8 



The Weekly Florists^ Re view^ 



JOMB 3, 1909. 



either becomes baked on the surface or 

 gets in the lumpy state referred to — two 

 conditions especially detrimental to 

 plants which have undergone a long 

 period of rain and cloudy weather. 



In the case of heavy clay or imper- 

 fectly drained fields, it might be advis- 

 able to assist evaporation by breaking up 

 the space between the rows directly after 

 a rain, but a space of at least four 

 inches should be left on each side of the 

 rows, for cultivation later. This is, how- 

 ever, an extreme case, and the method 

 recommended is not offered as a pretext 

 for planting in unsuitable locations. 



During the next few weeks, growth 

 should be rapid, and every means must be 

 employed to forward the plants as much 

 as possible before hot weather sets in. 



Geo. S. Osboen. 



THE LARGEST PRIVATE RANGE. 



What is said will be the largest and 

 finest private greenhouse establishment in 



the United States will be erected this 

 season by John B. Duke, president of the 

 American Tobacco Co., at Somerville, 

 N. J. It will coijsist of twenty-four 

 compartments, besides service buildings, 

 andwill cost in the neighborhood of $70,- 

 000. The contract has been secured by 

 Lord & Burnham Co., George Sykes, man> 

 ager of the new Chicago office, having 

 spent three weeks in the east for the pur- 

 pose of closing the deal. 



The new range will include the follow- 

 ing separate compartments: One Amer- 

 ican Beauty house, two tea rose houses, 

 two carnation houses, two gardenia 

 houses, four melon houses, two orchid 

 houses, two fern houses, two vineries, one 

 peach house, one nectarine house, one 

 tomato house, one orangery, two propa- 

 gating houses, one chrysanthemum house. 

 It will be built with curved eaves; no 

 gutter or eave-plates will be used. Many 

 other Lord & Burnham special styles of 

 construction also will be employed, in- 



cluding the cast-iron benches, self-oiling 

 ventilators and the shadeless ridge type 

 of construction in the rose and carnation 

 houses. Where side ventilators are re- 

 quired Lord & Burnham 's improved wall 

 ventilators will be used, made of iron 

 frames and fitted with galvanized wire to 

 keep out birds, squirrels, etc. A special 

 feature will be a fruit room fitted up 

 after the English style. 



A work-room 25x60 feet will be built 

 in the center of the range, fitted with a 

 private office, etc. All foundation walls 

 below grade will be of stone concrete, 

 the outside walls above grade of field 

 stone to match the present buildings. The 

 cellar will be large enough to hold about 

 150 -tons of coal, besides boilers, cool 

 storage and mushroom cellars. The 

 houses will be heated by hot water with 

 a combination of 3% -inch cast-iron pipes 

 and 2-inch wrought iron. 



Lord & Burnham Co. built Mr, Duke a 

 large show range about eight years ago. 



LATE PROPAGATION. 



There is still time to propagate, if one 



wishes to grow late varieties or figure on 



, a later cut of the midseason kinds. It is 



not BO easy to root cuttings now as it 



was two months ago, but it can be done. 



Shade the glass heavily if the cuttings 

 TO exposed to the sun, and let them be 

 jH a position where the wind will not 

 catch them, as a draft of warm air on 

 these * ' rare June days ' ' is fatal, since 

 the cuttings, if they wilt and get hard, 

 rarely come up again. Cuttings put in 

 now should be put close together, and 

 by overhead spraying, several times a 

 day, if need be, they can be kept from 

 wilting and the greater part can be 

 rooted easily enough. 



There is still time, too, for the rooting 

 of stock intended to be grown in 6-inch 

 pots, and such stock, grown along with- 

 out any check and caught on the first 

 bud that shows, often produces remark- 

 able results. Charles H. Totty. 



MUMS FOR NOVEMBER 1. 



I should like to have a little informa- 

 tion in regard to growing mums. I have 

 the following varieties: Estelle, Kosiere, 

 Monrovia, Pacific and Polly Kose. Can 

 these be grown so as to give me the main 

 vop of blooms by November 1? 



\ want to grow some in 6-inch pots and 

 ,..«>me on the bench. When will be the 

 proper time to bench them, and when to 

 take the bud? My stock is now in 2%- 

 inch pots, and I am shifting them to 4- 

 inch, as my compost pile is too wet to 

 handle. 



Is it a good policy to have the compost 

 pile two or more years oldt A year ago 

 I procured sod and added manure, ac- 

 tording to the suggestions in the Eeview, 

 ii))d have enough to last me three years. 

 i can continue to pile it up if there 



would be any advantage in doing so. 

 The compost piles have been turned over 

 about three times. 



Can Pacific Supreme and Golden Glow 

 be brought into bloom by November 1? 

 If I cannot use the varieties I have men- 



The Xdltor la pleased 

 when a Reader 

 presents Ills Ideas 

 on any subleot treated In 



^PSES' 



As experience Is tlie best 

 teaober, so do ^re 

 learn fastest by aa 

 excbanKe of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 are brouKbt out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spelling and gram- 

 mar, though desirable, are not neces- 

 sary. Write as you would talk when 

 doing: your l>e8t. 



WK SHALL BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM TOU. 



L 



tioned, please advise me as to what va- 

 rieties I can use, to have the main crop 

 by November 1. J. V. & S. 



While all the kinds mentioned by J. V. 

 & S. can be grown to prtfduce their 

 flowers by November 1, it would be far 



more satisfactory to get midseason kinds 

 for the general crop and let the early 

 ones come in as they naturally would, 

 from October 1 to 15. Early kinds, if 

 they are planted about the end of June 

 and the terminal bud is taken, can be 

 kept to November 1, but the flowers 

 from terminal buds are small, and what 

 is the use of trying to keep back these 

 varieties when a small expenditure will 

 give you all the midseason kinds you 

 want? And the difference in the quality 

 of the product will pay ten times over 

 for the plants bought. 



The kinds mentioned by J. V. & S. are 

 all good, early varieties, generally 

 classed as money-makers, and he might 

 do worse than plant these, but for No- 

 vember 1 I would suggest the following 

 kinds ; there are lots of others, but these 

 are good with us: Yellow — Cheltoni, 

 Appleton, Bonnaffon. White — Beatrice 

 May, Clay Frick, Lynnwood Hall. Pink — 

 Duckham, Enguehard, Mary Mann, Liger. 



Regarding the compost heap, I do not 

 consider it good practice to use soil that 

 has been stacked up for over two years. 

 As I remarked recently in my notes on 

 soil, the mum loves a "live" soil; that 

 is to say, a soil that has in it lots of de- 

 composing fiber. When the sod is all 

 rotted and the soil settles closely to- 

 gether, the air does not enter the soil 

 nearly so readily as when the fiber is 

 present, and the plants do not do so well. 

 J. V. & S. can easily prove this by using 

 old soil in one section of a bench and 

 comparatively new soil in another, and 

 comparing the crop. 



Charles H. Totty. 



CUTTINGS FAILED TO ROOT. 



Kindly advise me as to what caused 

 the following trouble with my mum cut- 

 tings. The stock plants were housed in 

 ich was heated with hot 



a hotbed, whic 



