December 29, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



11 



Masonic Designs are Among Those Most Frequently Called For. 



much into details; still I am aware that 

 most societies will not pay more. 



Many times we are called upon to 

 make a design in flowers, which, while 

 not impossible, is not at all practicai. 

 This is frequently the case with those 

 designs that are so commonly called 

 for, representing the vocation of either 

 the deceased or those who send the 

 design. A pretty basket or panel, with 

 a real slipper among flowers, is far 

 more significant than a poorly made 

 slipper of flowers. So, also, in the 

 accompanying illustration of the Elks' 

 design, the artist showed his skill even 

 more by using the small elk and the 

 antlers to such good advantage with 

 flowers, than if he had attempted to 

 make the whole piece of flowers. 



Hugo Schroeter. 



GIGANTEUM IN A CELLAR. 



Please give me a little advice in re- 

 gard to Lilium giganteum. I have them 

 in 6-inch pots in a dark cellar, with a 

 temperature of 46 degrees. They were 

 planted October 30. How should I 

 water them? I have been giving them 

 water about once a week and have 

 added a little hot water to the cold 

 water, so that it would not be too cold. 

 Have I been doing rignt in this respect? 



F. W. L. 



ground, take them at once to the green- 

 house and give a night temperature as 

 near 58 to 60 degrees as possible. Easter 

 comes April 16. You want to be able 

 to count the buds on your plants by 

 March 1 and then you are all right. 



C. W. 



THE VICTORIA MEDAL. 



The president and council of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society of England have 

 decided to confer the Victoria Medal of 

 Honor upon Thomas Coomber, John 

 James Cypher, C. R. Fielder, A. H. 

 Pearson and Henry B. May. Messrs. 



Cypher, Pearson and May are widely 

 known florists and nurserymen, Messrs. 

 Coomber and Fielder gardeners and 

 writers. The Victoria medal, it will 

 be remembered, was instituted in 1897, 

 on the occasion of Queen Victoria 's 

 diamond jubilee, to commemorate that 

 occasion by the award of medals to dis- 

 tinguished horticulturists and others 

 associated with horticulture. The num- 

 ber originally was sixty, but on the 

 death of Queen Victoria the number 

 was increased to sixty-three. The pres- 

 ent elections are to fill the places of 

 five Victoria medalists who have passed 

 away during the year 1910. 



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f 



GREENHOUSE 



CONSTRUCTION 



I 



STYLE OF GREENHOUSE. 



The cellar is a suitable place for the 

 giganteums and the temperature all 

 right. You are, however, giving the 

 plants rather more water than is neces- 

 sary. Lilies are often spoiled in the 

 early stages of growth by an excess of 

 water. Until the pots are well filled 

 with roots and the tops well above the 

 ground, keep the soil on the dry side. 

 Keeping the pots constantly moist is 

 neither necessary nor desirable. To 

 prove the benefits of keeping the pots 

 drier, try a few each way. Warming 

 the water is not really necessary; in 

 fact, I doubt if there is any benefit 

 from it. It would seem reasonable to 

 suppose that warmed water in cold 

 weather would be an advantage for 

 many plants. Experiments, however, on 

 these lines have not proved that the use 

 of warm water is any advantage. 



As soon as the lilies appear above 



A Western Grower's Ideas. 



The question of what style house to 

 build, which once was an ever-present 

 theme for discussion, seems to be pretty 

 well settled in the minds of most of the 

 growers. A few years ago we could not 

 pick up a copy of The Review without 

 finding some discussion on the argu- 

 ments for and against one style or an- 

 other. Whether the east and west or 

 north and south house was best did not 

 take long to decide, but it took a good 

 many years to argue down the extreme 

 short span to the south or to the north 

 and convince some of the growers that 

 an equal span east and west house, or 

 one with spans nearly the same length, 

 was nearer the right idea. Freak houses 

 are not now common, although some 

 growers still have notions of their own 

 which they choose to put to the actual 

 test. 



North and south houses are now popu- 

 lar only with the pot plant growers and 



a few of the cucumber growers. The 

 advantages claimed for the north and 

 south houses for pot plants are too well 

 known to need much comment now, al- 

 though these problems are always new 

 to some beginners. A north and south 

 house gives more shade at noon than at 

 any other time, which relief from the 

 midday strong sunlight is welcomed by 

 some plants that can stand full sunlight 

 in earlier and later hours, when the 

 rays are not so burning. Some pot 

 plants, however, like full sunlight in 

 the best part of the day, as well as cut 

 flowers, and do better in the cast and 

 west houses. 



The vegetable grower's idea of build- 

 ing north and south is particularly for 

 cucumbers, which often are trained par- 

 allel to the roofs up to a central point 

 just below the ridge. With houses east 

 and west the vines on the north slope 

 get little or no direct rays of sunshine 

 in the short days of winter, when the 

 sun is low in the south, while north and 

 south houses give direct sun 's rays to 

 one side in the forenoon and the other 



