MABCH 19, 1908. 



TheWeckly Florists' Review, 



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season, but the use of the water just at 

 these critical periods measures the profit 

 to be derived from the crop. "Without 

 water the crop would be a failure, and 

 under artificial conditions, such as exist 

 in greenhouses, an artificial supply is 

 absolutely necessary. 



Watering With Warm Water. 



In view of these facts, numerous ex- 

 periments have been conducted to deter- 

 mine the effect of using water at differ- 

 ent temperatures in watering plants, the 

 idea being to determine whether or not 

 growth could be stimulated by the use 

 of warm w^ter, and if the soil tempera- 



ture could be increased so as to lessen 

 the cost of heating by this means. The 

 general conclusions which may be drawn 

 from these experiments seem to be as 

 follows: That the temperature of the 

 water, so long as it is above the freezing 

 point, has no very marked influence upon 

 the character or growth of the product. 

 In fact, plants watered with water at 

 32 degrees and those watered with water 

 at a temperature of 70 degrees show 

 very little difference in the rate of 

 growth, maturity or yield of product. 

 The benefit which might be expected to 

 come from the addition of warm water 

 to the soil is only temporary. The tem- 



perature is only temporarily raised by 

 the amount of water necessary for the 

 requirements of the plant. When cold 

 water is applied the temperature of the 

 soil is for the time being slightly re- 

 duced, but it soon recovers its norm^, 

 and in the case of the use of very warm 

 water the temperature is temporarily in- 

 creased, but very quickly returns to the 

 normal, whatever that may be, according 

 to the temperature at which the house 

 is maintained, so that it has been found 

 that the time and expense necessary in 

 heating water for use on greenhouse 

 crops are not justified. 



(To be Continued.) 



BUYING NEW VARIETIES. 



Mr. Baur Replies to Mr. Osbom. 



I have read with much interest, in the 

 Review for March 5, Mr. Osbom 's an- 

 swer to my inquiry and I wish to thank 

 him for giving his views so openly and 

 concisely. He shows how far apart our 

 ideas may be of a term as applied in 

 everyday usage. I thought when I 

 penned my inquiry that perhaps Mr. Os- 

 bom could give us some information 

 which would help us in the selection of 

 new varieties each season, enabling us to 

 choose those which we would find valua- 

 ble and to avoid those which we would 

 not care for. I find, however, that I 

 cannot agree with him on any of the 

 ideas he sets forth and so I will give 

 my ideas, and I would like to hear 

 whether he does not agree that our plan 

 is by far the better one. I am simply 

 trying to get at the most up-to-date 

 method of handling this problem. I 

 should like to see anyone who feels in- 

 terested in the subject take a hand in 

 the discussion, and if he can show us 

 both where we are wrong, I for one will 

 give him credit. 



The question of what is meant by a 

 new variety is not so important, as long 

 as we each understand the other as to 

 what he calls new. In my inquiry I 

 meant varieties which are being intro- 

 duced or offered to the trade for the 

 first time. Some call them novelties, but 

 we call them simply new varieties. We 

 never call varieties new when they are 

 in their second year, or have been on the 

 market at least a year. It cannot be 

 said that they are not comparatively new, 

 and in fact quite new to those who failed 

 to buy when they were introduced. If 

 you follow that theory, however, a vari- 

 ety may be called new for a number of 

 years ; in fact, as long as it is not grown 

 by every grower in the business. So we 



confine the term ' * new ' ' to the introduc- 

 tions of the current season. The second 

 season a variety either takes its place 

 among the standard varieties or else it 

 is rejected. , 



The Question of Expenditure. 



Mr. Osbom is conservative, it seems to 

 me, in the amount of money a grower of 

 25,000 plants should expend each season 

 on new varieties. I should have said at 

 least twice as much as the sum he names, 

 and I figure it out in this way: $100 

 will buy at least eight varieties and 100 

 plants of each variety. The grower who 

 benches 25,000 plants, if he strikes a 

 good thing, will likely want to bench 

 from 1,000 to 2,000 plants the second 

 season. If he wants to plant more he 

 can, of course, buy what he needs. Most 

 varieties will give from ten to twenty 

 splendid cuttings to the plant, without 

 impairing their vitality. 



We figure that it pays us to buy more 

 ol- less of about every variety offered to 

 the trade, unless we have reason to think 

 that the variety is not suitable to our 

 trade. Naturally we buy more of varie- 

 ties which we had occasion to examine 

 than we do of those which we had never 

 seen. There are many reasons for this, 

 and the strongest one is our experience 

 in selecting varieties in the past. Years 

 ago we thought we could select a limited 

 number of varieties in the manner Mr. 

 Osbom suggests, by visiting other estab- 

 lishments where the varieties were grow- 

 ing, reading reports, etc., but we soon 

 found that plan quite impractical. We 

 found that we missed it oftener than we 

 hit it, and frequently we let the best va- 

 rieties go by. Gradually we worked into 

 our present method, and under this 

 method we find that few if any good 

 things escape us. We buy every season 

 some varieties which we do not care to 

 grow more than the first year, and we 

 never have failed yet to get one or more 



varieties which we were glad to add to 

 our list. 



The Unexpected Happens. 



And I will say, further, that these good 

 varieties are frequently found where we 

 least expect them, and where we expect 

 the most we often meet with the worst 

 disappointment. Didn't growers without 

 number, and experts too, travel over to 

 Lafayette and up to Joliet to see Fian- 

 cee growing, and, after satisfying them- 

 selves of its value, place larger orders 

 for cuttings than they had ever placed 

 before? I myself saw the variety grow- 

 ing on both places not less than three 

 times and saw it at exhibitions many 

 more times, and I was fooled like the 

 rest, and disappointed like the rest. The 

 same thing happened with Adonis, Pros- 

 perity, Mrs. Theo. Roosevelt, Flamingo, 

 Ethel Crocker and Lillian Pond, and I 

 could mention others. If we had plunged 

 on these varieties, as we would have done 

 except that we had adopted our present 

 plan, we would no doubt have joined the 

 calamity howlers long ago. Instead, how- 

 ever, we secured earfi season other vari- 

 eties of great value which more than 

 made up for the loss on these disap- 

 pointments. We have never felt inclined 

 to complain, as we have heard others do. 

 Taken as a whole, we find each season's 

 offerings in new varieties an improve- 

 ment over those of the year before, and 

 by selecting what we consider best for 

 our trade and conditions we improve our 

 stock every season. 



As to reports, both verbal and in print, 

 while they are of course honest enough, 

 yet they are of little value, because they 

 are in most cases given out after a super- 

 ficial examination or are based on 

 rumors, etc. Often only a vase of blooms 

 on exhibition is seen to base a report on. 

 For instance, a few years ago a variety 

 was introduced too far away from here 

 for me to go to see it growing and it 



