The Weekly Florists' Review, 



Mat 28, 1012. 



SEASONABLE NOTES. 



Dendrobiums. 



The flowering season for Dendro- 

 bium nobile, Wardianum, and many 

 hybrids with nobile as one of the par- 

 ents, is now practically over and the 

 new growths are making considerable 

 headway. It is neither necessary nor 

 desirable to repot or rebasket these 

 plants annually. With a large number 

 all that need be done is to give them 

 a little fresh fern fiber and sphagnum 

 moss as a top-dressing. The sphagnum 

 should be new and makes in itself an 

 ideal surfacing. In fact, good den- 

 drobiums are often grown in nothing 

 else. What is needful when this com- 

 post is used exclusively is to exercise 

 more care in watering, as the moss is 

 more retentive of moisture than is fern 

 fiber or loam. Do not make the com- 

 mon mistake of giving dendrobiums 

 too large receptacles. They mature 

 their growths better, are more easily 

 ripened and bloom more freely in small 

 pots, pans and baskets. Always be 

 sure to give them liberal drainage. 



To increase the stock of dendro- 

 biums, old bulbs which have bloomed, 

 and which are often cut out a year 

 after flowering, can be cut into pieces 

 or laid full length in a mixture of sand 

 and sphagnum, on or below a bench 

 where they will not dry up too much 

 or get any drip. Give them an occa- 

 sional light spraying. These will make 

 an abundance of little growths, which 

 will not flower the first year, but if 

 placed in pans or baskets later will 

 flower well the second season. It is 

 always well to start a fresh batch of 

 these dendrobiums each year, in order 

 to keep the stock tuned up, to use a 

 common phrase. All dendrobes when 

 making their growth enjoy a hot, moist 

 house and should be syringed over 

 every fine afternoon. 



Phaius. 



Those stately and attractive terres- 

 trial orchids, the phaius, are not much 

 grown commercially, but they at once 

 attract attention at any exhibition, 

 and, as their culture is not at all dif- 

 ficult and they have excellent lasting 

 qualities, there is a prospect that they 

 will be more grown in the future than 

 they are today. P. grandifolius is the 

 oldest and most popular species. It is 

 also still one of the best when well 

 grown. P. Norman, P. Wallichii, P. 

 Cooksonii and other varieties are all 

 well worthy of culture, the hybrids 

 raised by the late Norman C. Cook- 

 son being particularly good. 



Phaius grow well in a compost of 

 equal parts fibrous loam and fern fiber, 

 to which is added some old, well dried. 



lumpy cow manure. While many or- 

 chids are better potted with their bases 

 rounded above the tops of the pots or 

 pans, in the case of phaius it is bet- 

 ter to have their bases on a lower level, 

 to allow ample space for water. Dur- 

 ing the growing season phaius require 

 abundant water supplies, and in the 

 case of well established plants liquid 

 manure once in ten days is also bene- 

 ficial. These plants need a good light 

 — not bright, direct sunshine, but they 

 are spoiled by heavy shading. They 

 grow well at the cool end of a cattleya 

 house, but will thrive in almost any 

 ordinary greenhouse if they can be 

 given the warmer end of it in winter. 



The Cattleya House. 



Those who shaded their cattleya 

 houses heavily in early April have 

 seen abundant reason to regret it since 

 that time, as the spring of 1912 over 

 a large area of the country has given 

 us a great deal of cold, damp and sun- 



less weather. While orchids may keep 

 green and not seem to mind it, when 

 heavily shaded their growths are soft 

 and not to be compared with those 

 produced on plai^ v. getting stronger 

 light. Tkose who were fortunate enough 

 to have lath or cloth roller shades on 

 their houses are in the best position, 

 as tli^eir plants will be in far better 

 condition than those kept in constant 

 shade. The general practice is, and 

 has been, to shade cattleyas too much. 

 The dark green plants which win ap- 

 plause do not, as a rule, flower with 

 the freedom of the paler colored ones. 



There are but few days now when 

 cattleyas cannot be sprayed over once 

 a day. A fine, misty spray should be 

 used and not the direct stream from 

 the hose. Ventilators now need never 

 be closed, night or day. A close, moist 

 atmosphere will cause roots to run out- 

 side rather than inside the pots, and 

 when this occurs the growths always 

 prove disappointing. Keep a sharp 

 watch for the dread cattleya fly. 

 Watch the young growths and, if they 

 are much swollen at the base, cut them 

 open carefully and the chances are 

 that you will find a brood of young 

 flies, in many cases ready to take wing 

 and continue their work of destruction. 

 Wage a relentless war against this foe 

 and you will gradually overcome it. 

 As to the temperature, 58 to 62 degrees 

 at night is high enough, with 10 de- 

 grees rise in the daytime. 



Jamaica Plain, Mass. — M. J. Killian, 

 the Washington street florist, recently 

 captured three prizes — one first and two 

 seconds — not for flowers, but for his 

 three beagle hounds. 



<X)PINa FOR OONOEETE OFFICE. 



I wish to build a concrete office on a 

 comer lot, with walls of the same 

 height all around, so as to have a flat 

 roof, allowing the water to run to the 

 center. Can you suggest a design for 

 the top of the walls, to break the 

 squatty, flat appearance? The size of 

 the building will be 14x24 feet, with one 

 corner cut off so as to make a better 

 arrangement for the entrance. 



W. E. F. W. 



The plainness of a cement block 

 structure could be relieved by carrying 

 up the wall two feet or more above 

 the roof and finishing it with a cement 

 coping. It would look well if the wall 

 could be topped with a cement slab 

 three or four inches thick, projecting 

 an inch and a half. It would be but 

 little trouble to prepare a form with 

 which quite an ornamental coping could 

 be made. 



MATEBIAIiS FOB CONCBETE. 



Florists having occasion to order ma- 

 terials for concrete must often esti- 

 mate quantities, knowing only the vol- 

 ume of completed work and the mixture 

 to be used. The following table, sup- 



plied by S. A. Jamieson, whose recent 

 address before the Chicago Florists' 

 Club was of so much interest, will be of 

 help and is said to be of sufficient accu- 

 racy for all ordinary uses: 



Cement Sand Stone 



Mixture (Barrels) (Cu. Yds.) (Cu. Yds.) 



1-2 -3 1.83 0.51 0.77 



1-2 -4 1.67 0.44 0.88 



l-2%-5 1.29 0.4.-5 0.91 



1-3 -5 1.22 0.51 0.86 



1-3 -6 1.10 0.46 0.93 



To order material for a job that fig- 

 ures, for instance, 200 yards of concrete 

 of a 1-3-5 mixture, it is only necessary 

 to use the above table as follows: Op- 

 posite the mixture 1-3-5 of the first col- 

 umn are the factors 1.22 for cement, 

 0.51 for sand and 0.86 for stone. 



Each yard of concrete will require: 



1.22 barrels of cement 

 0.51 cubic yards of sand 

 0.86 cubic yards of stone 



The total for the work will be: 



200X1.22—244 barrels of cement 

 200X0.51 — 102 cubic yards of sand 

 200X0.86 — 172 cubic yards of stone 



In all concrete work there will be a 

 certain waste of materials, such as part- 

 ly used batches and lost materials, for 

 which allowance must be made over the 

 above quantities. The amount of the 

 waste will vary greatly with the differ- 

 ent classes of work and the care of the 

 workmen. 



