256 



The Weekly Rorists' Revic\^. 



Janizary 24, 1901. 



we found that we had got to give them a 

 "smoker." 



Now, from the situation of the house 

 and our very strong dislike of using 

 hydrocyanic acid gas wlicn it can be 

 avoided, we said we will give it a very 

 heavy dose of aphis punk and see if we 

 cannot "do them." This was on Friday 

 night, and we proceeded, using 10 rolls. 

 The next morning we aired up, looked 

 things over and thought that we had 

 done pretty well, but I wish that every 

 grower that is tempted to go and do like- 

 wise could have followed us into that 

 house early Sunday morning. Alas! 

 alas!! One needed a whole bottleful of 

 cologne under his nose and he would 

 wish that he were blind, for such a 

 .sight I never saw before and never want 

 to see again. 



The plants had gone flat with the 

 "spot" in one night as the result of our 

 "smoker." Do I hear you ask if we have 

 used tobocco for violets since? Well, my 

 word for it, our other houses do not and 

 have not looked like that. 



Now for the rest of the experience 



(which was started so quickly and ex- 

 pensively) to date with that house. We 

 had nothing to fill it with and wanted to 

 learn all we could. We therefore picked 

 off all the spot and burned it, following 

 this up for several days until we had 

 the plants in the state of the undressed 

 kid in your carnation nunibci-. Wo were 

 in hopes that they would ilii.iw out new 

 leaves and recover, a- i In > u^i, miv 

 strong and had not linn ili-imlnil hy 

 moving, having been gniwn in I hi house 

 all summer. They have gradually im- 

 proved until now you would not think 

 that they had had such a siege. But we 

 have picked practically no flowers from 

 the house until last week, when we got 

 about 500, and this week will get about 

 1,000, They are full of buds, with a fair 

 showing for the balance of the season, 

 too late, of course, for a profitable violet 

 house. 



This is not. the kind of experience one 

 cares to tell about, and yet I tell it in 

 hopes that someone may be deterred from 

 trying the same frhing, whether they 

 know better or not. R. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Crimson Ramblers. 

 I tried some Crimson Rambler roses 

 this winter; lifted from the ground end 

 of November and shipped from the nurs- 

 ery by express without delay and at once 

 potted and stood in a cool house and kept 

 syringed. They are not yet showing any 

 sign of breaking or even swelling the 

 eyes and I have no faith in them, and 

 after this fair and, I believe, competent 

 trial, I would never again bother or at- 

 tempt to pro<luce good Kamblers for 

 K:i<tiT hy I hi« method. 



I 'n- |il:iiii- tliut we purchased last 

 si'iiriL' nnl ui .h.wn and started in pots 



iiiii'l' - I ' "in- during summer, and 



iK.u. ;iMni ;, ,, -I .luiin- n,.(nl„., ami \n- 



■"""" ■'" 'I' -inn- :m niL'lil. inn.kliin vigor- 

 ..l.-l^ nl ni, ,s rs. . ;nnl -n I hnliuve in 

 Ihl- |.l,in in. I l^n.i^\ l h.il i\ n -liall have 

 linn |,h,lll- nf l;:,,nMn,- |,n |:,,.tx.,-. Not 

 thirty plants out uf 1(1(1 lifti'd from the 

 ground, but 100 gcinil plants for every 

 hundred you started last spring. I mere- 

 ly mention this now because the differ- 

 ence in the two methods is evident to- 

 day. 



bon't for.-o anv of the roses at present. 

 T.nl Ihnn, ninnn ah.nL' -hn.^!^ a( a night 

 Inn |,. i.Mnin ni I,-, ,, ,n ,|,,. ,,.,.,. When 

 t In '. >i . ..Ml m I !n I. ,1 1 1 ',, \ laidure a 

 lli-hni lnni|M i.il ni . mill li l.rl Inr if nec- 

 ess.ary. I.a-I \n:ii ;m hinm] :,.", degrees 

 at night lini-hml ..il (In I; nnl.his In good 

 style, but (linN «,11 -I, mil hiuhnr than 

 that if y.iii jiiu-l liuii.\ thnm the last 

 three weeks. 



Asters. 



Asters have of late become very im- 

 portant flowers with the retail florist and 

 our customers are glad to buy them be- 

 cause they are a change. In earlj- Febru- 

 ary some seed of the early kinds can be 

 sown and will well repay the labor given 

 them. There is sometinies a violet bench 



few weeks before putting tliem into the 

 open ground, or if that is not available 

 they win pay to give them a 2-inch pot. 

 I cannot give you any advice about varie- 

 ties. I would only say, don't hesitate to 

 pay a good price for the best strain you 

 can get. I would just mention here that 

 although it is yet very early to sow Sem- 

 ple's strain of asters, you should never 

 sow these asters late. They are very late 

 with us and if planted too late they are 

 caught by the frost in many localities. 



Mignonette. ' 



tended f..i Kustei -hniihl liavn the fullest 

 pnssilili- lii^ht an.l .ni all pussible OCCa- 

 sh.n- dm lulln-1 wiililaliiin. A night 

 tiiii|Mia(mvni III il,uMv> I- niiough. The 

 object if, to gel llieiu -lujit and bushy. 

 Last year we had them in 7 and Sinch 

 pots and they were 18 to 20 inches in 

 diameter. This we found was larger than 

 desirable. This year we have them in 

 5-ineh pots and can afford to sell them 

 for 75 cents to a dollar. 



Moderate Priced Plants for Easter. 



I have often had occasion to remark 

 that at Easter we need a plant for the 

 moderate sized purse. We never found 

 this more to be the ea-n ihan la-i \ear. 

 We have lilies and aziih.i- ami liimhler 

 roses and other plan!- iliai ., i-i ihhm a 

 dollar up, and we also ha\e. 1 am aware, 

 the hyacinth for 25 cents; but the little 

 boy or girl wants something more lasting 

 than the hyacinth, and a great number 

 of 25 or 36-cent plants could be sold if 

 we had them. 



I don't know anything that will fill the 

 bill better than the zonal geranium. A 

 few hundred plants of some of the good 

 double varieties (none better than S. A. 

 Nutt) that were propagated in the fall 

 can be selected, and if they arc now in 

 .3-inch, put them into 4 or 4}-inch pots; 

 with the center just pinched out they 



will soon break, and if kept in a light, 

 warm house will be very attractive plants 

 by the middle of April and should have 

 two or three trusses of flowers. 



The flowering of a geranium greatly 

 depends on the soil. They don't want a 

 rich soil such as you v^ould give fuchsias 

 or begonias. It may be somewhat rich, 

 but should be rather heavy and by all 

 means firmly potted. Give the plants a 

 light, warm house, say 55 degrees at 

 night, and you will soon have them in 

 bloom, and there is something about a 

 geranium that the "common" people 

 never tire of because they know its util- 

 ity. Wm. Scott. 



ROSE NOTES. 



Feeding. 



Of the various fertilizers none is better 

 and safer than cow manure, either in the 

 natural state or in liquid form. It 

 should be well decomposed and turned 

 over once before being used as a mulch. 

 Koses that have been planted in a natur- 

 ally rich soil to which a quarter or a 

 fifth of manure has been added will not 

 of course require as much feeding as 

 those planted in a poorer soil. It is im- 

 possible to tell anyone exactly how or 

 when to use a stimulant without first see- 

 ing the plants and examining the soil. 



A mulching or manure watering at an 

 improper time or in an improper way 

 will result in gieat harm. Never mulch 

 or feed when the plants are off crop. 

 At that tim'e you will want your benches 

 somewhat on the dry side. " The mulch- 

 ing will necessarily have to be followed 

 by a heavy watering, and as the plants 

 are not then in condition to take it up 

 the soil will stay wet too long and thus 

 s'eriously check the root action. 



Watering with weak liquid manure is 

 sometimes very beneficial when the roses 

 commence to break again. A mulch can 

 safely be applied when the roses are in 

 full "growth. It should never be more 

 than one inch thick : less than that is 

 better than more. After a mulch has 

 been put on the watering must be done 

 more carefully than linfmn a- the mulch 

 holds the llloi-lum In, a Inmj Mm,.. The 

 mulch shdiihl lin -111 in, I ninr scv'eral 

 times during the lii -1 i«n in three weeks 

 in order to allow the air to penetrate 

 to the soil. 



Before mulching or applying liquid 

 manure have the beds somewhat on the 

 dry side though by no means real dry. 

 Make it a point t<i give a thorough wat- 

 ering after mulching, and give a good 

 general watering when applying liquid 

 manure. 



Liquid manure can be used freely from 

 now on — say every ten days or two weeks. 

 It is of course not necessary to use it 

 the first few weeks after mulching. If 

 the roses were in crop about Christmas 

 time, as they should have been, they 

 will by this time be in full growth and 

 ready for a good mulching. 



M. Stauch. 



STICKY ROSE LEAVES. 



I send you a few leaves taken from our 

 ^Ietcor rose plants. I cannot account 

 for the sticky substance on them. Will 

 you inform me as to the nature of this 

 and why it is there. I have never no- 

 ticed it before. M. A. 



The sticky substance on the leaves 

 comes from the presence of greenfly, 

 which emit this sweet secretion. Be- 

 sides being very sticky and objectionable 



