22 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Mat 2, 1912. 



acid to the water, to hasten the pro- 

 duction of hydrocyanic acid gas. Ac- 

 cordingly, the water should be placed 

 in the jar first, and as the heat pro- 

 duced by adding the sulphuric acid is 

 considerable, graniteware dishes are 

 preferable to earthenware ones, as the 

 latter frequently crack from the heat. 

 The sulphuric acid should be added to 

 the water, and while it is hot the cyan- 

 ide should be dropped into the rest. 



To destroy any particular kind of in- 

 sect, at least a certain strength or 

 density of the gas is necessary. This 

 is also true for plants. Fortunately, the 

 insects in most cases are killed more 

 easily, i. e., with a Smaller amount of 

 the gas, than are the plants. At the 

 present time the main gap in our 

 knowledge is: A lack of knowledge as 

 to how strong the gas must be, in order 

 to kill all the individuals of each kind 

 of insect concerned. A strength suffi- 

 cient to destroy all the plant lice in a 

 house would probably fail to kill the 

 thripsj thus we must learn how strong 

 the gas should be to accomplish the re- 

 sult desired, for each different kind of 

 insect. 



Avoiding the Various Dangers. 



Then, having settled the strength 

 necessary to kill the different insects, 

 we must also know the limit of 

 strength of gas each different kind of 

 plant can stand. If we can destroy all 

 the thrips in a house by the gas pro- 

 duced by a gram of potassium cyanide 

 for each cubic foot, this knowledge 

 avails little until we find out whether 

 the plants present are injured by this 

 strength, for if they are killed or seri- 

 ously injured by the treatment, the rem- 

 edy is liable to be worse than the 

 disease. 



Finally, we must know whether 

 light, temperature and humidity have 

 any influence, and whether it is safer 

 to fumigate for a longer time with a 

 weak dose, or for a shorter time with 

 a stronger dose. 



It seems strange that years of fumi- 

 gation have failed to provide us with 

 the knowledge needed' on these points, 

 but this is the case with only a few 

 exceptions. Fumigation, perhaps for 

 this reason, is generally applied with 

 caution and with correspondingly poor 

 results. 



At the present time these problems 

 are beginning to receive more atten- 

 tion, and some of the conclusions 

 reached will be presented in the next 

 paper. 



DENVER. 



The Market. 



The daily sales and the general con- 

 dition of the market seem to be entirely 

 satisfactory. Carnation plants are be- 

 ing thrown out, and there are just about 

 enough flowers now to meet the de- 

 mand. Red is scarce and cannot always 

 be obtained. The price still hovers 

 around the 2-cent mark. Long Beauties 

 are going to the dump, as everybody is 

 in crop at this time and there is no 

 special call. A sudden fancy has been 

 taken to Spanish iris and this is rather 

 a surprise, as it could hardly be given 

 away last year. All kinds of sweet 

 peas except white are plentiful, but 

 are cleaned out every day. Easter and 

 calla lilies are at a standstill. There 

 is extremely little smilax, plumosus or 

 Sprengeri. 



The season is about a month late, and 

 consequently is cold and disagreeable. 

 Landscape gardeners have not been able 

 to make any favorable comparisons 

 with the same period last year. There 

 is plenty of work to be done, but it is 

 held back by the damp, cold weather. 

 Many of the lawns made last year have 

 been winter-killed. There is not a climb- 

 ing rose that is alive above ground, 

 unless it was taken down and covered 

 last fall. 



Various Notes. 



The wind which struck Denver and 

 vicinity April 13 did considerable dam- 

 age, blowing out some glass in nearly 

 every establishment. The smokestack 

 at L. A. Kintzele's place was blown 

 down, striking the end of one of his 

 houses and causing about $300 damage. 



The Park Floral Co. is preparing to 

 move its offices to the place at Colfax 

 avenue and Josephine street, and the 

 rooms above the Colfax store are being 

 made ready. J. A. Valentine will retain 

 his office at the Broadway store, but 

 will spend most of his time at the 

 greenhouses. Mr. Valentine motored 

 to Pueblo last Tuesday and returned on 

 Thursday with Mrs. Valentine, who had 

 been there for two weeks. The Park 

 Floral Co. believes in rewarding deserv- 

 ing employees, and has recently made 



E. P. Neiman a member of the firm. 

 Mr. Neiman has been connected with 

 the business for several years and has 

 had charge of the Colfax store. Here- 

 after he will do all the buying, and 

 will be found at the Broadway store. 



In my last report it was stated that 



F. X. Goeschl had gone to Loma, Cal., 

 which was a mistake. It should have 

 been Loma, Colo. "Word is now received 

 that shortly after reaching that place 

 he was taken ill with pneumonia, and 

 died within a week. He leaves a wife 

 and several small children. 



Albert E. Mauff, of the Mauff Floral 

 Co., is an exceedingly busy man these 

 days, his work as secretary of horti- 

 culture and as election commissioner 

 taking the greater part of his time. 



C. Zbendin, a former Denver florist, 

 who recently had charge of Charles Gar- 

 wood 's store, at Rock Springs, Wyo., 

 has just left the hospital, where he was 

 compelled to have his leg amputated at 

 the knee, after a slight injury to his 

 foot, which caused blood poisoning. He 

 has taken the store at Rock Springs and 

 will open it at once. 



The Barteldes Seed Co. has a number 

 of extra salesmen in the store, who are 

 kept busy every minute. To a casual 

 observer, the rush is such as to remind 

 him of a retail flower store the day be- 

 fore Christmas. 



Some fine sweet peas of the Spencer 

 varieties are being brought in by Fred 

 Hall. 



Mrs. B. C. Robinson, of La Junta, 

 who spent about two weeks in Denver 

 attending to business affairs, returned 

 home last Saturday. She said that the 

 water question there is quite a serious 

 matter, and that it will be impossible to 

 run a greenhouse satisfactorily until 

 something is done to get rid of the 

 alkali in the water. Deep wells have 

 been dug, but iron is then present in 

 such quantity as to be almost as bad as 

 the alkali. Water is shipped in in large 

 milk cans, and is sold at flfteen cents a 

 can. Every drop of rain water is zeal- 

 ously caught in tubs and barrels. In 

 the winter, snow is melted and used. 

 When plants need watering they are 



put in a tub, and the water that runs 

 from the pots is used again, not a drop 

 being wasted. 



An article in one of our daily papers, 

 April 18, which stated that Mothers' 

 day would be "next Sunday," caused 

 a great deal of confusion both here and 

 in adjoining towns. Some were in favor 

 of two Mothers' days if the people 

 wanted them, but it did not seem fair 

 to take advantage of the mistake and 

 the paper was asked to make a correc- 

 tion. 



Visitors: Frank F. Crump, Colorado 

 Springs; C. F. Fawcett and Mrs. 8. 

 Knudsen, Boulder; Dan W, Watson, 

 Alamosa; D. E. Dungan, Limon; Mrs. 

 B. C. Robinson, La Junta. 



M. R. J. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



General conditions in the wholesale 

 market have been good during the last 

 week. There has been no material 

 change in quotations, but the demand 

 has been more brisk. American Beau- 

 ties of the best quality have not been 

 so plentiful and the top grades of 

 Chatenay, Lady Hillingdon, Mrs. Jar- 

 dine and Bulgarie met with a much 

 better demand. Killarneys are plenti- 

 ful but cleaning up better. Carnations 

 are not so plentiful as they have been 

 and the best grades have touched $4 

 per hundred. Orchids, still in large 

 supply, are of good quality and there 

 has been a large call for these for 

 funeral work. Lilies are moving well 

 at $2 and $4 per hundred. There is 

 little call for callas. There is the usual 

 supply of daffodils and tulips. Garde- 

 nias are still plentiful, only the best 

 meeting with ready sale. Good smilax 

 and asparagus are scarce. Sweet peas 

 of best quality are meeting with ready 

 sale, but many shipments of these are 

 of poor quality. Violets are about over 

 for the season and those that are com- 

 ing in have to be disposed of to the 

 street men. 



Various Notes. 



\oung & Nugent had the family 

 order for the funeral of General Grant 

 and some of the designs were the best 

 ever turned out in this city. The 

 principal flowers used in all of the 

 work were cattleyas and lilies. 



The Titanic disaster has upset the 

 plans of many of those who intended to 

 visit the international show in London 

 this month, and several of the promi- 

 nent members of the party are now 

 expressing some doubts about making 

 the trip. 



Many of the seed houses, especially 

 those doing the big over-the-counter 

 trade, are much disappointed in the 

 late season, as it is not bringing their 

 sales up to last year, but a few hot 

 days will change these conditions and 

 bring the rush to the counters. 



The auction houses are reporting a 

 good demand and good prices. In fact, 

 they are now short of stock, having 

 sold out nearly everything that has 

 been consigned to them. 



C. H. Totty is sending Henshaw & 

 Fenrich consignments of Wodenethe 

 carnation and Sunburst rose. They 

 are finding quick sale among the high 

 class retailers of the city. 



W. E. Maynard, the new sales man- 

 ager for P. H. Goodsell, reports ex- 

 cellent sales in his downtown nursery. 

 This enterprise is really an innova- 



