The Weekly Florists' Review. 



November 2G, 1903. 



INSECTICIDES. 



A correspondent writes: "Let me 

 know what to do with carnations that 

 are covered with green bugs and arc in 

 with other plants, such as coleus and be- 

 gonias. " Another says: "Kindly state 

 in your valuable journal what insecticide 

 you would recommend for use on carna- 

 tions and roses in a house with a general 

 stock of pot plants." 



These inquiries are so near the same 

 that one answer will apply to both. 

 There are several tobacco preparations 

 on the market and all are good. We have 

 used Nicoticide with good effect and I 

 know several large growers who use 

 Aphis Punk and they all speak well of 

 it. Most of these preparations seem rather 

 expensive, but when you consider that 

 they do the work well and at the same 

 time do not injure the most tender plants, 

 they are cheap in the end. The old fash- 

 ioned way of burning tobacco stems will 

 not do when you have to fumigate a 

 house containing very tender foliage 

 plants or delicately colored blooms, as 

 the smoke will burn the one and take 

 the color out of the other. If you have 

 only carnations or roses in the house the 

 tobacco stems will do, but be sure you 

 cut the blooms close before you smoke 

 and have the ventilators raised several 

 hours before you cut again, to let the 

 burnt tobacco odor out of the house. 

 Carnations especially retain the odor a 

 long time. A. F. J. Baitr. 



ROSES. 



Cutting and Packing. 



Care should be exercised in cutting 

 the blooms so that the proper and most 

 suitable eyes may be left to provide 

 strong stems for a future crop. This 

 operation should never be done in too 

 hurried a manner, nor should any care- 

 lessness be tolerated, as if these most 

 suitable eyes are removed we run the 

 risk of getting puny wood, which, if it 

 is not blind, is quite incapable of bear- 

 ing a high grade bloom. 



There is a practice also in vogue is 

 some places which even with the most 

 careful help often leads to the same re- 

 sult. I refer to the practice of cutting 

 by lamp light during the early morn- 

 ing. Under such conditions it is nearly 

 impossible for even the keenest sighted 

 to always select the proper eye at which 

 to cut. The disastrous consequences of 

 such a practice can only be avoided by 

 relegating it to the realms of innocuous 

 desuetude. 



If there was any real necessity for 

 this practice it might even, with all its 

 attendant evils, be tolerated, but it is 

 surely detrimental to the best interests 

 of tlie trade to pack and ship this hur- 

 riedly taken cut without giving it any 

 other preparation but a few minutes of 

 a dip in water. 



Immediately after the cut is taken, and 



before the wound has had time to dry, 

 the stems should be immersed in water 

 at a temperature not to exceed 

 the temperature of the house from 

 which they were cut, nor to drop so low 

 as 41 degrees. They should then be 

 plactd in the cold room, which should be 

 at a temperature of from 48 to 52 de- 

 grees. 



The most satisfactory results are ob- 

 tained if they are allowed to remain at 

 that temperature for ten hours before 

 being shipped. If they have to remain 

 any longer the water ought to be 

 changed. After being kept in the cooler 

 for thirty-six hours, the conscientious 

 grower will refuse to ship them to his 

 customers. 



Year after year we have the same 

 complaints from retailers and commis- 

 sion men who, during the Christmas holi- 

 days, receive large consignments of 

 salted stock from growers not over scru- 

 pulous. The damage done to the trade 

 by thtse transactions is incalculable, be- 

 sides destroying the confidence and 

 friendship wliich ought to exist amongst 

 the craft. 



In packing the greatest care should 

 be taken to place each individual bloom 

 in such a manner that the petals mav 

 not be injured nor the necks broken. 

 A small roll of cotton batting or tissue 

 paper should be placed under the necks 

 of each row of buds so that the whole 

 weight of the bud may not rest on the 

 petals. 



Always have the paper next to the 

 buds new and clean. This gives the 

 flowers a much fresher appearance than 

 if newspapers or soiled paper be the 

 material used. The wrappings should 

 always be abundant and sufBcient to 

 withstand severe frost. By attending 

 to these matters, which we will do if we 

 wish for the prosperity of our cus- 

 tomers, which is identical with our own. 

 and not acting too hastily when a kick 

 comes, as come it surely will, wc mav 

 please our customers and have the satis- 

 faction of a clear conscience, which is a 

 great reward in itself. Eibes. 



John Cook's Red Rose, Seedling No. 150. 



PROPAGATING HARDY ROSES. 



An appreciative reader of the Review 

 speaks in most pleasant terms of an arti- 

 cle from this pen about propagating 

 summer-blooming tea and" other roses. 

 To use his own phraseology would make 

 one blush, but he continues and says: 

 "Cannot some of your correspondents 

 give us a good plain way to propagate 

 hardy roses from the cutting to the 

 field.'' Doubtless several correspondents 

 ooiild give us very accurate instructions 

 along these lines, and the little I am go- 

 ing to Siiy may bring forth the latest 

 and best methods. If in criticism and 

 correction to what I say, so much the 

 I letter. 



As is generally known, that great class 

 of roses known as hybrid perpctuals, 

 wliich we buy of American nurserymen 

 and sometimes import, are always 

 liuclilod. Our own nurserymen use the 

 Maiii-lti slock: so do the English and 

 Uiitch, but sometimes the wild native 

 rose. For the standard trees so much 

 in favor in Euroi>e and so great a failure 

 in our northern states, the wild briar 

 stock is always used. The budding opera- 

 ticn is done in the field in July. It is a 

 nurseryman's business, and if you use 

 hut a thousand or two of these roses, 

 either for forcing or for your customers' 

 gardens, you had better depend on buy- 



