NOVEMBEK 26, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Indianapolis, Ind. ; scored 84 points com- 

 mercial scale. 



New York, November 14. — Dr. Engel- 

 hard (imported by name of Dr. Engue- 

 hard), rose pink, silvery reverse; scored 

 87 points commercial scale. 



Feed. H. Lemon, Secretary. 



Ed. Florists' Beview: — Replying to 

 your inquiry in regard to the chrysanthe- 

 mum shown at New York as Dr. Engle- 

 hardt and passed upon by the New York 

 committee as Dr. Engelhard, would re- 

 port as follows: The variety was raised 

 by Auguste Nonin, Paris, France, and is 

 given in his list as Dr. Enguehard. 



The variety was exhibited before the 

 Cincinnati committee, a week ago, under 

 this name as reported to you. In send- 

 ing the announcement to the papers, an 

 exact copy of the report of the New York 

 committee was made. I have already 

 noticed two or three different spellings 

 of this variety, but Dr. Enguehard is the 

 only one authorized by Nonin 's list. 



Fred H. Lemon, Secretary. 



PIERSONI AND ANNA FOSTER. 



J. W. S. asks: "Will some one tell 

 me through the columns of the Review 

 what temperature and treatment gets the 

 best results with Piersoni and Anna Fos- 

 ter ferns?" 



The genus nephrolepis are all natives 

 of the tropics. Nicholson says: "A small 

 but widely distributed genus all natives 

 of the tropics." N. cordi folia, better 

 known to tlorists as tuberosa. is a native 

 of Central America and so, I think, is N. 

 exaltata, and it's from this fine species 

 we have the form Bostoniensis and then 

 Piersoni and Anna Foster, and there will 

 likely be many other variations in this 

 fine fern. It is strange to note that al- 

 though N. exaltata was found and in- 

 troduced as long ago as 1793, almost a 

 century elapsed before it became the 

 widely grown and deservedly popular 

 plant that it now is. As it is a tropical 

 fern, then a warm house is the place to 

 grow it to perfection. On a recent visit 

 to the botanic gardens in Buffalo I no- 

 ticed specimens of exaltata planted out 

 among the rocks in a warm fern house, 

 plants that must be nine to ten feet 

 across, with fronds at least five feet 

 long. There this fern was at home. 



In most commercial places the growing 

 of this fern is done in the summertime, 

 when we have, under glass, the tropical 

 conditions. In winter, if you expect them 

 to grow fast, you would have to give them 

 65 degrees at night. But if by Octo- 

 ber you have produced good sized plants, 

 then from that on during the winter 

 months 55 degrees will do them very well 

 and put them in condition better suited 

 for decorations for your customers than 

 those taken out of a warm, moist house. 



As to treatment, if you have grown 

 Bostoniensis well, you can grow the two 

 beautiful forms, Piersoni and Anna Fos- 

 ter. Some growers plant out, in five or 

 six inches of soil, all the runners they 

 can get and lift them when tliey have 

 grown to be plants large enough for 6 

 or 7-inch pots. The finest plants are, I 

 believe, better grown entirely in pots. 

 There seems to be no particular quality 

 or texture of soil suited or essential for 

 these free growing ferns. A good yellow 

 loam (not sandy), with some leaf mold 

 and rotted manure added, would be 

 ideal. Yet I know that such soil as you 

 would put on your benches for tea roses 



Seedling Chrysanthemum Rockford. 



will grow these ferns well. They want 

 plantj- of moisture at the roots at all 

 times and shade only during the hottest 

 months. Whoever saw the mother plant 

 of N. Piersoni surrounded by her two 

 or three dozen very small oifspring in the 

 fall of 1900 and less than eighteen months 

 afterward saw the many grand specimens 

 exhibited by Mr. Pierson could have lit- 

 tle doubt of the freedom and rapid 

 growth of the variety. W. S. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



Bursted Calyxes. 



Some varieties of carnations are more 

 liable to burst than others, or rather, 

 certain varieties possess a naturally 

 weak calyx, and in consequence, any sud- 

 den deviation in treatment or direct vio- 

 lation of laws governing proper culture, 

 shows its effect here. Any variety will 

 burst under radically wrong treatment, 

 so when we see it stated that a certain 

 sort never bursts, it is reasonable to take 

 the statement to mean that its calyx is 

 naturally strong and if handled rightly 

 will give no splits. 



The cause of a large percentage of 

 this trouble can be traced to tempera- 

 ture and generally it is a case of its 

 being allowed to fall at a time when the 

 buds are about to show, or are ,iust show- 

 ing, color. On the morning of a bright 

 day the ventilators may have been 

 raised too high in one operation or left 

 open too long toward night. Perhaps a 

 sudden drop in temperature outside took 

 place during the night, or in some way 

 the plants received a chill. The imme- 

 diate effect is to retard the progress of 

 the petals outward, toward and through 

 the top of the calyx. Doctors of medicine 

 would call it congestion, and so it is here, 

 the effect being that on returning to a 

 higher temperature the petals begin to 

 unfold before the congestion can be re- 

 lieved, resulting in the calyx giving way. 



Another cause is carrying the temper- 

 ature too high during cloudy or stormy 

 weather, in which case the amount of 



heat employed is not attended with suf- 

 ficient light to maintain the balance that 

 should always exist between these two 

 important agencies. 



With a scarcity of bloom you would 

 never resort to raising the night tem- 

 perature 10 degrees. Why, then, on a 

 dark day, when the thermometer should 

 stand about 60 degrees, allow it to run 

 up to 70 degrees or over, as I have heard 

 related? Any attempt to force matters 

 by using very rich food in the way of 

 soil, top dressing heavily or strong liquid 

 manure, will result in a crop of mal- 

 formed and split blooms. The variety 

 Eldorado is one in particular which re- 

 sents liberal use of fertilizers. 



Overwatering is injurious in many 

 ways and ■ndth some varieties this error 

 in treatment shows a marked effect on 

 calyxes and this is especially true of 

 those impatient of disturbance at the 

 roots and slow in getting established 

 after housing, notably Lawson. Could 

 we produce a race of carnations having 

 absolutely non-bursting calyxes, skill in 

 the culture of carnations would become 

 unknown, but of this there need be no 

 fear. 



The heating appar^^tus must be ample 

 to resist the sudden changes of weather 

 and under perfect control, also ventilat- 

 ors arranged to operate without causing 

 draught over the plants, regardless of 

 direction of wind. Never allow the tem- 

 perature to run up too high and then 

 put on a wide crack of air at once, but 

 trim your sails to meet the weather. Dur- 

 ing any time of year when the outside 

 temperature makes it necessary to close 

 the ventilators at night, it is the watch- 

 ful grower who, between the hours of 

 seven and ten in the morning, has made 

 several trips through the houses to man- 

 ipulate the ventilators. 



If you are growing acknowledged lead- 

 ing sorts and some are splitting badly, 

 correspond with the originators, who will 

 gladly supply advice. Lawson bothered 

 most of us at the start, but Mr. Fis-licr 

 put us on the right track. 



Geo. S. Osborn. 



