248 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Januarv 16, 1902. 



"like begets like" it is wise to pass them 

 by, as an increase of such is neither 

 desirable nor profitable. 



The propagating house should now re- 

 ceive a good deal of care and attention. 

 Happy are those who have the good for- 

 tune to have a careful and conscientious 

 night watchman. They have a big load 

 of care taken from their shoulders as it 

 is so easy to spoil or seriously injure 

 the prospects of the young stock. A 

 careful examination every morning of 

 the condition of the sand should be one 

 of the first duties of the propagator. He 

 will find some parts of the bench which 

 will be sure to dry out much sooner tlian 

 others and indiscriminate watering and 

 syringing at this season are almost as 

 ruinous as overdrying. Care should be 

 taken not to allow the temperature of 

 the house to run up with sun heat as 

 until tbe roots begin to form it takes 

 but little to dry the life out of the 

 leaves. After the cuttings have been in 

 the sand about 28 days, examine from 

 day to day to see if they are sulBcicntly 

 well rooted to pot. It is seldom that 

 every part of the house advances at the 

 same rate, some positions in the house 

 being more favorable to quick rooting 

 than others. Begin potting as soon as 

 the roots are ?, or 1 inch in length. 



RiBES. 



THRIPS. 



I want the Review to hunt out a rem- 

 edy for the thrip pest. There is nothing 

 that the florist needs more light on. My 

 losses through the rav.'ges of *hrips dur- 

 ing the past two months will reach 

 $4,000. Is there nol .some way to exter- 

 minate them? 



We did not notice them till they were 

 quite numerous. As soon as we did 

 know what was the matter we cut every 

 bud that was afTected and burned them, 

 sometimes as many as 500 in a day. As 

 we had no greenfly wc iuid not smoked 

 up to that time, but then began smoking 

 two to three times a week and added 

 some red pepper to the tobacco. We 

 think we can now see some signs of get- 

 ting rid of them. But isn't there some 

 better and surer way? Let every one 

 that has the least light to shed on the 

 subject shed forth now. 



Geo. M. Kellogg. 



CARNATIONS. 



Answer to D. C. N. 



I know of no varieties of carnations 

 that will do well in the same house with 

 roses which require a night tempera- 

 ture of 58 to UO degrees. Not only is 

 this at least four degrees too high for 



View Across Benthey & Co.'s Range of Rose Houses at New Castle, Ind. 



THE BENTHEY GREENHOUSES. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph of the range of five 

 houses erected by Benthey & Co., at New 

 Castle, Ind. The houses are each 28x300, 

 with Garland iron gutters on 2-inch 

 pipe posts set in cement. 



The second picture gives a view 

 through the range, showing the tunnel, 

 five feet deep, containing the flows and 

 returns of the heating system. Low 

 pressure steam is used, a good circula- 

 tion being obtained with but one pound 

 of pressure. The condensation returns 

 by gravity. The Cinch flow pipe is 

 suspended from the crosspieces that sup- 

 port the cover to the tunnel. 



As will be seen by a glance at the 

 picture all the main pipes can be quick- 

 ly got at in case of necessity and they 

 arc also out of the way. Any section 

 of the walk over the tunnel can be quick- 

 ly removed. 



There are four benches to each house, 

 averaging five feet wide each, Mr. Gar- 

 land's system being followed. 



the carnations to grow strong and 

 healthy and to produce good stems and 

 blooms, but D. C. N. would find that 

 the carnations during the day would re- 

 quire too low a temperature and entirely 

 too much ventilation to agree with the 

 roses. It would only be a short time 

 and his roses would be full of mildew 

 and bullheads, and with many varieties 

 off color. If he has only one house to 

 plant to these two crops the best thing 

 he can do is to divide the house into 

 two sections and put a few extra steam 

 or hot water pipes into the section plant- 

 ed to roses. This would practically give 

 him two houses at a very little expense. 

 Of course the ventilators would also 

 have to be run separately on each sec- 

 tion. 



Crooked Stems on Flora Hill. 



The plant of Flora Hill you sent me 

 came in good order and the trouble com- 

 plaincil of could be seen plain enough. 

 After looking the plant over carefully I 

 do not think the trouble is caused by any 



constitutional disease and I would not 

 think of pulling up the plants and de- 

 stroying them. The exact cause of it I 

 am unable to determine, but I am in- 

 clined to think that it may be the result 

 of over-feeding or over-forcing, perhaps 

 after a slight check. The plant also ap- 

 pears to have been crowded for want of 

 room. Our Flora Hill which were plant- 

 ed early in August are not nearly so 

 tall yet, the bodies of the plants are still 

 down close to the ground and the stems 

 rise up two feet high and our plants 

 have a nuich better color, the result ap- 

 parently of less forcing and feeding. 

 There are also many light spots caused 

 by bacteriosis, which would also indicate 

 a weakened constitution, but there is not 

 enough of it alone to cause any such trou- 

 ble. "The reason I think it may have been 

 caused some time ago (perhaps just be- 

 fore the holidays) is because the voun" 

 growth is straight and entirely free from 

 the trouble. 



I think that if he will cut away the 

 deformed branches, stop all extra feed- 

 ing except what the soil already con- 

 tains, run them a little on the dry side 

 and give a night temperature of about 

 54 degrees he will have no more trouble 

 in that line. I would also naturally 

 avoid those plants when selecting cut- 

 tings for next year's stock. I have pot- 

 ted the plant you sent me and will watch 

 for further development and will report 

 later in the season. 



Carnation Notes. 



Those first cuttings you put in sand 

 last month should be potted as soon as 

 the young rootlets are half an inch long 

 and kept growing right along until 

 planting out time. Use a good soil, the 

 same as you use for filling the benches, 

 but add no bone meal nor any other fer- 

 tilizer for the first potting. Run the 

 soil through a soil screen so it will be 

 well pulverized. After potting be sure 

 and water well so that the soil is moist- 

 ened clear through, and shade from the 

 sun for several days, as it will wilt 

 them badly until they become established 

 in the soil, t'se 2-inch pots and later 

 shift into 3-inch or even larger if neces- 

 sary. 



Set them on a bench near the glass 

 and where they will get all the sunshine 

 there is. Remember that while the young 

 plant is establishing itself in the pol 

 you are laying the foundation of the fu- 

 ture plant and unless it gets a good start 

 you cannot expect to have the best grade 

 of plants. The competition is so strong 

 now that only really high-grade blooms 

 pay the grower for his trouble, and these 

 can be produced only on first-class 

 plants. 



There was a time a few years ago 

 when it was thought that just so a cut- 

 ting had roots and made a fair-sized 

 plant before hard freezing came in the 

 fall it would turn out all right, and in 

 those days there were very few good car- 

 nation blooms on the market before the 

 middle of .lanuary, but things have 

 changed now and as early as October we 

 have^as good blooms as they used to 

 have at any time of the season only a 

 few years back. This may be partly the 

 result of improved varieties, but I am 

 sure it is not that alone, but rather our 

 present way of starting earlier and look- 

 ing after them closer right from the 

 beginning. 



If there is any fungus in your cutting 

 bench, do not pot any cuttings that are 

 the least bit infested 'with it. They may 

 seem to outgrow it during the spring 



