July 10. Itin2. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



193 



Bed of Decorative Plants at Lincoln Park, Chicago. 



this i)laiits outside are ofteu attacked 

 by one or the other of the leaf diseases, 

 and we believe in keeping them sprayed 

 with the potassium sulphide in the pro- 

 portion of one ounce to two gallons of 

 water. Prevention is better than cure. 

 Brian Boru. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Some of the carnation growers are get- 

 ting ready to plant their houses and we 

 have noticed a few who are already set- 

 ting the plants in the benches. We have 

 had a very favorable season for carna- 

 tions in the field and it will be found 

 nuu'li better for the plants to be housed 

 witliin the next month while they are 

 medium sized than to wait until they are 

 extremely large and soft. The plants 

 will suffer very little now while they are 

 not so large, for there is not so much 

 foliage to be kept fresh for a few days 

 while the roots are taking hold. 



The plants are not growing quite so 

 rapidly during this month and the first 

 half of next montli as they will during 

 late August and September, when the 

 nights are cool and the dew" is heavy. 

 And yet just now the plants are a trifle 

 softer than I like to have them at plant- 

 ing time, due to excessive rains during 

 the past ten days. Last year our plants 

 wore exceedingly small, considering that 

 they wero planted from 3-inch pots, on 

 account of the dry summer, and the 

 foliage seemed to have very little saji 

 in it, but when they were planted in 

 nice moist soil and kept syringed for a 

 few days they took hold at once and 

 grew as though they were trying to make 

 up lost time, and they did make it up, 

 too, before the holidays. 



Some varieties, though, must make 

 good-sized plants in the field to be profit- 

 able and these, of course, do best in 

 a moderately moist season, but if you 

 can lift them after a moderately dry 

 spell r believe you will find it a benefit. 

 The first few thousand we lifted last 

 fall received a thorough soaking the 

 night before they were dug and they 

 lifted fine, but later on we lifted a lot 

 more without watering them first ami 

 tliey did just as well as tlio others, so we 

 discontinued tlie watering part of it al- 

 together, except that the roots were 

 dipped into a pail of water as they were 



picked up into the boxes. There are 

 other varieties, however, that do far bet- 

 ter if medium sized plants are housed 

 early and allowed to make most of their 

 growth inside. 



Try to empty and refill a whole house 

 at a time. You w'ill make more headway 

 by so doing and it will be much better 

 for the plants if you can shade the whole 

 house as it will be considerably cooler. 

 We cover the bottom of our benches 

 with about an inch of old cow manure 

 and we find it very beneficial to the 

 plants. Many growers object to this, 

 preferring to put it on top or give it 

 in liquid form, but we find it saves us 

 a great deal of liquid feeding and the 

 plants seem to like it. On top of this 

 fill in your soil so as to make about four 

 inches if the soil is well pulverized, but 

 if it does not lay close put on a half 

 inch more. 



I have ne\ er seen the necessity of first 

 packing the soil before planting as our 

 soil always settles down enough to 

 become good and solid, but possibly 

 there are soils that are so light as to 

 make it nex'essary. It would be advisable 

 to mix in some clay soil ifi your soil is 

 of this light, loose kind, and for next 

 year try to find a good heavy loam to 

 compost. A. F. J. Baur. 



DECORATIVE PLANT BEDS. 



We present in this issue engravings 

 from photographs of two beds of decora- 

 tive plants in Lincoln Park, Chicago, 

 this summer. 



One, as will be noticed by reference to 

 the picture, is filled with palms, rubbers, 

 crotons and other decorative plants in 

 considerable variety. The effect is cer- 

 tainly very pleasing and we congratulate 

 Head Gardener Stromback on the result. 



The other bed contains only crotons 

 and Pandanus Veitchii. The broad and 

 narrow leaved erotons are well inter- 

 spersed and contrasted and the effect is 

 good. The bed is divided into sections 

 by bands of the pandanus. In among the 

 crotons some peperomias are scattered. 

 The croton seems destined to take an 

 important place among our bedding 

 plants in time, and the sooner we know 

 how to use them to best advantage the 

 sooner will they be more generally used. 



VIOLET NOTES. 



Wo have had such a large rainfall all 

 through this section, in fact unprece- 

 dented for the season of the year, that 

 it has been very hard to get chances be- 

 tween showers to plant out stock. The 

 soil is so wet that it is not fit to handle 

 and by the time it just begins to get 

 so you can touch it, it rains again. 



However, a little at a time we have 

 finally succeeded in getting all our vio- 

 lets planted and they are looking nicely. 

 Owing to these conditions our shading 

 is necessarily very light, consecjuently 

 they will have to be closely watclied and 

 the first time that it really clears off 

 with the appearance of staying so for 

 a few days, the houses will have to be 

 at once shaded. 



Vigilance pays; don't think that now 

 they are in the ground they will grow 

 and take care of themselves, while you 

 rest. 



We find that the weeds are starting 

 thickly among those first planted and 

 they will have to be gone over at once. 

 You will find those little hand scratehers 

 most excellent tools for this purpose, if 

 you do not already use the same. Also 

 watch the plants closely and see that 

 no aphis, either green or black, get a 

 start, for if they have only a few weeks' 

 (or even days') start now they will 

 pi-ove disastrous next winter. They 

 must not be allowed to get a foothold 

 if you expect to have good violets. 



Also keep an eye out for the little 

 green black worm that destroys the 

 leaves in short order. And watch out 

 for red spider, which one is much more 

 apt to let get in, in such rainy weather 

 than when it is dryer and you syringe 

 heavier. Violet culture is a continual 

 do and don't and a genera! vexation of 

 spirit; really it comes pretty close to 

 being a lottery. 



Carnations are in the field and are 

 making the most of these rains. They 

 are looking first-class although some- 

 what soft, still not as much so as they 

 would be if it were not that we have 

 hard winds between showers. 



Chatham, X. Y. E. E. Shuphelt. 



