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Mabch 21, 1012. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



29 



Gravity Soil Carrier in Use in the Greenhouses of Peirce Bros., Waltham, Mass. 



TUBNINO WASTE TO PEOFIT. 



In the language of the epigrammatist, 

 there is none so wise or capable that his 

 equal or superior may not be found. 

 Hence it is fair to assume that there 

 is no process of the world's work so 

 perfect that it cannot be improved 

 upon. Every avenue of industry has 

 gone through its various stages of evo- 

 lution from primitive methods to the 

 highest exemplification of mechanical 

 labor-saving devices. This is an age of 

 close investigation into matters touch- 

 ing men and methods; of searching, 

 watching and probing; of instant ap- 

 plication of means for reducing produc- 

 tive costs and increasing profits. This 

 condition is the result of a gradual de- 

 velopment under our competitive busi- 

 ness system, wherein all of us are strain- 

 ing to escape the fate of the ninety-five 

 per cent who fail. 



Fortunes are made and lost every 

 year in experimenting, having for its 

 object the providing (ft short-cuts and 

 quick-cuts, if we may use the term, be- 

 tween raw material and finished prod- 

 uct. The elimination of human hands, 

 skill and brains is being rapidly accom- 

 plished in all industrial pursuits, being 

 replaced wherever possible by mechan- 

 ical processes ranging from simple de- 

 vices to complicated machinery of mar- 

 velous capacity. Edward Mott Wool- 

 ley, in a recent number of System, has 

 a highly instructive article on "The 

 Wanton Waste of Labor," in which he 

 calls attention to flagrant violation of 

 accepted business ethics and points out 

 how thousands .of dollars annually could 

 be saved by wfcfpting mechanical means 

 in many of our most important indus- 

 tries, in which the human «quatioii 16 

 still an expensive and time-consuming 

 factor. 



yTost as an illustration of how the 

 florist may participate in the benefits 

 of inventive activity, a picture is shown 



which nearly tells its own story. The 

 device illustrated is known as the Math- 

 ews gravity soil carrier. Its function 

 is to furnish a quicker and cheaper 

 method of changing the soil in green- 

 house benches. The carrier consists of 

 ball-bearing steel rollers made of seam- 

 less steel tubing, the rollers being as- 

 /fiembled in a rigidly braced steel frame, 

 the frames being of a length easily 

 handled. The photograph was taken in 

 the greenhouses of Peirce Bros., Wal- 

 tham, Mass., who, in reply to a letter 

 from The Review asking how the ap- 

 paratus works, write as follows: "We 

 can say that this device has been found 

 extremely satisfactory by us for remov- 

 ing soil from houses that can be opened 

 at the sides. It is made in suitable 

 lengths to be easily handled in moving 

 from one place to another, is all ball- 

 bearing and requires only the raising of 



one end to convey boxes full of soil to 

 the outside of the house without han- 

 dling, being carried by gravity. For a 

 number of years we used a similar de- 

 vice with wood rollers, but must say that 

 the ball-bearings and light though rigid 

 construction of our present apparatus 

 make it a much more satisfactory ma- 

 chine for the reduction of labor. We 

 find it thoroughly practical and that it 

 pays for itself many times over in its 

 saving of labor." 



The work of emptying and refilling 

 the benches is the most laborious in the 

 whole round of greenhouse operations 

 and the big growers have tried a num- 

 ber of mechanical conveyors without 

 finding anything heretofore that was 

 sufficiently practical to be continued 

 long in use. Hence the special interest 

 that attaches to the Peirce use of the 

 simple gravity device. 



OEBANIUMS FOB MEMOBIAL DAT. 



I have some geraniums that are com- 

 ing in bloom. When shall I quit taking 

 buds in order to have nice blooms for 

 Memorial dayt . L. C. 



Keep the flower trusses picked off 

 your geraniums until five weeks before 

 Memorial day. Give them a feeding 

 with liquid manure or apply a little 

 fine bone to the surface of the pots if 

 they have the pots well filled with 



roots. The bone is excellent for pro- 

 moting a short, stocky growth, pro- 

 ductive of flowers rather than foliage. 

 Apply a little once a fortnight to plants 

 which require some feeding. C. W. 



OEEANIUM STOCK PLANTS. 



I have 700 geraniups planted in the 

 bench, from which I hSve taken cut- 

 tings this winter. Now I wish to use 

 the bench and I wish to know what I 



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