Deckmbeu 7, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



143 



gards the best material for the legs and 

 cross supports, also the 2x4 pieces, but 

 the above is a good plan of design for 

 the whole. Nail boards on each sido 

 from the edge of the bench down to 

 within a foot of the ground to hold the 

 heat somewhat. Let the edge boards 

 front and back rise five inches above 

 the bricks. The heating pipes should 

 be mostly under the benches. Have just 

 enough pipes overhead to temper the air 

 that comes in at the ventilators when 

 they are raised and to cause a uniform 

 temperature all through the house. A 

 good arrangement is to have one or two 

 feed pipes run overhead and at the far 

 end split up into several return pipes 

 to run under the benches. But this is 

 not always practicable and you must 

 arrange your heating pipes according to 

 the lay of the land on which you build. 

 But have most of the pipes under the 

 benches, so that under the benches it 

 will, be 10 degrees wanner than over- 

 head. 



Now while a specially built propagat- 

 ing house is a very desirable thing to 

 have, yet don't think for a minute that 

 you cannot root cuttings without one. 

 If your houses are eveu-span, running 

 east and west, you can take the north 

 bench and build it as described above 

 and you will be fixed to root close to 

 100 per cent of all the cuttings you put 

 in. Even the bricks are not absolutely 

 necessary; in fact, we have propagated 

 for years on an ordinary board bench 

 on the north side of an even-span house 

 and we seldom fail to strike nearly 

 every cutting. 



To sift it down to hard facts it sums 

 lip about like this: A properly built 

 bench will make it easier to strike a 

 large percentage of the cuttings, but a 

 good propagator can strike the same 

 percentage on any well-built, clean 

 bench if he has proper control of the 

 shading and heating. The boards should 

 not be so tight as to prevent drainage 

 of all surplus water, else the sand will 

 become soggy and the cuttings will rot 

 instead of rooting. 



When getting your sand try to get a 

 clean sharp sand, either from bank or 

 liver. Kiver sand usually runs a little 

 finer than we prefer, while bank sand is 

 apt to have more or less loam mixed 

 with it. Avoid either of these, but look 

 for a gray sand that feels sharp and 

 gritty when rubbing it in the hand. Be 

 especially careful that there is no vege- 

 table matter in it to decay and cause 

 fungus after the cuttings are put in. 

 This really is more important than tho 

 fineness of the grain, as you can gauge 

 yeur watering according to the sand. 

 We have used all kinds of sand, coarse, 

 fine, loamy and gray river and pit sand 

 and we find that cuttings will root in 

 most any kind of sand if handled ac- 

 cordingly. But it is fiasiest 'to root 

 them in a sharp, clean, gray sand. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



WITTERSTAETTER'S PET. 



The accompanying illustration is from 

 a recent photograph taken at the estab- 

 lishment of E. Witterstaetter at Cincin- 

 nati and shows half of his house of Car- 

 nation Aristocrat. The house was 

 planted on May 24 from 3-inch pots and 

 topped back for the last time on Sep- 

 tember 15, all flowering shoots being re- 

 moved. The first flowers appeared on 

 October 25 and Mr. Witterstaetter was 

 <'utting quite freely by November 15. 

 The blossoms are large ana can Tje had 



Carnation Helen Goddard. 



on stems twenty-four inches long without 

 sacrificing the plants. The camera does 

 not show this as it was placed some 

 thirty-six inches above the buds at the 

 center bench. The bench to the right 

 will give some idea of the height of the 

 plants, where it will be noted that the 

 top string support is twenty inches from 

 the surface of the soil, and by Decem- 

 ber 1 it required another support of 

 twenty-six inches above the soil, which 

 will be ample for the season, but the 

 grower expects quite a few buds to pass 

 this by eight to ten inches before the 

 end of the season. 



Althougii these plants have done well, 

 ]\Ir. Wittei-staetter likes the field grown 

 plants of this variety better commercial- 

 ly, as it makes stockier plants with 

 stems almost as long and as many buds 

 in sight as the indoor grown, and 

 blooms can be cut just as early. The 

 plants were lifted July 28. In color it 

 is in the Lawson class, slightly deeper 

 but brighter. 



Every visitor to CiiicinnaTi taSes an 

 hour or two to run out to Witterstetter 's 

 to see Aristocrat and the many other 

 seedlings there. 



Democratic ' ' Dick ' ' Witterstaetter 

 may be pardonably proua lor liis Aristo- 

 crat. The peer of the pinks and a 

 veritable aristocrat in its tribe, this nev, 

 aspirant for honor and glory, prizes and 

 medals needs only to be seen in its own 

 habitat to elicit unstinted praise. The 

 four benches planted with it, practically 

 a whole house, present a sight well 

 worthy of a day's journey to see. 



Nor are his other seedlings, whose 

 name is legion, the less interesting. 

 ; Chief among them is Afterglow, a 

 beautiful deep i)ink, borne on a long, 

 stiff stem and second to none, not ex- 

 cepting even the Aristocrat in produc- 

 tiveness. It has already won a host of 

 admirers. J. A. Valentine, salmon pink, 

 a color most desirable, lacks in but one 

 thing and that is stem. Were it not for 

 this drawback it would be in a class by 

 itself. 



A number (if roils in their second 

 year's trial look proinising, and several 

 whites; one of the hawson type of 

 growth, has every appearance of being 

 :i monoymakcr of a high order. X. 



BURST CALYXES. 



Will you kindly inform me what 

 treatment to give my Queen Louise 

 carnations. Bursting calyxes is the 

 trouble. The jilants are very healthy 

 and the buds are borne on very long 

 stems, but when they open a good many 

 si)lit. I have tried keeping the house 

 warmer at night, about 58 degrees, but 

 do not see any improvement. I former- 

 ly kept it at 55 degrees. Is this variety 

 subject to this fault and do you think 

 it will overcome it later in the season? 

 F. K. J. 



Yes, Queen Louise is subject to the 

 habit of bursting some of the calyxes. 

 We grew it a number of seasons and 

 have never been able to overcome this 

 tendency. Ordinarily one would expect 

 a higher temperature to stop it, but to 



