" --^ TN»"---;-''*<-^'>-f^.'f'^ ■irf;.;,^ ' 



13J4 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Apbil 20, 1005. 



recent convention this is time way Mr. 

 Valentine told it: 



"In 1894, Allen B. Seaman, a prom- 

 inent attorney of Denver and a close per- 

 sonal friend of mine, put »-ome money 

 into the erection of some greenhouses for 

 the purpose of helping a fori ist friend of 

 his. In January of 1895 \»lr. Seaman 

 talked over with me the adv— isability of 

 abandoning his investment as it then 

 seemed unprofitable, but he sand I were 

 induced to believe that if imaore money 

 were invested and larger igreenhouses 

 erected the business could be imade profit- 

 able under its then manageisnent and I 

 agreed to give some slight smttention to 

 the book-keeping and handling of the ac- 

 counts. At that time neither" of us im- 

 agined that it ever would b«E necessary 

 that I should give my personsil attention 

 to the greenhouse business as such; but 

 later on it became apparen~t that the 

 only way to save the investment was for 

 mo to take hold of the activ^^e manage- 

 ment. I knew absolutely not hing about 

 the business, and in fact th«ere were a 

 great many of the common fL-Owers that 

 I did not even know by name. I realized 

 that I was up against a tough proposi- 

 tion, but I immediately subscribed for 

 the two trade papers which were then 

 being published and sat up nights to 

 read anything and everythiog that I 

 could get hold of which had a- ny bearing 

 upon the florists' business. 



' ' No one needs to be told tthat at the 

 start I met with a great manys' expensive 

 failures. In addition to my reading 1 

 made it a point to travel as extensively 

 as I felt I could afford and Tisited the 

 prosperous florists' establishmaents in the 

 different parts of the country. I have 

 been a pretty regular attendeint at the 

 meetings of the Society of American 

 Florists and the Carnation S«cciety and 

 believe that these various trips have been 

 productive of a great deal of g ood to me. 

 In fact, I believe they have be«en the best 

 expended dollars that I hav^ spent in 

 the florists' business." 



In September of 1904 Mrr. Seaman 

 died very suddenly. Since tha*; time, un- 

 til the present date, his esta^te has re- 

 tained its interest in the eon-<:em; but 

 just at this writing Mr. Vaalentine is 

 closing a transaction by whitnh the es- 

 tate parts with all active interrest in the 

 business and he is letting a ^ew of his 

 most trusted employes acquire ^mall hold- 

 ings of stock, believing that fchis policy 

 will prove of advantage to hmra and to 

 them. Miss Page, who is to b»e the new 

 secretary of the company, ha^ been in 

 Mr. Valentine's employ since lffi91, which 

 was some years before he became inter- 

 ested in the florists' business^ and she 

 has had charge of the comparay's books 

 since 1895. Mr. Gillis, who :»s now in 

 charge of the store, started a^ a helper 

 at the greenhouses at $5 per \^eek. Mr. 

 Kennedy, who also acquires am interest, 

 is assistant to Mr. Gillis in the store, 

 and has been with the concerm for the 

 last two years. Mr. Valentine feels that 

 he can attribute a large part o f the suc- 

 cess he has attained to the spirrit of loy- 

 alty which he has aroused in a goodly 

 proportion of the employes, an<Jhe doe.s 

 not believe that any concern ^;an claim 

 to have succeeded unless its employes 

 have this real spirit of devoticDB. 



Brandon, Man. — Fred Manso- ff reports 

 business good. He is building another 

 house 15x100, which gives him S,000 feet 

 of glass. 



ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM. 



The accompanying illustration is re- 

 produced from a photograph made at 

 the greenhouses of H. G. Selfridge, 

 Lake Geneva, Wis., whose head gar- 

 dener, C. H. Gebhardt, relates his ex- 

 perience with it as follows: 



' ' Odontoglossum crispum is an or- 

 chid that I would not recommend to 

 anyone who does not have a lean-to 

 house facing north for the summer, 

 or, better still, a house built purposely 

 for their culture in summer, with bot- 

 tom and top ventilation and roll 

 shades. An even span house running 

 north and south should be used for the 

 winter, as they like the sun in winter 

 and a warmer temperature. As it is 

 usually given in cultural books, "keep 



Odontoglossum Crispum. 



cool, " it is a mistake to keep them 

 cool in winter. I think the most trou- 

 ble is with our warm, hot summer 

 months, but many gardeners keep them 

 too cold in the winter. We have now 

 for three years a limited quantity of 

 Odontoglossum crispum and have suc- 

 ceeded so well that we will add a 

 larger quantity to our collection this 

 spring. 



"We keep them in summer in our 

 cool orchid house, a lean-to facing the 

 north, and in winter in the cooler part 

 of the Brazilian house and we cannot 

 complain. This is one of the most 

 beautiful orchids and would be the 

 ideal orchid for the florist if it could 

 be grown in quantity for the market. 

 With its pure color and long sprays, 

 a house full for Easter would be a 

 triumph. With their long stems they 



are very useful for decorating a fine 

 dinner table. I think it is the most 

 useful of all the odontoglossums. In 

 Europe it is the most useful of orchids 

 for every purpose and they can not 

 have too many. 



"It is a graceful plant, producing 

 its spikes freely and lasting for a long 

 time if the flowers are kept dry. Odon- 

 toglossum Alexandra3 has nearly pure 

 white flowers with a golden blotch on 

 the lip. The plants bloom at different 

 times of the year, as the bulbs are com- 

 pleted, but mostly from February un- 

 til April. I would advise not to al- 

 low the plants to bloom the first year 

 after the importation and I think 

 it will pay for the next crop, as I 

 think more odontoglossums are ruined 

 by letting them flower before the 

 plants are established or strong. Any- 

 how, I would not let a .small plant 

 bloom unless I could get as much 

 for the flower as the plant is worth." 



CATTLEYA TRIANAE. 



The most useful of all florists' cat- 

 tleyas, and one of quite easy culture, is 

 Cattleya Trianse. Flowering, asi this 

 variety does, in the winter months and 

 over quite a long season, it is invaluable 

 where choice flowers are in demand. 

 Where a number of plants are grown a 

 constant succession of blooms may be 

 had from Christmas to Easter. The 

 flowers are usually rosy lilac, or -purple, 

 occasionally pure white and very finely 

 shaded, averaging six inches across. The 

 plants appear to do equally well in pots, 

 pans or baskets of fern fibre. The speci- 

 men illustrated was grown by Thomas 

 Howden, Whitinsville, Mass., a very suc- 

 cessful cultivator of orchids, and carried 

 forty-six flowers. 



DETAILS LACKING. 



I have five houses with space of twelve 

 feet between each. The boiler stands at 

 the end of the fourth house and I have 

 the fourth and fifth houses piped with 

 3-inch flows. Is that right? Wlhat size 

 flow shall I use in the other direction 

 and how shall I reduce it for each of the 

 first three houses? I suppose a 3-inch 

 flow will be right for each house? No. 4 

 and No. 5 each have a 3-inch flow and 

 eight" 2-inch returns. The past winter 

 these houses were about 6 degrees warmer 

 at the far end. How can this be reme- 

 died? How shall I connect the flow pipe 

 with the expansion tank? I have a 

 water tank elevated about thirty feet. 

 Will it do for an expansion tank? 



W. C. P. 



It is impossible for me to give you 

 any assistance unless you give measure- 

 ments to work from. The only informa- 

 tion given is that the houses are twelve 

 feet apart and that you have a water 

 tank thirty feet high. If you will give 

 length, width, and height of sides of each 

 house and state whether you wish to use 

 steam or hot water I can perhaps give 

 you an idea of the size of flow pipe and 

 the size and number of returns required. 

 It is probable that you can use your 

 water tank as an expansion tank pro- 

 vided you have a boiler built to stand 

 a pressure as great. The tank will give 

 in the neighborhood of twelve pounds 

 pressure per square inch, which will be 

 all right if your boiler is strong. 



L, C, C. 



