6 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JULY 7, 1910. 



THE RETAIL 



I 



l<^^^^ FLORIST 



AN ELECTRIC CAR. 



Most of tlio retail florists who liave 

 adopted the automobile for delivery 

 purposes have chosen gasoline motors, 

 but A. Lange has just put an electric 

 delivery car on the streets of Chicago. 

 He figures that the required service 

 may be had at a cost for operation and 

 upkeep considerably less than the out- 

 go on a gasoline car. 



Lange 's is a Studcbakor product. It 

 has a speed of twelve miles an hour and 

 a battery capacity of forty-five miles on 

 one charge. The car has 2%-inch solid 

 rubber tires, fine coach finish on the 

 body and all lettering in gold. The 

 carrying space is 44x60x82 inches and 

 there are two removable racks that may 

 be used as needed. There are front and 

 rear doors, ventilators and electric heat- 

 ing device, as well as electric lights in- 

 side and out. 



DECORATING AUTOS. 



If, as many allege, the automobile has 

 done an injury to the flower business, 

 the way to get even is to encourage the 

 parades of decorated autos. These seem 

 to make a hit wherever they occur, and 

 the fad for them already has reached 

 the smaller cities. A few days ago 

 there was an automobile parade at 

 Xfenia, O., and it fell to a florist at 

 Jamestown, a neighboring city, to carry 

 away first prize of $100. The car was 

 decorated by H. C. Fenker, to whom 

 the owner gave the prize money. Mr. 

 Fenker used hardy cut ferns as the 

 basis of his decoration, literally cover- 

 ing the car with them and creating an 

 excellent effect, as will be shown by the 

 accompanying illustration. Smilax was 

 used where ferns did not meet the need. 

 The flowers were 500 short, well opened 

 Beauties. This was all the material 

 used, except for some ribbon, a stufifed 

 eagle and a dove, which was attached 

 to the top of the canopy over the rear 

 seat. 



Mr. Fenker says that the advertising 

 value of his success has been worth to 

 him fullv as much as the money gained 

 by it. ■ 



OBERTIN AND HIS OUTFIT. 



At Kenosha, Wis., not long since 

 there was a parade of decorated deliv- 

 ery and other vehicles in which a large 

 part of the city's business houses were 

 represented. The accompanying illus- 

 tration shows the wagon of Peter M. 

 Obertin decked out as a florist's outfit 

 always should be for such an event It 

 took first prize. Mr. Obertin stands at 

 the left in the picture. 



MOSCHOSMA BIPARIUM. 



I wish to know if Moschosma ripa- 

 rium is a profitable plant commercially. 

 T never see it advertised m The Keview 

 and believe it is comparatively a new 



plant and that its blooming season is 

 during the winter. C. M. W. 



This winter-blooming plant was intro 

 duced to the American trade by C. H. 

 Totty three or four years ago. It makes 

 a neat pot plant, but is better adapted 

 for culture on private than on commer- 

 cial establishments. The flowers soon 

 fade when cut and the plants keep poor- 

 ly in living-rooms. In a cool greenhouse 

 they last well. While this plant blooms 

 at Christmas, I do not consider it of 

 much commercial value. It is occasion- 

 ally advertised in The Keview under 

 classified advertisements. W. C. 



SALVIAS FROM SEED. 



Will Salvias Zuricli and Bonfire conic 

 true from seed? J. M. 



We have found Salvias Zuricli and 

 Bonfire come true from seed. It is, of 

 course, necessary that your seed ho 

 purchased from a thoroughly reliable 

 source. Plants propagated from cut 

 tings are somewhat dwarfer and start 

 to bloom earlier than seedlings. We 

 have not found that they possess the 

 same vigor, however. It has often 

 been a wonder to us that so many 

 growers persist year after year in 

 propagating their salvias from cut- 

 tings. The old plants take up con 

 siderable room and are ei;cellent breed- 

 ing places for mealy bug. Seedlings 

 are so easily and inexpensively raised 

 that it does not pay to carry over these 

 old stock plants. Be sure, however, 

 that you get your seed from a gilt- 

 edged house. Cheap seed never pays 

 in the end, nor does it pay to trade 

 with firms of whose reliability you know- 

 nothing. C. 



BUILDING A PIT. 



I am in a quandary and appeal to you 

 i„r advice. I have no greenhouse here; 

 in fact, there is not even a conservatory 

 in town. Our winters in this southern 

 latitude, except in two extreme cases, 

 when the oranges were all killed in 

 Florida, have been extremely mild, i 

 liave been carrying my plants in a pit, 

 without anv artificial heat. My pit is 

 MX feet six inches wide, five feet to top 

 of ground and twenty-five feet long. 

 It is curbed with 2-inch lumber and has 

 a roof like a lean-to. covered with hot- 

 lied sashes eight feet long. As a mat- 

 ter of course, 1 ran the back or north 

 side up much higher than the front, so 

 as to get the proper slope. 



When I ordered ''Greenhouse Con- 

 struction," by L. R. Taft, from you 

 some time ago, I was thinking about 

 building a small concrete greenhouse, 

 myself, on top of the ground, and 

 thought I could make it thoroughly 

 warm by being particular with it, with- 

 out any artificial heat, and could thus 

 save my old pit for more hardy things 

 which I am obliged to winter. But, on 

 looking through the book, I find Mr. 

 Taft says that concrete would be a 

 great conductor of heat. Artificial heat 

 being quite expensive here, it would not 

 pay me to use any, so I have abandoned 

 the idea. 



I have been wondering recently 

 whether it would be feasible for me to 

 widen my pit ten or twelve feet and 

 build it up with concrete, instead of 

 wood curbing, to the surface of the 

 ground, putting on a three-quarter-span 

 roof. I would protect the higher north 

 wall with soil. Now, the question is, 

 would that be too close and damp with 

 only my top ventilators in the roof, or 

 would I have to build eighteen or 

 twenty inches above ground for side 

 lights and ventilators, and would there 

 be air enough,, even with that, for 

 mums, etc., in the summer time? 



E. H. S. 



The difiiculty referred to, loss of heat 

 by radiation from solid grout walls, 

 applies in the northern states, where 

 the temperature may remain below zero 

 for days at a time during the winter 

 but would be of little importance in 

 the extreme south, where the thermom- 

 eter seldom reaches the freezing point 



Auto Decorated by R C Fenker, Jamestown, Ohio. 



