180 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



December 17, 1903. 



over the stronger stems >ihoiild be out 

 bai'k to within im ini-h of the older wood 

 and the weaker side growths should also 

 be out back, but uot so much. 



The greatest drawback to the success- 

 ful culture of heaths in this country is 

 improper soil, our peat beiug so deiicieut 

 in liber. llany growers make use of 

 imported peat, with a small admixture of 

 light, fibrous loam. Others use the na- 

 tive article with a mixture of cocoa iiber, 

 and with success. Where the mountain 

 laurel, Kalmia latifolia, flourishes, good 

 soil for this purpose can always be had, 

 as they really do as well in this as in the 

 imported peat. Where there is any sus- 

 picion of lime in the water it is safer to 

 use rain water, as lime is fatal to the 

 erica. Rises. 



STEM ROT. 



The following are the remarks ot 

 James W. Punford before the St. Louis 

 Florists' Club on December 10: 



There is no disease known to the car- 

 nation grower that causes more heart 

 aches, more discussion and more empty 

 places in bench and tield, than stem-rot. 

 Nor is there any insect that preys on the 

 divine flower that we dread like this 

 most modern disease, stem-rot. A few 

 ye;irs ago it was practically unknown. 

 In the good old times when any time 

 before frost was early enough to plant 

 from the field, and long-stemmed flowers 

 early in the season were scarce, we did 

 not know what troubles were in store for 

 us. 



Who knows an effective remedy for 

 this disease? Did you ever hear of onef 

 I had hoped to give you something ne.v 

 on this subject but am not able to. My 

 personal views and deductions are given 

 below. None of them are guaranteed 

 and I reserve the right to change any of 

 them at any time. Stem-rot is inherited. 

 This I think is positive. Never propagate 

 from diseased plants or unhealthy look- 

 ing ones. Never buy rooted cuttings 

 from anyone who sells at staiwation 

 prices, for you may be sure that care 

 was not taken in the selection of his 

 cuttings. Don 't plant cuttings in soil, or 

 pot them, unless they have plenty of 

 roots; give them a good start. Keep 

 young stock cool and don't plant in ricli 

 soil. I believe that any sudden check 

 in the growth of any carnation plant, un- 

 less counterbalanced by the proper treat- 

 ment is most conducive to stem-rot. 



Any soil heavily enriched with stable 

 manure and planted with the healthiest 

 stock will develop the disease. This is 

 certain; any part of a bench that gets 

 much drip from leaks in the gutters, or 

 any part that through carelessness got 

 too much fertilizer, will prove a bon- 

 anza for stem-rot. Summer blooming 

 carnations that are mulched for econ- 

 omy 's sake, will in a wet season go like 

 lambs to the slaughter. Carnations 

 planted too deeply also succumb. One 

 of the worst things to do is to give too 

 much water when plants are put in the 

 houses. Sterilizing the soil by baking, 

 in houses, or the steaming process, will 

 certainly kill all germs in the soil, but 

 will not prevent the disease. There ;= 

 no effective remedy known for stem-rot. 

 If a variety persists in giving way to 

 the trouble after you have done your best, 

 throw it out. Remove all plants from 

 the field as soon as affected. Don 't plant 

 too deeply. Don't be too liberal with 

 your fertilizer; be satisfied to make up 

 for the deficiencies later in the season 

 ■when the plants are growing nieelv. 



Lime is good for more reasons than one, 

 and is said to kill a few of the germ-.; 

 try it by mixing some in the benches be- 

 fore you plant. Water liglitlv until the 

 plants are well established "and don't 

 plant in any place where there will be a 

 drip every time it rains. I have found 

 that in a variety like Crane, which seems 

 to take tlie disease more than any other 

 kind, tliat cuttings rooted in Februa'- 

 and March, planted in the field from 2- 

 inch pots were nuieh mere satisfactory 

 than older and bigger plants. 



We must improve our methods. ■ The 

 time is past when anything and any war 

 will do. Did you ever try plants that 

 were put in the field from 2-inch or 21/..- 

 inch, cool grown and not pot bound. 

 Just try them. These are the ones that 

 hold the dirt when transplanted to 

 lienchos. This early planting seems to 

 make it imperative that we make more 

 and more of an effort to guard against 

 all checks to growth at any stage, for it 

 comes at .-just the time when nature says. 

 ' • You would better leave well enough 

 alone for a month or two. ' ' I intend to 

 plant almost entirely from 2-inch pots 

 to the field. 



It seems to me the time is not far 

 distant when we shall plant our carna- 

 tions largely from 3 and 3io-inch pots, 

 the first week in June, .just as roses are 

 planted. Why not? I tried some one 

 .vear planted June 1 from 2-inch pots 

 and they grew like weeds and made fine 

 stems and had no stem-rot. You will 

 note that I have not burdened you with 

 the Latin name of this disease. It is 

 not necessary; .just plain stem-rot is good 

 or bad enough. Our only hope is that 

 some genius will find a remedy or that 

 we can build the carnation up- constitu- 

 tionally, so that it will be ablr^ to s;.y 

 boo to stem-rot without danger of infec- 

 tion. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



Local trade has been very dull this 

 week, possibl.v largely due to the ver.v 

 severe cold weather which arrived on Sun- 

 day and which has made the growers a 

 great deal of trouble, for many were un- 

 ])repared for from 10 to 17 degrees below 

 zero. It has made the consumption of 

 coal very great and even some of the 

 big growers had no more than a couple 

 of da.vs' supply on hand. Shipping 

 trade is not as active as it lias been in re- 

 cent weeks, but receipts are light and 

 good stock is going out tairlv well. 



There are still large supplies of Beau- 

 ties, and tea roses are plentiful. Good 

 Brides and Maids sell out clean each day 

 and verv good prices are realized for 

 some of the extra select stock, but there 

 are quantities of the lower grade mate- 

 i-ial which are hard to move at any 

 price. Chatenay is in good supply and 

 of excellent quality. Sunrise and Carnot 

 are also seen in first-class shape, but in 

 not very large supplies. Liberty is first- 

 class with one or two growers, but in gen- 

 eral not very long in stem. 



Carnations continue as in the past two 

 or three weeks, with prices holding up 

 well. Every now and then, however, a 

 wholesaler hangs on to a couple of hun- 

 dred good flowers rather than make a 

 small concession in price and cai-ries them 

 over until the next day, with the result 

 that the.T lose half their value. The 

 trade seems to prefer the medium qual- 

 ities, and it is unsafe to hold high grade 



stock, and the low grade material is hard 

 to sell at $1 a hundred. Violets are 

 plentiful, again, with prices going no 

 higher than $1.50 per hundred. There is 

 good demand for Harrisii lilies and valley 

 is selling very well. Green goods of all 

 desiri]ilions are plentiful. 



Christmas Prospects. 



The near approach of the holida.ys docs 

 uot see an.y great unanimity of opinion 

 as to supplies or prices. There are those 

 who believe that receipts will be very light 

 and others have conceived the idea that 

 stock will be plentiful. Orders are not 

 coming in very rapidly, but there is 

 every other indicatiou of good business 

 before the arrival of Christmas. It is 

 to be hoped that the growers will not 

 pickle their stock, because the market at 

 present is declining to take anything that 

 bears the marks of age. Anj' carnation 

 grower who holds back stock on such 3 

 market as this is defeating his own ob- 

 .fcct and with plenty of roses in the mar- 

 ket it will be foll.y to accumulate any 

 quantities of Brides and Maids, for the 

 quality is sure to be apparent. 



The Monthly Exhibition. 



The third of tlie Chicago Florists' 

 Club's monthly trade exhibitions was held 

 in the Atlas block yesterday afternoon. 

 Christmas plants were shown, also roses 

 and carnations, the exhibition being on 

 the whole very creditable, for holiday 

 plants have never been largely grown for 

 this market. 



The greatest variety of stock was 

 shown by J. P. Kidwell & Bro., who had 

 Piersoni and Boston ferns, Asparagus 

 plumosus, crotons, azaleas, dracaenas, 

 camellias, primroses, tulips and poinset- 

 tia.s'. all in good shape. J. A. Peterson, 

 of Cincinnati, sent three fine Lorraine be- 

 gonias. Kalous Bros., who are the cham- 

 pion cyclamen growers in this neighbor- 

 hood, showed some splendid plants. 

 Kuehne & Pearson had rubbers. \V. L. 

 Palinskv showed azaleas and asparagus. 

 The Garfield Park Floral Co. (Oechslin 

 Bros.), brought some of the best poin- 

 settias ever seen here, dwarf, stocky, big 

 headed plants in pans. They also had 

 good azaleas, mignonette and cyclamens. 

 The George Wittbold Co. exhibited palms, 

 pandanuses, asparagus and made up 

 baskets of plants. Vaughan 's had a nice 

 lot of plants, including some very fine 

 imported hollies, both green and varie- 

 gated. Leopold Koropp showed two 

 made-up baskets of plants. 



In cut flowers, the Chicago Carnation 

 Co., Joliet, showed a vase of wonderful 

 Golden Gate roses, also an equally good 

 vase of Fiancee carnation, which gets bet- 

 ter every time it is shown here. They also 

 had Lawson, Harlowarden and Crusader 

 in good shape. Nathan Smith & Son 

 sent a half dozen blooms of John Bur- 

 ton chrysanthemum, light pink and very 

 good for so late in the season. Peter 

 Reinberg showed his new rose. Uncle 

 John. L. E. Marquisee, of Syracuse, 

 sent a vase of Flamingo camaHon, but it 

 had not traveled well. F. F. Benthey 

 was the manager of the show. A club 

 meeting was held in (he evening. 



Various Notes. 



Flint Kennicott has been on the sick 

 list for two weeks and is just getting 

 around again. 



J. A. Budlong has bought glass for two 

 new greenhouses, 30x.'?00, for carnations. 

 This will leave him just room for two 

 more such houses, and he may conclude 

 to fill up his lot this season. 



