May 10, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



1783 







Establishment of Ludvig Mosbaek, Onarga, Illinois. 



laying pipes in a trench and covering 

 well with asbestos or mineral wool or 

 some other nonconducting fire-proof ma- 

 terial. "We have a 2-inch steam pipe 

 crossing an orchard a distance of 250 

 feet, ten feet above the ground. It 

 carries thirty pounds of steam to a range 

 of houses the farthest end of which is 

 500 feet from the boiler and in crossing 

 the orchard we frequently notice icicles 

 hanging from the covering of the pipe, 

 but you will, if you are wise, use hot 

 water and put in a heater large enough 

 to warm well what you may build in 

 future; or, if you can't afford to do 

 that, then be sure to have heater and 

 pipes enough to keep the proper tem- 

 perature at your coldest weather. Then 

 all the rest of the time you will be sav- 

 ing fuel, and when you duplicate your 

 range of glass put in another heater 

 of ample capacity and connect them so 

 that in case of a break-down in one 

 heater you are not thrown on your beam 

 ends, which in nautical slang means that 

 the ship is laying on her side ready to 

 sink. 



As far as building material and build- 

 ing are concerned, write to the many 

 experienced horticultural builders telling 

 them the height and width of the houses 

 and how much side glass you wish, size 

 of doors and ventilators and they will 

 send you estimates on everything cut and 

 fitted, so that any ordinary mechanic, or 

 yourself, can put it up. Don't think of 

 a local contractor. They know as little 

 about greenhouse building as they do of 

 Greek mythology. 



Let your ventilation be continuous and 

 thirty-six inches deep from the ridge. 

 You don't need side ventilation. And 

 don't use in your heating pipes anything 

 less than 2-inch pipes. If you run against 

 a snag in your heating problem write to 

 the Review and we will help you out. 

 Of course you will use for material only 

 the best cypress lumber and 16x24 glass. 

 I have never seen a piece of decayed cy- 

 press yet after using it twenty years. 

 Possibly about the time I pass away, 

 1950, there may be some discovered. 



W. S. 



Oelwein, Ia. — J. Dickson has charge 

 of the Chicago & Great Western railway 

 greenhouses here. 



QUICK ACTION WINS. 



Some men know better than others 

 how to grow plants, and in some the 

 business instinct is the more highly de- 

 veloped. Ludvig Mosbsek not only knows 

 how to produce the stock but he has the 

 faculty of selling; he knows how to make 

 the stock move, how to make the wheels 

 go round, faster and faster. 



For years Mr. Mosbsek was in market 

 gardening at South Chicago, 111., but 

 after a time he began to see a larger 

 field and a better profit in devoting his 

 glass to plants and gradually displaced 

 lettuce with spring stuff. "With his com- 

 mercial ideas it was not long until he 

 needed more room. The old place accord- 

 ingly was sold and a new range of eight 

 houses built at Onarga, 111,, since which 

 time the business has assumed several 

 times its former proportions. Not only are 

 spring plants grown in quantity, but 

 stock for fall and winter is provided for 

 a quick rotation of crops and a large 

 collection of hardly perennials, phlox, 

 peonies, etc., is being established. Sev- 

 eral acres are devoted to cannas and 

 dahlias, and pansies are grown by the 

 hundred thousand. He secures his pansy 

 seed abroad. Several thousand pansies 

 are shipped daily during the spring 

 planting season. 



Having the stock ready, Mr. Mosbsek 

 came to a shrewd conclusion that might 

 well be imitated by others; he conceived 

 the notion that promptness would pay. 

 He does not let a deal hang fire. If it 

 is an inquiry it is answered the day it is 

 received. If it is an order it is shipped 

 the day received. It is a policy which 

 has had a great deal to do in building 

 up his business. He had forty-six people 

 on his pay roll last week, for of course 

 this is the busiest season, several wagons 

 of express going out every day. Of 

 course the bulk of the shipments go to 

 points in Illinois and contiguous states, 

 but the trade extends to the most dis- 

 tant parts of the country, and every day 

 stock goes out to "Washington, Oregon, 

 Texas and New England. This is the 

 heaviest year to date and the trade 

 promises to keep up well, so that next 

 year a still further increase will be 

 striven for and may reasonably be ex- 

 pected. ^ ».' 



Vegetable Forcing. 



Toledo, O. — Crane Bros., who are said 

 to have the largest range of greenhouses 

 in the state, are just finishing an addi- 

 tion. They are lettuce growers. 



GouvERNEUR, N. Y. — A number of 

 young business men of this village have 

 under consideration a plan for the or- 

 ganization of a company to engage in 

 the raising of vegetables. An option has 

 been procured on ten acres of land on 

 the Clinton street road, and it is pro- 

 posed to erect eight greenhouses, each 

 100 feet long. It is hoped to incorpo- 

 rate within a few days with a capital 

 stock of $10,000. E. C. Gonderman is 

 interested in the movement. 



Fremont, Mich.— R. L. <Jhamberlain, 

 of Chamberlain & Bunker, made a spe- 

 cial trip to Chicago to investigate the 

 working of the "Wittbold watering de- 

 vice. He was so well pleased with it 

 that he placed an order for a lot of pipe 

 and nozzles for trial. He says that 

 "after looking over the system I am 

 convinced that mechanical spraying is a 

 success. "We expect to equip our whole 

 place of 100,000 feet of glass with the 

 Wittbold system as fast as we can get 

 at it." ^ 



CUCUMBERS. 



With increasing warmth and abund- 

 ance of light the plants make a much 

 quicker and stronger growth as the 

 season advances. Setting of the flowers 

 is also accomplished much easier, but 

 insect pests become correspondingly 

 more numerous and more troublesome. 

 Chief among these are thrips and red 

 spider. As I have stated before in these 

 articles, these might be kept down by 

 syringing if it were not for the tender- 

 ness of the foliage, which unfortunately 

 will not withstand without laceration the 

 water applied with sufficient force to dis- 

 lodge the insects. This makes it neces- 

 sary to use some cheap and effective in- 

 .scctieide for spraying the foliage occa- 

 sion.illy. 



We have found tobacco extract as- 



