the tubes is 

 where soft coal has the advantage. I 

 never noticed that coke did any harm to 

 a cast iron boiler, but it is very injurious 

 to a wrought iron boiler. We have wan- 

 dered a little from the subject, which is 

 unavoidable. It 's a big one but most in- 

 teresting, and no one can give a definite 

 answer unless he knew how big your 

 place is and what style of heater you have 

 installed. W. S. 



[We should be glad to hear from others 

 with their experience as to what is the 

 most economical fuel. — Ed.] 



DEATH OF GROVE P. RAWSON. 



Grove P. Eawson, of Elmira, N. Y., 

 died at Binghamton September 8, whence 

 he had gone to superintend a wedding 

 decoration. He had not been feeling 

 well for several weeks. He was seateJ 

 watching the work of his assistants when 

 he collapsed and was removed to the 

 hospital, where he died about three hours 

 later without regaining consciousness. The 

 cause of death was cerebral apoplexy. 



Grove P. Rawson was born in Al- 

 mond, Allegany county, N. Y., April 22, 

 1854. As a boy he displayed a marked 

 interest in all objects botanical and not 

 only did he love things that grow from 

 mother earth, but he was respectful to- 

 ward all that was God given. He was 

 an apt student of horticulture and one 

 of the best pupils of the celebrated James 

 Vick, of Rochester. He had not in 

 years attained his majority, when, in 

 1874, he came as landscape architect of 

 Eldridge park, in Elmira, now one of 

 the best known and most popular in the 

 state. Two years later Mr. Rawson en- 

 tered business in his own behalf and for 

 twenty-eight years he was one of the fore- 

 most growers of plants and cut fiowers 

 in the state. As a decorator he was ex- 

 celled by few. For more than a quarter 

 of a century he has had a greenhouse and 

 office at No. 107 West Market street. 

 Years ago the business outgrew the ca- 

 pacity there and property was purchased 

 on Winsor avenue. There two acres are 

 under glass. He had that happy faculty 

 of getting along with men few possess. 

 His orders were not as commands in the 

 ears of his subordinates. They seepied 

 always eager to please him, appreciating 

 his many kindnesses toward them and 

 Friday n\orning a group of employes 

 stood just outside the big greenhouse 

 talking almost in whispers, although the 

 body was still miles away. 



Mr. Rawson was, up to the last few 

 years, an active participant in the af- 



