16 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mabch 11, 1909. 



should be about 10 degrees higher. As 

 soon as the fibrous roots show on the sur- 

 face a light top-dressing of half compost 

 and half sheep manure must be applied, 

 and repeated as often as necessary. 



"This is one treatment under which I 

 have grown gardenias with success, but I 

 have tried another way also, with good 

 results. I have been growing my plants 

 up to 7-inch pots under glass all summer. 

 By August 1 I removed the glass and 

 kept the plants without glass until Sep- 

 tember 15. This ripens the wood and the 

 flowering buds can be found at the end 

 of each growth by this time. The plants 

 have to be moved under the glass again 

 when the nights get cooler. I have 

 planted a bench, when the plants have 

 been treated in this manner, by October 

 1 and cut a fine crop of flowers from 

 December 15 on. 



"This method gives anyone the chance 

 to have gardenias in succession if you 

 have different houses to plant in rota- 

 tion, as you can hold them in a cool 

 house at about 52 to 55 degrees at night, 

 until wanted for forcing. 



"The varieties grown are principally 

 Veitchii, or florida, and floribunda. Gar- 

 denia Fortune! produces larger flowers, 

 but is more suitable for summer flower- 

 ing. 



"AH plants have their enemies, and so, 

 also, has the gardenia. The worst of all 

 is the mealy bug. Syringing with a mix- 

 ture of lemon oil and Rcse-leaf Extract 

 keeps them in check, but the best and 



FLORISTS' PROBLEMS. 



[A summary of a recent address by Prof. 

 W. S. Blair, of Macdonald College, Quebec, be- 

 fore the Montreal Gardeners' and Florists' Club.] 



In Montreal and vicinity there are 

 about a half million square feet under 

 glass, devoted to commercial floriculture 

 and vegetable forcing. In comparison, 

 we have one acre under glass to 200 

 acres devoted to the same line of work 

 in other parts of America. It is not 

 necessary for me to state that a number 

 of problems of great interest to you as 

 florists could be worked out at consider- 

 able saving to the trade at some place 

 erected for the purpose. So far as I 

 know, no aid has been sought for such 

 work in the Province. Yet you have at 

 your service, without any cost, and with- 

 out any effort on your part, a range of 

 greenhouses thoroughly up-to-date in 

 every particular, donated by Sir Wm. C. 

 Macdonald of your city, and situated at 

 Macdonald College, P. Q., where experi- 

 ments in your interests are and will be 

 conducted. This certainly is a gift of 

 which the florists and gardeners of this 

 Province should be proud, for through 

 it we shall be able to keep pace with 

 those engaged in similar lines in other 

 parts of America, all of whom are re- 

 ceiving more or less state or provincial 

 aid. 



Tlie CoUege Greenhouses. 



Our houses are well known to the most 

 of you. They comprise four 100-foot 



William Kleinheinz. 



surest remedy is prevention. This can be 

 accomplished only by heavy syringing 

 with a good force of water, in summer I 

 would say three times a day, and as the 

 days get shorter reduce to one, or in 

 bright days, two applications. ' ' 



The Review will send the Book of 

 Crafted Roses for 25c. 



houses, built in block, with glass parti- 

 tions dividing each span of 21% feet, 

 and these houses are again divided, giv- 

 ing us eight houses, each under thermo- 

 static control. I personally planned these 

 houses, so hesitate to say much about 

 them. What was in mind when develop- 

 ing the plan was to assist those who in- 

 tend making a living out of plants under 



glass, so that they would be able to 

 get the largest possible crop at the least 

 possible expense, and would thus be able 

 to supply a larger number of people with 

 such plants at the lowest possible rate. 

 For this purpose, to conduct effective ex- 

 periments, crops must be grown on a 

 commercial scale and marketed in a 

 commercial way. A quantity of certain 

 crops must be produced and placed upon 

 the general market, and this continued 

 for a number of years, in order to de- 

 termine accurately and give reliable in- 

 formation. Yes, in our experiments the 

 business end is always in view, not in 

 assuming what we might have got, but 

 by placing our produce on the general 

 market and taking chances with growers 

 in the same line. It has always seemed 

 to me that many of our provincial and 

 state aid experiment stations cut off 

 their work at the business end, simply be- 

 cause some grower feels that to place 

 such goods on the market would infringe 

 on his business. The idea is entirely 

 wrong from every standpoint, so far as 

 I can see. Of course, it is possible to 

 abuse such a privilege, but if honestly 

 done, no one suffers. 



The only fault I can find with the 

 greenhouses erected is that they are only 

 about half large enough to carry on the 

 most efficient work. As an educational 

 institution we have to devote consider- 

 able space to demonstration and student 

 practice work, cutting down the area 

 for our experimental work considerably. 



Our intention at the start was to erect 

 several styles of construction, but, on 

 close investigation, it was decided that 

 the difference in form of up-to-date con- 

 struction, so far as utility goes, is slight, 

 and that a whole range of uniform con- 

 struction, such as the average grower 

 might put up, would be more valuable. 



The Benches. 



Considerable thought was put on the 

 arrangement and building of the benches. 

 Possibly our experiments to determine 

 some of the best styles of bench are not 

 duplicated elsewhere. We have the solid 

 side benches, two and a half feet high, in 

 some cases filled with earth to the bench 

 soil, in other cases with rough excavation 

 stone, and cinders in some cases also. 

 Some of the benches have 2^/^-foot sides, 

 with openings into 2 V^ -inch tile, laid 

 close together below the bench soil, and 

 below these again there is simply soil, 

 excavation stone or cinders. In other 

 benches with 2 1^- foot sides, there are 

 4-inch openings in line, four inches apart 

 and eighteen inches below the top of 

 the bench, opening into excavation rock 

 or cinder, which fills the center of the 

 bed. We have low benches, with simply 

 8-inch coping, and elevated benches. 

 These benches are arranged differently 

 in different houses. The object is to de- 

 termine the best style of bench for dif- 

 ferent crops, and the best arrangement 

 of these benches in the house. 



In the construction of the benches, we 

 aimed to take up as little space as pos- 

 sible with the thickness of bench sides. 

 The benches are all made of cinder con- 

 crete, reinforced with wire. The bench 

 sides, except of the elevated benches, 

 were made of cement slabs, three inches 

 thick at the bottom, two inches at the 

 top, two feet eight inches wide, and five 

 and one-half feet long. These were 

 made on their flat, and electric weld 

 wire placed in the middle of the slab, 

 allowing four inches to project at each 

 end of the slab. After they were well 

 set, they wore li^','-'! and taken to flic 



