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10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



May 30, 1907. 



PETER OLSEM. 



The superintendent of tJie growing 

 end of the business of the Chicago Car- 

 nation Co., Joliet, 111., is Peter Olsem. 

 He has been connected with the com- 

 pany for five years, always being in 

 close touch with the late James Harts- 

 horne, of whose ideas of growing the 

 carnation he has a thorough knowledge. 

 Mr. Hartshorne was an acknowledged ex- 

 pert in the management of tjre: caipa- 

 tion, and Mr. Olsem has madA if plljR^as 

 good a showing this season. yJi<i hif^ 

 fair to rank*, among the leading carna- 

 tion growers of the country. 



Mr. 'Olseni was born in Scandinavia 

 August 11, 1879, coming to this country 

 in 1892. He at once engaged in the flo- 

 rists' business with growers at what was 

 known at that time as, Eogers Park, now 

 a part of the city of Chicago. He at 

 once selected the carnation as his 

 specialty, and has been connected, di- 

 rectly or indirectly, with leading carna- 

 tion growers ever since. Being naturally 

 interested in greenhouse coiiBtruction 

 problems, he spent several summerg with 

 Michael Winandy, returning to the grow- 

 ing of carnations each winter, and is 

 well informed in this important detail 

 of an up-to-date grower's work, the 

 building and heating of greenhouses. 



QUANTITY OF POTASSIUM. 



Will you please tell me what is the 

 right quantity of hydrocyanic acid gas 

 to use in fumigating for white fly? I 

 have four houses, all the same size. Each 

 is 26x290. The side walls are five feet 

 high and the ridge eleven feet. The 

 south span is sixteen feet; tlie north 

 fourteen feet. P. J. S. 



The formula for generating hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas has been stated so often 

 that it may be supposed what is wanted 

 in this case is a solution for the problem 

 in mathematics. The method of figuring 

 out such a problem also has been printed 

 several times, but for the benefit of 

 those who are better growers than 

 mathematicians, here it is again: 



A simple, though rather tedious, meth- 

 od of ascertaining the number of cubic 

 feet in greenhouses, is as follows : First 

 draw a diagram of the end of your 

 house; Draw a line across from the 

 eaves and one down from the ridge to 

 this first line. In the house given in 

 this question the perpendicular line will 

 cut the horizontal line at one side of the 

 center of the house. If you have drawn 

 by a scale, or if you measure in the 

 house itself, you will find this point is 

 thirteen feet eight inches from one plate 

 and twelve feet four inches from the 

 other. We then have to compute the 

 contents of three separate unequal sec- 

 tions and add them. 



First find the cubic contents of the 

 main part of the house, the part below 

 the level of the eaves, by multiplying 

 the length by the width and then multi- 



plying the product by the height of the 

 side walls. Thus, taking the dimensions 

 as given in this case, 290X26X5=37,700 

 cubic feet. Then, to find the contents 

 of the triangle formed by the long span 

 of your house, multiply the length of 

 the house by the width of the part of 

 the house under the long span, multiply 

 the product by the height from the level 

 of the plate to the ridge, and divide the 

 result 'by 2. Thus, 290 X 13% X 6=23,- 

 780; dividing this by 2, you have 11,890 

 as the number of cubic feet in the long 

 span triangle. Next find the contents 

 of the triangle formed by the short span 

 in the same way. Thus, 290 X 12% X 6= 

 21,460, half of which is 10,730, the num- 

 ber of cubic feet in the short span tri- 

 angle. Adding the three results — the 

 number of cubic feet in the body of the 

 house, in the long span and in the short 

 span— thus, 37,700-|-ll,890-f 10,730, you 

 have 60,320 as the total number of 



there would be four sections to calculate. 



The foregoing method is worthy of 

 attention because the reason for each 

 step in the process is easily understood, 

 but the same result can be obtained, 

 when both eave plates are the same dis- 

 tance from the floor, with equal certain- 

 ty and exactness and with much less 

 trouble, by the following rule: Multiply 

 the length of the house by its width, 

 and multiply the result by the height of 

 the side walls plus half the height from 

 the level of the eave plates to the ridge. 

 Thus, using again the dimensions of 

 your greenhouse, 5+3=8, and 290 X 

 26X8=60,320, the total number of cu- 

 bic feet in the house. In applying this 

 rule, it makes no difference, so long as 

 the eaves or gutters are the same height, 

 whether the house is even-span or not, 

 as you can learn from text-books in 

 arithmetic or prove by your own experi- 

 ments. 



Now as to the formula: Wm. Scott's 

 formula is generally accepted. It is as 

 follows: Water, one pint; sulphuric 

 acid, one pint; ninety-eight per cent po- 

 tassium cyanide, two and one-half 

 ounces. This quantity for one jar for 

 each 1,500 cubic feet of space in the 

 house. Dividing 60,300 by 1,500, we 

 find that in the present example forty 

 jars are required. Distribute them as 

 evenly as possible about the house, after 

 first closing it up tightly. Mix the water 



Peter Olsem. 



cubic feet in the greenhouse. This would 

 be the method were the cave plates not 

 of the same height, in which case you 

 would draw your line from the ridge 

 clear to the ground and then from each 

 plate draw a horizontal line in till it 

 reached the perpendicular one. Then 



and acid in each jar (one gallon butter 

 jars are good), and on the bench beside 

 it lay the package of cyanide put up 

 by your druggist. Have a man for each 

 path. Begin at the far end and let all 

 advance together, each dropping his 

 packages into the liquid as he passes. 



