Mat 29, 1902. 



TheWeekly Florists^ Review* 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



We present in this issue engravings 

 from a number of photographs of floral 

 arrangements by Mr. Samuel Murray, 

 Kansas City, Mo., that we believe will 

 be of general interest. All are good, 

 and the use of the iris blooms in the 

 cross seems to us particularly commenda- 

 ble. 



We shall be pleased to have from 

 others similar photographs of their 

 work. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



The Stem Borer. 



Wm. Freytag writes: "I send speci- 

 mens of worms that are destroying my 

 carnations in the field. They bore a hole 

 in the side of the plant above the soil 

 and eat upwards, killing the plant. 

 Please let me know what they are and 

 how to destroy them." 



I have never been troubled by the 

 worm of which he complains but have 

 heard others complain of it. Have never 

 heard it called anything else but stem- 

 borer and have never heard of a rem- 

 edy. Like all worms and insects that 

 come out of the ground it will be sure 

 to be hard to reach and I am at a 

 loss to know just how it could be done 

 successfully and expeditiously. To soak 

 the ground with anything strong enough 

 to destroy the pest would be certain 

 death to the plants, and to poison them 

 above the ground is almost out of the 

 question as they only come up as high as 

 the base of the plants. I believe it 

 would pay TV. F. to transplant his car- 

 nations to another field which he may 

 have good reason to believe free from 

 the pest. It is early enough in the 

 season yet for the plants to take hold 

 and grow right along and it will only 

 cost him the labor it takes to transfer 

 the plants. I would also plow the ground 

 as late in the fall as possible every 

 season, as I am inclined to think the se- 

 vere freezing would destroy a large part 

 of the worms or their eggs. It may 

 take several seasons to do it, though. 

 Would also suggest to W. F. to cap- 

 ture a few of the worms alive and put 

 them in some soil into which some lime 

 or wood ashes has been added and see 

 if it has any eflfeet on them; also try 

 some with tobacco dust mixed with it. 

 It will be well worth the trouble of 

 finding a remedy and if he does find one 

 let us hear what it is. If any of the 

 Eevikw 's readers can give any light on, 

 this subiect let him come forward at 

 once and help W. F. out of his trouble. 



Topping Field Plants. 

 One of the most important tasks we 

 have during the simmier is the process 

 of pinching or topping the plants in 

 the field to make them grow into nice, 

 shapely plants which will carry them- 

 selves upright without any support. In 

 order to do this intelligently you must 

 thoroughly know each variety you are 



growing and top accordingly. Some va- 

 rieties need really only one topping and 

 after that an occasional flower shoot 

 cut off toward fall, while others need 

 to be topped every week or two during 

 the growing season, not because they 

 would run into bud quicker than the 

 other, but because some varieties have 

 a tendency to run along on the ground 

 like a grapevine instead of forming a 

 bushy, compact plant such as we desire. 

 The sooner we work this straggling habiv 

 out of our carnations the better it will 

 be for all of us, but at present some of 

 our most profitable varieties are of that 

 kind. 



If your plants were propagated in 

 §ood time they were large enough to be 

 topped before planting in the field, but 



have shoots in all stages, from the shoots 

 with the bud peeping out down to the 

 eye that is just breaking through, and 

 don't it stand to reason that a plant 

 m such a condition will bloom more 

 steadUy than the one that has a lot of 

 shoots all of one sizeT 



With our present method of planting 

 in our carnations very early there ia 

 less danger of topping the plants too 

 late than there was when we housed them 

 in September. This is a point yon must 

 watch if you are a believer in late 

 planting. After August 1 you should 

 top only when a shoot shows inclination 

 to run up into bud and if you do that 

 there is little danger of throwing a 

 naturally late bloomer stiU farther into 

 the season with its first crop of blooms. 

 So many are complaining of Prosperity 

 coming into bloom late, but I am satis- 

 fied that when it is tmderstood and 

 handled right it can be had in fuU crop 

 in good time and I feel sure that it will 

 pay much better in most markets while 

 the blooms are pure white than it does 

 after it takes on its variegation, if you 

 can only make it produce the blooms at 

 that time. 



Mrs. Lawson comes into bloom early 

 enough, but you must top it until it 



■Wreath Arranged fay Samuel Murray, Kansas City, Mo. 



they will by this time need topping 

 again, here and there, the tip taken out 

 to keep the plant well balanced and 

 shapely. During the spring months you 

 top altogether to put shapeliness into 

 your plants but later on you should have 

 another object in view. Do you know 

 that you can make your carnations bloom 

 altgether in crops or you can make them 

 bloom steadily along through the early 

 winter? If you go over the plants once 

 each week and top only the shoots that 

 really need topping and leave the next 

 size until the next week you will get 

 your plants so that they will always 



has taken a firm hold on the soil in 

 the bench; if you don't you will have 

 a crop of short-stemmed blooms for 

 which you will have no use early in 

 the fall, like you would have if it were 

 white, and you could use it for 

 funeral work. And so it goes on down 

 the list and you must study each vari- 

 ety and handle it just as though it were 

 the only variety on your place, and don't 

 go and look at the Mrs. Joost plants 

 when yon want to know whether White 

 Cloud needs topping. If you do your 

 White Cloud will soon be laving aU over 

 the field. A. F. J. Batje. 



