5J0 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



SsEj-rKMBKu : 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Roses. Ek 



We are getting very changeable weath- 

 er, that is, extremes of temperature in 

 twenty-four hours, which is only season- 

 able. But this calls for great watchful- 

 ness. Perhaps more so than at any time 

 of the year. Still there is hardly any 

 excuse for mildew. There are more ways 

 than one of keeping this scourge away. 

 Flour of sulphur thrown over the foliage 

 is often done but of doubtful utility and 

 looks badly, and the first syringing 

 washes it off and it is anything but a 

 benefit to the soil. It is not the sulphur 

 but the fumes of it that kills the spores 

 of the mildew, and you get little of the 

 fumes by dusting it on the leaves. Some- 

 times the sulphur is burnt in a hot 

 shovel or other means. This should only 

 be resorted to in extreme cases or when 

 you want to kill a bad attack. 



It is possible with vigorous growth 

 and the most skillful management that 

 mildew may never appear. Yet a pre- 

 ventive is much safer and I believe 

 there is nothing so good for the purpose 

 as sulphide of potassium. Dissolve a 

 pound package in water enough to leave 

 it about like thick paint, add an equal 

 quantity of linseed oil, and then with a 

 brush smear a spot here and there on 

 the hot water or steam pipes. The be- 

 ginner will say "How much?" On a 

 hot water pipe a dab of seven or eight 

 square inches every foot will do. On 

 steam pipes less will do. The linseed 

 oil has rather a disagreeable odor but 

 you can easily put up with that if your 

 roses are clean. This application will 

 last several weeks, and when you put on 

 a new dose scrape off the old or it will 

 prevent evaporation from the pipes. 



Greenfly is net at all excusable whei'e 

 steam is used because you can evaporate 

 the liquid on the tops of the steam pipes 

 or by filling a vessel with tobacco stems 

 and putting a jet of steam into it pro- 

 duce a vapor impregnated with nicotine 

 that will efl'ectually stop all aphis. Some 

 growers have an objection to this be- 

 cause they say the moisture caused by 

 the vapor is inclined to induce a weak 

 growth. As there are some splendid 

 growers who don't make this objection 

 there cannot be much reason for it. 

 Where hot water is the method of heat- 

 ing much more trouble follows in keep- 

 ing down greenfly. In spite of what 

 some growers say the tobacco stems 

 that I have ever procured if burnt in 

 the usual way will curl up the petals 

 and greatly disfigure the buds that are 



opening. Especially is tli 



about 



of the Bridesmaid type 



Fumigation is all right now, but when 

 you are cutting fine roses it won't do. 

 This is a good time to thoroughly clean 

 them of all aphis. We have got along 

 very nicely with the rose leaf extract of 

 tobacco, diluted to one in ten of water. 

 Put the mixture in some tin cake dishes 

 or have dishes made three inches deep, 

 six inches broad and one foot long. Put 

 an inch of the tobacco water in the 

 dishes and then by having some pieces 



of old railroad iron an inch or so small- 

 er than the dish and heated very hot 

 but not red hot you can drop them 

 in and will get a vapor that will 

 settle the fly. It is rather a fussy 

 method, but everything worth having 

 requires work. We found that a house 

 20 feet wide needed a pan every 30 

 feet. A coal scuttle and a pair of steam- 

 fitters' tongs will handle the iron all 

 right, and the fire to heat the iron you 

 always have with you from now on. 

 If you are once entirely clear of aphis 

 fresh tobacco stems tied in bunches and 

 laid on the surface of the bench, sus- 

 pended in chicken netting beneath the 

 edge of the bench, or strewed on the 

 paths if appearance is not of any con- 

 sequence, will do much good. So much 

 .so that if you start clean and renew the 



~1i'ms faithfully every week you will be 

 little likely to see any aphis. 



The other enemy of the roses is red 

 >pider. It is certainly less excusable to 

 see led spider in a rose house in fall or 

 winter than either greenfly or mildew, 

 l/ccause pure clean water properly ap- 

 plied will most assuredly keep them 

 away. Even if you syringe but three 

 limes a week and do it properly, it 

 would effectually prevent the spider 

 making any headway, and it is seldom 

 you cannot syringe once a day. I am 

 aware that all this is an old story to a 

 good rose grower. But it is surprising 

 how often I see men who are attempting 

 to grow roses and do not yet know how 

 to handle the hose. Kemember, the 

 spider is on the under side of the leaf, 

 and there is where the water wants to 

 reach. 



While on roses let me tell you that 

 there is no better time to propagate the 

 Bourbon and hybrid tea, or any of the 

 teas that are good summer bloomers. I 

 have had occasion to speak once or twice 

 this summer of the splendid qualities 

 of the pink and white "Cochet;" and 

 don't forget "Carnot," it is also a splen- 

 did summer rose, but Cochet for the 

 llorisfs use is about iincMualcl. It is 



Urn by J. C. Schubert & Co., Chicago, for the President's Funeral. 



