May 29, 1913. 



The Florists^ Review 



13 



Caraatioos on Concrete Benches at Bird Forrest's, Waxahachie, Tex. 



MODERN PLANT IN TEXAS. 



Eight years ago, Bird Forrest, then a 

 prosperous contractor and builder of 

 Waxahachie, Tex., put up a small green- 

 house, 14x48 feet, for the purpose of 

 jnaking a little money on the side, as 

 he expresses it. Today he is one of 

 the successful growers of the south, 

 having a modern plant under more than 

 25,000 feet of glass. He now devotes 

 all of his attention to the business, 

 which was managed by his wife at its 

 inception, while he directed building 

 operations. 



Since he decided to abandon con- 

 tracting for growing, he has constantly 

 improved and added to his plant, which 

 lias concrete walls and benches, and 

 iron frame, cypress and red cedar roof 

 material. The office, 16x45, and the 

 potting shed, 16x85 feet, are built of 

 cement blocks. The office and sales- 

 room have a metal ceiling and cement 

 floor. The side wall on the greenhouse 

 side is of glass, affording plenty of 

 light and showing his ferns and bloom- 

 ing plants to advantage. The green- 

 houses are wide and high, as the ac- 

 companying illustrations show. 



Last year Mr. Forrest had 12,000 car- 

 nations benched and 5,600 mums, as 

 well as numerous other plants. He now 

 lias 30,000 carnation plants in the field 

 for his own use and for the trade. He 

 handles a wholesale as well as retail 

 business. In summer he grows ferns 

 in 8-inch and 10-inch pans in the space 

 vacate<l by bedding plants. He attrib- 

 utes much of his success to the aid 

 given him by his wife, who has been 

 a factor in the business from the start. 



ALLAMANrAS. 



Those useful summer flowering 

 plants, the allamandas, will now prob- 

 ably be showing flower and should be 

 fed liberally with litjuid manure while 

 ill bloom, in pots the Aariety William- 

 sii is fine and is in much favor at New- 

 port an<l other fashionable summer re- 

 sorts. Nicely flowered plants make 

 charming centerpieces on large tables, 

 and the soft yellow color of the flowers 

 pleases practically everyone. For the 

 next three months these allamandas 

 will do quite well in any ordinary 

 greenhouse. It is not necessary to 

 shade them heavily, as in that case 

 the plants would be soft and theier 

 flowers lacking in substance. 



This is a good season to increase the 

 stock by propagation. Shoots rubbeil 



off with a heel root most easily, but 

 any medium ripe wood cut below a leaf 

 will make roots if a little bottom heat 

 is given and the propagating house is 

 a warm one. 



FORMULA FOR WEED KILLER. 



Some time ago I saw in The Keview a 

 formula for weed killer, but can not 

 now put my hand on it. Will you please 

 repeat it and state what quantities are 

 to be used? M. V, 



The formula referred to was that in 

 nsp at Mount Greenwood cemetery, 

 Morgan Park, 111. This is it: 



"Formula: Deadly Poison — Twenty 

 jiounds arsenic, fifteen gallons soft 

 water; boil well. Add thirty-five gal- 

 lons soft water, then add forty pounds 

 caustic soda; boil again. 



"This forms a stock solution which 

 is diluted for use by adding four parts 

 of water to one of the solution. 



"It must not be allowed to get on 

 the hands or on the clothes of the i>er- 

 son using it, and should, like all poi- 

 sons, be stored under lock and key and 

 not be allowed to be handled by any 

 persons without their being cautioned 

 as to its poisonous nature. ' ' 



W. N. Rudd, on being asked as to 

 the results of continued experience with 

 the formula, says: "The weed killer 

 should be applied when the ground is 

 damp, not wet. In a dry time we find 

 it advisable to use the road .sprinkler 

 over the streets which we intend to 

 treat and then make the application as 



soon as the water from the sprinkling 

 cart has settled into the ground. All 

 that is necessary is to simply wet the 

 surface of the ground with the weed 

 killer. 



"We had some complaints from peo- 

 ple who used this formula about the 

 expense, and found that they were pur- 

 chasing the material from retail drug- 

 gists at from four to ten times the 

 price at which it could be bought 

 through the wholesale house. De])end- 

 ing on market fluctuations, we have 

 bought the arsenic at from 3M.' to 5 

 cents per pound in 100-pound lots. We 

 generally buy the soda in casks weigh- 

 ing about 300 pounds, the market vary- 

 ing from 3 to 4 cents per j)ound. It 

 should be purchasable in 100-pound lots 

 at not over i/_. cent advance on these 

 prices. 



' ' We have used this formula for 

 many years and for effectiveness, com- 

 bined with low cost, have never had 

 anything to equal it. There are many 

 other weed killers which can be made 

 up for a little less money, but they 

 either require larger or more frequent 

 applications, so that the ultimate cost 

 is considerably greater. We seldom 

 have to make more than one application 

 during the season." 



USE OF BORDEAUX MIXTURE. 



Please give me some information on 

 the use of Bordeaux mixture. Which 

 is the most efficient for destroying 

 blight on tomatoes and potatoes, the 

 liquid or the drj- mixture? I have 

 never found the dry satisfactory, al- 

 though I would naturally think the dry 

 would more readily come in contact 

 with every part of stem and foliage 

 than the liqui^d. 



I have never had to ask more than 

 a few questions of The Keview, but I 

 often think of its great value to the 

 trade as a disseminator of information. 



W. C. S. 



I have always found the liquid Bor- 

 deaux far the most effective, as well as 

 deciiledly the most economical to use. 

 As between dry Bordeaux purchased in 

 cans or boxes and what you would make 

 yourself from stone lime and sulphate 

 of cojtper, I much ])refer the latter. 

 There are, however, many thousands of 

 small growers who do not want to go to 

 the trouble of making Bordeaux them- 

 selves, and for such the dry, powdered 

 article is good to use, as it is so easily 

 prepared. C. W. 



A Section of Bird Forrest's Range of Greenhouses at Waxafaachie, Tex. 



