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Januarx 26. 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



537 



Bench of Carnation John E. Haines ot Bethlehem, Pa. 



the first of April. It all depends when 

 your demand is the best. 



Gladioli Among Carnations. 



There is not much gained by starting 

 gladiolus bulbs before this, for they 

 are slow to start before the season is 

 advanced. We put them in the carna- 

 tion beds. If you think they are a det- 

 riment to your crop^, of carnations and 

 don't pay for the harm done, then don't 

 do it, but with us they have never 

 brought price enough to warrant a 

 bench to themselves and we have never 

 seen much barm done when not over- 

 done. If in a 6-foot bed of carnations 

 you plant four bulbs every third row, 

 you will notice little if any difference 

 in your carnations. The gladioli will not 

 flower before the end of May or early 

 June, yet that is a long while before 

 we get them in the garden. Squeeze the 

 bulb into the bed even with the surface. 



Forcing VaUey, 



W? would like to have said earlier 

 something about lily of the valley. There 

 may yet be some beginners struggling 

 with these beautiful little flowers, as 

 we did twenty years ago. It is too 

 long a story how to build a box for the 

 forcing of these roots and, briefly, for 

 the man who only forces a thousand a 

 week> a suitable place can easily be 

 fixed. Let there be six inches of sand 

 with sufficient hot water pipes beneath 

 the bed to insure a steady heat of 75 

 to 80 degrees in the sand. The top heat 

 now and for the next month can be 

 55 to 60 degrees. We failed several 

 years simply because we had too high a 

 temperature of the air. Do not cut the 

 roots oflF to within three inches of the 

 pips, but cut off only an 'inch from 

 the end of the roots. Water every day 

 until: the bells can be plainly counted; 

 then don't let water touch the flower 

 spike, or it will discolor and rot the 

 bells. Carefully water the sand between 

 the rows. The first ten days the bed 

 can be covered a foot above the crowns 

 with thin, light boards fastened togeth- 

 er a convenient size. Then, for another 

 week, frames covered with cheese cloth 

 will do, and after the first bells are 

 showing color you can give them the 



full light, providing no sunshine strikes 

 thert. 



Just as an illustration between suc- 

 cess and failure, we had for several years 

 great success in such a bed as described ; 

 then came a time that we had to force 

 out some lilies for Easter and in March 

 we ran the night heat up to 70 degrees 

 and higher in the daytime. That set- 

 tled our valley success. They were 

 spindling, drooped and were all-round ' * N. 

 G. " Of course, as the season advances 

 less bottom heat is needed; in fact, it 

 must be reduced. At the same time do 

 all you can to keep down the top tem- 

 perature. William Scott. 



RETURNING CONDENSATION. 



Kindly advise what you consider the 

 best solution for the following: We 

 have a self-contained tubular boiler, hav- 

 ing a grate area of about twenty square 

 feet. It has fifty-two return flues three 

 inches in diameter and twenty-six four 

 inches in diameter and has a good draft. 

 It stands seven feet high from floor to 



crown. We are at present using this 

 boiler for hot water circulation. We 

 intend increasing our glass, which, when 

 increased, will consist of three attached 

 houses, two 20x100 and one 16x100. The 

 side walls are four feet high with no 

 glass and ridge is ten feet high. There 

 will also be one short span house 32x100 

 and ten feet to the ridge, with twenty- 

 four inches of glass in the sides; also 

 two separate houses, each 25x100, fifteen 

 feet to the ridge and side walls five and 

 one-half feet high with twejity-four 

 inches of glass. 



The floor of the first three houses is 

 not quite as high as the crown of the 

 boiler and the floor of the last three 

 houses is three and one-half feet lower 

 than that of the first three and about 

 two and one-half feet higher than cellar 

 floor on which boiler rests. 



We desire to heat the houses with 

 low pressure steam, if possible, at a 

 temperature suitable for carnations (48 

 to 54 degrees) except the house 16x100, 

 where we need a temperature of 65 de- 

 grees during zero weather. 



We realize that a steam trap is neces- 

 sary. Are there steam traps in the mar- 

 ket which will successfully do the work 

 with low pressure steam? And would 

 this boiler, under low pressure steam, 

 heat the plant, and would you advise the 

 use of low pressure under the circum- 

 stances? If not, then would high pres- 

 sure steam heat the plant, and what would 

 you use to return the water to the boiler, 

 considering that the pressure from the 

 water main which feeds the boiler is 

 only ten or twelve pounds and would 

 not overcome the steam pressure? Would 

 an injector with a return steam trap 

 be as good or better than a steam 

 pump? W; B. C. 



I judge from your statement that it 

 is impracticable to change the location 

 of the boUer so as to place it on lower 

 ground and thus take advantage of a 

 gravity system, or even to deepen the 

 present pit to accomplish the same end. 

 If neither of these alternatives can be 

 used, the next best thing is the steam 

 trap. By placing a hot-well in the floor 

 of the present boiler room, into which to 



Carnation Imperial Raised by J. E. Haines, Bethlehem, Pa. 



