368 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



SIOl'TK.MIUOR 7, ISM. 



by a change. We use chemicals in 

 with the manure water, but cannot 

 recommend it to the average grower, 

 because unless he has used it that way 

 before there is danger of getting it 

 too strong, while used in clear water 

 in the proportions given they are per- 

 fectly safe. If sulphate is used in the 

 manure water (and it should not be 

 till feeding is nearly over) the propor- 

 tions should be reduced at least half. 

 Another important thing to remember 

 about feeding is not to use liquid when 

 the soil in the bench or pots is very 

 dry. It is always better to use clear 

 water first in such a case, and then 

 the liquid directly after. Never apply 

 nitrate of soda in the way that is often 

 recommended for spring crops outside, 

 that is, sprinkle over the surface of 

 the soil and water it in. If you do 



and it strips all the foliage off you 

 will regret it. 



In localities where lime is deficient 

 in the soil an occasional dose of lime 

 water is beneficial, as also is a dose of 

 soot water once in a while. 



Feeding can be continued on some 

 varieties much longer than others. 

 Mrs. Robinson, for instance, will stand 

 feeding at a time when some people 

 who don't know any better are be- 

 ginning to cut the flower. Left to de- 

 velop it makes a deep, magnificent 

 flower. 



Pink and dark shades should not be 

 fed after they are showing color, Iora 

 being with us particularly prone to 

 damping. It is to be hoped its beauti- 

 ful white sport, Mrs. F. A. Constable, 

 will not have this defect. 



BRIAN BORU. 



Chrysanthemums. 



There is lots of work about the 

 chrysanthemums just now. They are 

 growing fast and need lots of water 

 and syringing. Thrip and spider will 

 attack them if syringing is neglected. 

 Side shoots must be kept off and the 

 plants tied to the supporting strings 

 as they grow. Give them abundance of 

 water till you see the buds formed, 

 when they want rather less till the 

 buds begin to swell rapidly. "Whenever 

 fumigating can be done it is the 

 cheapest, quickest and most complete 

 way of cleaning out the various kinds 

 of aphis that trouble the mums. Smok- 

 ing once a week will keep all clean. 

 Where you can't smoke, Nikoteen di- 

 luted 200 times and syringed on will 

 do the trick. 



Chrysanthemums in pots have sold 

 very poorly of late yet we must have a 

 few hundred, and if you grew them in 

 that excellent way by planting out in 

 five inches of soil in June you will lift 

 them next week. They never turn a 

 leaf, but don't delay in lifting them 

 and keeping them shaded and syringed 

 till they get hold of the new soil, which 

 is less than a week. We have a num- 

 ber of cuttings that are about rooted 

 in the sand and will be put into 8, 9 

 and 10-inch pans in a few days. Choose 

 plants of equal strength for each pan. 

 There is a very limited number of 

 chrysanthemums suitable for this pur- 

 pose and two varieties stand out away 

 above all others, Ivory, white and 

 pink; and Lincoln for yellow. 



Violets. 



Violets are looking good this year 

 planted out on solid beds with the 

 glass shaded, but every third row of 

 glass removed which, gives you a fine 

 current of air over the plants. Being 

 "butted glass, you know" this is easily 

 done. We do not see any signs of the 

 dreaded "spot" and if we did we know 

 no cure but to pull the leaf immedi- 

 ately off. You should not wait till the 

 spot shows itself by a round bleached 

 spot for by that time its spores have 

 spread to hundreds of other leaves. 

 Watch for the disease which appears 

 first as a black speck and radiates out- 

 ward, killing the tissue. 



We syringe twice a week but when 

 we do syringe to keep down spider we 

 get down as earnestly at it as we do at 

 our prayers and syringe backwards and 

 forwards so that the underside of every 

 leaf is sharply cut with the spray; this 

 is better than a poor sprinkling every 

 day. Runners should be kept cut off; 

 not pulled off, which often bruises the 

 crown, but cut with a knife. We be- 

 lieve violets like and want lots of 

 water at the root and they get it. 



The disease we dread is not the spot 

 but what for a better name we call 

 "curl leaf." If that scourge once gets 

 hold you may as well throw them 

 away. It makes its appearance in Oc- 

 tober and November, sometimes soon- 

 er. This miserable condition is pro- 

 duced by a minute fly which lays a 

 still more minute egg which punctures 

 the leaf and destroys and curls up the 



tissue. As soon as glass is put in we 

 give the house a dose of the hydrocy- 

 anic acid gas which is as harmless as 

 "Ceylon's balmy breezes" to all vege- 

 tation but death to all creatures that 

 breathe, yourself included, if as Grove 

 P. Rawson so playfully says in his 

 kindergarten talks "you don't watch 

 out." It is dangerous and expensive 

 stuff and the operation somewhat fussy 

 but as harmless as tobacco with prop- 

 er care, and if it saves a house of vio- 

 lets or anything else what object is 

 expense? 



Pelargoniums, 



I am nearly discouraged in the 

 growing of pelargoniums of the show 

 kind. They are beautiful flowers, but 

 people do not want them and will give 

 little more for them than they will for 

 a common zonale geranium, and why 

 should they, for they certainly are not 

 as serviceable a plant, and then you 

 are so often reminded by a customer 

 that "The Lady Washington you sold 

 me last month is all covered with 

 lice." But it is not its faults that we 

 want to discuss, for when you have a 

 cool, dry house with plenty of ventila- 

 tion and the damp kept out by fire 

 heat, it is a splendid plant. 



Now is the time to propagate. The 

 Plants were long ago out of flower and 

 since flowering have made a good 

 growth. Cut them down to within a 

 few inches of the pots. Don't look for 

 eyes as you would in the zonale gera- 

 niums. In the old wood there are al- 

 ways plenty of latent eyes that will 

 break and give you plenty of shoots 

 on the old plants. Most any part of 

 the old wood that is cut off will root 

 except that which is very hard. We 

 put them in the ordinary cutting bed 

 and after a good soaking they will not 

 want water more than once or twice a 

 week. They will root in about four 

 weeks. 



The old plants should be kept al- 

 most dry after being cut down. They 

 are left so denuded of their tops that 

 they cannot want water. In two weeks 

 the old stems will be studded with 

 young shoots and when they are half 

 an inch long shake all the old earth 

 off, trim back the long, straggling 

 roots and repot. If they have been 

 in a 5-inch pot put them in a 3-inch, 

 and if they have flowered in a 6-inch, 

 a 4-inch will be large enough. You 

 can shift them on as they need it. The 

 old plants can be had in flower for 

 Easter, but the young plants are not 

 so satisfactory for the purpose. 



Pansies. 



Last year we were late with pansies, 

 perhaps not for an ordinary season, 

 but last winter was such a corker, and 

 we don't know what is in store for us. 

 Get the little plants into their winter 

 quarters as soon as possible. The 

 larger they are before winter sets in 

 the better they will survive. Don't 

 use any glass till the very severe 

 weather of December comes, or you 

 will produce a soft growth that is 

 easily hurt by zero weather. 



