428 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Januauv 4, 11)06. 



occurs each season would prevent any 

 regret on the part of the builder, but if 

 you were to cut out these two holidays, 

 and the demand caused by them, I doubt 

 very much whether there would be a foot 

 of glass erected in the next three years 

 by any of the large growers shipping 

 their stock into these markets. 



Now I do not want you to think for a 

 moment that I am a pessimist. I am 

 far from it. I can see for the live 

 florist, be he grower or retailer, the 

 brightest of futures. The business is 

 growing rapidly and will continue to 

 grow, and for every energetic firm or 

 individual there is more business than 

 he can handle. There are thousands of 

 smaller growers who can sell many times 

 more than they are able to produce most 

 of the time, and these are in little dan- 

 ger of overbuilding. You will, however, 

 find that these growers either sell their 

 own stock at retail, or else they dispose 

 of their stock without sending it through 

 these large markets. There are more 

 buyers who are forced to go to these 

 large centers for stock, who would will- 

 ingly buy nearer home if the stock were 

 procurable, and the growers who are 

 located in the midst of such opportunity 

 are of course wise to build just as rap- 

 idly as possible. That there are many 

 such we all know and the more these 

 growers build up the worse it wiU be 

 for those who ship into the large cen- 

 ters, unless the business increases more 

 rapidly than the glass area. The home- 

 grown stock will be given the preference 

 when there is plenty, and the holiday 

 orders sent into the large market will be 

 just as heavy, making the holiday de- 

 mand heavier and the regular demand 

 lighter. The large market will be ap- 

 pealed to more and more to supply the 

 shortage when the local supply is in- 

 adequate, and the regular orders will be 

 placed just as near home as they can 

 be taken care of satisfactorily. The 

 business done in any one of the present 

 large centers will perht^ps not diminish, 

 but you will find that as these growers 

 scattered around the country grow up 

 into large places and become able to 

 supply the territory around them, the 

 long-distance orders that will go to the 

 large centers will be mostly special or- 

 ders and not regular ones, as they now 

 are. The business within a few hours' 

 ride will, of course, grow and perhaps 

 use up all the stock there is, but I 

 think the future will see a much larger 

 percentage of short-distance orders than 

 at present. 



Now, I may have elaborated on this 

 subject more than you expected, but it 



comes right in line with your inquiry 

 and from personal experience I feel that 

 these are the tendencies of the times and 

 the trade. Every man, of course, knows 

 his own business best and ought to 

 know whether he ought to build more 

 houses or not. Those who grow high- 

 grade stock usually could sell more, while 

 those who grow the lower grades mostly, 

 usually find difficulty in disposing of 

 what they have. The general demand 

 need not bother you, it is the demand 

 for your special stock that must govern 

 your building operations. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



SCOTCH SOOT. 



"Will you tell us about Scotch soot for 

 carnations? Is it very stimulating? Do 

 you use it dry or as a liquid? Mix it 

 with earth or not? What proportions? 

 What is the effect, lasting or immedi- 

 ate? Supposing you have been using 

 sheep manure, bone and wood ashes and 

 no stable manure, then what? I have 

 1,700 carnations. Enchantress, Joe Man- 

 ley, White Lawson, Boston Market and 

 Mrs. Patten. I have grown carnations 

 in this small way since 1891, and have 

 had the usual amount of stem-rot and 

 rust until last year, when I left off 

 using rotted sod and stable manure and 

 have used the above fertilizer with fine 

 success. Last year I lost no planta 

 from rot and only four this year. 

 We use the old soil in the bendiea 

 three years and be sure and plant 

 on old ground in the open, using 

 the same fertilizer. We bought 1,500 

 rooted cuttings, receiving 1,565, potted 

 them all at one time, planted out in 

 frames, then in the ground and took up 

 August 20, 1,535 and bought 150 more 

 plants and have lost four since. I think 

 those were broken when taken in. 



G. A. G. 



Soot is not used very much on carna- 

 tions, though it might be good in many 

 cases. It is used a good deal on chrysan- 

 themums, however, and its effect ought 

 to be similar on carnations. Soot is 

 used mostly to give the foliage a dark 

 green color and it also deepens the color 

 of the bloom. It is considered to be a 

 foliage food altogether and is not sup- 

 posed to have much effect on the size of 

 the blooms. There is no danger of in- 

 juring your plants with it. The usual 

 way is to put about a half bushel of it 

 in a burlap bag and hang it in a barrel 

 of water, weighting it enough to hold 

 it under the surface. When you see the 

 water is well colored you can water the 



beds with it. This is better than to use 

 it dry. When used dry it blows over 

 everything on account of its lightness. 

 The effects will be about as lasting as 

 with any other liquid food. I would 

 apply it about once in two- weeks at this 

 time of the year. 



If you are having good success by 

 using the fertilizers you mention, then 

 I can only say to keep up the good work. 

 We do not use stable manure for the 

 fun there may be in handling it, but 

 for the results we get from it. If you 

 grow as good stock as your neighbors, 

 and it is quite probable that you do, 

 then there is no reason why you should 

 not eliminate any manure that you think 

 has been causing you trouble other years. 

 We have tried using soil more than one 

 season, but could never get as good re- 

 sults the second season as the first. We 

 do not consider fresh sod ground de- 

 sirable to plant on in the field, but would 

 rather have it cultivated one or two 

 seasons. A. F. J. Baur. 



A RAILROAD BANQUET. 



At the recent banquet to James J. 

 Hill, at St. Paul, the feature of the 

 decoration was a floral railroad track. 

 An embankment was built of moss and 

 galax upon which a track was made with 

 white carnations for rails and pink car- 

 nations for crossties. Wide tables were 

 used. At the head table, which was 

 joined to those running at right angles, 

 there was in the center a floral round- 

 house and approaching were two floral 

 trains. At each guest's plate was a 

 ribbon bearing the name of a station on 

 the Great Northern Eailroad and each 

 guest on entering was handed a railroad 

 ticket to the station at which he was to 

 dine. 



The decoration was considerably the 

 finest ever put up in St. Paul. It was the 

 work of L. L. May & Co. The photo- 

 graphs reproduced in this issue do not 

 do it justice because of the lights, which 

 were too much for the operator. 



DETAILS LACKING. 



Hundreds of my carnations have some 

 kind of disease that is yellowing the tips 

 of the foliage and young shoots in spots. 

 On examining the roots I find what 

 seems to be a white fungus all over 

 the roots. On the main stalk under 

 ground it is in rings. It is of fleshy 

 substance. My soil is new, not having 

 been cultivated for at least twenty years, 

 and treatment what I have given my 

 carnations in former years with good 



A Floral Train, Part of a Table Decoration for a Railway Offidah' Banquet. 



