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The Weekly Flor&ts' RcvieWi. 



September 5, 1907. 



in one week's crop at the holidays might 

 offset the entire extra cost. 



Superior Ventilation. 



With the question of cost settled, I 

 think the advantages in favor of the sin- 

 gle, wide, east and west house are un- 

 questionable. Not only is much more 

 sunlight obtained in the short, dark mid- 

 winter days when the sun is at its low- 

 est meridian, but much more ventilation 

 can be given. In fact, I have been sur- 

 prised to see how much is necessary in 

 the coldest midwinter weather, when 

 other houses could be given little, if any. 

 Of course, this superior ventilation adds 

 to the general health of the plants, giv- 

 ing stronger stems and increasing the 

 quantity of flowers. Take a dull, dark 

 winter, such as last winter was, and the 

 importance of this is better appreciated, 

 for it is a well settled fact that the 

 more air that can be given the better for 

 the plants. It is then that the ad- 

 vantage of this type of housie is seeu at 

 its best. 



"We get better ventilation in these 

 houses in the summer also, as the side 

 ventilation is a great advantage, mak- 

 ing the houses airy and cool. Some have 

 thought that these houses would be dif- 

 ficult to heat. On the contrary, they are 

 much easier heated than the smaller and 

 lower houses. It is not the volume of 

 air that costs to heat; it is rather the 

 amount of glass exposed to the outside 



air can be given in these houses in zero 

 weather than can be given in the smaller 

 and lower ones. 



Gxt of Operation. 



So far as the cost of operation is con- 

 cerned,. I see no advantage in either. 

 The single large house can be built as 

 large as one needs, as large as there is 

 any advantage in. We are building now 

 fifty-six feet in width, but there is no 

 reason why that cannot be greatly in- 

 creased if one wishes — say seventy-five 

 or even 100 feet in width, but, of course, 

 the greater the width the higher the 

 ridge would necessarily have to be. In 

 commencing a new range several years 

 ago, we started with a width of fifty- 

 six feet, and will continue that for the 

 present, principally for the sake of uni- 

 fermity, as there is no other good reason 

 for not increasing it; yet little would be 

 gainejL for we now get about all the 

 economy in operation possible. The only 

 advantage in greater width would be 

 a possible very slight decrease in the 

 cost of construction. 



We have all been interested in the 

 monster house erected this year a* North 

 Wales, Pa. — 154 feet in width,^^ believe 

 — and we admire the faith and enterprise 

 of its projectors, but I fail to' see any 

 special advantage in such extreme size. 

 In this case, in order to avoid the exces- 

 sively high ridge a flat roof has resulted, 

 which I consider most objectionable, both 



Anton C. Zvolanek. 



air, and there is little if any more ex- 

 posure in these . houses than in the con- 

 nected ridge and furrow ones. In fact, 

 the larger volume of air in these large 

 houses cools more slowly and is subject 

 to much less fluctuation. This large 

 volume of air is also a reason why more 



on account of the liability of drip in 

 rainy weather and also from the lodg- 

 ment of snow in winter. The roof be- 

 ing so flat, I doubt if the snow would 

 slide off readily. So, while I am an 

 advocate of the single wide house, there 

 are limitations to be reckoned with, and 



reasons for not building tp such an ex- 

 treme width. 



Speaking From Experience, 



In advocating the single wide house, 

 I speak from experience, as we have sev- 

 eral ranges of the most modern and per- 

 fected type of the ridge and furrow con- 

 nected houses, as well as the large, wide, 

 separate houses. We are now building 

 the latter type of houses and believe 

 fully and unqualifiedly that they are the 

 best type, all things considered, for the 

 cut flower grower. These light, steel, 

 airy structures, with reinforced concrete 

 sides, such as we are now building, elim- 

 inating all woodwork except the sashbarS 

 and ventilating sash, offer little or no 

 obstruction to the light. It is really 

 getting back to first principles and is 

 following out the same principle that 

 the market gardeiler, who is dependent 

 on sunlight only, is compelled to observe 

 in placing his coldframes. So I think 

 all will agree with me that an east and 

 west house, facing south, gets more sun- 

 light than the connected ridge and fur- 

 row house. 



There is an all too prevalent idea, even 

 among florists, that the temperature or 

 warmth is the necessary factor, but that 

 this is not so is shown most conclusively 

 in the dull winter days, when the growth 

 becoiiies weak and the plants stop bloom- 

 ing. It is the province of the florists to 

 aid nature, and the house that will admit 

 the most sunlight, other things being 

 equal, is the best style of structure. 



THE CHRISTMAS SWEET PEAS. 



History of the Strain. 



Anton C. Zvolanek, of Bound Brook, 

 N. J., has achieved an international fame 

 through the strains of Christmas flower- 

 ing sweet peas which he has developed. 

 These have made their way all over the 

 world and have given excellent results 

 under glass on both continents. In -the 

 Review of July 26, 1906, Mr. Zvolanek 

 gave the story of the origination of these 

 varieties and it has since created a vast 

 amount of discussion, especially in Eng- 

 land. The story of these sweet peas as 

 Mr. Zvolanek tells it is in brief as fol- 

 lows: 



"About twenty-five years ago I made 

 my first experiments in raising sweet 

 peas in winter under glass. 1 tried all 

 varieties which were at that date ob- 

 tainable, but could never raise a plant 

 which would give flowers before the lat- 

 ter part of April. After several years 

 of such experiments I came to the con- 

 clusion that it was impossible to get 

 sweet peas earlier than the time men- 

 tioned, from the present varieties, so I 

 started cross-fertilization with others, 

 among them the lathyrus, but the first 

 few years Avithout success. I obtained 

 several new varieties, a few of which 

 were double-flowered, but I did not suc- 

 ceed in getting a free-flowering plant 

 until I made a cross with the European 

 vetch, largely grown on farms in central 

 Europe as green fodder. 



"About October, 1891, I sowed some 

 of this seed which I had hybridized with 

 the vetch, and the following January 1, 

 1892, I was surprised to^find two little 

 plants, each with one 'open flower and 

 several buds. The flowers were, very 

 small, color a reddish-pink, and not of 

 much value, the plants growing only to a 

 height of twenty-four inches under glass. 

 But I was satisfied with this for a start, 

 I and increased the seed all I possibly 



