28 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Max IC, 1912. 



CONCRETE IN GREENHOUSES. 



Concrete and hollow tile are now 

 being used for the side walls of green- 

 houses instead of double boarding, said 

 M. C. Wright in a recent talk to the 

 Florists' Club of Philadelphia. Where 

 hollow tile is used it is necessary to 

 plaster the outside and inside surfaces 

 of same with Portland cement mortar. 

 Then, too, the tile have to be cut and it 

 requires more or less time and ingenuity 

 to use the tile to the best advantage 

 without waste. From observation and 

 tests it seems as if concrete made with 

 clean cinders was the cheapest and best 

 to use. The cinders, being more or less 

 porous, make a concrete full of air 

 cells, which accomplishes the same re- 

 sults as the hollow spaces in the tile. 

 One of the largest growers in the vi- 

 cinity of Philadelphia builds his con- 

 crete walls with a proportion of one 

 part cement to eight parts of cinders. 

 The cinders he uses are nearly of a 

 size. They are small, hard cinders. 

 His method of measuring the propor- 

 tions is l^ using one bag of cement 

 to four wheelbarrow loads of cinders. 

 This method is satisfactory and is con- 

 sidered even better than stone for the 

 sides of greenhouses, because it is more 

 porous and a better nonconductor. If 

 stone and sand are used instead of 

 cinders the following proportions are 

 recommended: One part Portland ce- 

 ment, three parts good, sharp sand and 

 six parts of crushed stone or clean 

 gravel. This is a satisfactory mixture 

 and makes good, strong work. The 

 walls need only be four inches thick 

 and when a light cast iron sill is placed 

 on top you have a construction which 

 is practically indestructible and, as 

 the upkeep is small, this form of con- 

 struction is the cheapest in the end. 



PRICE OF CEMENT. 



Cement has been selling at prices so 

 low that it is generally conceded that 

 there has been no profit in it for the 

 manufacturers; indeed, several of the 

 companies either are in bankruptcy or 

 facing the necessity of reorganization. 

 At Chicago car lots now sell at about 

 $1.05 per barrel delivered on the job 

 in the Chicago territory, cartage in- 

 cluded. Last month there was an ad- 

 vance of 5 cents a barrel, but it is so 

 slight a change that it will not affect 

 the consumption in the least — concrete 

 is so cheap for most of its uses that 

 nothing but overproduction keeps the 

 cement manufacturers from asking 

 twice the money now obtained for their 

 output. 



While cement is sold by the barrel, it 

 almost never is packed that way. A 

 barrel is four bushels. A barrel weighs 

 384 pounds, the same as a barrel of 

 flour, and is too heavy to handle. Each 

 quarter-barrel sack contains one bushel 

 and weighs 96 pounds net. When ce- 

 ment is sold for, say, $1.05 per barrel 

 delivered on the job, it comes invoiced 

 at $1.45. The extra 40 cents is for 

 the sacks; return them and credit \<s 



given at 10 cents each. Consequently 

 it pays to keep the sacks dry and clelan, 

 for the manufacturer will not accept 

 the return of sacks that have been 

 soaked by rain, or muddied. 



THE OREENHOIISE RAILROAD. 



In the last few years we have heard 

 much about industrial railroads, dis- 

 criminating freight rates, rebates, etc., 

 but shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion is a private railroad the value of 

 which canniot be affected by legislation. 

 Neither the railroad nor its management 

 is open to investigation by the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission, but any- 

 one seeking information may readily 

 obtain it at the establishment of George 

 Wittbold Co., Edgebrook, 111., where the 

 railroad is in daily operation. One 

 terminus is in the packing shed, as 

 shown in the picture. The main line 

 leads across the several houses in the 

 range and, with branches, affords an 

 easy means of transportation for out- 

 going stock and incoming material. The 

 railroad is one of the best dividend 

 payers among the many Wittbold in- 

 vestments. The amount of work it saves 

 can hardly be appreciated by one who 

 has not been relieved of the labor of 

 carrying out large quantities of stock. 



The packing house at the Wittbolds' 

 Edgebrook establishment is one of the 

 best features of the place; it is thor- 



oughly up-to-date in all respects. Ample 

 room is provided and abundant light, 

 with a place for everything and every- 

 thing in its place. 



SPORES ON FERN FRONDS. 



Enclosed you will find a piece of a 

 frond of Cibotium Schiedei. Kindly 

 tell me what has infested this plant. I 

 use cibotiums for decorative work, and 

 when the leaves get the small beads on 

 the under side they^all dry up and die. 

 V D. O. M. 



The leaflet from a frond of cibotium 

 that was enclosed with this query was 

 not infested with anything injurious, 

 the "small beads" referred to being 

 the sporanzia, or seed cases, and the 

 spores were so nearly ripe that many 

 of them had dropped out and were 

 found loose in the letter. This is a 

 perfectly natural condition for the 

 plant, and the fertile fronds will nat- 

 urally become more shabby after they 

 have ripened a crop of spores, for with 

 that process they have reached the 

 limit of their usefulness. W. H. T. 



FERNS FOR POTTING. 



In working up a stock of ferns, which 

 is the better way, to pot up the run- 

 ners or plant them in soil in a bench, 

 leaving them there until ready for 4- 

 inch pots? T. S. M. 



If your ferns are nephrolepis it is 

 much the better plan to plant them out 

 in a bench and later pot them up. Adi- 

 antums, pteris, etc., are better If grown 

 along in pots all the time. W. C. 



Webster City, la. — The local florists 

 have offered a long list of prizes for the 

 best work done by individuals or organi- 

 zations in beautifying the city. 



The Wittbold Industrial Railroad. 



