OcTOBKu 'JO, mio. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



New Store of John G. Heinl & Son, Terre Haute, Ind. 



as roses and carnations, lend them- 

 selves to storage. While we have no 

 accurate information, based on careful 

 tests, except that provided by J. Ver- 

 <*ier, professor of horticulture in the 

 Cote-d'Or, on "The Utilization of Ar- 

 tificial Cold in Floriculture," which is 

 published in L 'Industrie Frigorifique, 

 florists all well know that the value of 

 both carnations and roses is greatly en- 

 hanced by subjecting them as soon as 

 out to a chill which is just sufficient 

 to cheek the normal vegetative func- 

 tions, without destroying them. The 

 check shx)uld be severe enough to cause 

 the flowers to rest for a period, but the 

 rest should not be a permanent one, 

 from which they cannot be roused. Ex- 

 l)erience has demonstrated that the con- 

 dition obtaining in the ice-box or re- 

 frigerator where the atmosphere is 

 highly charged with moisture is better 

 suited to the purpose of the florist than 

 the same temperature maintained arti- 

 ficially when the air is dry. Usually 

 the chilling is not long continued, but 

 it is generally believed that a few 

 hours' exposure to a low temperature 

 greatly lengthens the period of beauty 

 and usefulness of roses and carnations. 

 While those practices are of great eco- 

 nomic value, even at the present time, 

 there ia no reason to doubt that through 

 careful investigation their value might 

 be greatly enhanced. 



The wholesale cut flower trade of the 

 great cities of the United States is now 

 greatly facilitated by the use of modern 

 cold storage appliances. While low 

 temperatures are not desirable, a con- 

 stant temperature of 40 degrees for 



carnations and roses is absolutely es- 

 sential. Fluctuations in temperature 

 and humidity produce great injury, 

 while a constant temperature at a mod- 

 erate degree is the only means of hold- 

 ing delicate flowers over a long period. 

 Such delicate blossoms as orchids can- 

 not be held in storage at all. They 

 are very sensitive to low temperature 

 and cannot be successfully stored. 



What Is Needed. 



What we at present need are care- 

 fully conducted cold storage tests with 

 each of the important commercial cut 

 flowers, coupled with painstaking phy- 

 siological researches to determine the 

 exact temperature and its duration, in 

 order that the stability of the flowers 

 may be preserved to the greatest extent 

 and that their duration in an ordinary 

 living room after their withdrawal from 

 cold storage shall be greatest. Without 

 these painstaking researches we can 

 never arrive at satisfactory commercial 

 practices. The empirical rules which 

 are followed today serve a very useful 

 and valuable purpose. 



The value of the cut flower trade in 

 any European country or in America is 

 sufficient to justify most painstaking 

 and careful research along this line. 

 It is to be regretted that more positive 

 information cannot be given upon these 

 important phases of the cold storage 

 business at this time, but my studies 

 have thoroughly convinced me of the 

 necessity for careful and extended re- 

 search into these most important com- 

 mercial fields for cold storage. 



LANTANAS AND HELIOTBOPES. 



Kindly tell me when is the best time 

 to propagate lantanas and heliotropes? 

 If I have no bad luck with my cut- 

 tings, I will have quite an assortment 

 to dispose of. C. A. M. 



Cuttings of these should go iu at 

 once, as frost is liable to cut them off 

 at any time. Further cuttings can be 

 taken from these during the winter, to 

 produce plants for spring sales. What 

 you put in now will be in the nature 

 of stock plants. The heliotropes require 

 more heat to root them than the lan- 

 tanas, but both are of easy propagation. 



PEOPAGATING BOUVARDIAS. 



I have a nice lot of bouvardias, from 

 which I would like to grow some youug 

 stock. Can you instruct me how? 



O. L. H. 



All the bouvardias are easily propa- 

 gated by root cuttings. Shake the soil 

 away clean from a few plants and cut 

 the thicker portions of the roots into 

 half-inch lengths. Cover them with 

 sand in a warm propagating bench and 

 keep moist, potting off singly when they 

 have started to grow and make young 

 roots. This propagation is best done 

 in midwinter, when firing is constant 

 and a steady, brisk bottom heat at 

 command. B. Humboldtii is easily 

 propagated from the young, soft growths, 

 which root easily and can be grown into 

 quite large plants in a season. All the 

 other bouvardias are best from root 

 cuttings. C. W. 



