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March 23, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



15 



keep your plants constantly wet at the 

 root. Geraniums are not aquatics, but 

 some growers treat them as though they 

 were. Allow a thorough drying out be- 

 tween ^vaterings and keep dead leaves, 

 weeds, etc., carefully removed. C. W. •> 



TROUBLE WITH GERANIUMS. 



I have been having trouble with my 

 geraniums and enclose a fair sample of 

 my plants. The disease is spreading all 

 over my stock. Will you please tell me 

 what is wrong and wliat to do to stop it? 



F. A. K. 



The foliage of the specimens received 

 was quite badly attacked with bacteria. 

 Without knowing something of cultural 

 and other conditions, it is difficult to 

 suggest even what the cause of the trou- 

 ble may be. I Avould advise you to throw 

 away the worst affected plants. Pick the 

 worst foliage from any others. Do not 

 allow them to stand crowded. Do not 

 keep them constantly wet at the root and 

 do not grow them too warm. Avoid using 

 any animal manure in the potting soil, 

 unless it is old and decayed. This causes 

 a too rank and soft growth, which is an 

 easy mark for bacterial diseases. Give 

 the plants the fullest possible sunshine, 

 an abundance of fresh air and a night 

 temperature of 45 to 50 degrees. Do not 

 exceed the latter figure, unless it may be 

 on warm nights. When watering, soak 

 the pots well and always allow them to 

 dry out quite well between the water- 

 ings. Do not syringe the plants over- 

 head. This will also tend to make the 

 foliage soft. C. W. 



HOTBEDS WITHOUT MANURE. 



The inquiry of K. L. K., who asked 

 in a recent issue of The Review with 

 regard to oil burners, leads me to send 

 you the enclosed photograph, with some 

 description of my apparatus. How many 

 have been confronted with the necessity 

 of making hotbeds without manure? 

 AVhere I am located it is next to im- 

 possible to get together enough manure 

 dilutable for hotbed purposes. Last year, 

 while planning my spring work, I was 

 confronted by the same old difficulty in 

 aggravated form. As a solution, it oc- 

 curred to me that I might rig up a 

 plant similar to those used in heating 

 railroad coaches. I therefore bought an 

 upright boiler, 18x36 inches, containing 

 twenty 2Vo-inch flues. The picture shows 

 the boiler in position at the end of a 

 hotbed 6x50 feet. You will note I have 

 marked the expansion tank, which I 

 rigged up on a tripod, and also the 

 valve for steam escape. The flow pipe 

 ■drops six inches in the fifty feet and 

 then there are four 1-inch returns level 

 to the boiler. In twenty minutes from 

 firing the entire system is hot, and I 

 have performed the feat of making hot- 

 beds without manure. The hotbeds last 

 year gave me the best success I ever 

 have had in a long and successful ex- 

 ^lerience in the trade. There were only 

 two difficulties. One of these was the 

 necessity for firing and the other was 

 that the ashes, smoke and soot fell on 

 "the glass and sifted into the hotbed 

 whenever I attempted to ventilate. As 

 a result, and this brings me to the in- 

 quiry of K. L. K., I decided to find an 

 oil burner and got in touch with C. Y. 

 Koop, 613 West Fifth street, Kansas 

 €ity, whose name was given me as the 

 manufacturer of oil burners for every 

 purpose. I purchased a burner for the 

 boiler and, while I have not yet given 

 jt a test that is conclusive, I think I 



Making Hotbeds Without Manure. 



have found the solution of the only 

 trouble in heating a hotbed without 

 manure. W. L. Leeka. 



THE HORTICULTURAL GRADUATE. 



I noted the letter of F. Williams on 

 page 10 of The Review of March 2, 

 under the title of "The Beginner," and 

 I certainly do not accept all that he 

 says without certain reservations. I do, 

 however, agree with him regarding the 

 general impression among people who 

 are not fully informed, that the voca- 

 tion of a florist is the direct road to 

 wealth. 



I believe the commercial flower busi- 

 ness would compare favorably, in regard 

 to its opportunities for the inexperi- 

 enced, with any other business. Take the 

 grocery business, for instance, and you 

 would find thousands entering it every 

 day without previous training. I be- 

 lieve the average, fairly intelligent man 

 would be as liable to succeed in one 

 business as he would in another, provid- 

 ing all things were equal. 



To my mind, the principal reason for 

 so many failures is lack of capital with 

 which to operate. A man must use much 

 perseverance and sweet oil, plus the 

 necessary capital, to succeed. Under 

 any circumstances, a certain inherent 

 business ability is necessary to success. 

 There are many successful growers to- 

 day who do not have the ability to con- 



duct a business on their own account; 

 and there are successful business men 

 who could certainly succeed in oper- 

 ating a flower establishment without 

 any previous experience whatever. 



Mr. Williams seems to think lightly 

 of the private gardener at "colleges 

 presided over by learned professors," 

 and he believes that the horticultural 

 schools which do not give special at- 

 tention to the teaching of commercial 

 growing "only tend to increase the 

 number of incompetents." It seems to 

 me that the graduate of such a school 

 is in a far better position to begin the 

 practical cultivation of florists' crops 

 than he who has spent only four years 

 in the ordinary commercial establish- 

 ment. The theorist can readily adapt 

 himself to most conditions. He knows 

 the principles of plant culture; his 

 knowledge is so general that he can 

 enter into almost any phase of the busi- 

 ness; he can work at the branch he 

 likes best. An intelligent man can read- 

 ily acquaint himself with the "small 

 details," and, though some few would 

 balk at the hard work and drudgery, 

 most men would knuckle down and take 

 the pepper with the salt. 



The private gardener at a college 

 which boasts of a plant house and a 

 campus of any size is obliged to have 

 a far more extensive and general knowl- 

 edge of the plant world than the florist 



