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OCTOBBn 5, 1005. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



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Vegetable Forcing. 



LETTUCE TO FOLLOW MUMS. 



If this crop is intended to folio'' 

 chrysanthemums the plants should be 

 ready to set in the benches as soon as 

 the chrysanthemums are cut. 



Jf the early varieties have been grown 

 in a bench by themselves the bench they 

 occupy could be planted as goon as it can 

 be made ready and the others according 

 as the benches are cleared. Even although 

 the temperature has to be run a little 

 higher to suit the chrysanthemums, it 

 will not do the lettuce any harm, as the 

 days are still warm and the sun bright. 

 This can be depended on to counteract 

 auy tendency to softness of growth. If 

 the soil is fairly good there will be no 

 need of changing it for the lettuce. In 

 fact, unless the soil is really run out we 

 prefer to leave it rather than use fresh 

 material for lettuce, our experience con- 

 vincing us that it does not do so well in 

 fresh soil, as in soil from which at least 

 one crop has been taken, so we invariably 

 change the soil before setting the chrys- 

 anthemums unless the soil is good 

 enough, with the addition of manures, 

 to carry through both crops. 



Assuming that the chrysanthemums 

 have been liberally fed, no more manure 

 will be needed for tlie lettuce crop than 

 the soil already contains, but the soil 

 should be well forked up and what ma- 

 nure has been used as top dressing well 

 worked into the soil. And should the 

 soil be anyway heavy through the fre- 

 quent applications of liquid manure, a 

 dusting of air-slaked lime worked into 

 it will help to lighten it up and put it 

 in better condition for the lettuce crop. 



Successional sowings should not be 

 neglected, nor the transplanting of the 

 seedlings into flats as soon as they are 

 large enough to handle. It is always saf- 

 est to keep a good stock on hand so that 

 there will be no shortage of plants when 

 they are wanted for the benches. It is 

 always safer to have a few plants too 

 many rather than be in danger of run- 

 ning short. 



Plants in frames will need closer atten- 

 tion in the way of covering at night now 

 that the nights are getting colder. If 

 they have been grown hard a little frost 

 would not do them a great deal of harm 

 but they are much better without it and 

 it does not take long to cover the frames 

 if mats or shutters are conveniently at 

 hand. W. S. Croydon. 



SOIL STERILIZING. 



As heavy losses are annually sustained 

 by growers of tomatoes and cucumbers 

 from the attack of eelworms, the follow- 

 ing extract from the bulletin of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture 

 on tomato culture should be of interest 

 to many: 



"The soil for th-.' { rcdueticn of t:)ma- 

 toes should be well decomposed loam, 

 made, if possible, from the turf from an 

 old pasture, the soil of which is a rather 

 light clay loam or a heavy sandy loam. 

 With this should be incorporated about 

 one-fourth of its bulk of well-rotted 

 farmyard manure, preferably cow ma- 

 nure. By composting these two mate- 

 rials for from four to six months be- 

 fore they are required for use a very 

 satisfactory soil for the forcing of toma- 



The Violet Gall-fly, Diplosis VioUcoIa. 



(a— female fly; b— female an tennal joints; c— male genitalia; d— larva; e— breastbone of larva. 



All much enlarged. ) 



toes will result. It is not well to allow 

 the soil to remain in the house longer 

 than a single season. It becomes some- 

 what exhausted, and is likely to become 

 infested with injurious forms of life, 

 particularly nematodes, which cause root- 

 knots upon the tomato plants. This 

 trouble, however, can be removed by ster- 

 ilizing by steam. Sterilization can be 

 carried on in boxes twelve inches to fif- 

 teen inches or eighteen inches deep, in 

 the bottom of which are steam pipes with 

 perforations every two inches, the per- 

 forations being about one-sixteenth of an 

 inch in diameter, and so placed that they 

 are on the under-side of the pipe. The 

 pipes are arranged in coils and distrib- 

 uted far enough apart to allow the blade' 

 of a spade to be worked between them. 

 A lid to fit the top of the box should be 

 provided, and the box should be made to 

 hold one or two cart-loads of compost. 

 After subjecting the soil to the action of 

 the steam a sufficiently long time to cook a 

 potato buried in it the soil will have be- 

 come thoroughly sterilized." 



THE IDEAL EMPLOYER. 



[An essay by Austin F. Faulkner, Anaoostla. 

 D. C, submitted in the S. A. F. competition 

 and, while not awarded a prize, judged by the 

 editor to be worthy of publication and special 

 mention.] 



As a prelude, let this fact stand out 

 in bold relief: The employer carries a 

 burden of responsibility that, while he 

 holds the reins, cannot be transferred to 

 another. Having embarked in business, 

 it is his to make that business prosper- 

 ous, meet his financial obligations and 

 preserve his standing in the business 

 world. To do this and yet to be at all 

 times an ideal employer calls for the 

 exercise of high qualities of mind and 

 heart. 



Though the employer cannot place his 

 business on the plane of a charitable and 

 benevolent institution, his treatment of 

 his employees should be marked by both 

 charity and benevolence. Charity for 

 their unintentional errors and inherited 

 shortcomings; benevolence for those who 

 have served long and faithfully. 



The ideal employer is prompted, not 

 only by sound business principles, but as 

 an act of justice to his employees, as 

 well, to provide safe and convenisnt fa- 



cilities for work. Having done this he has 

 the right to expect that his employees 

 wil appreciate these facilities in a man- 

 ner that will redound to mutual advan- 

 tage and profit. He will give very seri- 

 ous consideration to the character of his 

 help. He will not be swayed by politi- 

 cal or religious prejudice; but he must 

 consider those moral qualities which 

 make for good citizenship. An active 

 brain and skillful hands, admirable as 

 they are, cannot atone for the lack of 

 integrity and moral prnciple in their 

 possessor. 



It must be acknowledged that this is 

 a vexing question, and there is abundant 

 evidence at hand to show that it is one 

 to which many employers pay little at- 

 tention, excepting to safeguard as much 

 as possible their own interests. The ideal 

 employer will use means to prevent the 

 contamination of the pure and innocent 

 by association with the depraved. The 

 foregoing has particular reference to 

 places where many young persons are 

 employed. The employer, during the 

 hours of labor, is their guardian, and 

 it is as much a part of his business to 

 safeguard their moral welfare as it is 

 to use all reasonable means to keep them 

 from bodily harm. 



Ours is a land on which prosperity 

 has smiled. Poets, orators and essay- 

 ists have portrayed our material advance- 

 ment in rhythmic numbers, in finished 

 diction and convincing statistics. The 

 ideal employer is not in the labor mar- 

 ket seeking retainers, serfs or syco- 

 phants; but on the contrary, he is seek- 

 ing men and women of physical and 

 moral strength, well equipped for the 

 battle of life. He will find many who 

 are equal and even superior to himself 

 in the capacity for physical and mental 

 application. Their work is fruitful with 

 results and his business prospers. He 

 will therefore be profoundly impressed 

 with the fact that his good fortune is in 

 a large measure due to their faithful 

 and untiring efforts for the advance- 

 ment of his interests, and will liberally 

 remunerate them according to their la- 

 bors and responsibilities. He will not 

 only pay them good wages, but will by 

 other means make them feel that he ap- 

 I predates their services and that a bond 



