428 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Jam .\i;v I, Unit;. 



• iceiiis cacli Sfiisoii would prevent any ; 

 it'gret (111 the [>:\yi oi the builder, but if i 

 you Merc to cut out these two holidays, ' 

 and tlx' demand caused by them, 1 doubt 

 very niucli whetlicr there wouM be a foot 

 ni glass erectetl in tiie nexl three years 

 by any of the larf;e growers shijiping 

 tlu'lr stock inti) tliese markets. 



Now 1 do not want you to think fcr a 

 moment tiial I am a pessimist. i am ■ 

 far from it. 1 can see for the live 

 tlorist, be lie grower or retailer, the 

 brightest of futures. The business is 

 growing raj)idly and will continue to ' 

 grow, and for every energetic firm or 

 individual there is more business than ; 

 lie can hantlle. There arc thousands of 

 smaller growers who can sell many times | 

 more tlian they are able to produce most ' 

 of the time, and these arc in little dan- . 

 ger of overbuililing. Vou will, however, 

 lind that these growers either sell their 

 "iwii stock at retail, or else they dispose 

 of their stock without sending it through 

 these large markets. There are more 

 buyers who arc forced to go to these 

 large centers for stock, who would will- 

 ingly buy nearer home if the stock Avere 

 procurable, and the growers who are 

 located in the midst of such ojtjiortuiiity 

 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 will be 

 for those who ship into tiie large cen- 

 ters, unless the business increases more 

 rapidly than the glass area. The home- 

 grown stock will be gi\<n ili'' preference 

 when there is jdeuty, and the holiday 

 orders sent into the large market will be 

 just as heavy, making the holiday de- 

 mand he.'ivier and tiie regular demand 

 lighter. The large market will be ap- 

 pealed to more and more to su])ply the 

 shortage when the ]t)ca] supjdy is in- 

 adecjinte, and the r(gnlar orders will be 

 placed just as near home as they can 

 be taken care of satisfactorily. The 

 business done in any one of the j^resent 

 large centers will perhaps not diminish, 

 but you will find that as these growers 

 scattered around the country grow up 

 into large places and become able to 

 sui)j)ly the territory around them, the 

 long-distance orders that Avill go to the 

 large centers will be mostly special or- 

 ders and not regular ones, as they now 

 are. The business w ithin a few houns ' 

 ride ■nill, of course, grow and ])erhaps 

 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. 



Xow, I may ha\e elaborated on tliis 

 subject more tlian you expected, but it 



comes right in line with your inquiry 

 and from personal experience 1 feel that 

 tliese are tiie tendencies of the times and 

 tlie tiade. Eveiy man, of course, knows 

 his own business best and ought to 

 kiHiw whetiier he ought to build more 

 ileuses ui' not. Those who grow higb- 

 giaile stoik usually could sell more, while 

 tiiose wild grow the lower grades mostly, 

 usually liiid dillicnlty in disposing of 

 wiiat tiiey have. The general demand 

 need not bother you, it is the demand 

 tor your special stock that must govern 

 MMir building operations. 



A. F. J. P.AUK. , 



SCOTCH SOOT. ' 



Will you tell us about Scotch soot for 

 carnations' Is it very stimulating? Do 

 you use it dry or as a rujuid.' Mix it 

 witii earth or not.' What firoportions ? 

 Wiiat is tlie effect, lasting or iuimedi- I 

 ate J Sui)posing you liave been using i 

 sheep manure, bone and wood ashes and ' 

 no stable manure, then what .' I have | 

 1,70(1 carnations, Knchantress, .loe ^Ian- 

 ley, W'liite Lawsoii, Boston Market and 

 Mrs. Patten, i have grown carnations 

 in this small way since ]s\)\, and have 

 had the usual amount of stem-rot and 

 rust until last yeai', when I left off 

 usi»ig rotted sod and stable manure and 

 have used the above fertilizer with fine 

 success. Last year I lost no jdantd 

 finiii rot and only four this ye.ir. 

 We use the old soil in I'le '>enchcs 

 tliii'c vc;ir,s and be sure I'lid pl;.ul 

 Mil (lid ground iii tiie upeii, using 

 tile same fertilizer. We limigiit l.oOO 

 i(iote<l cuttings, ]ccei\ing J, ")()•"). jiotted 

 them all at one time, jilantcd out in 

 frames, then in the ground and tofik up 

 August 2(1, l.oo") and boiigiiL l-">ii more 

 plants and inve lost four since. I tliink 

 those were biokeii w lieil takl'll ill. 



C. A. (i. 



Soot is imt used very niiich on carna- 

 tions, tiiough it might be good in many 

 cases. It is used a good deal on chrysan- 

 themums, however, and its elVect ouglit 

 til be similar on carnations. Soot: is 

 used mostly to give tiie foliage a dark 

 gi'een color and it also deepens the c<ilor 

 of the bloom. It is considered to be a 

 foliage food altogether .-md is jiot suj)- 

 poseil to have much etVect on the size of 

 the blooms. There is no danger of in- 

 juring your plants with it. The usual 

 w:iv is to ]U!t about ;i iialf bushel of it 

 ill a liurlap bag and iiaiig it in a barrel 

 of water, weighting it enough to hold 

 it under llie surface. When \ mi see tiie 

 water is well eoloici! vnii cm wati-r tlie 



beds with it. This is better tiian to use 

 it dry. Wiieii used dry it blows over 

 everything on account of its lightness. 

 The etfects will be about as lasting as 

 with any otiier liquid food. I would 

 apply it about once in two weeks ;it this 

 time of tiie year. 



If you are having good success b\ 

 using the fertilizers you mention, then 

 1 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 

 orow as ociod stock as vour neighbors, 

 and it is quite probable t!iat you do. 

 then there is no reason why you shoiiM 

 not eliminate any manure tiiat you think 

 lias been causing you trouble (,tlier years. 

 We have tried using soil more than one 

 season, but could never get as good re 

 suits the second season as the first. We 

 do not consider fresh sod ground de- 

 sirable to plant on in the field, but would 

 rather lia\(' it cultivated one or two 

 seasons. A. F. J. Baur. 



A RAILROAD BANQUET. 



At the recent banquet to James .T. 

 Hill, at St. Paul, the feature of the 

 decoration was a lloral railroad track. 

 An embankment was built of moss and 

 galax upon which a track was made with 

 white carnations for rails and pink car- 

 naticuis for crossties. Wide tables were 

 us(m]. 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 lloral 

 trains. At each guest's plate was a 

 rilibon bearing the name of a station on 

 the (Ireat Northern Kailroad 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. Jj. .May & Co. The jjhoto 

 graphs reproduced in this issue do not 

 do it justice because of the lights, which 

 were too mucli for the operator. 



DETAILS LACKING. 



Hundreds ot my carnations iia\e some 

 kind of disease tiiat is yellowing the tips 

 of the foliage ;iiid ymmg shoots in s])ots. 

 On examining the roots 1 find what 

 S(>cms to be a \vliite fungus all ovei 

 the roots. <)ii the main stalk under 

 ground it is in rings, it is fif tiesliy 

 substance. My soil is new, not luiviiig 

 been cultivated for at least twenty years, 

 and treatment what I have givem my 

 carnations in t'oiiiier veais \\\i\\ good 



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



