November 21, 1912. 



The Florists^ Review 



17 



Intel ior of One of the 599-foot Carnation Houses at the New Plant of Bassett & Washburn. 



perish. Too many still persist in keep- 

 ing orchids too hot and stuffy. Outside 

 of the purely East Indian, tropical 

 kinds, all like air in abundance. 



BUGHTED CTPSIPEDIUM BUDS. 



I write for information concerning 

 my failure to produce good blooms on 

 Cypripedium insigne. Two years is the 

 limit of my experience with them. I 

 keep them in a temperature of 55 to 60 

 degrees. They are good-sized plants in 

 7-inch pots. The foliage is a dark 

 green, healthy color. They throw out 

 the budsj but when they get to a cer- 

 tain stage — say when the stems are 

 three or four inches long — the stems get 

 limp or soft and the buds turn brown 

 or blight and die. I have been able to 

 carty along a few plants with blooms, 

 but these are inferior. A friend sug- 

 gested that the atmosphere might be at 

 fault, but I ventilate freely. The plants 

 are within two feet of the glass and 

 right under the ventilation. It was 

 also suggested that too much moisture, 

 from giving them more water than is 

 necessary, might be the cause. Any in- 

 formation on this subject would be 

 greatly appreciated, as I have had this 

 trouble two years in succession. The 

 plants are potted in half peat fiber 

 and half rotted sod. I have not fed 

 them with any fertilizer. C. D. H. 



Your temperature seems to be all 

 right, and if the plants are within 

 two feet of the glass they are in an 

 ideal location. Cypripediums like a 

 fienial, moist atmosphere, while some 

 other orchids, such as cattleyas, need 

 a drier and airier one. The plants 

 should not stand where they will get 

 any direct current of air from the ven- 

 tilators. I think the most likely cause 

 of the spikes going off is too much 



water at the roots. Though cypripe- 

 diums are terrestrial orchids and never 

 have a resting period, yet they are 

 more injured by an oversupply of water 

 than the reverse. If you water your 

 plants twice a week, it should suffice 

 at this season. If they are much matted 

 with roots or are in compost which is 

 sour and soggy, they should be pulled 

 to pieces and repotted when the flower- 

 ing season is over. Use a compost of 

 fibrous loam with the fine particles 

 shaken out, some lumpy charcoal, a 

 little old, well-dried cow manure and 

 some sharp sand. Keep quite close and 

 shaded from the direct sun after pot- 

 tings, and water quite sparingly until 

 root action is active. C. W. 



BASSETT & WASHBURN'S PIiANT. 



Interest attaches to the new estab- 

 lishment of Bassett & Washburn, at 

 Gregg's Station, 111., for a number of 

 reasons. "While Bassett & Washburn 

 have been building up one of the 

 largest greenhouse establishments in 

 the west, the town of Hinsdale has 

 been growing just as rapidly, and now 

 the older range of greenhouses is com- 

 pletely surrounded iDy handsome dwell- 

 ings, the owners of which do not espe- 

 cially enjoy the greenhouses as neigh- 

 bors. The disadvantages of the old 

 location have resulted in the new plant 

 at Gregg's Station. Here there is 

 abundant room, with plenty of cheap 

 land, comparatively speaking, and side- 

 track facilities which it is estimated 

 will save in cartage a sum equivalent 

 to the investment necessary to effect 

 the eventual removal of the older 

 plant. 



When the new location was secured 

 it already was late in the season, and a 

 record was made in the erection of the 

 five houses shown in the accompanying 



illustration. These houses each are 34x 

 599, the material having been supplied 

 by the John C. Moninger Co., Chicago, 

 and the erecting done by William 

 Mailander, of Morton Grove. At the 

 time of the S. A. F. convention in Chi- 

 cago only one of the houses had been 

 erected. Now carnations are being cut 

 in all of them. The type of construc- 

 tion is what is known as the steel flat 

 rafter house, with steel gutters. The 

 sashbars are only l%xl%, and carry 

 comparatively little of the strain, the 

 strength of the house being in the steel 

 frame. In these houses, thirty-four 

 feet wide, there are only two lines of 

 purlin supports. 



One of the interesting features is the 

 boiler house with its tall stack of rein- 

 forced concrete. The building of this 

 stack was one of the big tasks of put- 

 ting up the range in record time. The 

 work was done by the Fehr Construc- 

 tion Co., Chicago, who used on the job 

 nearly 250 barrels of Universal Port 

 land cement. 



Bassett & Washburn last week began 

 work on an addition to this range, to 

 consist of twelve houses, each 28x225 

 feet. 



A START IN GLADIOLI. 



I made an attempt to grow a few 

 gladioli between rows of carnations 

 last year and it was a failure. I have 

 some spare room and should like to trv 

 it again, and shall be obligetl if you 

 will tell me what treatment they re- 

 quire, stating the temperature and the 

 length of time required for them t(i 

 bloom. J. L. S. 



It does not pay to attempt the cul- 

 ture of gladioli among carnations. One 

 crop only spoils the other. They are 



