230 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Decbmbeb 14, 1905. 



that are shapely and likely to make good 

 crowns. These cuttings are started in 

 sand and remain there until lifted to 

 be planted in the greenhouse beds, where 

 they are to flower. After the plants are 

 benched the greatest caution must be 

 used in watering, for if at any time in 

 the starting of these young plants they 

 get on the dry side it will give them a 

 check that they will not recover from in 

 the whole season. As the plants grow, 

 all runners and side crowns are cut from 

 the main plant. 



"There are many diseases and insects 

 that must be fought constantly during 

 the growing season, for if one of these 

 pests ever gets the upper hand of a 

 grower, the flowers will certainly not be 

 of good quality. Cleanliness and con- 

 stant attention, with plenty of hard 

 work, are necessary to bring forth a 



start in afresh. I wonder if he always 

 picks all the spot affected leaves and 

 burns in the boiler at once? And per- 

 haps his frames are in a damp, close 

 place, which favor spot. Build the new 

 ones high and airy, and on well drained 

 ground. R. E. S. 



SHIPPING VIOLETS. 



There is a constantly widening outlet 

 for the violets of the Hudson river dis- 

 trict. Only a few years ago all the 

 Rhinebeck and Poughkeepsie output wag 

 sold in New York City. Notv these 

 flowers are shipped daily to commission 

 houses as far west as St. Louis. Of course 

 they lose their fragrance, but the original 

 quality of the stock is so much better 

 than the quality of the double violets 

 usually produced in the west that the 

 New York product has practically put 



J. Vonder Linden. 



season's crop of violets of the quality 

 to command a ready sale. 



"Great care is taken by the majority 

 of growers in bunching, leafing and pack- 

 ing, still there is much complaint at the 

 poor condition in which shipments reach 

 their destination. Deterioration in transit 

 is of course inevitable, but the grow- 

 ers are unanimous in saying that greater 

 care should be taken by the employees of 

 the transportation companies." 



SPOT ON VIOLETS. 



We have had quite a lot of trouble 

 with the spot on our violets for the last 

 year. I have tried every way to grow 

 them, but with little success. Don't you 

 think it would be a good idea to remove 

 the frames to a different location, say 

 200 or 300 yards from where I have 

 them? G. F. 



If I were this subscriber, I would not 

 even take the trouble to remove the 

 frames, but utilize them for other plants, 

 and build some new ones for violets, at 

 the most distant point available, and 



western violet growers out of business. 

 Grand Rapids, once the center of the 

 western violet industry, is growing the 

 fragrant flower in only small quantities 

 this year. 



Florists in the smaller towns have not 

 yet fully awakened to the use they can 

 make of the Hudson river stock. Only 

 small shipping business has been done in 

 violets, but a great many are finding out 

 that they can procure the flowers in 

 good shape from the commission man 

 who supplies their roses and carnations 

 and are using more of them right along. 

 As other retailers find out how well they 

 travel, the shipping of violets from Buf- 

 falo, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis ano 

 other wholesale centers will increase and 

 the outlet for the Rhinebeck growers will 

 be still further widened. 



Charlotte, N. C. — T. W. Long has 

 sold his greenhouses and business to W. 

 W. Scholtz. 



Lynn, Mass. — Julia A. Bickford has 

 given up her business because of sick- 

 ness and death in the family. 



SCIENTinC CEMENT. 



Since cement has become so common an 

 article in one feature or another of 

 greenhouse construction, the following 

 from the Railway Age, if somewhat 

 technical, will be of interest: 



While from any casual view concrete 

 appears as one of the simplest materials 

 of construction, and its ultimate sources 

 comprise, in addition to water, but four 

 distinct factors — lime and clay (for the 

 cement), sand and stone — nevertheless 

 their combination and successful practi- 

 cal application present uncertainties. In 

 the proper mixing of cement, with gravel 

 or with sand and broken stone, for the 

 manufacture of concrete, the persistence 

 of unscientific methods, after a series of 

 investigations unparalleled for magnitude 

 during any equal period in the history of 

 engineering, must remain something of a 

 mystery. 



In order to reach a true conception of 

 the object to be attained in the making 

 of concrete, it is necessary first to agree 

 upon its factors, and these are: (a) The 

 greatest reasonable strength; (b) the 

 least cost of materials for a given vol- 

 ume; (c) an accurate basis upon which 

 to combine the elements for securing (a) 

 and (b). To these we should add the 

 desirability of embodying in (c) a cor- 

 rect measure of the volume, and here is 

 found the first diflSculty, because, hither- 

 to, specifications have dealt only with 

 proportions or percentages and not with 

 fixed dimensions: "Cement, 1; sand, 

 314; broken stone, 6," whether in pails, 

 wheelbarrows or barrels — a phrase giving 

 absolutely no suggestion of what volume 

 is to be expected. In a general way we 

 know that, by and large, a barrel of ce- 

 ment will be used to a cubic yard of 

 concrete in place, but this is true in many 

 instances and utterly false in others. 



Theoretically, the voids in the broken 

 stone should be filled exactly by the sand, 

 and the voids in the sand should be 

 filled exactly by the cement, in order that 

 a compact and economic whole shall re- 

 sult; at the same time, the addition of 

 the sand and cement should not add ap- 

 preciably to the original volume of the 

 stone. But practically, a perfect coat- 

 ing of cement must surround each separ- 

 ate particle of sand and stone and, to 

 secure this, more than the quantity of 

 cement predicted by the voids must be 

 used. In effect cement usually is wasted 

 inexcusably with the idea that the richer 

 the mixture the stronger the concrete, 

 whereas it needs but a moment's thought 

 to prove that, with all voids filled, all 

 surfaces perfectly coated and brought 

 into contact by thorough ramming, no 

 increased strength will follow any addi- 

 tion of cement, be it little or great. In 

 the quantity of water used, also, engi- 

 neers exhibit a range of practice which 

 is anything but creditable. From a mere 

 dash which is absorbed so quickly that 

 the mixture must be rushed into place in 

 order that any effective "setting" shall 

 result, it may become a drenching which 

 reduces the concrete to a fluid and, even 

 if no other injury follows, leaves it 

 honeycombed with microscopic voids. For- 

 tunately, Portland cement cannot be 

 drowned so easily as its "natural" 

 brother or we should be in a bad way 

 indeed. 



Decatur, III. — Miss Maude Miller 

 has taken over the Swan Peterson flower 

 store here and will run it, handling stock 

 from Mr, Peterson's greenhouses at Gib- 

 son City. 



