1062 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mabch 8, 1906. 



thoughts and efforts concentrate, and 

 from this radiates all that we do and 

 all that we leave undone. A railroad 

 company does not beautify its station 

 grounds for philanthropic reasons. The 

 basic idea is to increase traffic and to 

 do this, surroundings are made as at- 

 tractive as possible. 



Another point we have aimed at is 

 hedging for the purpose of preventing 

 snow-drifts, as well as for ornament. 

 For this purpose we have found nothing 

 to beat \he California privet. We have 

 heard some complaint as to the hardiness 

 of this plant, but our experience has 

 been very fortunate. We have lost but 

 few, even in the bad years that killed 

 off so many in this latitude. The Osage 

 orange we have discarded entirely. It 

 is subject to scale and the robber roots 

 run all over the adjoining field. Be- 

 sides that, it is very hard to trim except 

 when :t is in the soft state. California 

 privet iS very easily trimmed. 



Use of Evergreens. 



I>uring the years that have elapsed 

 since I talked to you before, the most 

 decided change that has taken place in 

 methods is the increased use of hardy 

 herbaceous plants and evergreens. The 

 evergreen is not only showy in summer, 

 but is soothing and picturesque in win- 

 ter and gives that pleasing touch to the 

 landscape which we all so much appre- 

 ciate. All Xhe thuyas and retinosporas 

 are good, but I do not recommend the 

 arbor-vitse on account of the bag worm. 

 For embankments we find the Scotch 

 broom a very satisfactory shrub. We 

 do not use the Wichuraiana rose much 

 for embankments, as it costs too much to 

 prepare the soil. 



For shrubbery groups the weigelia, 

 forsythia, laburnum, Prunus Pissardi 

 and amygdalus are excellent. Of course 

 we have to depend on the old-fashioned 

 carpet beds to brighten things up with 

 color around the stations. 



Bedding Plants. 



Our best scarlet geranium is Denison 's 

 Seedling, and we also use a good many 

 of John Doyle, which is the same color. 

 6. A. Nutt is too dark for railroad pur- 

 poses and it does not clean itself 

 enough. Le Pilot is about as dark as 

 we can use effectively, but this variety 

 is running out somewhat and we need one 

 with a better constitution. In pinks 

 we pin our faith to Glorieaux. La Fa- 

 vorite is one of the best whites I have 

 tried. 



In cannas we still believe in Fuerst 

 Bismarck. It is an elegant bright scar- 

 let with green foliage, a fine grower and 

 blooms all the time. It also cleans itself 

 nicely and always looks fresh and bright. 

 Mile. Berat is a good pink and is grand 

 all by itself in a big bed. We like 

 Buttercup better than Florence Vaughan 

 for a yellow. Of the giant, orchid- 

 flowering cannas, we like Kate Grey the 

 best. For a large bed twenty or thirty 



feet in diameter this is hard to beat. 

 Bouvier, Egandale, and Madame Crozy 

 are still among our stand-bys. For a good 

 all-around dark foliaged variety, Egan- 

 dale is still in the race. 



EKAtive Bedding Pieces. 



One of the most effective pieces of bed- 

 ding last season was composed of cannas 

 and Souvenir d'Bonn abutilon with 

 Coleus Verschaffeltii. Another was com- 

 posed of Admiral Avellan canna, scarlet 

 sage and next the grass Coleus Ver- 

 schaffeltii. This had a fine effect, flowers 

 red, foliage red, the whole thing red, 

 wonderfully striking, indeed. 



We use eulalia quite freely for orien- 

 tal effects; but the arundo and pennise- 

 tum are not hardy enough for us. The 

 dwarf growing begonias sucT as Vernon 

 and other semperflorens varieties are 

 very useful and keep in bloom all sum- 

 mer long. They look best with an edg- 

 ing of Madame Salleroi geranium. A 

 combination of Abutilon Savitzii and 

 acalypha makes a beautiful contrast. 



We still use the Golden Bedder 

 coleus. It is hard to beat as a good 

 all-around yellow. Nero and Verschaf- 

 feltii are also good. We use peonies 

 freely, mixed in with the shrubbery. 

 Hardy phloxes are now much in vogue, 

 and we are finding them most valuable. 



For backgrounds, the hardy sunflowers 

 are grand and there is now a fine variety 

 of these to choose from. Anemones, 

 tulips, crocus and other things that can- 

 not be seen in winter, we leave alone, 

 as railroad workers have no respect for 

 anything they can't see. Everything 

 goes right under when they get at it 

 with pick and shovel. 



Station Grounds. 



From what I hear, Philadelphians are 

 quite proud of the ornamental character 

 of the Heading Bailroad stations in their 

 vicinity. It gives them something to 

 point to with satisfaction when strangers 

 are around, besides being pleasant to look 

 at for themselves. Personally, it would 

 not be in good taste for me to talk 

 about that, but I may be pardoned for 

 saying that in my recent travels through 

 the south, I saw nothing in the same 

 line that I wanted to take my hat off to. 



I did see a few wonderful things, 

 however. One of them was the croton 

 hedges in Florida. Imagine a hedge of 

 this brilliant foliage plant eight or ten 

 feet high and splendidly developed. 

 This was a revelation to me and really 

 a grand sight. The hibiscus, single and 

 double, was in bloom during my visit 

 and was simply covered with thousands 

 of blooms. These latter were especially 

 fine in the English colony in Nassau. 

 But as a rule, the southern country 

 looked to me poor and miserable. A 

 trip to Atlantic City is a treat in com- 

 parison. When you come to a hotel it 

 is O. K., but outside of that j'ou might 

 as well go to sleep. 



(jreenhonse fleating. 



A HEATER FOR HOTBEDS. 



The accompanying illustration is from 

 a drawing of the apparatus for heating 

 hotbeds, invented by Henry Austin, of 

 Felton, Del., and patented. The ob- 

 ject of the invention is to provide 

 a simple, inexpensive and efficient 

 apparatus for supplying heat for hotbeds 

 for starting and forcing early vegetables 

 and to enable the draft to be controlled, 

 so that the apparatus may be safely left 

 without attention for a considerable 

 length of time. A further object is 

 to provide an apparatus in which a 

 comparatively small amount of fire 

 wiU effectually heat large areas and 

 to provide means for preventing the 

 plants close to the fire from receiving 

 too much heat and those remote from 

 the fire receiving too little heat. 



The illustration shows a longitudinal 

 sectional view. No. 1 designates a hot- 

 bed designed in practice to be fifty feet 

 in length and ten feet in width; but it 

 may be of any other desired area, as will 

 be readily understood. Beneath the bed 

 is arranged a longitudinal chamber 2, 

 in which is located a longitudinal heat- 

 conduit 3, extending from a horizontal 

 furnace or heater 4, and the latter is 

 located below and extends beyond one 

 end of the bed. In constructing the hot- 

 bed a trench is dug and is covered with 

 transversely arranged poles 5, which 

 support the hotbed 1, 



The furnace or heater 4, which is pref- 

 erably cylindrical, is embedded in the 

 ground and is designed for burning 

 wood, but any other fuel may be em- 

 ployed. The furnace is provided with a 

 vertical cylindrical fuel-inlet 6, having 

 a removable top or cover 7 and extend- 

 ing above the surface of the ground. The 

 heat-conduit extends longitudinally from 

 and merges into the furnace or heater 4, 



Air is admitted to the outer end of 

 the furnace by a substantially L-shaped 

 inlet-pipe 10, which extends from the 

 lower portion of the heater or furnace to 

 a point above the surface of the ground. 

 The air-inlet pipe is provided at its up- 

 per or outer end with means for controll- 

 ing the admission of air. This means 

 consists of a cap 11, having a tubular 

 portion 12 extending into the upper end 

 of the air-inlet pipe and provided with 

 an annular series of apertures 13, adapt- 

 ed to permit air to enter the pipe 10. 

 The size of the apertures may be con- 

 trolled by raising or lowering the cap 11,. 

 which telescopes into the air-inlet j»ipe. 

 The upwardly extending branch or por- 

 tion of the air-inlet pipe is supported by 

 a brace 14 of sheet metal or other suita- 

 ble material, which embraces the air-inlet 

 pipe and which has its terminals secured 

 to the outer end or head 15 of the fur- 

 nace or heater. 



The heat-conduit, which rests upon the 



Henry Austin's Device for Heating Hotbeds. 



