AUOOST 15, 1912. 



The Florists^ Review 



43 



Molds for Concrete Hotbed at Edgeh-ook, Ul. 



for which they were never intended 

 and which is almost certain to destroy 

 them absolutely? 



CONCBETE HOTBEDS. 



Since concrete is entering so largely 

 into greenhouse construction, it is in- 

 teresting to note that excellent perma- 

 nent hotbeds are also being built of 

 this material. The accompanying illus- 

 tration shows hotbeds built by the 

 George Wittbold Co., at its greenhouses 

 at Edgebrook, 111., a suburb of Chicago. 

 These hotbeds were built by the reg- 

 ular greenhouse employees. A 1-2-5 

 mixture was used. The forms were 

 made for the purpose, the entire job 

 being poured at one time. The length 

 was a mere matter of meeting the 

 needs of the company; the other dimen- 

 sions would be satisfactory anywhere. 

 It was necessary to go far enough into 

 the ground to get a secure footing, also 

 to keep out frost. The inside of 

 the form was made of second-hand lum- 

 ber. The outside was corrugated iron, 

 such as often is used on the roofs of 

 boiler sheds. The width of the hot- 

 bed was right for a standard sash. 

 The back wall was thirty inches high, 

 and the front wall twenty inches high, 

 with a thickness of six inches. After 

 the concrete had set the forms were 

 knocked away and the heating material 

 was put in. The hotbed is apparently 

 due to last forever. The outside of 

 the completed structure, shown in the 

 illustration, shows the corrugations 

 that were in the iron used in building 

 the form. 



OBITUAEY. 



Joseph M. Cole. 



Joseph M. Cole, one of the pioneer 

 florists of Peoria, 111., passed away at 

 the age of 58 years, August 9, 1912, 

 atter a lingering illness of about three 

 or four years. Mr. Cole was one of tfie 

 nrst to open a flower store in his city, 

 out sold out his business in 1894 and 

 Since then has not been actively en- 

 gaged in the business, but always took 

 a deep interest in anything pertaining 

 io floriculture. He was a Mason and 

 anight of Pythias, and these fraternal 

 praers had charge of the funeral serv- 

 ices. He was laid to rest in Springfield 

 temetery, August 11. 



HABBISn FOB EASTEB. 



Please tell us how to handle Harrisii 

 lilies in Alabama so as to have them in 

 bloom for Easter, 1913. The bulbs have 

 arrived, but I think it is too early to 

 pot them up, as our summers are long. 

 F. B. 



Nothing will be gained by keeping 

 the bulbs of any lilies out of the soil 

 any longer than can be avoided. I 

 would put the bulbs in at once, using 5- 

 inch or 6-inch pots, according to the 

 size of bulbs you have. After potting, 

 stand on the floor of a cold cellar, which 

 you will probably have. Give them one 

 watering then, but run the plants pretty 

 dry until growth is well started and 

 roots are active round the sides of the 

 pots. Place them in a house with a 

 night temperature of 50 degrees in win- 

 ter. It is well to remember that Easter 

 next year comes unusually early. March 

 23 is the date and you want to see the 

 buds on your plants by the first week 

 in February, to have them in time. 

 Even if you get the flowers a little 

 earlier, if you have a cool cellar you 

 can easily retard them for a week or 

 ten days. Once the buds show, a tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees at night should 

 be given. 



Quite a few Harrisii are this year 

 being grown for next Easter, owing to 



its early date. These do not make so 

 good a pot lily as multiflorum and gi- 

 ganteum, both of which are forms of 

 longiflorum, as it grows rather tall, and 

 you would do well to get some of one or 

 the other of these lilies. The multi- 

 florums arrive earlier and can be more 

 easily forced into bloom than gigan- 

 teum. The latter, provided you can give 

 it a brisk heat all the time, is the finest 

 variety for pots. C. W. 



FAIIiUBE IN PBOPAQATING. 



Will you please tell us how to propa- 

 gate genistas and snapdragons? We 

 have inserted cuttings in boxes of nice, 

 clear sand and kept them well watered, 

 out in the yard, but they all damp off 

 and do not root at all. The snaps are 

 finely colored pink seedlings and we 

 want to increase the best ones for cut 

 flowers next winter, but they fail to 

 root. 



We also have some beautiful coleus 

 and want to increase the stock of them. 

 Shall we let them go to seed and sow 

 the seeds, or take cuttings? We have 

 trouble with coleus in winter. They do 

 not even wait for frost, but perish in 

 September or October, at the first hint 

 of fall weather. Please inform us as to 

 their culture. L. M. S. & C. 



Genistas do not root readily from soft 

 wood. If you had taken cuttings last 

 January or February, of wood tolerably 

 well ripened, and inserted them in a 

 cutting bench, such as is used for propa- 

 gating carnations or chrysanthemums, 

 you would have had no trouble in root- 

 ing them. Those rubbed off with a heel 

 root the most easily. It will be better 

 to wait until fall before putting in any 

 more genistas, and then select short cut- 

 tings of well firmed wood. 



Snapdragons and other soft-wood cut- 

 tings are liable to damp off in intensely 

 hot weather. Try a batch in a cold- 

 frame. Shade the glass, keep moder- 

 ately close and a large percentage should 

 root. Snapdragons are also readily 

 propagated from seed, which can be 

 purchased in separate colors. If sown 

 at once you will get good plants for 

 benching in October. 



Coleus cuttings should be taken be- 

 fore cold nights arrive. Put them in 

 flats of sand or in any ordinary propa- 

 gating bench sometime between now and 

 the end of August. Keep them shad- 

 ed and frequently damped over and few 

 should fail to root. Coleus are, if any- 

 thing, the easiest of all bedding plants 

 to propagate. C. W. 



Concrete Hotbed at the Wittbold Establishment, Edeebrook, III. 



