FKBBCABY 9. 1911. The Weekly Florists' Review* 



11 



GBEENHOUSE MANAGEMENT. 



[A paper by Charles L. Washburn, of Chicago, 

 read at the horticultural conference at Cham- 

 paign, in., February 7, 1911.] 



In giving my ideas on greenhouse 

 management it must be understood that 

 they refer to Beauties, roses, carnations, 

 etc. I am not familiar with the growing 

 of palms, ferns and that class of plants. 

 However, the management is about the 

 same regarding the usual care of water- 

 ing, ventilating, etc. 



The Heating System. 



I will suppose, at the beginning, that 

 the greenhouses are well built and of 

 modern construction. The heating is 

 the first subject we shall take up — it is 

 absolutely necessary that a good circu- 

 lation is obtained of either hot water or 

 steam. The pipes must be so arranged 

 that they will easily drain back to a 

 tank, whence the condensation can be 

 pumped into the boilers. The circula- 

 tion is the main foundation plank of 

 successful heating, as either hot water 

 or steam, with perfect circulation, will 

 do better work with a less amount of 

 fuel than when the returns have to be 

 forced around by pressure. The boiler 

 capacity in every greenhouse heating 

 plant should be at kast fifty per cent 

 larger than what was figured as the 

 rated capacity required, as the most 

 economical way of firing a boiler is to 

 burn an even fire without forcing it. 

 If the boilers have to be forced to their 

 full capacity, a large amount of heat 

 escapes up the chimney. 



The heating plant and the greenhouses 

 themselves should be thoroughly over- 

 hauled and all repairs made during the 

 summer months. AH broken glass should 

 be replaced and the woodwork thor- 

 oughly painted. If any of the outside 

 sheathing has rotted or broken away it 

 should be repaired and made snug and 

 warm. The drain-pipes should be care- 

 fully looked after to see that noae are 

 broken, for greenhouses require good 

 drainage in order to keep good, fresh 

 air under the benches. 



Planting the Houses. 



We now come to the matter of plant- 

 ing the houses. When removing the old 

 soil from the benches it is best to thor- 

 oughly clean and whitewash the benches 

 if they are of wood. Have the benches 

 well repaired, so that all will be lined 

 up in good shape. The new soil is one 

 of the principal features of the success 

 for the coming season 's operations. This 

 soil should be mixed the previous fall 

 and left in a pile all winter, so as to 

 get well mellowed. When the soil pile 

 is being made it should be composted 

 of at least one-third well-rotted manure 

 and one-quarter good fibrous sod, the 

 balance good black soil with about 

 twenty per cent of clay in it. This 

 should be thoroughly mixed, both when 

 put up in the pile afid again when ready 

 to spread on the laenches. A soil pul- 

 verizer should be used if possible. This 

 will give us a splendid bench soil for 

 the growing of either roses or carna- 

 tions. Our plants for own use should 

 be the best that can be procured. Our 

 own firm has found out, from years of 

 experience, that the best young plants 

 that we can grow we must save for our- 

 selves. We have made a practice of 

 keeping track of the best blooming 

 plants in the benches of both roses and 

 carnations and propagating exclusively 

 from that stock. By carefully follow- 

 ing this plan we have raised the flower- 



ing quality of our plants fully ten per 

 cent over our former average. 



I want to impress this point on every 

 greenhouse man — that the best young 

 stock possible is the cheapest in the en<1, 

 and the stronger and larger the stock 

 is at the time of planting the better 

 the results wiJl be. 



As a general rule, early planting is 

 always advisable. With roses replant- 

 ing should start by June 1 and be com- 

 pleted by not later than the middle of 

 July. In a large place some replanting 

 is done in April and May, in order to 

 commence cutting new stock in August. 



With carnations I would advise the 

 planting of part of the stock indoors. 

 Those plants that have been grown in 

 the field should be well cared for and 

 constantly cultivated. Pinching in the 

 field is necessary, so that our plants 

 will be well bushed out, with three to 

 five tranches. It is best to have the 

 field plants all benched by the middle of 

 August. 



Grafted Versus Own Root Stock. 



In roses there is considerable con- 

 troversy over which is best to plant, the 

 own root or the grafted. From our own 

 experience we find that grafted plants 

 produce the best results in Maid, Bride, 

 Killarney, White Killarney and Kich- 

 mond. However, the grafted plants re- 

 quire more careful attention during the 

 cool nights of August and the early 

 fall. The fires should be started just as 

 soon as the night temperature drops to 

 50 degrees, as otherwise mildew will 

 form. The wood and foliage of the 

 young grafted plants are much softer 

 than on similar plants of own root 

 stock, and in consequence are more 

 susceptible to a cold night. 



In the early stages of growth in the 

 benches we must remember that our 

 young plants are simply a large family 

 of children and they require the most 

 careful attention to develop good, 

 strong bodies. We must be careful as 

 to their food and drink, seeing that 

 they have plenty of water, good food 

 and plenty of fresh air. The soil 

 around the plants in summer should be 

 scratched over with a hand-scratcher, 

 and by the last part of August a light 

 mulch of manure should be put on the 

 benches to keep the soil from baking 

 and cracking, for by this time the 

 roots will be working towards the sur- 

 face and scratching must stop. This is 

 an important feature. It is better to 

 spend a little more money on heating 

 and give the plants plenty of fresh air 

 than to keep the ventilators closed all 

 night or with only a small crack of 

 air on. 



Fumigation. 



Our plants will be less liable to 

 mildew if grown with plenty of air; 

 also thrips and other insects can be 

 more easily gotten rid of from good, 

 strong, healthy stock than from weak 

 plants. The steam pipes should have 

 a little dab of sulphur put on twice a 

 week as soon as steam is turned on. 



We found a good preparation for 

 keeping thrips and other insects down 

 to be a solution consisting of one pound 

 Paris green, five pounds brown sugar 

 and twenty gallons of water. This 

 preparation should be sprayed on the 

 plants when the sun is not shining, or 

 late in the afternoon, and left on until 

 the next syringing is done. A few ap- 

 plications will suffice to keep the plants 

 free, and it is a cheap preventive. A 



