846 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Fbbbuabx 16, 1906. 



then tamping cement around the post, 

 bringing it up about two inches above 

 the ground? Walls to be three feet 

 high from ground to plate. Would like 

 to hear from those -who have used cement 

 for this purpose. N. E. B. 



These white oak posts, although not 

 quite as good and lasting as red cedar, 



will do well for posts if erected in the 

 way proposed and ought to be good for 

 at least twelve years. By continuing the 

 cement between the posts in the' form of 

 A wall eight inches thick by about six- 

 teen inches deep and bringing it a few 

 inches abovB ground, thus keeping tiie 

 siding from contact with the ground, you 

 will have an ideal foundation. B. 



i< hwl <^^ <<jn. <#^Wi <<^ <#^^ <<Jw. '♦^ '^^H.y^^'^'n^m^n.'^m.^^'H.'^'^'m^ *<mwl<^^<#^ i 



THE RETAIL 



I f 



FLORIST, 



MUFF AND FERN BOUQUETS. 



Can you give me a description of a 

 bridesmaid's muff; aJso a fern bouquet 

 for matrons? I want to introduce both 

 in a wedding here February 21, but have 

 never had an opportunity to examine 

 the makeup of either. Any information 

 you can give me will be greatly appre- 

 ciated, G. P. M. 



A muff must be made on a frame the 

 size of which should be two-thirds the 

 size of the finished piece. Cover both 

 sides of the inside frame with tin foil. 

 This double covering is meant as a spe- 

 cial protection against picks or wire 

 which may have been driven in too far. 

 After lining the frame, fill with sphag- 

 num, as in other design work. Then 

 cover the sphagnum, a strip on the muff 

 lengthwise about the width of tin foil, 

 which shall be the back of the muff. 

 The muff will be heavy at best, so have 

 moss as dry as possible and still be damp 

 and use no more than seems necessary to 

 hold the fliowers in. Wrap closely with 

 green thread around through the inside 

 to hold the tin foil lining in place as well 

 as the moss. Have the filling even and 

 snug, so as to resist the pull of the 

 flowers, which must hang downwards. It 

 is well to cover the moss with wood ferns 

 as in the best class of other design work, 

 not forgetting the ends of the frame. 



Now as to the flowers and colors ; make 

 the piece of one kind and color. Violets 

 axe especially suitable. Carnations or 

 full blown roses could be used. Stem 

 flowers in the same way as for a piUow 

 except shorter. The best effect, how- 

 ever, is secured by setting the flower 

 well up on a half pick. Have the stems 

 not to exceed three inches. If violets 

 are used, stem four or six with a leaf on 

 one pick. If carnations or roses are 

 used, make solid without foliage. In 

 no case use roses in bud. Carnations are 

 much to be preferred to roses for this 

 piurpose. Fill in the edges of the muff, 

 so that the foil lining cannot be seen. 

 If violets are used, the inside lining of 

 the muff should be of violet foil. For 

 other flowers use green foil. Use the 

 dark foil for the strip at the back of the 

 muff also. Fill about three-quarters of 

 the way around, and use the vacant 

 strip to set the piece on while making 

 and boxing for delivery. 



The muff may or may not be finished 

 with a knot of violet cord hanging from 

 the lower edge of each end. I would 

 suggest that the frame be made after 

 the fashion of the large * * granny muffs * * 

 now in style, with the lower part larger 

 than the upper. 



The fern bouquet may be made either 

 after the style of an armful, round 

 bunch or shower, precisely as valley or 

 roses. It is taken for granted that 

 maidenhair is to be the fern used. From 

 one to two hundred fronds of good size 

 will be required. Probably the daintiest 

 arrangement for ferns is the shower, 

 and they are easily arranged, but for 

 one difficulty; with their small wiry 

 stems they bunch up too closely. To 

 get around, or rather between, this 

 trouble, take short stiff' sprays of Spren- 

 geri and set in between the stems so as 

 not to be seen from the top. This will 

 throw the fronds out and apart and 

 give the bunch an airy, fluffy effect. 

 Wire together very tightly and make 

 shower on gauze ribbon with sash of 

 same just as is done with flowers. 



Gertrude Blair. 



V^etable Forcing. 



It will interest vegetable forcers in 

 the vicinity of Chicago to know that in 

 1905 the Illinois Central railroad 

 brought to the Chicago market 18,000 

 refrigerator car loads of southern vege- 

 tables, 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



Chicago, Feb. 14. — Cucumbers, $1.75 

 doz. ; leaf lettuce, 40c to 55c case; head 

 lettuce, $4 to $5 bbl.; tomatoes, $1 to 

 $2 case; radishes, 50c doz. bunches; 

 watercress, 10c to 15c doz. bunches; 

 mushrooms. No. 1, 25c lb.; pieplant, 

 25c to 40c bunch; brussels sprouts, 20c 

 qt.; parsley, 20c to 35c doz. bunches. 



Boston, Feb. 12. — Cucumbers, $6 to 

 $18 box; tomatoes, 40c to 50c lb.; mush- 

 rooms, $1.50 to $2 per four-pound bas- 

 ket; radishes, 50c to $1 box; hothouse 

 spinach, 60c box; parsley, $1 to $1.25 

 box; mint, 75c doz. bunches. 



New York, Feb. 12. — Boston cucum- 

 bers, No. 1, $2 to $2,50 doz.; No. 2 

 $3 to $5 box; head lettuce, 50c to $1.25 

 doz.; radishes, $2 to $2.75 100 bunches; 

 mushrooms, 15c to 75c lb.; tomatoes, 15c 

 to 40c lb.; rhubarb, 40c to 60c do«. 

 bunches; mint, 75c to 90c doz. bunches. 



MUSHROOMS. 



Would you kindly give me a little in- 

 formation as to wnere I made a mis- 

 take in growing mushrooms? About No- 

 vember 1 I planted a bed and in about 

 thirty days they started to appear. 



They would get about one-half inch to 

 one and one-quarter inches in ' diameter, 

 with thousands at the pm-head ^tage, an.l 

 that was the last of them. The bed waa 

 probably prepared and planted different 

 than is practiced in the east, owing to 

 the intense evaporation here. Thn 

 manure was piled and turned several 

 times and in fifteen days I put it under 

 the center bench, seven feet wide, in th<;^ 

 greenhouse, eight inches deep in center, 

 sloping down to about two inches on the 

 edge of bed. On this I placed three to 

 four inches of soil, a mixture of garden 

 clay loam and a lighter soil and some 

 manure from the top of a hotbed, 

 spawning as soon as the bed was com- 

 pleted. The spawn was placed in the 

 soil instead of the nmnure and thor- 

 oughly wet down. It ran through the 

 soU nicely and the soil was full of the 

 white threads. I sprinkled the bed sev- 

 eral times with water about the tem- 

 perature of the building. Now, where 

 I think the mistake was made, was when 

 the mushrooms had started to grow I 

 was advised to wet the bed down thor- 

 oughly, which I did, and in a few days 

 there was nothing to be seen. There 

 were no heating pipes under the bench 

 and the temperature varied about 52 de- 

 grees to 60 degrees. Should ihe bench 

 have been curtained off to shut out the 

 light and heat? , 



This has been my second attempt and 

 second failure. I am naturally rather 

 persevering and will try it again and I 

 would like to avoid mistakes, if pos- 

 sible. M. E. D. 



Your failure may be attributed not to 

 one but to several points in your method 

 of cultivation, which I don't louk upon 

 as being just right. 



In the first place, your bed was too 

 shallow, although mushrooms can be 

 grown in a bed with a uniform depth 

 01 eight inches in a properly constructed 

 mushroom house where the best possible 

 conditions exist. Under conditions such 

 as you describe the bed should not be 

 under ten inches, and if twelve inches 

 deep so much the better. With a bed 

 of this depth made up with the ma- 

 terial in proper condition, enough moist- 

 ure should be retained to mature the 

 first crop without the necessity of water- 

 ing, and besides the larger body of ma- 

 terial will naturally retain the heat bet- 

 ter and be less liable to fluctuate with 

 the variations of the temperature of the 

 house. Again, the turning and working 

 of the manure only tends to waste the 

 chemical ingredients necessary to the de- 

 velopment of the crop. This is an old 

 custom, but it has been proven that bet- 

 tor mushrooms can be produced when 

 the bed is made up with the manure as 

 fresh as it can be procured, the thorough 

 packing of the material in making up 

 the bed being relied on to prevent over- 

 heating; hence, the firmer the material 

 is packed the better. 



It is a mistake to cover the bed with 

 soil and spawn as soon as completed. 

 After making up with the frosh ma- 

 terial as above, the temperature of the 

 bed will probably rise to about 110 de- 

 grees, but in the course of a few days 

 will begin to decline. After it has fallen 

 to 90 degrees or a little under, spawn- 

 ing may safely be done. We break the 

 spawn up into pieces about the size of 

 walnuts and insert these about eight 

 inches apart, in holes two inches deep in 

 the manure, covering with the matorial 

 composing the bed and beating down 

 firmly. In the course of a week, or 



