346 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



June 28, 1906. 



Preparation for Staging. 



The whole collection should be pre- 

 sented on the exhibition table as fresh 

 as possible, and no pains should be 

 spared to have them so, for if wilted or 

 stale in any way, it would go severely 

 against them. Now, as to the manner 

 of staging. The collection should be 

 made as artistic as possible, not merely 

 a dish of each kind, placed on a bare 

 table in straight lines, for this method 

 does not appeal to me at all. Instead, 

 a background should be formed of the 

 larger kinds, and the smaller grouped in 

 front of them. 



No receptacles, such as dishes, etc., 

 are necessary. The whole group should 

 be nicely trimmed with fresh parsley, 

 and it is surprising, with the exercise 

 of a little ingenuity in arrangement, 

 what a beautiful eflfect can be produced, 

 even with a collection of vegetables. 



In conclusion, I would strongly urge 

 young gardeners to give more attention 

 to the cultivation of vegetables than now 

 prevails. Gardeners are more equally 

 matched as regards equipment in this 

 line than in the culture of flowers and 

 fruits under glass. No costly green- 

 houses are necessary to produce, in sum- 

 mer and autumn, at any rate, the most 

 of the species. Good soil and some fer- 

 tilizer, and doing the work that is to 

 be done, at the right time — this is the 

 main point that leads to success. A gar- 

 dener that cannot produce good vege- 

 tables will find himself in difficulties with 

 his employer sooner or later, as the ma- 

 jority of thjm like something good to 

 eat as well 4ab' something pretty to ad- 

 mire in the way of plants and flowers. 



ABOUT CUTWORMS. 



One of the queries from the question 

 box, "How can cutworms be destroyed?" 

 gave place to a lively discussion at the 

 meeting of the Boston Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club on June 19 and quite a 

 variety of remedial measures were sug- 

 gested. Charles Sander started the ball 

 rolling by stating that the surest way to 

 get rid of them is "to catch them by 

 the head and tail and separate them. ' ' C. 

 W. Ward said he uestroys them indoors 

 by sterilizing all his compost used in car- 

 nation houses. It also destroys all 

 aphis and he has very little red spider. 

 Thrips, however, will come in from 

 outdoors. Sterilization is expensive, but 

 he finds it pays. A. E. Parsons said 

 Paris green and fresh bran are relished 

 by the worms and he has used it to good 

 purpose. W. H. Elliott said they cause 

 him a tremendous amount of labor and 

 expense in his big asparagus houses. 

 As his plants stay in the houses an aver- 

 age of ten j'ears, sterilization cannot be 

 used there. He spends $400 to $500 a 

 year on a sort of Dalmation powder to 

 sprinkle around and he also employs a 

 man at night practically the year around 

 catching and destroying them from the 

 vines. 



Peter Fisher said he has had one or 

 two severe attacks of them at intervals 

 of five years. He used Dalmatian pow- 

 der and found it works well. Kenneth 

 Finlayson said he has known gas lime 

 to be used outdoors by C. M. Atkinson 

 and others and it was claimed to be a 

 very excellent preventive. Duncan Fin- 

 layson said he has found that cutworms, 

 while they would eat onions ravenously, 

 seemed to have a cordial dislike for 

 Scotch soot; by sprinkling it on and 

 about carnations and other crops he 

 found the worms stopped there and went 



to other parts of his garden. We tried 

 this latter remedy the past two seasons 

 and it certainly saves carnations and 

 violets from being chewed to pieces. 



We used gas lime at the rate of 200 

 pounds per acre some years ago spread 

 broadcast in the fall and found it prac- 

 tically cleared out the pests. It is cer- 

 tainly worthy a trial by any who are 

 badly afflicted with cutworms. Hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas was tried by Peirce 

 Bros., of Waltham, last winter in their 

 large carnation houses. While it in- 

 jured the carnations a good deal, the 

 cutworms did not seem to mind it in 

 the least. Dragging a bag soaked in 

 kerosene through the rows of outdoor 

 plants will keep the pests away. The 

 bag needs soaking occasionally and, of 

 course, should not come in contact with 

 the plants. W. N. C. 



Greenhouse Beating. 



RADIATION REQUIRED. 



Please tell me if two 2-inch overhead 

 flows and eleven 1 14 -inch returns, using 

 hot water, would be sufficient to heat a 

 house 22x100 to 60 degrees in zero 

 weather, with a twenty horse-power 

 boiler. L. G. B. 



The eleven l^^-inch returns supplied 

 by 2-inch flows will not provide suf- 

 ficient radiation for the house in ques- 

 tion during severe weather. To maintain 

 a temperature of 60 degrees in the 

 house, with water at 180 degrees, four- 

 teen 114 -inch pipes will be necessary. 

 While the two 2-inch flows will have 

 just about capacity enough to carry 

 this amount of radiation, I believe that 

 one 3-inch flow, which provides about 

 100 feet more capacity than the two 

 2-inch lines, will give better satisfaction. 

 If for any reason the 3-inch riser cannot 

 be used, the two 2-inch risers will un- 

 doubtedly do the work. L. C. C. 



OVERHEAD PIPING. 



I would like to inquire what will be 

 the best method of heating three houses 

 with hot water, each 100 feet long and 

 fourteen feet six inches wide, without 

 partition walls. Gutters are six feet 

 above ground, ridge nine feet from 

 ground. The south wall contains thirty- 

 six inches of stationary glass; all 

 gables are built of glass and have sash 

 doors. The first house is about eight 

 feet away from the boiler. 



The houses run east and west, and 

 are located east of another set of houses 

 running west. These two sections of 

 houses are connected with a shed eighteen 

 feet wide and nine feet high, running 

 north and south. As I intend to have 

 this shed slightly heated, I am thinking 

 of running the fiow and return pipes 

 through it from both new and old houses. 



The houses are provided with solid 

 beds twelve inches from the ground. A 

 walk runs along each of the gutter posts, 

 and the beds on both sides are to be 

 tended from this walk, consequently I 

 do not wish to obstruct the passages be- 

 tween the posts. 



Would I get full benefit from the heat 

 by putting the pipes on brackets direct- 

 ly under the gutters and having the flow 

 pipes suspended irom the ridge? The 

 houses have no support outside of gut- 

 ters, and have heavy wire to keep them 

 from spreading. I wish all piping ar- 



ranged so that it will not interfere with 

 walks and doors. The walls of the houses 

 are built of sheathing, double-ply build- 

 ing paper and drop siding, glass 16x18, 

 top ventilation, I desire 50 or 52 de- 

 grees at 10 degrees below zero. 



What size flows and returns do you 

 consider best, and how should they be 

 divided up? My idea was to start from 

 the boiler with a 4-inch flow and reduce 

 it to 3-inch for the third house, and sup- 

 ply each house with a 3-inch flow, run- 

 ning it to the highest point at the 

 farthest end. I intended to use 2-ineh 

 returns in the houses, and empty them 

 all into a 4-inch return through the shed 

 to the boiler. 



I should have stated that, as there is 

 a walk along the south and north walls, 

 piping may be attached to posts at any 

 height, as far as obstruction is con- 

 cerned. 



My boiler is located six feet below the 

 level of the greenhouses, and the present 

 expansion tank will not be as high as the 

 flow pipe at the highest point. It can't 

 be raised without raising the roof of 

 the shed; how would it do to connect 

 another expansion tank to the return of 

 the new houses in the adjacent shed? 

 This would bring it eight feet away 

 from the boiler." How large and high 

 should an expansion tank be supplying 

 eight houses each 17x85? C. C. W. 



I have read with interest the plan you 

 propose for arranging the heating pipes 

 in your new houses. While I have never 

 observed a plant piped in this manner, 

 I see no reason why it should not give 

 satisfaction. The only objection I would 

 have to it is that the hot pipes would 

 be near the heads of the workmen, which 

 I fear would make it unpleasant. 



To heat the houses that you propose 

 by the use of a flow pipe under the 

 ridge in each house and the returns 

 arranged on arms or brackets on either 

 side of the gutter, it will require a 

 21^-inch flow in each of the outside 

 houses and a 2-inch flow in the center 

 house. The outside houses should have 

 seven returns, four on the outside wall 

 and three on the brackets of the inside 

 gutter, that is, if 2-inch pipe is used. 

 The middle house can undoubtedly be 

 heated with five 2-inch returns, three on 

 the most exposed gutter and two on the 

 other. The pipes arranged in this man- 

 ner will obstruct some light, but prob- 

 ably not more than in any other position 

 by the overhead system. The 4-inch 

 main flow will be ample for the three 

 houses and can be reduced from four to 

 three inches after the middle house has 

 been passed. The expansion tank should 

 be large, connected direct to the main 

 return near the boiler and located sev- 

 eral feet, ten or twelve, above the high- 

 est point of the piping in the houses. 

 If the height of the present potting shed 

 will not suffice, place the tank on a plat- 

 form supported on the roof, and box 

 in the whole thing. The success of hot 

 water under such conditions will be de- 

 termined largely by the height of the ex- 

 pansion tank. A tank of fifty gallons 

 should be sufficient for this plant. 



L. C. C. 



Columbus, O. — The Florists* Club 

 has decided to hold another chrysanthe- 

 mum show next fall. The members were 

 led to this decision, by the l^ge number 

 of requests received that they give 

 another such as they had last fall. The 

 show will probably be held in the city 

 hall in November. 



