6\Z 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Januaby 17, 1907. 



not be done in a month or a year, but 

 we could make a start, looking to that 

 end. I would favor the appointment of 

 a building committee, if the club as a 

 body think well of the idea; this com- 

 mittee to look the field over and study 

 out ways and means to acquire title to 

 property in the name of the club. 



We have many good, successful busi- 

 ness men in the club and I am confident 

 that a representative committee could 

 evolve a financial plan whereby this idea 

 could be made feasible and I leave it 

 with you for your careful and serious 

 consideration. We must not be hasty 

 in action on such a proposition, either 

 to accept or reject it; but I do trust 

 that every member will think it over 

 in his own mind and come prepared at 

 some future meeting to talk on the sub- 

 ject intelligently. 



In conclusion, fellow members, I beg 

 of you to give me your encouragement 

 and support during the coming year. 

 Attend all the meetings you possibly 

 can. Bear with my mistakes until I 

 have familiarized myself with my duties, 

 and in return, I promise to give this 

 club the best that is in me. 



CLEANING GREENHOUSE GLASS. 



I have about 9,000 feet of glass and 

 started to scrub it first with strong lye, 

 then with soap powder, but had no suc- 

 cess with either. The glass is so smoky 

 and dirty that if a man walks along out- 

 side he cannot be seen at all, and I must 

 get it off. I would highly appreciate 

 any information to assist me in my un- 

 dertakings. J. P. H. 



If lye applied to the glass will not re- 

 move the dust and smoke we don't know 

 what will. Perhaps you did not go at it 

 in a very effectual way. Tie a bunch of 

 rags on the end of a pole, saturate the 

 rags in the lye water and rub them over 

 the glass and before the glass is dry rub 

 it with another bunch of rags. Have a 

 helper playing the hose on the glass. Lye 

 will take off paint, much less smoke. 

 The man with the hose can keep the 

 glass wet a few feet beyond you and 

 wash off what you have rubbed off with 

 the rags and lye water. Where lead and 

 oil have been foolishly used on the glass 

 for a summer shade we have known it to 

 be necessary to sprinkle the glass with 

 lye water and then get on the roof with 

 scrubbing brushes. W. S. 



CYANIDE. 



Please give me a safe and efficient re- 

 ceipt for fumigating 9,100 feet, with top 

 and side ventilation. My potassium cya- 

 nide seems to be strong, as it bleached 

 some carnation buds and the Asparagus 

 plumosus. A. W. 



I could easily give you my formula 

 for the poison, but it appears that cya- 

 nide is often of different degrees of 

 strength and that would make a differ- 

 ence in quantity needed. 



Our formula, which we have often 

 used and found safe and efficient, is one 

 pint water and one pint in weight of sul- 

 phuric acid. Mix the water and acid in 

 a gallon butter jar and, if more than one 

 jar is needed, place the jars equally 

 divided on the floor of the greenhouse 

 path. At sunset add to each jar two 

 and one-half ounces of cyanide of potas- 

 sium. Have each little parcel of cyanide 

 done up in double paper. Start at one 

 end of the house and walk along and 

 drop the parcel of cyanide into the jar 



of water and acid. If there are two 

 paths, then you will need an assistant, 

 but there is not the slightest danger if 

 you both go right along, neither ahead 

 of the other, as it takes a minute or so 

 for gas to be generated. As your house 

 contains 9,100 cubic feet of atmosphere, 

 then you will need six jars. 



The above formula is for 1,500 cubic 

 feet of atmosphere. Keep the ventila- 

 tors closed all night. 



If you have not given me the cubic 

 feet, I suppose you know to get it; find 

 out how many superficial feet there are 

 in the gable end of your greenhouse and 

 multiply by the length of the house. . 

 Don't go to the village store for your 

 cyanide; go to a wholesale druggist in 

 your nearest large city. W. S. 



REFUSE HOPS. 



Please let me know if brewery hops, 

 that is, waste, make as good a dressing 

 as cow manure, as cow manure is becom- 

 ing scarce. A. L. 



I am unable to say what chemical 

 properties refuse hops contain, but hav- 



ing used hundreds of tons I can say 

 something about them. They heat most 

 violently if left in a heap for a few dayg 

 and this makes them a valuable ingre- 

 dient for a hotbed mixed with leaves. 

 I have ploughed them into the sand aiii 

 they have raised great crops of whfc;;t 

 and other grain. I have used a fifth .f 

 hops to four-fifths of soil for carnatiou 

 benches and picked more flowers of o.i 

 varieties, as Edwardsii, than I ever ha^e 

 since. 



When partially decomposed, so that 

 they will run through a coarse sieve th- .• 

 make the finest of fertilizers for gerai 

 ums, begonias, fuchsias, in fact, any , r' 

 our greenhouse plants, except roses, .'s 

 a mulch they, are unequaled for Iran - 

 planted trees and shrubs. For plungiL:' 

 plants on a greenhouse bench they a vo 

 unequaled. It is not an article to l.j 

 compared with cow manure. It contair-i 

 little or no ammonia, but its mechanic; I 

 effect on the soil is wonderful. 



Why we don't use much of it of late 

 years is because brewers use less hop? 

 and the farmers have learned the value 

 of them and are glad to cart them away 



W. S. 



PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING. 



There are many different styles of 

 grafting, but the style followed by most 

 rose growers for indoor stock is the 

 style called whip grafting, or some 

 modification of the same. As speed 

 and expediency are the principal objects 

 to be obtained, nearly every propagator 

 has his own favorite style, which is the 

 one he is usually most proficient in. 



The manual part of this operation, 

 although quite simple, seems at first irk- 

 some and difficult to those who have 

 had no experience in this class of work; 

 and they are usually afraid to make a 

 trial, the bogie of failure being ever 

 present in their minds. 



The fundamental principle pertaining 

 to all styles of grafting is the necessity 

 of having a direct communication be- 

 tween the layers of inner bark in all the 

 parts to be united, as without this a 

 perfect union cannot be effected. The 

 woody parts of the stock and scion 

 never unite, but are usually so covered 

 up by the outer growth, that unless 

 the parts be dissected it is never dis- 

 covered. 



The usual style of modified whip 

 grafting is performed somewhat as fol- 

 lows: place the pot containing the stock 

 firmly between the knees, then with a 

 keen edged knife begin about one-half 



an inch above the soil in the pot and 

 make an oblique cut upward. This cut 

 should be from one-half an inch to 

 three-quarters of an inch in length. Pick 

 out a scion as nearly as possible the 

 same diameter as the stock and make a 

 similar cut thereon, but reversed. Place 

 the wounds together and wrap firmly 

 but not tightly, with some soft mate- 

 rial, such as soft cotton twine or raffia. 



The plants should, without delay be 

 placed in the grafting box, as any 

 lengthened exposure to the dry atmos- 

 phere is apt to shrivel the scion. Imme- 

 diately after being placed in the case 

 the whole should receive a good sprink- 

 ling and kept moist for some time. 



This method of grafting seems to the 

 uninitiated a very slow business, but a 

 little experience and attending to the 

 principles and details will insure speed 

 and success. 



The future care of the stock while in 

 the case and after its removal to the 

 bench will form the basis of a future 

 article. BiBSS. 



OUTDOOR ROSES FOR CUTTING. 



In the Eeview of January 10, under 

 the above heading, B. S. asks for the 

 b#t varieties. In addition to Mr. 

 Scott's remarks allow me to say that ii 

 B. S. will adhere closely to his advice 

 as regards soil, etc., and observe the 

 following he will strike the nail on the 

 head. 



About May 1 select plants from 2^^- 

 inch pots, of such varieties of the teas 

 and hybrid teas as are ordinarily strong 



