420 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Skptismukii S, l9oJ. 



Your entire attention from now on 

 until winter sets in should be directed 

 toward Iceeping the plants in a healthy 

 and thrifty condition. Keep the weeds 

 out, stir the surface of the soil fre- 

 quently as long as you can see no roots 

 near the surface, and support thcin prop- 

 erly as soon as it is needed, to keep the 

 plants upright and the stems straight. 



Those that were in the bench all sum- 

 mer can stand a mulch of about J-inch 

 of well rotted cow manure, but those 

 that were housed in August will be bet- 

 ter without any mulch for a month or 

 so yet, providing you mixed a fair 

 amount of manure into the soil when it 

 was composted. After spreading on the 

 manure give a good watering and then 

 be careful not to keep the soil too wet. 



ber morning will injure the plants or 

 that the warm sun will be harmful. Both 

 will help to keep the growth firm and 

 disease-proof. As long as the tempera- 

 ture outside does not drop below 40 de- 

 grees you need not be afraid to keep the 

 ventilators open. Even then you will 

 want to run some steam around before 

 you close the houses up tight, but I will 

 have more to say about that later. Of 

 course you do not want the houses to 

 drop that low later on when there is a 

 crop on, but you have nothing like that 

 to consider now. What you should be 

 working for now is a strong, robust, 

 healthy plant free from disease or any 

 other weakness. 



If you have use for the blooms you 

 might as well allow the stronger plants 



Asters grown by the Harms Park Floral Co., Chicago. 



The soil will not dry out so quickly as 

 I.efore, not only on account of the man- 

 ure, which prevents evaporation, but also 

 liecause the sun is getting weaker right 

 along now and does not draw the mois- 

 ture from the soil as it did during mid- 



The growth will also be firmer if a lit- 

 le less water is given than diunng the 

 ot spell. Leave the ventilators up as 



on t]i(_- lOMl. Jl ll]c laiii lius iiol taken it 

 off clean, go over the houses with a 

 brush ; it will pay you well to do so. A 

 few years ago we used to wait for the 

 frost to loosen thp -ii.nlinii hi.iI.m ial and 

 for the rains tu \i.i-li ii dil :iii,l I see 

 some growers (\i> iIm -:nn. tliiiiu yet, but 

 like many other nl.I iim. m.i li,,',|s it is 

 penny wise and pc iind f<ioli-li. 



Don't be afraid that the cool Septem- 



to throw a few blooming shoots. Flora 

 Hill and Crocker produce good blooms 

 right along after they are planted, and 

 we do not take ott' any of the shoots 

 after they are housed. Mrs. Lawson is 

 producing tine blooms now, but most of 

 the reds are useless up to about October 

 10. If you let the shoots start up now 

 they will be in bloom soon after that 

 date. 



There is another task for our carna- 

 tion hybridists: We need a good hot 

 weather scarlet. We have F. Hill for 

 white, and Scott and Crocker for pink, 

 but not one of the scarlets in commerce 

 today is of any account in warm 

 weather. 



We still see a few houses that are not 

 replanted yet and it should not be put 

 off any longer. One or two growers have 

 not commenced planting in yet, claiming 

 that as the plants are growing so well 

 „..i...j. Ii. ._rii 1.- t-__i i_ jg^ them grow 



larger (nitsidc. That is just where they 

 iicalvi- a ini--r:ikc. and a big one at that. 

 This 'ji, will iliiii i.^ being made now and 

 lur se\Lril \m cks to eome is very rap- 

 id and Iciidci and when the plant is 

 lifted it suffers, even if the days are not 

 very warm, much more than does the 

 slower and firmer midsummer growth. 

 After the plants are established in the 

 benches they grow just as rapidly as 

 they would outside. 



a. he greatest advantage in early plant- 

 ing is that the plants recover quicker 

 and are ready to grow right ahead dur- 

 ing the entire time in which the carna- 

 tion makes this rapid growth. Conse- 

 quently the plants are also better estab- 

 lished when winter comes. Any grower 

 of average judgment knows tluit any 



Ml «■; 



outside it mil be best 



days are short and cloudy. .So get your 

 carnations in at once, and get them es- 

 tablished on the benches before bad 

 weather sets in. A. F. J. Baur. 



SUPPORTING CARNATIONS. 



I will give you my method of sup- 

 porting carnations, which I like much 

 tetter than any I have yet tried. 



I use No. 10 galvanized wire stakes 

 30 inches long, one for each stem. The 

 stems are fastened to I lie stakes with 

 No. 28 copper wire cut into 1'. to 2-iiiili 

 lengths; 3 or 4 to each -t,m uill !"• 

 necessary. Tliis will ],ri'|i I In^ -iiin- iin- 



iect 



ugl^ 



wire itself, 

 crable work, 

 ened to the st 

 of stems and 

 than repay a 

 class blooms ; 

 It will als( 

 flowers if th 



Whil. 



til.-, 



.I's and the extra stiffness 

 lality of blooms will more 



cost when strictly first 

 e wanted, 

 insure a higher grade of 



plants are not allowed 



to throw off too many shoots. My plan 

 is to keep off all but one or two at the 

 base of each flowering stem. 



W. C. SCOVELL. 



SWEET PEAS. 



Sweet peas, which have heretofore been 

 so generally cultivated with great suc- 

 cess in the vicinity of Springfield, Mass., 

 have this year been practically a failure 

 in that section, and the prevalence of 

 the blight has led the Eev. W. T. Hutch- 

 ins to speak of the sweet pea as "a lost 

 flower" in his neighborhood. 



In a communication to the Springfield 

 Eepubliean of Aug. 25 he attributed 

 the trouble to a weakening of the consti- 

 tution of the sweet pea as a result of 

 the rapid development of the flower into 

 higher forms at the expense of the orig- 

 inal vigor and hardy habit of the flower 

 and the production of the seed in such 

 vast quantities in California. He says 

 the bounds of nature's supply of vital 

 jjower have been overstepped and that as 

 a result the whole seed stock is in a con- 

 dition of nervous prostration; that it is 

 now impossible to get a normal root to 

 support the vine. He holds it will be 

 necessary to re-vitalize the whole foun- 

 dation seed stock from which the trade 

 supply is grown, and that it will take at 

 least four years for skilled seed growers 

 to do it. 



In a letter on the subject W. Atlee 

 Burpee & Co., the Philadelphia seedsmen, 

 say they have had the blight on their 

 grounds to some extent, but have so far 

 been able to combat it successfully by 

 planting their sweet, peas in an entirely 



