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1122 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



September 20, 1906. 



railroad station, but wandered through 

 the county of Erie for three weeks until 

 he had located the spot which was cov- 

 ored with the sod that he believed would 

 grow prime roses. His judgment and 

 patience have been rewarded by the great 

 succcHS that has followed his efforts. 



What Large Growers Do. 



On a visit to Salter Bros., of Eoch- 

 ester, N. Y., some years ago when Bobby 

 Bard, now of Syracuse, was their fore- 

 man and rose grower, I remarked, from 

 the excellent condition of their roses, 

 that they must have good soil. One of 

 the firm remarked, "It ought to be 

 good; it cost $5 a yard." This price 

 would scare many florists. Yet they get 

 it all back, and good profit on the out- 

 lay. 



The large growers of roses in the 

 city of Wilkesbarre, Pa., go out in the 

 country, buy a tract of land, haul by 

 wagon the soil four or five miles to the 

 cars, Ihen a railroad journey of thirty 

 miles, and another short haul to their 

 houses. This may be an extreme case, 

 but it illustrates how important is the 

 question of good soil in the opinion of 

 wise men. 



W. J. Palmer, Lancaster, N. Y., has 

 within . a few years bought a 90-acre 

 farm within teaming distance of his 

 large plant, not to raise Jersey cattle. 

 South Down sheep, or Berkshire hogs, 

 but to supply him with soil for his roses 

 and carnations. 



Now Is the Time. 



Why this is a seasonable reminder is 

 because your roses and carnations are 



depend entirely on bringing soil to form 

 the compost pile. 



So I say to you, brethren and sons, 

 don't spare expense in preparing a suf- 

 ficient quantity of good soil. When 

 spring comes, you will bless yourself 

 for the foresight in being prepared. 1 

 do not attach, so much importance to the 

 texture of the soil as to its freshness. 

 Soil that never has grown an artificial 

 crop, only our natural grasses that grew, 

 flourished and died to restore to Mother 

 Earth the elements they borrower!, is 

 what we should use. 



Theory of Bacteria. 



Nearly every writer on gardening rec- 

 ommends, for the great majority of 

 plants, a fibrous loam. The fiber is the 

 roots of the grasses. What is there in 

 the fiber that is of so much benefit to 

 the roots of the plants you are culti- 

 vating? No doubt the mechanical use 

 of the fibrous roots is of benefit, as they 

 would keep the soil porous and open, 

 which is of undoubted benefit. But that 

 is not all. On asking a learned profes- 

 sor of our city what there was so bene- 

 ficial to plant life in decaying fibrous 

 roots, he replied that possibly in the 

 process of decay of the fibrous roots 

 there are bacteria set free that are most 

 beneficial to the feeding roots of living 

 plants. The science of bacteria was 

 unheard of forty years ago. Since that 

 the knowledge of these minute creatures 

 is the great weapon that medical science 

 uses to combat all the known diseases. 

 There is only one disease, divorce, that 

 scientists have not discovered the bacil- 

 lus of, and that may come. All bac- 



House of Mrs. Lawson Carnation at Frank B. nine's. 



all on the bench, or should be, and there 

 is no time less well filled than from now 

 until the first part of November. In 

 the whole cycle of the year there is no 

 time when the work in the houses is 

 done. It is only a matter of how well 

 or how thoroughly it is done, but a little 

 neglect in the fall is not so dangerous 

 as in the spring. And for other reasons 

 fall is the time to make your compost 

 piles. Some are fortunate enough to 

 have a farm surrounding them that will 

 supply them with soil for many years. 

 Others may have only a, few acres, and 

 the majority of city florists have their 

 whole place covered with glass, and must 



teria are not injurious. Many of these 

 minute pollywogs add to our pleasure 

 and luxury. Without tiiem we should 

 not have the good, old ale or the ripe, 

 old cheese, and many other things that 

 please the epicurean palate. Thert 

 would be no decay of vegetable or animal 

 matter, so these microscopical creatures 

 (seven millions to the cubic centimeter) 

 are a blessing in disguise — very much in 

 disguise. 



Get Top of Pasture. 



Whether the professor's theory of the 

 decaying fiber is right or wrong, we will 

 get down to the practical question. By 



all means, for all your pot-grown plants 

 get the top three inches of a pasture. 

 Pile it up in layers six inches in thick- 

 ness, and for every six inches of sod 

 spread three inches of fresh cow manure. 

 If that is not to be had, then short stable 

 manure will do. Reserve any addition 

 of chemical manure till the soil is on 

 the benches or the Dotting bench. 



Build your pile of sod with perpen- 

 dicular walls and a flat top. Decompo- 

 sition of the sod or manure will not be 

 rapid if dry. So a number of holes 

 made by a crowbar will let a soaking of 

 water penetrate the whole mass. If this 

 pile of sod is prepared within a few 

 weeks, you will be able, before a freeze- 

 up comes, to chop it down and throw it 

 into a long heap, which will not only 

 thoroughly mix it, but render it fit to use 

 in early spring. 



How Big Growers Do. 



Many large growers of roses and car- 

 nations avoid the labor of piling up 

 their sod heaps. They select a piece of 

 pasture and plough it in the fall, plough 

 again in early spring, and when wanted 

 for use cart it to the greenhouse door, 

 and there add the manure. For exten- 

 sive places this must be the least ex- 

 pensive method, but for places of mod- 

 erate size, especially when pot-plants art 

 largely grown, the compost plan is mach 

 better. When chopping down the sod 

 pile before winter arrives, you should 

 store in a dry shed, or under cover, suf- 

 ficient soil to last you through the win- 

 ter, and not be using the soil from an 

 old chrysanthemum bed. This is old, 

 worn out, second-hand stuff, and what it 

 will grow will be of second rate quality. 



Whether or not you can get the ideal 

 sod, get the best you can, as long as it is 

 fresh and not worn out. Stack it up in 

 a business-like shape, with plenty of 

 manure. Get -it even if it does cost good 

 money, and you will have attended to a 

 most important part of your business, 

 and one that will save you lots of future 

 worry and vexation. Do it now! 



WiLUAM Scott. 



A PENNSYLVANIA PLANT. 



The accompanying illustrations are 

 reproduced froni photographs taken June 

 14 at the establishment of Frank B. 

 Rine, at Lewisburg, Pa., and show what 

 may be accomplished by a good grower 

 in houses that embody few modern feat- 

 ures. At the left in the general view of 

 the establishment are shown the latest 

 additions to the place, up-to-date in every 

 particular; at the right are shown the 

 older houses, from which some excellent 

 stock is turned out in spite of the fact 

 that the structures are neither so high 

 nor so light as many growers think neces- 

 sary, and as all think desirable. In one 

 of the older houses there is a bench of 

 Lawson carnations only three feet from 

 the glass, from which good flowers were 

 cut in September and from which a 

 steady supply was had right through the 

 Reason, 516 blooms being cut from a 

 space 5x50 feet on June 15. One of the 

 interior views shows a house containing 

 three benches of Lawson that were in 

 flne shape right up into the summer. This 

 variety shows no signs of running out 

 here. 



The other interior view shows a bench 

 of Lady Bountiful carnations 5x190, 

 with a row of tomato plants on each 

 side of the bench. The tomato plants 

 were loaded with fruit by early June and 

 at the time the photographs were taken 



;..! 



