536 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



September 18, 1902. 



the benches. The surface may appear 

 to be wet enough, particularly where 

 mulching has been applied (as the 

 manure in the compost retains the 

 moisture), yet on examination the soil 

 may be powder dry. , ^ ,. 



If due care is given to the plants at 

 this time, they \vill enter on the winter 

 season with sufficient vitality to carry 

 them successfully over the darkest 

 weather. Eibes. 



MILDEWED ROSES. 



I have a bench of roses that are de- 

 termined to be covered with mildew. 

 I have sulphured them (as per instruc- 

 tions in the Review), but even the new 

 br-nches continue to give up to the pest. 

 Please tell me what I can do to stop it. 

 Have good ventilation, stems seem to be 

 good, healthv ones, but in a few houjs 

 the foliage "will be covered with the 

 mildew. Does this hurt the blooms? Bed 

 is well mulched with cow manure. 



M. W. B. 



M. W. B. has evidently got a very se- 

 vere dose of mildew and must adopt rad- 

 ical measures to get clear of it. Paint 

 the pipes at spaces a yard or so apart 

 with the foUowimt mixture: Two parts 

 sulphur and one part air slacked lime 

 mixed with water to the consistency of 

 paint. During the coldest part of the 

 iight close down the ventilators and 

 tuTn on the pipes that are painted, 

 keep closed till the house is hlled with 

 the fumes. Repeat this at intervals of 

 two days. 



I have never known this treatment to 

 fail in effecting a complete cure. Of 

 course the aftected leaves will present 

 a bad appearance for a considerable time 

 after the trouble has ceased. 



Also use the sulphur blower once a 

 weeK, taking care to use it only on 

 briwht days, and when the foliage is 

 dry, as it is only of benefit when in a 

 dry and powdery state. 



The foliage Iwing the lungs of the 

 plant, will, if incapacitated from duty, 

 certainly injure the blooms and eventu- 

 ally destroy the plant. Ribes. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Buds. 



This is a busy month in the chrysan- 

 themum houses, and the work is 

 of a kind that must be attended 

 to without loss of time. The chief 

 ~thin», of course, is the "taking 

 of "the buds. Why it should be 

 called taking the bud, when in reality it 

 is leaving the bud, is something that is 

 puzzling to the novice, but the term has 

 become universally accepted by long 

 usage and serves the purpose as well as 

 any" other. There is no longer any need 

 to be puzzled about the selection of the 

 hud, any bud now will produce a perfect 

 flower without special treatment so long 

 as it is upright on the stem and has not 

 been injured by insects. Where a bud is 

 crooked and bent over sideways it should 

 be removed, since such buds never pro- 

 duce perfect flowers. Sometimes a cater- 

 pillar will eat out one side of a bud and 

 the flower will come all on one side if 

 such a bud is permitted to develop; but 

 saving these defects, which are easily 

 noticeable, September buds are always 

 to be relied on. 



Suckers 

 are very much in evidence as soon as 

 the bud" is set. The beds should be gone 



over once a week and all such growth 

 removed. This is necessary to keep the 

 energies of the plant concentrated on 

 its work of producing ilower.s. After the 

 bud is taken there is no more top 

 growth, and the plant makes desperate 

 efforts to increase by throwing out side 

 shoots e\'erywherc. and suekering under- 

 ground. Keep these all closely removed 

 and you will notice, in the language of 

 the elder Mr. Weller when describing the 

 condition of the ladies as the tea party 

 progressed, that the bud is "swelling 

 wisibly." 



Syringing and Watering. 



The sun is declining in power daily 

 and less syringing should be done. The 

 foliage, too, is den.se and the air cannot 

 penetrate through to dry up the mois- 

 ture as it did a few weeks ago. Plants 

 should lie syringed right along until the 

 bud shows color, to keep down the red 

 spider and aphis, but .syringing should 

 only be done now in bright weather, and 

 always early in the day so that the 

 foliage will i)e dry by evening. Watering, 

 too, should be done in the morning and 

 (lone carefully. The sides and ends of a 

 tench will get dry while the center is 

 still wet, so watering should be done 

 accordingly. If the center of the bench 

 is kept wet leaf disease is certain to 

 start in there and will spread rapidly 

 to the whole of the |)hnits. While it does 

 not matter much to lose some of the bot- 

 tom leaves, and it is somewhat of an 

 advantage in fact since it gives the bed 

 a better chance to dry out, it is difficult 

 to get the disease to stop just when you 

 want it to. 



Mildew 



will appear on some varieties now during 

 dark weather. It is generally worst on 

 specimen plants though Golden Wedding 

 will nearly always show more or less 

 of it in the fall. The potassium sulphide 

 used in the same proportion as for the 

 rust, that is. one ounce to two gallons 

 of water, will keep it down. Plants that 

 have been growing outside, when they 

 are got into the houses (and the sooner 

 all plants are got in now the l)etter) 

 need watching for mildew. The changed 

 conditions are, of course, responsible for 

 this. Plants are often grown outside in 

 boxes on small places, and if the weather 

 is not too wet during the summer such 

 plants do fairly well, as the wood gets 

 thoroughly ripened, but in such a sum- 

 mer as tills has been the plants have 

 lost their foliage badly and need care- 

 ful treatment when housed. 



Feeding 



if done at all, must be done mostly this 

 month, as feeding should be stopped en- 

 tirely when the bud shows color. This 

 subject was discussed at length in these 

 notes a few weeks ago. so we will not 

 again go into the details, but while you 

 are feeding your plants remember that 

 it is far better to feed very lightly and 

 feed every time you water than to give 

 them a heavy dose and alternate with 

 clear water. Young fellows with not 

 much experience, but with heaps of en- 

 thusiasm, when the}' notice how a plant 

 improves after a dose of liquid, are very 

 apt to start in right away to show their 

 fellow florists how stuff can l>e grown, 

 and (o do this they apply twice as much 

 fertilizer as they should. But when the 

 thing is overdone nature steps in and 

 shows in unmistakable fashion that she 

 disapproves, and those same young fel- 

 lows find their enthusiasm dwindling 



awaj- when they see their flowers melt 

 away in the sun. But it is a wholesome 

 lesson, and one which few of us who have 

 grown good flowers have not received 

 at some time or otoer in our ex- 

 perience. Xature puts a limit on man's 

 puny efforts and says "Thus far shall 

 ve go but no farther." 



Bbiax Boru. 



CARNATION NOTES— WEST. 



Firing. 



It will not be long now until you will 

 need a little steam in your carnation 

 houses, and in some sections it has al- 

 ready been needed. We usually have to 

 fire "a few^ nights in the latter part of 

 this month, but regular firing is hardly 

 ever needed before middle of October. 

 About this time we usually have a light 

 cool spell and the thermometer occasion- 

 ally drops to 40 degrees at night, while 

 inside the houses it sometimes drops to 

 45 degrees, and a little steam will do no 

 harm if you have the ventilators open. 

 We do not consider it a necessity, how- 

 ever, and we do not fire up specially as 

 long as the temperature in the houses 

 does not run below 45 degrees during 

 these short spells, unless it stays cool 

 too long and the temperature drops sev- 

 eral nights in succession. In fact, I 

 believe it does the carnations good to 

 nave a few cool spells about this time 

 if the days are bright, as it will help to 

 mature the growth and keep the plants 

 sturdy. 



Voii must not close the ventilators 

 down tight after a nice clear aay, think- 

 ing that you will hold .some of the 

 warmth in" the house at least a part of 

 the night: that is a great mistake, which 

 is too'often made. 1 would rather have 

 my carnation houses stand at 45 de- 

 grees with the ventilators up two inches 

 than to have them stand at 50 degrees 

 with the ventilators closed down tight 

 and no fire heat. By keeping the venti- 

 lators up an inch or two you will cause 

 a slight current of air in the nouse, and 

 the atmosphere will remain dry, while 

 if the ventilators are down tight the 

 atmosphere in the morning will be damp 

 and foul and poisonous to your plants. 

 You have no doubt noticed yourself that 

 drops of moisture will hang to the foli- 

 age after a rather cool night if no air 

 was left on the house, but you will not 

 find it so if the ventilators are up an 

 inch or two. The carnation enjoys be- 

 ing cool, but when it is cool it wants to 

 be dr}-, too, overhead. 



If you grow roses or other stock that 

 needs" firing right along now it will oe 

 a good idea to run a pipe in each of 

 your carnation houses, and at the same 

 time keep a crack of air on. This will 

 help materially in keeping up a cur- 

 rent of air and a dry atmosphere. To 

 some this would seem like burning up 

 coal for nothing, but you just try it 

 and you will see for yourself what a 

 help it is. Try to have the walks dry 

 before night sets in, and be sure that 

 the foliage is all dry before night. It 

 would be well now, "too, to syringe less 

 than you did during the summer months, 

 and from now on you should syringe 

 only just enough "to keep down re<l 

 spider, which will make its appearance 

 soon after firing commences unless you 

 keep a sharp eye out for him, especially 

 where the plants are close lo a steam- 

 pipe. 



(Jive plenty of water at the roots, 

 though: the plants will need a liberal 



