248 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



JULT 24, 1902. 



for funeral work. A wreath of small 

 Areca lutescens leaves or a combination 

 of that and .cycas looks well. And then 

 there are tlio great many designs where 

 the use of a leaf or two adds so much ex- 

 pression and value. The foliage of Co- 

 cos Weddeliana. is extra fine for this 

 work and small phoenix or kentias can be 

 used to advantage. Small paJms of many 

 varieties are plentiful and dirt <;heap. We 

 use them (knocked out of pots) in bases 

 of large standing designs; they are 

 cheaper and richer than most flowers. 

 Ferns can be used in like manner. 



You should never hesitate to use up 

 stock such as we have mentioned if by 

 doing so you <>an make a reasonable profit 

 and rid your premises of eye-sores or 

 cripples, and it must be remembered that 

 foliage, and plenty of it, constitutes a 

 principal part of funeral designs. And 

 while we are on plants, don't fill your 

 houses with unprofitable stock merely 

 because you happen, to have it or can 

 get it cheap. We will chat with you on 

 things to grow next week. 



Begonias. 



Begonias are in full glow now. The 

 tuberous rooted class are magnificent for 

 table decoration or for select vase or 

 cut flower work. You can use them cut 

 with any fine fern, particularly the adi- 

 antums, as embellishment, or you can use 

 the plants in low bowls or flat baskets. 

 There are such a vast amount of colors 

 in these grand flowers that you can bring 

 out any desired effect, either in mixtures 

 or separate shades. Then there are all 

 the other classes of flowering begonias 

 most suitable for cutting, such as B. niti- 

 da, B. acuminata, B. Duchartre, all 

 white; and B. Thurstoni, B. maculata, B. 

 Mastodonte and B. rubra, ranging from 

 pink to red; B. Gloire de Lorraine and 

 its types are especially grand, but even 

 the small B. Vernon and B. Erforda;a 

 kinds are good in fern dishes or alone. 

 Variety is the spice of many things con- 

 nected with life, and even if you have 

 an abundance of more prominent flow- 

 ers the modest and simple are delight- 

 fully pleasing for a change. 



Don't despise a plant or flower because 

 it doesn't last like leather or steel. It 

 would be a bad day were floriculture to 

 narrow down to the few things we see 

 on the Greek's stand, and how can we ex- 

 pect to have plant lovers buy certain 

 things if we ourselves ignore their beauty 

 or adaptability for fine work? Take, for 

 instance, Gloxinias. True, they will not 

 tolerate rough handling, but can you 

 beat them in colors? Use them in low 

 bowls or glasses on the table or side- 

 boards or the purple shades in funeral 

 work. And then there are fuchsias. 

 What makes a prettier hanging basket 

 than the drooping varieties, or even in 

 window boxes, or any of them cut and 

 arranged in water with a few geraniums 

 or begonias. We might go through the 

 whole list of flowers which could be made 

 prominent features of florists' places 

 and serve on many an occasion when and 

 where it is impossible to procure roses 

 or carnations. 



Hardy Flowers. 



Many of our prettiest summer flow- 

 ers are to be seen only in the herbaceous 

 borders and botanical gardens. Yellow 

 predominates in the hardy flowers from 

 now on, and how beautiful are the he- 

 leniums and rudbeckias. Common stuft', 

 some may call them. But let us have two 



rooms to decorate. You take one and 

 fill it with roses. I'll take the other and 

 use this common stuff. The difference in 

 price and appropriateness will be re- 

 markable. 



Eudbeckia Newmanii is good, E. pur- 

 purea is odd and pretty; Helenium Bou- 

 langerii, Heliopsis seabra major and 

 H. Jritcheriana are all aglow, cheap, and 

 fine for extensive work. Those who cater 

 to seaside resorts and even city hotels, 

 theaters or restaurants need not deter 

 people from enjoying flowers by suggest- 

 ing high-priced stock. There are other col- 

 ors and flowers. Platycodon jap. fl. pi. 

 or any of the type is excellent to mix 

 with flat funeral hunches, or for that 

 matter in vases or base work. But pur- 

 ple flowers should not be introducecl in 

 house decoration unless for a funeral. 

 The color is too melancholy. Spirsea ve- 

 nusta is pretty, and as for annuals they 

 are just showing their full beauty. 



Asters will be the leader from now on, 

 and even if they be small or one-sided, 

 you can use them for ground work. Solid 

 wreaths of asters are all right providing 

 you put a locse cluster of crimson, white 

 or pink on the white ones, and white on 

 the purple. Asters, Golden Glow rud- 

 beckias, African marigolds, liydrangeas 

 and gladioli are all important flowers 

 where there is carnival work to be done, 

 at such places as Saratoga, Bar Harbor, 

 Newport, etc., and this material can be 

 had in such quantities and for so little 

 that it is almost incredible that paper 

 flowers can be substituted on the pretense 

 of being cheaper. Florists in those sec- 

 tions should take steps to preserve the 

 intent and carry out the ideas and pur- 

 poses of carnivals, which never can be 

 associated with paper or artificial non- 

 sense. IVER.\. 



VIOLETS. 



F. C. JM. writes : "1 notice you say 

 in your violet notes in the Eeview that 

 the plants should be kept free from 

 black and green aphis. Will you kindly 

 tell me how to do this? My crop of vio- 

 lets has been ruined for the last three 

 ye;irs by the small black aphis. I have 

 tried tobacco in many forms, but can't 

 get rid of the aphis without injuring the 

 plants so that they will not bloom. 1 

 have heretofore seen them only in the 

 fall after the plants commenced to bloom, 

 but doubtless they are there more or less 

 during the summer. I would be very 

 gild to know of some summer treatment 

 that would kill them before putting on 

 the sash in the fall. I raise violets in 

 cold-frames and at this season the plants 

 are in the open ground." 



As stated by F. C. M., tobacco applied 

 at all heavily is ruinous to violets. One 

 of the precautions that it is always well 

 to take, but of course too late now for 

 this season, is to make a large box and 

 give all the stock you have in flats or 

 pots a thorough fumigating with hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas. Then we like to give 

 our violet houses a heavy fumigating 

 with sulphur several weeks before we 

 plant, and ayain a day or so before we 

 plant. We do this as we do not like to 

 use hydrocyanic acid gas any oftener 

 than is absolutely necessary on account 

 of its being so dangerous. 



If F. C. M. has planted his stock in 

 the cold-frames and not in the field, with 

 some extra labor he can still fumigate 

 with the gas. Of course, if he is grow- 

 ing large quantities this will be quite a 



task, but I know of no other method ot 

 getting rid of the aphis, and I doubt if 

 only one application will prove efl'eetual, 

 as it is next to, or quite, impossible to 

 get entirely free from them when once 

 they have gotten a foothold. They should 

 be watched closely, probably having to 

 be fumigated aboiit every month until it 

 is too cold to do so any more. 



F. C. M. has my sympathy, as has 

 every grower ' ' in the same boat. ' ' If 

 after the effort he makes this year he 

 does not get rid of the aphis to his en- 

 tire satisfaction, and if he is not depend- 

 ent on the violets to any great extent, 

 my advice would be to quit growing them 

 for two or three years am. then start 

 again with new stock that lie is sure is 

 free from aphis, in new frames or houses, 

 on new ground if possible. 



The formula for hydrocyanic acid gas 

 has been often given, but may not be at 

 hand, and I will qmite from page 104 of 

 "The Florists' Manual," which every 

 grower should have if he does not already 

 own a copy : 



Hydrocyanic Acid Gas. 



Wnter, 1 quart. 



Sulphuric acid, 1 qujirt. 



Cyanide of potash. 5 oz. 



The above quantities are right for 1,000 

 cubic feet of air space in your houses, and 

 measurements and quantities must be accurate. 

 ,\s many thousand cubic feet of air as your 

 house contains, so many vessels you must have. 

 Butter jars are the best for the purpose and 

 they should be placed on the floor of the house, 

 not among or near the plants. The house 

 must be shut down closely and must be opened 

 again in half an hour. 



As this gas is very deadly you must contrive 

 to let the cyanide down through a small hole 

 in tlie glass, or through a crack in the venti- 

 lator. As the 5 oz. parcel is a small affair a 

 very thin piece of string attached will do. We 

 suspend the cyanide to the end of the string, 

 as many as required, and divided equally in the 

 house. Beneath place the jars, each contain- 

 ing 1 quart of the acid; then add 1 quart of 

 water, and when each jar is ready the cyanide 

 of potash is lowered into the jars. An explos- 

 ion, as it may be called, immediately follows, 

 the gas is generated instantly, and that is why 

 you would not dare to be in the house, for you 

 would stop breathing in an instant. This gas 

 is death to every insect that breathes, and does 

 not hurt the most tender foliage. 



Mr. Saltford. of I'oughkeepsie. who gave me 

 the formula, showed me a Maidenhair fern that 

 was in perfect health that had frequently been 

 e.Ki>osed to the gas. I used the gas several 

 times last winter on violets with the best re- 

 sults. 



As compared with tobacco smoke it is quite 

 expensive and some trouble to apply, but if ?t 

 saves a crop of violets from the ravages of that 

 minute fly that punctures the leaf, laying an 

 egg which destroys the tissue of the leaf and 

 produces what we call curl leaf, it is certainly 

 worth ten times the cost and labor. It is 

 applied principally to destroy the almost invis- 

 ible insects so Injurious to violets, but while 

 doing that it utterly destroys green fly, red 

 spider, centipedes and all else that breathes. It 

 leaver no objectionable odor. 



Ha/e the jar in which you generate the gas 

 four times as large as tbe mixture of water 

 and acid, and when purchasing the cyanide of 

 I'otash have each 5 oz, package well wrapped in 

 double paper. 



Of course, in speaking of the sulphur 

 fumigating, I suppose every one will re- 

 member that it will kill any plant left in 

 the violet houses, or scorch any in any 

 house joined to the same. 



E. E. Shtjphelt. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Supports. 



The plants are now making rapid 

 growth, and the question of supports 

 comes up, for this work should be at- 

 tended to before the shoots fall all over 

 the bench, and get crooked and tangled. 

 For the general run of stock the string 

 system of support is usually employed 

 and works well enough. It is particu- 

 larly good at the time the flowers are 



