p- 



February 7, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



877 



The Best Commercial White Mum 



WHITE MAUD DEAN 



Grown by THE WILLIAM SCOTT CO., Buffalo, N. Y. 



Strong:, well rooted cuttii^s, ready March 1, 

 $10.00 per lOO. Offered by 



S. S. SKIDELSKY 



and 



824 N. 24th St., Piilladeipliia, Pa. 



WM. F. KASTING, 



Buffalo, N.Y. 



not need any assistance in the way of 

 feeding, but it is well to watch the crop 

 and apply some stimulant if it shows 

 signs of needing assistance. 



W. S. Ceoydon. 



STERILIZING LETTUCE SOIL. 



Of the many vegetable growers at 

 Grand Eapids, Mich., none is better 

 known than Eugene Davis, to whom the 

 gardening fraternity is indebted for the 

 Grand Bapids lettuce, the Davis Kidney 



Wax bean and other valuable varieties. 

 The following notes on soil sterilization 

 cover the subject as it appears to a lay- 

 man visiting Mr. Davis' place: 



' ' One of the most perplexing problems 

 connected with the growing of vegetables 

 under glass is the renewal of the worn- 

 out soil. When the soil of a greenhouse 

 has been used for some time it becomes 

 practically dead, and no amount of cul- 

 tivating or fertilizing will make it pro- 

 ductive. And, furthermore, the soil not 

 only ceases to be productive but becomes 



Eugene Davis* 



a breeding place for the various fungus 

 diseases which infest lettuce and other 

 products of the greenhouse. 



"Heretofore about the only remedy 

 for this condition of affairs was to re- 

 move several inches of soil from the 

 top of the solid beds used for lettuce and 

 replace it with fresh. This, while it 

 helped to some extent, did not go deep 

 enough, and was by no means a com- 

 plete remedy, and in a large greenhouse ' 

 the removal and replacement of so much 

 soil meant a heavy expense. 



* ' Mr. Davis believes he has solved the 

 problem of how to use the same soil 

 in his greenhouse year after year for 

 an indefinite period and still have it 

 retain its productiveness. His method 

 is to use common 1-inch iron steam pipes 

 with numerous small holes drilled 

 throughout their Mhole length. These 

 perforated pipes are buried in the soil 

 to a depth of ten or twelve inches and 

 attached to the steam boiler. Then the 

 steam is turned on and left so for from 

 three to eight hours until the soil is 

 thoroughly cooked. The . operation in 

 itself is simple, but Mr. Davis says it 

 does the business and is only about one- 

 tenth as expensive as replacing the old 

 soil with new. 



"Last year the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege heard of Mr. Davis' plan and 

 sent a man to investigate. His report 

 was so favorable to the new process 

 that the college authorities have been 

 carrying on a series of careful and 

 exhaustive experiments. They have not 

 confined themselves to perforated pipes 

 but have experimented with pipes made 

 of a porous substance, and have also 

 tested an apparatus made like an old- 

 fashioned spike-toothed drag, the teeth 

 being made of perforated iron pipes 

 about ten or twelve inches long. These 

 are attached to a framework and all 

 connected with each other. The whole 

 arrangement is placed with the • teeth 

 downward on the soil to be sterilized 

 and the teeth are forced into the soil. 

 This is designed to do away with burying 

 the pipes 



"Mr. Davis' success has prompted sev- 

 eral other greenhouse men to adopt the 

 system within the last year, and it is 

 probable that it will be universally used 

 throughout this section in the course of a 

 vear or two. ' ' 



