846 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Fkuuuary 15, 1906. 



then tainpiiij:; ccmeut around the post, 

 bringinjjj it iij) about two inches above 

 the ground.' Walls to be three feet 

 liigh from ground to phite. Would like 

 to hear from those who have used cement 

 for this purposi'. N. E. B. 



These white oak ])osts, 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 

 e^Muent between the posts in the form of 

 a wall eight inches thick by about six- 

 teen inches tlcep and bringing it a few 

 inches above ground, thus keeping the 

 silling from contact with the ground, you 

 will have an ideal foundation. R. 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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MUFF AND FERN BOUQUETS. 



• an Ni'ii ^i\i> Ilk' a ilcscript icii ni' a 



briiit'siiiaid 's iiiiilV; also ;i I'cni luiuinit't 



for mat rmiv .' I want Id iiit rodiicc both 



in a wfdiliiiii lii'ic I't'l'ruarv •_' I . but lia\c 



luniT liad ail (i|i|uirliiiiit v Id f\ainiiii> 



tho iiiaKciip lit' cilln'r. Any iiit'oiniation 



yoii rail L^iM' lilt' will 111' tiicatly appn' 



ciatcd. (;.!'. M. 



A miitV iiiii>t ln' iiKult' (HI a I'rainc the 

 size oi wliitii >lieiil(l he two-thirds tlie 

 size of the finished jiiece. ('o\er Imtli 

 sides of the inside frame with tin foil. 

 This double coxering is meant as a sjie- 

 eial j)rotection against picks or wire 

 which Tuay have been driven in loo far. 

 After lining the frame, till witli s[)liag 

 num. as in other design work. Then 

 lOver the s|iliagnuni, a stri{> on the mutV 

 lengthwise about the width of tin foil, 

 which shall be the back of the mulV. 

 The mutV will be heavy at best, so have 

 moss as dry as possible and still be damp 

 .md use no more than seems necessary to 

 hold the llowers in. Wrap closely with 

 green thread around tiirougli the inside 

 to hold the tin foil lining in place as weU 

 as the moss. Have the filling even and 

 snug, so as to resist the ]udl of the 

 tlowers. 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. 



iSiow as to the llowers anil ciilors; make 

 the piece of one kind and color. Violets 

 are especially suitable. Carnations or 

 full Mown roses could be used. Stem 

 Howeis in the same way as for a pillow 

 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 

 purpose. Fill in the edges of the muff, 

 so that the foil lining rannot be seen. 

 If violets are used, the inside lining of 

 the muff should be of violet foil. For 

 other llowers use green foil. Use the 

 dark foil for the striji at the back of the 

 muff also. Fill about three-quarters of 

 the way around, and use the vacant 

 stri]i to set the piece on while making 

 and boxing for delivery. 



The muff may or may not be finished 

 w ith a knot of violet cord hanging from 

 the lower edge of earh end. I would 

 suggest that the frame be made after 

 the fashion of the large "granny muffs" 

 now in style, witli the lower part larger 

 thnn the upper. 



The fern bouquet may be nmde either 

 after the style of an armful, round 

 bunch or shower, precisely as valley or 

 roses. it is taken for granted that 

 uuridenhair is to be the fern useil. 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 dillieulty; 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 sot 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, lluft'y effect. 

 Wire together very tightly and make 

 shower on gauze ribbon with sash of 

 same just as is done with flowers. 



Gertrude Blair. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



It will interest vegetable forcers in 

 the vicinity of C'hicago to know that in 

 1!H)3 the Illinois Central railroad 

 brought to the Chicago market 18,000 

 refrigerator car loads of southern vege- 

 tables. 



VEGETABLE MARKETS. 



c^'iiiCAGO, Feb. 14. — Cucumbers, $1.75 

 doz. ; leaf lettuce, 40c to r)oc case ; head 

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

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

 watercress. Idc to loc doz. bunches; 

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

 ■J5c to 4<ie bunch; brussels sjirouts, 20c 

 qt. ; jiarsley. "JOc to ooc doz. bunches. 



Boston, Feb. 12. — Cucumbers, $6 to 

 $1S box; tomatoes, 40c to 50c lb.; mush- 

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

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

 spinach, (iOc box; jiarsley. $1 to $1,25 

 box ; mint, 75c doz. bunches. 



New ^ork. l''eb. 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; 

 nuishrooms, 15c to 75e lb.; tomatoes, 15c 

 to 40c lb.; rhubarb, 40c to 60c doz. 

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



MUSHROOMS. 



Would you kindly give me a little in- 

 formation as to wuere 1 made a mis- 

 take in growing mushrooms f About No- 

 vember 1 I planted a bed and in about 

 thirty days they started to appear. 



They would get about one-half inch ; , 

 one and one-quarter inches in diamett 

 with thousands at the pin-head stage, ae 

 that was the last of them. The bed w, : 

 j)robably ])rcpared and j)lanted differei 

 than is practiced in the east, owing i 

 the intense evaporation here. Tii 

 manure was piled and turned sever; 

 times and in hfteen days 1 put it undt 

 the center bench, seven feet wide, in th 

 greenhouse, eight inches deep in centci 

 sloping down to about two inches on th 

 edge of bed. On this 1 placed three t 

 four inches of soil, a mixture of garde, 

 clay loam and a lighter soil ancl som 

 manure from the top of a hotbecl 

 spawning as soon as the bed was com 

 pleted. The spawn was ])laced in th 

 soil instead of the manure and thoi 

 oughly wet down. It ran through the 

 soil nicely and the soil was full of th< 

 white threads. I sprinkled the bed sev 

 oral times with water about the tern 

 perature of the building. Now, where 

 I think the mistake was made, was wheti 

 tho mushrooms had started to grow 1 

 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 the bench 

 have been curtained off to shut out tho 

 light and heat? 



This has been my second attempt and 

 second failure. I am naturally rather 

 persevering and will try it again and 1 

 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 lo ik 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 

 oi 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- 

 ter 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 bad with 

 soil and spawn as soon as completed. 

 After making up with the fresh 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 00 degrees or a little under, spawn- 

 ing may safely be done. We break the 

 spawn up into jiieces about the size of 

 walnuts and insert these about eight 

 inches apart, in holes two inches deep in 

 the manure, covering with the material 

 composing the bed and beating down 

 firmlv. In the course of a week, or 



