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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



M;^Y 13, 1909. 



[ NORTH AND SOUTH HOUSES. 



I should like to have some advi«x;e in 

 regard to greenhouse building. I h^ave a 

 lot 125x270 feet, and I want to "njuild 

 the 125-foot way, which would mak^ my 

 houses run north and south. Can you 

 give me some idea as to how carna tions 

 will do this way ? I am going to "■ouild 

 twenty-one feet wide, with the King Con- 

 struction gutter, and use 16x18 and L 6x24 

 glass. As Ave have quite a warm cli mnate 

 here in Oklahoma, I should judge that 

 almost anything would grow. PUease 

 give your opinion on the subject. 



D. J. 



While the prevaiUng scntiiiient:-^ is, 

 without any doubt, in favor of hczjuses 

 running east and west, there is no rea- 

 son why you should not grow good car- 

 nations in houses running nortli and 

 south. The fact is, it is done right aMong. 



The main objection to houses built this 

 way is that when the sun is low in " Tiiid- 

 winter, the rays, instead of striidng— the 

 glass at right angles, strike it atsueZh an 

 angle that much of the light, instea — d of 

 passing through the glass, is defle=cted 

 and lost to the plants inside. Tliea, too, 

 the woodwork in the roof of such a h^ ouse 

 will cast more shade than is the ca^e in 

 an east and west house. If I were i^ulan- 

 ning to build a range of glass, 1 vr- ould 

 build east and west if possible. 



A. F. J. ^B. 



JUDGING SEEDLINGS, 



A Novel Experience. 



One of the problems of the near fii 

 ture, it seems to me, is securiEg greater 

 uniformity in the judging of new vsarie- 

 ties of carnations and other flower s at 

 the various local shows and meeti-ngs. 

 Under present conditions, the owne=r of 

 a new variety cannot tell whether or not 

 his variety will be scored the sam^ at 

 one meeting as at another, even thczjugh 

 the blooms be exactly the same in e "very 

 respect. No doubt other dissemina^tors 

 have noticed this, also, but we haves re- 

 cently had it brought home to us imost 

 forcibly in the following manner; 



Last January we showed our new 

 white carnation, Shasta, at the A. C_J. S. 

 convention. The judges scored it tw&=nty- 

 three out of twenty-five points on c^olor. 

 A few weeks ago we sent a bnnclzzi of 

 blooms to another city for exhibition and 

 when we were informed that thevai — iety 

 'scored fifteen out of tweuty-five po^ints 

 on color, you may imagine our sur- 

 prise. We knew that the blooms Ar-^'ere 

 just as good in color as those at the 

 A. C. S. show. In fact, Shasta nesver 

 shows any trace of pink or other e-olor 

 at any stage. We asked the secret: ary 

 to inquire of the judges what was the 

 reason for the low score on color, wM.iich 

 he very kindly did. Imagine our sur- 

 prise when he gave us the judge 'sans-^sver, 

 which was, that he did not conside:^ it 

 worth more than fifteen points on zamhi, 

 because it was white ! What a niiscrjon- 



ception of the intent of the table of 

 points! Because a variety is white, be 

 it ever so pure, it should not score as 

 higl:a in color as a colored variety! Such 

 a construction of the rules for judging 

 can only be excused on the ground of 

 ignorance. 



Governins^ Principles in Judging Colors. 



Jiadges who understand the rules score 

 color according to its purity, etc. In 

 case of white, freedom from objection- 

 able coloring, such as pink mottling or 

 strijpes, or decided cream tint, are the 

 points considered. A variety which is 

 free from these will score as high as 

 any other color. 



In the colored varieties there are more 

 points to be considered, especially in the 

 pinks, of which there are several shades 

 that are equally desirable. It would be 



Elli&oa's New Store. 



folly to score one shade of pink higher 

 than another, as long as each was a good 

 exarEiple of its shade. In those shades 

 the Judge desires evenness of color over 

 the ^vhole bloom, and freedom from dull- 

 ness or washiness. He wants a color 

 which will not dull with age or bleach 

 unde^r strong sunlight. Usually a pink 

 witlx considerable yellow in its com- 

 position will stand the test best and he 

 looks for this. In the reds and crim- 

 sons a rich brilliancy and the retention 

 of this brilliancy are the points which 

 bring the score up high. It is even con- 

 ceded that there are several shades of 

 red, all of which may score equally high, 

 such as orange scarlet, cardinal, etc. 



^4atiooal Roles Should Be Observed. 



Now, it seems to us that not only is it 

 necessary that the national society's table 

 of points be used, but its instructions for 

 using this table should be carefully 

 studied by everyone who may be called 

 upon, to score new varieties. 



Secretaries of local societies and clubs 

 should provide themaelves with these 

 rules, which will be gladly furnished by 

 the national societies. It goes with- 

 out saying that whenever a flower is 



judged, if there is a national organiza- 

 tion established for its promotion, the 

 rules employed by that organization in 

 judging the flower should be employed. 

 While no local society is bound to recog- 

 nize the national society as a superior, 

 yet an honest desire to do the right thing 

 should cause it to respect an organization 

 which has made a study of its one spe- 

 cialty, just as the layman respects the 

 opinion of an expert. 



Too often the judging is done in a 

 haphazard way, and frequently by per- 

 sons who are wholly incompetent, and 

 the owner of the variety judged either 

 suffers undeservedly or gains without 

 meriting it. We have seen certificates 

 awarded to varieties which would not 

 score seventy-five points before the na- 

 tional society. A. F. J. Baub. 



ELLISON'S NEW STORE. 



The Ellison Floral Co., St. Louis, re- 

 cently moved into a new store at 4511 

 Olive street, shown in the accompanying 

 illustration. Next door they have built 

 a show house, which adds greatly to the 

 attractiveness of the place and increases 

 their facilities, both in the decorating 

 line and for handling the plant trade at 

 holiday time, especially the latter. 



WHITE FLY ON HOUSE PLANTS. 



What can we recommend for white 

 flies on our customers' house plants? 



B. M. E. 



White fly on house i)la\ts is best 

 fought by dipping the plants in soapy 

 water. Hold the heads down and give 

 them a thorough wetting. Spraying with 

 soapy water, or dipping, will soon reduce 

 the number of these little pests. Under 

 glass, fumigation with hydrocyanic acid 

 gas is usually resorted to, but of course 

 this cannot be used in a dwelling house. 



C. W. 



A FEW ** NEW" INSECTICIDES. 



Dr. L. O. Howard, chief of the Bu- 

 reau of Entomology in the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, says the num- 

 ber of proposed new insecticides which 

 come to his office for examination or re- 

 port rather increases from year to year 

 than otherwise, under the stimulus of 

 special problems such as the boU weevil 

 and green bug problems. "These sup- 

 posedly new insecticide discoveries are re- 

 ported at an average rate of two or three 

 a day, and some of them require exam- 

 ination, but most of them are readily 

 judged from a mere description. Not one 

 in a hundred of these presents any novel 

 or useful idea. During the last fifteen 

 years only two new and useful insecti- 

 cides have developed. These are arsenate 

 of lead and the more recently discovered 

 so-called miscible oils or system of ren- 

 dering certain petroleum products di- 

 rectly miscible with water." 



Burlington, Ia. — Some of Joseph 

 Bock's greenhouses were badly wrecked 

 recently by a heavy wind storm. 



Greensboro, N. C— W. Clark Porter 

 has leased the greenhouses of the late 

 J. E. Smith, on South Cedar street ex- 

 tension. The stock will be kept on sale, 

 as heretofore, at Helms' drug store and 

 at the Greensboro Drug Co. 's store. The 

 greenhouses have 15,000 feet under glass. 

 Mr. Porter, being otherwise employed, has 

 engaged two florists to run the business. 



