March 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



629 



Dorsett's New Single Violet. 



If you have grown your house nicely 

 during the summer tlie critical time 

 comes in the fall, when the daya grow 

 shorter and darker and the weather 

 damp, raw and cold; especial care now 

 has to be taken with the watering and 

 ventilation. As soon as we begin to get 

 over hot summer days you want to begin 

 to thin ofE your shading on the glass, 

 and consequently get your plants hard- 

 ened up for the coming damp weather. 



There is one thing which I do not think 

 I have mentioned before, though 1 

 should have done so, and that is, when 

 trimming runners be sure to handle the 

 plants carefully, not cracking the leaf 

 stems; always remembering that plants 

 breathe through the leaves and every 

 healthy leaf injured is an injury to the 

 plant, and by the next time you go over 

 the house you will find the leaf dying 

 where you cracked the stalk the last time 

 over. You will also find now that water- 

 ing must be done less frequently and 

 later in the morning, and never at night, 

 as the plants must get dried off before 

 sundown, for if the next day should be 

 stormy and they stood damp for several 

 days, a condition is created that predis- 

 poses to spot. 



At about this time also you should 

 begin to look out for the sow bug, or 

 wood lice as some call them. We have 

 found after many trials of different 

 methods that paris green mixed with 

 sugar (granulated) and spread along 

 near the edge of the bonlers and between 

 the rows, is the most effectual remedy. 

 It does not have to be applied very often 

 if you take care to put it on wtien the 

 house is running dry; if put on before 

 watering or goon af. er, of eourfe it melts 

 quickly and you lose the eiid you are 



after. Sow bugs do most of their feed- 

 ing in the night, so if you can, without 

 hurting the violets, let it stand two or 

 three nights before you water again. 



Returning to the ventilation again, 

 keep your ventilators open just as long 

 as you possibly can, even nights when 

 you have light white frosts outside. 

 Then there are days and nights, too, 

 that are a puzzle, damp and rainy, when 

 you have got to use a good deal of good 

 judgment as to ventilation and experi- 

 ment ; we then consider it better to keep 

 them open a little. When it really 

 freezes nights so that you have to fire up 

 a little, take eare that you do not run it 

 up too much; still keep some ventilation 

 on, and only just keep the frost out of 

 the house nicely. E. E. Shuphelt. 



DORSETT'S NEW VIOLET. 



This is a large-sized singlc-flowereil 

 violet which Mr. P. H. Dorsett, of (Jar- 

 rett Park, Md., has been growing for 

 the past six years. In his large estab- 

 lishment, devoted entirely to violets, this 

 new form has been decided upon as by 

 far the most profitable of the singles to 

 grow. 



The principal merits which it pos- 

 sesses are its Iree-flowering qualities, 

 delicately scented flowers, with stems at 

 least 6 inches long, and the exceedingly 

 useful foliage which is produced in such 

 abundance that it can be used not only 

 to dress bunches of its own flowers, but 

 also those of the doubles ; a single plant 

 will give enough foliage to dress the 

 flowers of three or four other plants. 

 The leaves are broad, stiff, and of a 

 beautiful, glossy green. During the pres- 

 ent season ;he average number of flow- 

 ers to a plant up to the first of March 



numbered 81, and at the present time 

 the plants are dotted with myriads of 

 dark purple blooms. 



The origin of this plant is somewhat 

 shrouded in mystery. It does not agree 

 in description with any of the forms de- 

 scribed in the books. It has been sug- 

 gested as a possible cross between V. 

 odorata and Y. papilionacea. The latter 

 is a spring-flowering native, and even 

 indoors its season of flowering is rather 

 short. The new form, on the other hand, 

 is never without flowers, save for a 

 month or two during the hot season, and 

 even then it is crowded at the base with 

 apetalous flowers . G. W. 0. 



BEGONIA GLOIRE DE LORRAINE. 



In a pajier read by Mr. John Doughty 

 before the New Haven (Conn.), County 

 Horticultural Society on March 4th, he 

 described his method of growing this 

 begonia as follows: 



"The specimen Lorraine I have placed 

 before you this evening is one of the 

 twelve that obtained first honors at our 

 exhibition on Nov. 6th, 1901. and has 

 been in flower since the end of Septem- 

 ber, or a little over five months. All our 

 plants were grown in .5-inch pots and 

 this plant before us was not placed in 

 the 8-inch pan before Jan. 23d, and I 

 do not perceive that it is benefited much 

 by the transfer, owing most probably to 

 the lateness of the transfer. I find that 

 their season for flowering is practically 

 over by the end of February, as you will 

 perceive there are but few more flowers 

 thereon to expand, and the flowers are 

 not so large and well formed as they 

 were in midwinter. 



"I have here before you rooted leaf 

 stalks with the young growth issuing 

 from the soil. I find they rooted very 

 readily from the leaf stalks, as well as 

 young shoots 2 or 3 inches long. They 

 require to remain in the sand in which 

 they are rooted for a considerable time, 

 until they have formed minute tubers, 

 very much resembling those of the dahlia 

 but very irregular in outline, and when 

 taken from the propagating sand are 

 beautifully white. Those sufficiently ad- 

 vanced, I have pricked out into flats, as 

 it gives less trouble than potting singly, 

 though as you see I potted a few. 



"Not having had further experience in 

 this stage of their growth we will now 

 assume that we have just received our 

 consignment of small plants from the 

 wholesale growers, and that it is the 

 month of Jply, when we received our 

 plants. They were from 2-inch pots and 

 the plants themselves little larger than 

 the money paid for them. I knew they 

 were begonias, because I had been fold 

 so, therefore I treated them as such. 

 Placing them in 21/0 -inch pots and using 

 a compost of three-fifths decayed ma- 

 nure and two-fifths loam, with" a little 

 sand. They were placed upon the green- 

 house bench under slight shade until 

 growth commenced, when they received 

 more light. They were potted into 31/2- 

 inch pots in August, and in Septemoer 

 were placed into 5-inch pots, in which 

 they were sold. 



"The compost for the latter shift was 

 about equal parts decayed manure and 

 loam (not New .Haven loam). I may 

 here add that the manure used was from 

 the horse barn. I never was a believer 

 in cow manure for pot culture and i 

 have yet to find its superiority over horse 

 manure for any purpose .?ave in a light 

 sandy of gravelly garden or fiekl. Dur- 



