12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mat 24, 1906. 



that for wide houses the width of twenty- 

 seven feet is preferred, with bars four- 

 teen feet long for the slope to the south 

 and sixteen feet to the north. Besides 

 these houses structures twenty feet wide 

 seem to be the next in favor, although 

 of course all widths occur. The height 

 of the gutter ranges from six feet six 

 inches to seven feet six inches, although 

 in some cases the gutters are set higher 

 and in others lower. About eighty-five 

 per cent of all the houses run east and 

 west, with the shorter slope to the south. 

 For north and south houses the even span 

 is in the majority. 



In regard to ventilation, the majority 



of florists prefer to hinge the ventilators 

 below, to the header. The wide houses 

 have the ventilators laid on both slopes, 

 especially if they are intended for rose 

 growing, while on narrower houses they 

 mostly are laid on one slope, and, if 

 there is a block of them, alternately on 

 one si^e for one house and on the other 

 for the next one. 



Quite a number of the features of the 

 Dietsch construction are covered by pat- 

 ent and on May 8 another was added, 

 as on that date Mr. Ickes was allowed a 

 patent for a metal strip to be used in 

 connection with greenhouse gutters and 

 plates to prevent breaking of glass. 



CARNATION INOTES.-WEST. 



Cultivatiae and Watering. 



I have always contended that it is 

 folly to water carnations in the field 

 after they once get a fair start, even 

 though the season may be quite dry. 

 Experience has taught us that plants 

 grown rather dry and slowly are in 

 much better shape for transplanting 

 than those that have an abundance of 

 water all through the season. By this 

 I do not mean that the plants can go 

 without rain entirely, but 1 claim that if 

 cultivated properly the plants will thrive 

 and produce excellent plants with much 

 less rain than most growers imagine, 

 and a very few good, soaking rains will 

 suffice for the outdoor season. The culti- 

 vating must be thorough and frequent, 

 however. "We cultivate just as soon after 

 each rain as the soil can be worked satis- 

 factorily, and if it does not rain for a 

 week we go over them again. So they 

 are cultivated at least once each week, 

 and in some instances oftener. 



Every grower knows the wisdom in 

 keeping the surface of the soil on his 

 benches loosened up, or the value of a 

 mulch of loose material to keep in mois- 

 ture. Just so in the field. When the 

 hot sun beats down and draws the mois- 

 ture out of the ground a layer of loose 

 soil will help wonderfully to hold the 

 moisture. No doubt you have noticed 

 how quickly the soil dries out and bakes 

 after a rain if it is not loosened up. That 

 is not the only time the soil will bake, 

 however. You will notice that even if 

 the soil appears dry after the sun beats 

 down on it several days, it forms a crust 

 on top, perhaps on account of the dew, 

 and in time it will bake just as it does 

 after a rain. The soil should never be 

 allowed to get into such a condition, as 

 it is very injurious to the plants, often 

 burning the foliage, and several good, 

 soaking rains are required to put the 

 soil into proper condition again. Fre- 

 quent cultivating will prevent all this, 

 the more frequent the better. 



This spring we have found it neces- 

 sary to lay a water pipe out to the car- 

 nation field and do some watering. On 

 May 18 we had our first rain in over two 

 weeks, and the ground was getting very 

 dry in places. Those plants that were 

 set out before the previous rain took hold 



nicely and are growing finely, but those 

 that had no water after having been set 

 out began to suffer after about ten days 

 of drouth. A good watering from the 

 hose of course did them a world of good, 

 but the rain was of much greater value. 



In a case of this kind, of course, it 

 would be foolish to sit by and let the 

 plants dry up. A watering, whether it is 

 in the shape of rain or from the hose, 

 is necessary to settle the soil around the 

 roots, just as it is when you plant on 

 your benches or in pots. We do not ex- 

 pect to water these plants any more, how- 

 ever. 



When you water be sure it is heavy 

 enough to go through the dry soil. A 

 light watering will do very little good, 

 as the sun will soon draw it out of the 

 soil, and it will have to be repeated fre- 

 quently to do any good at all. A thor- 

 ough soaking and then cultivation as 

 soon as the ground is fit is the proper 

 way. In that way it will do almost as 

 much good as a rain. 



A good rain, however, beats all the 

 watering you can do. Not because rain 

 water is any better than any other, but 

 because when it rains, the atmosphere 

 becomes moisture-laden and the moisture 

 is not drawn from the soil as quickly as 

 it is when the atmosphere is dry and the 

 sun is beating down. A half-inch of 

 rain is better than an inch of water from 

 the hose on a hot day. So do not resort 

 to watering except to get your plants 

 started or very extreme cases of drouth, 

 but keep the cultivator going, and de- 

 pend on it to keep your soil in good con- 

 dition. A. F. J. Baur. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



[The Culture of Water Lilies and Aquatic 

 Plants, by Peter Henderson & Co.] 



The latest of the many special publica- 

 tions of Peter Henderson & Co. is a re- 

 vised edition of "The Culture of Water 

 Lilies and Aquatic Plants." It is a 

 handsomely printed pamphlet of forty- 

 four pages and contains excellent chap- 

 ters on the several phases of water 

 gardening, including instructions tor the 

 making of water gardens and the selec- 

 tion of stock for such purposes. There 

 are a number of pages devoted to de- 

 scriptive lists of varieties and also a 

 chapter on raising water lilies from seed. 

 The book is freely and handsomely illus- 

 trated. The commercial side is repre- 

 sented only by a couple of pages of index 

 and price list at the back. 



THE MAGNOLIA. 



The first flowers of spring are always 

 in demand, and every florist who handles 

 flowering trees and shrubs has many calls 

 for those earliest to bloom. Of these 

 none is more attractive than Magnolia 

 Yulan, usually known as Magnolia con- 

 spicua. It is among the first to flower, 

 its large, white blooms expanding before 

 other subjects have shown bud and, in 

 fact, before its own leaves have started. 



Wilhelm Miller, in the Gardening Mag- 

 azine, writes: "Imagine a symmetrical 

 tree 20x20 feet evenly laden throughout 

 with thousands of these white chalices 

 that turn to stars just before the flowers 

 drop their petals and make a snow bank 

 on the lawn. Nothing purer or sweeter 

 can be imagined, but it is a little cold 

 for the time of year. The first flowers of 

 spring are pallid. Who can make red 

 blood in the marble cheek of this 

 flower?" 



The accompanying illustration is from 

 a photograph taken in April at Garfield 

 park, Chicago. The ever-increasing num- 

 ber of florists who handle hardy flower- 

 ing stock at a profit will find a plant of 

 this magnolia on their home grounds the 

 means of bringing them a large number 

 of orders for it. 



FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS. 



[A paper read before the Morris County Gar- 

 deners' and Florists' Society, Madison, N. J., 

 on May 9, 1906, by Arthur Herrlngton.] 



The floral story of the year, as we read 



it in successive chapters contributed by 

 the flowering trees and shrubs, is one of 

 rich and fascinating beauty. "Age can 

 not wither nor custom stale ' ' this infinite 

 variety of beautiful life which contrib- 

 utes so much to the joy of living, espe- 

 cially just at this time, when vegetation 

 awakes from its long winter sleep and 

 bursts into glowing masses of brilliant 

 bloom. 



Almost every country has its character- 

 istic features of vegetation, but the floral 

 feature that most impresses me in Amer- 

 ican gardens is the lavish profuseness 

 with which our flowering trees and shruus 

 enwreath themselves in blossom every 

 year. You must have remarked and no- 

 ticed it, and appreciated the enhanced 

 beauty of many things that we have 

 known all our lives, but only in latter 

 years under American associations. 



Let me cite but one instance — that of 

 the glowing yellow Forsythia suspensa. 

 It has been a familiar shrub to me since 

 boyhood days and there comes back to 

 me recollections of benumbed fingers 

 training and tying the shoots to garden 

 walls on cold winter days, and then the 

 subsequent flowering; but what was the 

 result and what the display in com- 

 parison with that of the same shrub 

 grown here without special care. 



Forsythia in Flower. 



As I write these notes I look out of 

 the window, and two miles away I can 

 easily distinguish a mass of forsythia 

 in flower upon a hillside, and what is 

 there to compare with it? — and at so 

 early a date when even green leaves exist 

 only in tender, budding embryos. For 

 equal effect in color I can only recail 

 one thing — a mass of yellow broom, or of 

 furze, as they grow on dry slopes in 

 England, but these are not hardy here. 

 What the forsythia so fittingly exempli- 

 fies is further and frequently expressed 

 by other shrubs that succeed it in times 

 of blooming. 



The importance of these things should 

 not be lost to us, because they are com- 



