10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Skptember 3, 1908. 



PROPAGATING SAND. 



Can you give me instructions aS to the 

 best way of washing and baking sand for 

 propagating usef We will use six or 

 eight wagon-loads of sand for tiiis pur- 

 pose. We have to make a long haul on 

 same, and I wish to know if it would be 

 safe to use the same sand several seasons 

 by baking it. This would save hauling 

 new sand every year. As I plan to use 

 the sand over several limes, I think it 

 would be worth while to wash it in the 

 start or get washed sand. I will thank 

 you for any suggestions or advice in this 

 line. H. R. M. 



While it is lietter to use fresh sand 

 each year, it would be possible for you 

 to use it several seasons. After your 

 propagating for the season is over,'*clean 



out the sand and lay it outdoors on con- ' 

 Crete or shutters to prevent dirt getting 

 mixed in it. Let the sun bake it well and 

 keep turning it over to give it a thorough 

 drying out. If much dirt has got mixed 

 in the sand, use a hose with a good water 

 pressure. Screw on a brass rose and, 

 after spreading the sand out thinly, give 

 it a thorough drenching with a little 

 slope to the ground. You will see plenty 

 of dirt wash away. Give it an occasional 

 stir-up to make sure the cleaning is well 

 done. If you do not want to go to the 

 trouble of cleaning the sand out and 

 have steam on your place, sterilize the 

 sand to kill all germs and larva;. Then 

 stir it over well and drench with the hose, 

 allowing the sun to bake it well after- 

 wards. It will pay to clean out the sand 

 eaclj .season, in order to see that the 

 drainage below it is good. C. W. 



CARNATION NOTES.- EAST. 



•The Question of Fall Mulching. 



For about two months after housing, 

 our attention should be given almost 

 wholly to preparing the plants for the 

 strain of winter forcing. To be sure, 

 there is more or less call for the divine 

 flower during the chrysanthemum sea- 

 son, but the demand is limited and the 

 price low. Besides, there are always 

 those who imagine they can cat the cake 

 and have it, too. 



It seems to be the opinion of some 

 that a fall mulch is one of the neces- 

 sary factors in growing carnations and 

 I will not say but that, under certain 

 circumstances, it might be advisable. 

 However, with present-day methods, it 

 see;ms a needless outlay of time. 



It is not enough that we grow superior 

 blooms, but we owe it to ourselves to 

 ]troduce them at the lowest possible fig- 

 ure and be in position to supply in quan- 

 tity at the season of high prices. To do 

 this, one cannot cut large quantities dur- 

 ing the fall months and expect to be in 

 crop at the holidays. Neither can the 

 plants be highly fed while undergoing 

 the change from outdoor plants to green- 

 house ones, and go into winter quarters 

 in condition to make good. ' 



A Plausible Reason for Mulching. 



The idea' of fall nuilching originated, 

 it is said, from the observance of small 

 white rootlets on the soil surface soon 

 after reestablish ment of the plants, thus 

 leading to the supposition tiiat the car^ 

 nation was a natural surface feeder. 



Now, I am one of those who never 

 had any sympathy with such theory, be- 

 lieving, as I do, that careless watering, 

 insufficient depth of soil and improper 

 mechanical condition or quality of soil 

 are the causes which lead these rootlets 

 to seek the surface. Given good soil, of 

 a depth to allow establishment of a 

 normal root system, with sufficient water 

 to maintain even moisture through the 

 whole, and you will see little evidenge of 

 surface feeding. 



It seems to me a false economy to 

 scrimp in depth of soil, for at no late 

 day an extra amount will be needed in 

 the form of mulch, consuming much more 

 time to apply than when filling benches. 



The Use of Bone Meal. 



Our custom has been at bench-filling 

 time to use only a small portion of the 

 bone meal to be employed, but as soon 

 as the plants are well under way, we 

 top-dress with the remainder and rake 

 it in lightly. 



By the way, notwithstanding the state- 

 ment recently given to the press that 

 bone meal is not needed by the carna- 

 tion grower, do not under any circum- 

 stances attempt to do without it. 1 

 have visited growers who declared they 

 did not use it and they grew first-class 

 blooms, too, but there was something 

 that they could not, or at least did not, 

 explain. This bone meal question was 

 tried out some years ago by the chry- 

 santhemum growers, and they still con- 

 tinue its use. Geo. S. Osborn. 



A BEGINNER IN CARNATIONS. 



I am going to build a greenhouse, 

 20x108 feet, and will use it mostly for 

 carnations. I read in the Eeview of 

 Jyly 2 about the semi-solid beds, but 

 do not understand them exactly. Do you 

 mean that you level the ground and put 

 in cinders and' four inches of good soil 

 to put the carnations in? 



How high would the house be to tlie 

 oaves and how high to the ridge? How 

 many pipes would I need to heat a house 

 like mine? I was thinking of having 

 tltree benches and two walks, with the 

 benches on the sides four feet wide and 

 the middle bench eight feet wide, in a 

 house six feet to the eaves and twelve 

 feet to the ridge. But, as I understand, 

 the semi-solid beds would be lower and 

 the house could be made lower. 



I have been growing flowers to sell 

 for a long time, but have never had a 

 greenhouse. What size of boiler Avould;, 

 I need to heat my house and what rise) 

 would the flow pipe require in the Im 

 feet? 



In tlie raised benches is it necessarv 



to have drainage in the bottom anJ 

 where does the surplus water go when 

 watering plants? The ground slopes a 

 little north and the lot runs north and 

 south. Would the boiler have to be in 

 a pit? I intend to have the house 

 heated with hot water. 



How are the posts to be set — in the 

 ground and cemented for the outside of 

 the greenhouse, or is it best to have a 

 sill and put studding to nail the boards- 

 on for the wall? We have zero weather 

 and sometimes 8 degrees below for a few 

 days, but not often, but 1 would like to 

 be on the safe side. 



In the semi-solid beds do any of the 

 pipes for heating go under the beds or 

 only by the wall and paths? Of course,. 

 I mean the return pipes. Would you ad- 

 vise me to have a valve to shut oflf some 

 of the heat when it is not very cold, or 

 how do you regulate the heat to make 

 the desired temperature? 

 -^ What is to be done with the soil after 

 it has been used? Can it be put on the 

 ground and made use of outside for a 

 year and then do for the benches again? 

 Is lime injurious to most plants, or cau 

 you wash the benches with lime before 

 putting in the soil each season? 



Can you tell me of a boiler that could 

 keep an even temperature at night with- 

 out being up firing, or, in other words^ 

 keeping a night fireman? M. C. J. 



This is a sort of omnibus bill and. 

 takes in about the whole business, from 

 A to Z. I will answer your questions^ 

 not in rotation as they appear in your 

 letter, but as you will meet them in your 

 building operations, etc. I would ad- 

 vise you to build your house as you in- 

 tended to build it — six feet from ground 

 to eaves and about twelve feet to the 

 ridge — and put about three feet of glass- 

 in the walls, just below the eaves. This 

 will give your house fully ten per cent 

 more efficiency if running north and 

 south, and even more if it were to run 

 east and west. I would advise you to 

 build your house twenty feet six inches 

 wide, inside measurement, and arrange 

 the beds as follows: Begin on either side 

 with a walk eighteen inches wide; next 

 a bed, four feet six inches; next a walk, 

 two ifeet; next a bed, four feet six 

 inches; next a walk, two feet; next a 

 bed, four feet six inches, and an 18-inch, 

 walk against the other side. That will 

 give you three beds of the latest ap- 

 proved width and enough walks to get 

 around them, in working, to the best 

 advantage. Two of the walks will be 

 two feet wide and in these you will do 

 the main work, such as wheeling soil, 

 etc. The walks against the sides of the 

 iiouse are for such work as cutting 

 blooms, pulling weeds, disbudding, etc. 

 Eight-foot beds are entirely too wide 

 to work to advantage and are consid- 

 ered a nuisance by up-to-date growers. 

 This arrangement also gives a better 

 circulation of air to all the plants, as 

 well as better light. 



The semi-solid beds, such as we build, 

 are from twelve to eighteen inches high. 

 We set posts in the ground four feet 

 apart, and nail the boards which consti- 

 tute the sides of the beds against the in- 

 side of these posts. That is, the posts^ 

 stand in the walk and are not touched 

 by the cinders or soil in which we plant. 

 Fill in with cinders to within four 

 inches of the top and then fill up level 

 with the sides with your soil for plant- 

 ing. 



No pipes are put under these beds. 

 The pipes are hung overhead and against 



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