Februahy 22, 1912. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



17 



mon market varieties, and "will stay in 

 bloom three times as long. 



Later on I may say more on this 

 subject, as I think it up to the breeders 

 and growers to set this matter right. A 

 full and free discussion ought to do 

 ffood, and for that reason I would like 

 fo hear the opinion of others. 



B. F. White. 



OPENING FROZEN VENTILATORS 



How do greenhouse men generally 

 manage ventilators in extremely cold 

 weather? It is often necessary to raise 

 them when they are frozen fast. How 

 are they loosened most readily? Then, 

 when they are to be closed, they are 

 coated with ice and can not be closed 

 tightly. How is this ice to be removed? 



T. H. S. 



The first thing needed to open a ven- 

 tilating sash which has become frozen 

 down is strong and powerful ventilat- 

 ing machinery, and this should be han- 

 dled so as to have the least possible 

 trouble from ice. This will be lessened 

 if the lower end of the ventilating sash 

 has only a narrow bearing upon the 

 header. On cold mornings, when the 

 sashes have frozen down, it is best not 

 to hurry too much about opening the 

 ventilators, as it does not take long for 

 any ice which has formed under them 

 to melt. Ordinarily there will be little 

 trouble from ice in houses which are 

 kept above 50 degrees, but if it be- 

 comes necessary to lift sashes which 

 remain frozen it can generally be ac- 

 complished by the use of a chisel or 

 steel bar, if it is not found feasible 

 to raise the temperature and thus melt 

 the ice. 



The trouble is likely to be greater 

 in closing ventilators upon whose lower 

 edge icicles have formed. If the icicles 

 are large they may be broken off with 

 a pole and the sash can then generally 

 be brought so near the headers that the 

 remainder of the ice will be melted by 

 the warm air which escapes through the 

 crack, in all except the coolest houses, 

 where, if there is danger that the tem- 

 perature will drop too much, the ice 

 may have to be cut away with a chisel. 



TOO COOI. FOR SFRENOERI. 



Enclosed herewith, I am sending you 

 a plant of my Asparagus Sprengeri. 

 These plants were seedlings two inches 

 high, with one small bulb, when planted 

 in the benches last August. They have 

 apparently made no growth excepting 

 ^0 grow bulbs. The compost used is 

 one-fourth well decayed cow manure 

 and the rest rather heavy soil. Any 

 •lew shoots that grow are not long and 

 'eathery, but short and stubby. There 

 are some little green bugs on the new 

 ■shoots and I have been using Nicoticide. 

 Would the new shoots do better if the 

 "Id ones were cut or trimmed out? 

 l^lease inform me wha^t is wrong and 

 what can be done to improve the 

 growth. The plants are in the side 

 benches of a carnation house, with a 

 temperature of 48 to 50 degrees at 

 night. M. P. 



So far as one may judge from the de- 

 scription given, the compost is one in 

 which Asparagus Sprengeri should make 

 more growth than is indicated by the 

 specimen, but the chief cause of the 

 slow progress in this case is the low 

 night temperature. Carnation tempera- 



These Are the Little Liners That Do the Business 



ture is too low for this plant, for it re- 

 quires a night temperature of 55 to 60 

 degrees. If space is available, it would 

 pay to transplant th6 asparagus to a 

 bench in a warmer house. W. H. T. 



ELECTRICITY TO AID GROWTH. 



Please give whatever informlation 

 you can on the use of electricity for 

 growing plants. W. G. 



Numerous experiments have been car- 

 ried on with electric lights to deter- 

 mine their effect upon the growth of 

 plants. The results appear to indi- 

 cate that the growth of the plants is 

 hastened, especially the development 

 of the stems and leaves. ' The results 

 are less satisfactory with plants grown 

 for their flowers. 



Experiments to determine the results 

 from the direct application of elec- 

 tricity either to the soil or to the 

 plants, or both, have been tried. Gal- 

 vanized wires are placed in the ground 

 and other wires are stretched overhead. 

 From the overhead wire, wire chains 

 are suspended at frequent intervals. 

 The wires are connected with the poles 

 of a high voltage electrical machine. 

 Tests of the effect of electricity applied 



in this way have been made both in 

 greenhouses and for the growing of 

 field crops, with results that are prom- 

 ising, and it is possible that the use of 

 electricity for hastening the develop- 

 ment of greenhouse and truck crops 

 will soon be shown to be a commercial 

 success where cheap power can be ob- 

 tained. 



SPANISH IRIS. 



We are thinking of trying Spanish 

 iris another year for cut flowers for 

 the local and Boston markets. Could 

 we flower them in January? Any in- 

 formation on this subject would be most 

 welcome. Would like to hear from 

 some one who has tried them. F. C, 



You can not flower Spanish iris be- 

 fore the middle of March. They can 

 not be subjected to hard forcing and 

 should never have a higher night tem- 

 perature than 48 degrees to 50 degrees. 

 Spanish iris is excellent for spring 

 flowering and the cooler it is grown 

 the better it will be. It should be 

 grown in flats containing four to five 

 inches of soil, kept in a cool pit after 

 planting and housed in batches as 

 wanted. They are also satisfactory 

 bulbs to plant outdoors in late fall and 



