Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-03-29

in advance for Christmas and Easter, /
which usually take all the seasonable /
flowers that can be produced. In an |.
ticipatior Of the demand that these /
holidays bring, plants are retarded if .
they are too forward, or forced if they
are backward. This is done mainly by .
regulating the degree of heat, roses .
being especially susceptible to this
treatment. Many plants are set in
trays that can be removed from one
room to another TO give greater or less F.
heat as desired.
At present there are $4,000 feet Of
space devoted to roses, mainly Amer
lean Beauties and KiIlarneys, while 40
100000 feet are planted with carna-
lions, pink, white and red. These two
plants account for 10000 of the 1880
square feet under glass. There are
probably 10000 carnation plants and
10000 roses, each plant yielding dur
ing a season on an average Of about
. % blossoms, or a total of 100000.
Ferns, lilies of the valley, Easter lilies,
sweet peas and asters are some of the
other plants grown in quantity.
HEATING PROBLEM
With only glass as protection
against wintry blasts the heating of
sucn a large establishment naturally
is expensive. There are two steam
plants at the Stapp green houses, one
OF three boilers taking care of 10000
square feet of ground area, and the 9TH
er OF $4,000 square feet. The main
heating plant occupies a boiler house
4Sx5O feet. There are two $50 horse
power high pressure boilers here and
a third Of the same size is to be added.
Four firemen are employed, two work
ing nights and two days. Fires burn
nine months Of the year, from August
10 June. So far this season As carloads
of coal. averaging 20 tons per car, have
been burned Two men with teams are
kept busy hauling coal from the cars
to the plant nearly all the time
Regulation of the heat is Of vital
Importance. Many plants are very
sensitive and must be kept at a GER
tain temperature to be grown at
profit, while the forcing or retarding
Of them requires the closest attention.
b Thermometers are 70 be seen every
b here and they are frequently read
In most Of the houses the heat is Civ
en- off by steam pipes that are carried
A., under the benches upon which the
= plants grow Ventilation is secured
: bv raising or lowering sections OF glass
near the top of the roof OF each house
= and this is done by means of cTanks
, attached to endless chains, which shift
J long sections of ventilators at one Op-
Grafton The ventllators have to De
, watched closely, also.
Fully as important as heat and al
most as expensive is the water supply.
This is taken from three deep wells
Formerly pressure was secured from a
tank set about 40 feet above the upper
houses In time this became made
Quate and an air pressure system was
installed. Water is pumped into a
huge air tight receptacle resembling a
boiler, the compression of the air Civ.
ing any required water pressure up to
100 pounds per square inch, which is
all the tank is warranted to withstand
The pumping is done by electricity
four motors being used for that pur
pose. The largest pump now il opera
ton throws $500 gallons per hour and
a fourth pump is to be installed which
will furnish 5000 gallons per hour. Al
present 10000 gallons are used daily
evaporation from the benches under
artificial heat being rapid. More thar
$4,000 has been spent on the water
plant and improvements are now be
ing made which will cost $4,000 more
These will include the larger pump re
Is feet or more IN the ground.
CHANGE SOIL YEARLY.
Three acres OF ground virtually mus
produce revenue enough to keep W
The heavy expenses involved and pa!
the owner whatever profit he makes
and so ii follows that every inch o
space must De utilized and condition.
for growth must be kept as near per
feet az may be. In addition 10 provid
ing plenty OF moisture and maintainj
the proper degree of heat the soil usaS
must always have maximum suppl,
OF available plant food. Once a yea
the earth on the benches used for rose
and carnations is changed From
j meadow on the blum where the soil i
b, q S-as loaLA' INC lOP s4A VI t46uL 4uCue
is hauled, sod and all. This is thor
oughly mixed with we'll rotted bar
manure which is collected in the cit
and allowed 10 lie for several month
y before using. Fifty OF more loads 0
Y manure are used annually for eacl
acre under glass The soil taken from
5 t5e benches after years use is still
very rich and can be used for CROWN
those flowers which do not demand s
much organic matter Very little con
+ Eercial fertilizer Is used, strange as
rlay seem. Sometimes for special pun
~ poses bone meal IS employed 70 ad