186 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Dkoe.mbeb 17, 1903. 



Vegetable forcing. 



Chicago, Dec. 16.— Cucumbers, $1.2.5 

 to $1.50 doz.; leaf lettuce, 30 to 40 cents 

 case; mushrooms, .SO cents pound: rad- 

 ishes, -ii) to 50 cents dozen bunches. 



FIGHTING INSECTS. 



With almost any cl.-iss of plants grown 

 under glass it is a ca.'^e of waging 

 continual war against insects and the 

 vegetable grower has, I think, more than 

 the usual share to contend with. Con- 

 ■stant vigilance is necessary to keep them 

 in check and prevention is always better 

 than cure. 



Greenfly is one of the most troublesome 

 pests, especially in the lettuce house. 

 and only those who have had experience 

 in fighting it know how quickly this lit- 

 tle fellow can nuiltiply, for it does not 

 take it and its offspring long to make a 

 plant look sii-kly. once they aet estali- 

 lished. Tobacco stems freely us%d around 

 the house is about the easiest way of up- 

 setting their family arrangements. The 

 stems should be tied in bundles, to pre- 

 vent their getting scattered around, and 

 laid on the hot water pipes. An occas- 

 sional soaking with water will freshen 

 the stems and when they fail to give off 

 the desired aroma after being soaked, it 

 is time to replace with fresh ones. 



On the cucumbers red spider and some- 

 times thrips will put in their appearance, 

 especially if the weather is such as neces- 

 sitates Iiard firing and little air can be 

 given. Frequent syringing is about the 

 only preventive for these, but on account 

 of the softness of the foliage too much 

 force must not be used. A fine spra\' 

 diligently applied will keep the plants 

 clean, but to be effective it must be be- 

 gun at an early stage of the plant's 

 growth, before the insects put in their 

 appearance. 



The white tomato fly is of more recent 

 introduction. It is only within the last 

 few years that it has visited this section. 

 and of all the insect enemies we have, it 

 is the hardest to eradicate. I believe that 

 nothing less than that extreme measure 

 hydrocyanic acid gas will kill it out, but 

 as this must be used so very carefully 1 

 would not recommend it to those who 

 have had no experience with it. Tobacco 

 stems distributed as recommended for 

 greenfly, and frequent light smokings 

 with tobacco powder, will keep it in 

 check. I say light smoking as heavy 

 smoking will injure the foliage of toma- 

 toes very quickly. I like the powder 

 better than stems to smoke with, as it 

 burns more slowly, never causing a dense 

 smoke. If started in the evening it will 

 keep burning the greater part of the 

 night. I place a 6-ineh potful on a piece 

 of tin, which is laid on the floor of the 

 house, and in the center of the dust place 

 a piece of Uve coal to start it. For a 

 house 18x50 feet I use two potfuls, one 

 near each end of the house. This maV"^ 

 the smoke just about as strong as the 

 tomato plants will stand it. 



W. S. Crotdox. 



I coNSiDEK the Review the best dol- 

 lar's worth extant. — A. W. Warren, 

 JerseyvUle, HI. 



Toronto, Oxt. — Grobl)a i: Waudrey are 

 reported as about to put up a range of 

 six new houses. They have a fine lot ot 

 stuff for Christmas. 



Seed Trade News. 



AMLRICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCUTION. 



Pres.. S. P. Wlllard, Welhersfleld. Conn.; Flrai 

 Vlce-Pres.. J. Clias. McCullough. Cinelunatl. O.. 

 Sec'y and Treas.. C. E. Kenael, Cleveland, O 

 The 22d annual meeting wUl be held at St. Louis 

 Mo.. June. law. 



(,'Hic.4.G0 seems to be the center of the 

 sweet corn disturbance at present. 



The Sunday Keview, of Decatur, 111., 

 contains a write-up of J. C. Sufferu 's 

 work in seed breeding and growing. 



Many of the green podded varieties 

 of beans which it was thought would 

 thrash out big, are falling down iu quite 

 serious fashion. 



The recent report that C. C. Morse 

 & Co., Santa Clara, Cal., have fenced 

 their barnyard is supplemented by late 

 advices to the effect that the fence will 

 soon be painted. 



The Customs Appraiser at Philadelpliia 

 has recently raised the valuation on sev- 

 eral consignments of seeds from France 

 without regard to what the stock was 

 contracted for months ago. 



Cucumber tests show up a great tleai 

 better than it was thought they would. 

 Out of twenty dift'ereut lots tested only 

 a few have fallen below seventy per cent. 

 This is considered a good showing for 

 crops harvested this year. 



There is one thing that must not be 

 lost sight of when the value of sweet 

 corn is in question. It is germination. 

 Sweet corn that will test up to ninety 

 per cent is of double the value of that 

 which tests fifty to sixty per cent. 



Visited Cmci-GO: Chas. W. Kimber- 

 lin. of J. M. Kimberlin & Co., Santa 

 Clara, Cal.: C. P. Braslan, San Jose, 

 Cal.; W. H. Johns, of Sioux City, and 

 his brother, who has charge of the Sioux 

 Cit.v Seed Co. growing affairs at Milling- 

 ton, Mich. 



The Leonard Seed Co., Chicago, re- 

 ports that its new onion set warehouse 

 at Jefferson Park is quite an improve- 

 ment over the city storage formerly 

 tised. A properly built onion house has 

 many advantages, not the least being its 

 added security as a frost proof shelter 

 during zero weather. 



Several inquiries have reached this 

 ofiiee desiring full information as to the 

 new postoftice ruling applying to inserts 

 in seed catalogues. There has been no 

 new ruling; the same rules apply this 

 year as last. There is a summary of all 

 the postoflBce rules totiching third class 

 matter to be had at any postoffice for 

 the asking. 



The appearance of the 1904 issue of 

 some of the retail catalogues is expect- 

 ed shortly. It is hoped that the usual 

 mesmeric sympathv will have worked in 

 the minds of those who decide the prices. 

 The bulk of the press work on many of 

 the catalogues is well under wav. conse- 

 quently any radical price changing is 

 out of the question. The standard varie- 

 ties, as a nde, are likely to be priced 

 about the same as last year. There may 

 be considerable variation in the sweet 

 corn prices. Cucumber prices are likel.v 

 to be quite uniform, as the shortase of 

 that standard is well understood. Onion 

 seed niav varv, but each individual firm 



has its own special stocks, which go re^ 

 gardless of the lower or higher price 

 quoted liy others. The standard varie- 

 ties of onion are likely to be lower, 

 rather than higher, as compared with last 

 year. (ireen podded beans should be 

 higher than last year; wax pods and 

 poles about the same. Hubbard squash 

 will stand an advance; other varieties 

 in general will be about as last year. 

 It is remarkable how uniformly ]jrice3 

 average up in the seed catalogues when 

 each firm is so cautious about giving 

 anvthing out iu advance as to what their 

 prices will be. The source of supply is 

 open to all, and all are used alike in the 

 deliveries. There should be less ttneasi- 

 ness and more harmony iu this matter of 

 prices. 



The John H. Allan Seed Co. has just 

 issued a circular letter to the trade, dated 

 at Shebovgan. Wis., which shows a se- 

 rious falling off from deliveries they ex- 

 pected to make some time back. They 

 regret that the report comes so late, but 

 state that conditions have been so un- 

 usual this season that nothing short of 

 actual weighing up after milling and 

 hand picking determines quantities. Es- 

 timates based upon the usual conserva- 

 tive methods of determining probable re- 

 turns won 't hold good this year. The 

 report covers most of the varieties of 

 peas and beans and it will be a disap- 

 pointment to many who have been ex- 

 pecting better returns. 



SALE OF LANDRETH FARMS. 



.Tudge McPhersou, in the United. 

 States District Court, en December 12, 

 granted the petition of Bayard Henry, 

 receiver of the bankruptcy estate of D. 

 Landreth 's Sons, seed merchants, for 

 leave to sell certain property of tlie estate 

 to Burnett Landreth and S. Philip Land- 

 reth. The proiJertv to be sold is the 

 Bloomsdale and Eeedland farms, in 

 Bucks county. Pennsylvania, and Bur- 

 lington county, Xew .lerse.v, and the 

 Court approved the price, $13,563.97. by 

 the receiver for the farms. 



PHILADELPHIA SEED NOTESs 



We are just getting advice from our 



western growers of cucumber seed, givins: 



us percentages for delivery of crop 1903 



which have been as follows : 



Per cent. 



I niprove<l Long Green 6i> 



Extra Ey. Long Green 5 



Ixjiig Green Turke.v 25 



Nichols' Med. Green ...20 



Improved White Spine 5 



Peerless White Spine 2't 



Ex. Long White Spine 25 



.\rlington White Spine 2U 



Hill's Forcing White Spine 15 



Evergreen White Spine 7 



Earl.v Cluster 45 



Green Prolific 15 



Ex. E.v. Green Prolific 15 



Cool .ind Crisp 25 



Japanese Climbing 30 



Some of the lots sent in advance for 

 early trade show this seed to be very 

 light in weight and of poor appearance. 

 Heretofore we would have been afraid to 

 have sent out seed looking as it does, 

 but under the pressure of short crops ap- 

 pearances will not count much so long as 

 the strain is true. Some varieties have 

 been reduced from one-third to one-half 

 in bulk while milling. 



One of the large growers states that 

 the entire acreage of Chicago Pickle seed 

 has been sold away from them, as well 

 as forty acres of France and .Terse'- 

 Pickle. It appears that some of the 

 farmers have hidden seed and are now 



