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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Jdlt 2, 1008. 



WOOD PRESERVATION. 



Retarding Decay by Seasoning. 



The simplest way of prolonging the 

 life of timber exposed to the attack of 

 wood-destroying fungi is to reduce the 

 moisture content of the wood. The 

 amount of water in green timber varies 

 according to the part of the tree from 

 which the wood is cut. The outer layers 

 of the trunk are composed of sapwood, 

 the cells of which contain large amounts 

 of organic substances which serve ex- 

 cellently as food for the fungi. More- 

 over, sapwood always contains a large 

 amount of water. It is the portion of 

 the tree, therefore, most susceptible to 

 attacks from fungi. Heartwood, which 

 can usually be distinguished from sap- 

 wood by its darker or more reddish color, 

 contains, on the other hand, much less 

 moisture. It is therefore more durable 

 than sapwood. But because its pores 

 are stopped up by gums and resins, it 

 dries out much less rapidly than the more 

 porous sapwood. In almost every case 

 as much care should be taken thoroughly 

 to dry out the heartwood as in the case 

 of the raoister sapwood. 



By piling the timbei so as to permit 

 free access of air all around it, the moist- 

 ure content of timbers of certain sizes 

 can be reduced to about fifteen or eight- 

 een per cent. Of course the climate has 

 a great influence on the rate at which 

 the wood dries out and the total amount 

 of moisture it loses. 



The moisture content of air- dry wood 

 can be still further reduced by kiln-dry- 

 ing; and this is employed to a consider- 

 able extent, but usually for other pur- 

 poses than increasing the durability of 

 the wood. Moreover, either air-dry or 

 kiln-dry wood has the power to reabsorb 

 moisture when exposed to the atmosphere 

 in damp situations, and so the benefits of 

 drying, as far as durability is concerned, 

 are only moderate. Yet the increased 

 life which it gives is, in nearly all cases, 

 more than su£5cient to repay the added 

 cost of seasoning. 



The strength of partially seasoned 

 timber, other things being equal, in- 

 creases as the amount of moisture it 

 contains decreases. Thoroughly seasoned 

 timber of small sizes is sometimes three 

 or even four times as strong as the same 

 timber when green. Moreover, during 

 the process of drying out, important but 

 little understood changes take place in 

 the organic contents of the wood cells, 

 by which the wood is not only rendered 

 less attractive to fungi, but is made 

 more permeable and so better prepared 

 for preservative treatment. All timber 

 should be thoroughly seasoned before 

 being exposed to decay. 



An exterior coating secured by dipping 

 a post in a thin solution of cement or 

 other material that will harden on the 

 post is not an effective protection, be- 

 cause in shrinking or swelling the wood 

 forms cracks through which decay enters. 



Retarding Decay With Chemicals. 



By far the best method of checking the 

 growth of fungi, however, is to deprive 

 them of food. This can be done by in- 

 jecting poisonous substances into the 

 timber, and so changing the organic mat- 

 ter from foods suitable for fungi into 

 powerful fungicides. It is a mistake to 

 suppose that the germs of decay are in- 

 herent in the wood, and only need an 

 opportunity for development to bring 

 about its destruction. Several processes 

 for the preservation of wood have been 

 founded on the false assumption that it 



is necessary to destroy the "germs" in 

 the interior of the timber. The impres- 

 sion doubtless arose from the fact that, 

 after a stick of timber begins to rot, it 

 is impossible to tell just where the fun- 

 gus spores germinated and gained en- 

 trance into the timber. Moreover, the 

 fact that the interior of the wood may 

 have reached an advanced stage of decay 

 before there are any external evidences 

 of the fungi — such as fruiting bodies, or 

 films of mycelium — tends to convince the 

 casual observer that decay starts from 

 the interior. Yet the wood-destroying 

 agencies start from the outside. This 

 explains the eflScacy of certain paints 

 which merely form a superficial coating 

 over the surface of the timber, but which 

 are poisonous enough to prevent the 

 spores from germinating, or the hyphsB 

 of most forms of wood-destroying fungi 

 from penetrating into the unprotected 

 wood in the interior. The ancients were 

 in the habit of painting their statues 

 with oily and bituminous preparations to 

 preserve them from decay. The great 

 wooden statue of Diana at Ephcsus, 

 which was supposed to have descended 

 miraculously from heaven, was protected 

 from earthly decay by oil of nard. Pet- 

 tigrew extracted the preservative fluids 

 from the heart of an Egyptian mummy 

 that had resisted decay for over 3,000 

 years, and found that decomposition im- 

 mediately set in. This showed that it 

 was the presence of the antiseptics which 

 prevented decay, and not a chemical 

 change of the tissues. 



NAGEL'S HOUSE, 



The accompanying illustration is re- 

 produced from a photograph made in one 

 of the houses of E. Nagel & Son, Min- 

 neapolis. Their glass is all devoted to 

 the production of stock for their retail 

 store, so of course a great variety of 

 stock is being grown. Nagel & Son say 

 they have had an excellent season. Busi- 

 ness has been perhaps not so good as it 

 would have been with a little more favor- 

 able general conditions, but all the stock 

 produced has been sold and the average 

 results have been satisfactory. Present 

 indications are for a good season next 

 fall and winter, for the northwest is 

 looking forward to big crops this year 

 and much of the farmers' money gravi- 

 tates to the Twin Cities. 



A TEMPLE SHOW GROUP. 



A feature of the annual exhibition 

 at London, known as the Temple show, 

 is the numerous large groups of plants, 

 such as are seldom seen at American 

 exhibitions. One of these groups is 

 shown in the accompanying illustration. 

 It is Metrosideros floribunda, the bottle 

 brush tree, or flaming bush of Australia, 

 which is seen in small numbers as a 

 Christmas plant in the principal cities 

 of the United States. The Temple show 

 is an event of May. 



Jacksonville, III. — Heinl & Sons Co. 

 is putting up five houses, 27x130. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Asters. 



Asters should receive good attention 

 from now on. The earliest batches should 

 be giving a few flowers by this time, not 

 of as fine quality as will be seen six 

 weeks hence, but now, when roses and 

 carnations are daily deteriorating in qual- 

 ity, they will prove valuable, especially 

 in funeral work. Keep the cultivator 

 constantly at work among the little plants 

 and even during dry weather it is sur- 

 prising how fast they will grow. 



With the passing of cutworms, which 

 are more or less destructive each season 

 in many places among asters, they have 

 no immediate enemies to fight. On the 

 first symptoms of aphis at the root apply 

 a nicotine solution, or whale oil soap, 

 at the rate of one pound to eight gal- 

 lons of water. 



The last sowings should now be gotten 

 in without delay and advantage taken of 

 showery days to transplant earlier 

 batches. 



Summer Lilies. 



The lilies which have been grown es- 

 pecially for summer blooming will soon 

 start to open their flowers. Stake up 

 the shoots, if you have not already done 

 so, particularly in the case of L. aura- 

 tum, the large flowers of which will soon 

 weigh it down. A light bench, abundant 

 water supplies and shade from the sun's 

 rays should be afforded. 



During the hot monthfs, when choice 

 white flowers are by no means abundant^ 

 L. speciosum album is invaluable. The 

 varieties roseum and rubrum can also 

 often be used in design work. The pow- 

 erful odor emitted by L. auratum is rath- 

 er objectionable. It is better used as 

 a piazza rather than as a house plant. 

 Keep the yellow stamens picked out of 

 the flowers. It is a pity to do this, but 

 to keep the petals clean it is a neces- 

 sity. By holding some of the plants 

 back in a cold house, a longer succes- 

 sion of bloom will be afforded. 



Speaking of summer lilies also reminds 

 us of the fact that retarded bulbs must 

 be started toward the end of July if 

 wanted for winter blooming. The small 

 sizes of speciosum can go in 5-inch pots, 

 larger ones in 6-inch. Some growers 

 plant in boxes six inches deep, with ex- 

 cellent results. The white speciosum 

 will be found the most useful winter 

 variety. After potting or boxing, place 

 in a cool pit or under sashes, which are 

 covered with shutters to exclude the sun- 

 light and prevent the soil drying out. 

 Leave the sashes tilted both top and 

 bottom, to admit air. 



Rambler Roses. 



It may seem somewhat like repetition 

 to again refer to rambler roses being 

 grown for forcing for next Easter, but 

 too often in the rush of spring and other 

 work they are sadly neglected until other 



