912 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



March ;;4. 190-1. 



EXTERMINATING GREENFLY. 



Eegarding the extermination of green- 

 fly in greenhouses, I wish to say that 

 many ilorists do not appreciate the value 

 of the punk preparations because they 

 do not know how to apply them prop- 

 erly. It is the only thing we use in the 

 shape of tobacco, no stems or dust being 

 seen on our place the year around. 



We have large wire hooks bent like the 

 letter S to hang on the side bench 

 boards; on these hooks we slip on as 

 many rolls of the punk as we wish to use 

 in the house, being careful to distribute 

 evenly or to bunch up where heavier ef- 

 fect is wanted. We apply in every walk 

 of a house and none are lighted before 

 all are placed and ready. Then we have 

 a person in each walk backing up with a 

 small torch, setting the rolls afire as fast 

 as possible. The idea is to produce an 

 overwhelming killing effect at once, 

 which is the cheapest and best. 



Now as regards strength, you can 

 hardly overdo it, as we have never hurt 

 any plant except Major Bonnaffon chry- 

 santhemum in full bloom. Just now we 

 have a bed of heliotrope in the same 

 house with eoleus for cuttings where the 

 temperature is 68 degrees at night. The 

 heliotrope is as rank as can be and to 

 kill mealy bugs on eoleus we used an 

 enormous charge of punk for two nights 

 in succession, cleaning the eoleus all 

 right and doing no harm whatever to the 

 heliotrope. This is a severe test. 



As to expense, it costs, but it pays if 

 one considers his time worth anything, 

 the appearance of his place worth any- 

 thing, the absolute control without dam- 

 age to any plant, be it maidenhair fern, 

 heliotrope or spira?a, worth anything. 



The only plant that suffered is Major 

 Bonnaffon chrysanthemum in full bloom. 

 All other mums take it kindly and a kill- 

 ing dose can be put into the mum house 

 when flowers are fully developed. It is a 

 good way to keep Begonia Gloire de Lor- 

 raine clean. If infested with mealy bug 

 they should be treated before coming 

 into full bloom, as it might bleach the 

 color out of the flowers a. little, mealy 

 bug requiring an awful charge to kill 

 them. We do no preventive fumigating. 

 A killing dose is given when aphis shows. 

 We find we can save money that way. 

 For instance, our carnation house, 22x 

 100, was operated from August 15 to 

 March 1 without any insecticide what- 

 ever, also other houses likewise. 



To get the best results select a quiet 

 evening, if cloudy or rainy all the bet- 

 ter, and shut the ventilators and apply. 

 After one hour you can ventilate at 

 pleasure. Fred Windmiller. 



AN IDEA FOR ROSE BREEDERS. 



It is now over a year ago since there 

 convened in the city of New York an in- 

 ternational congress of scientific botan- 

 ists for the purpose of discussing the 

 great problems of plant breeding. Then 

 there was the recent meeting of the Na- 

 tional Plant Breeding Association at St. 

 Louis. It all goes to show that there is 

 now an intense interest in new methods 

 of selection and in cross fertilization 

 for purposes of plant improvement. Yet, 

 se far as the writer is aware, no one 

 has ventured to suggest the idea that 

 it is possible to breed away the thorn 

 of the I'ose. 



Be it remembered that this now hard 

 and sharp process originally acquired 

 by the rose as a means of defense, is no 

 longer of any value to the plant. Thou- 



sands of years ago, when the rose was 

 yet in its infancy, and when plant-eating 

 aninuUs were feeding on all manner of 

 ]>laut life, it must have happened that 

 during this primitive struggle for exis- 

 tence among the myriads of forms and 

 .structures of jilants, that various means 

 were adopted to preserve their existence. 

 One species would acquire a disagreeable 

 odor, another an acrid or pungent taste, 

 another toxic or poisonous properties, 

 while others protected themselves by de- 

 veloping upon their structures stinging 

 nettles or sharp spines, as the cactus, 

 the hawthorn, the raspberry, the black- 

 berry and the rose. The slightest varia- 

 tion in structure and in habit that would 

 prove advantageous to the species would 

 he seized upon by natural selection and 

 transmitted to posterity. Thus if any 

 jdant chanced to grow upon its stem or 

 leaf a prickly point that would offend 

 the tender and sensitive noses of plant 

 eating animals, and thereby escape de- 

 struction, such plant would survive in 

 the struggle for life and perpetuate its 

 kind. 



The rose belongs to a large and very 

 interesting family. Some of its mem- 

 bers have grown into gigantic structures 

 and have risen beyond the reach of ani- 

 mals, while others have been forced to 

 acquire habits of an opposite character 

 by seeking shelter and protection beneath 

 the stronger growing thorny and prickly 

 types, ily purpose is here only to point 

 out the extreme flexibility of the entire 

 family, its readiness to yield to cultural 

 conditions and environment. It is scarce- 

 ly necessary to call attention to the great 

 variety of roses, which have all emerged 

 by successive divergences and from very 

 jirimitive types. They all brought with 

 them the thorns. 



But the rose having come under the 

 care and protection of man, the thorns 

 are no longer needed, are functionless, 

 and are as useless as bayonets after uni- 

 versal peace has been declared. More- 

 over, they are an abomination to the 

 rose plant. They very greatly mar the 

 loveliness and beauty of the rose. Al- 

 ready, however, there may be seen varie- 

 ties that have fewer thorns than others, 

 and occasional plants of a variety may 

 be seen to differ as to number and size 

 of thorns. I maintain, then, that it only 

 remains for the young and energetic rose 

 grower, by careful selection, propagation 

 and breeding, to give to the w-orld the 

 true queen of flowers, a thornless rose. 

 H, Young. 



THE LABOR PROBLEM. 



The following is an extract from the 

 address of Robert Simpsou, of Clifton, 

 X. J., at the March meeting of the 

 New York Florists' Club: 



When a man's establishment has 

 growii too large for his own hands to 

 do all the work in it, and he is com- 

 pelled to employ others, he is pretty 

 certain to encounter difiSculties which 

 will keep him awake late into the night 

 trying to puzzle out. The help problem 

 in its most aggravated form makes a 

 grower often wish that he had been 

 anything in the wide world but a flor- 

 ist. To read the advertising columns 

 of our trade weeklies one would be in- 

 clined to take an optimistic view of 

 the situation. As one's eye runs over 

 the page we find it bristles with talent 

 and experience all waiting to serve the 

 man lucky enough to secure it; each 

 applicant thoroughly fitted for any po- 



sition of trust and responsibility; "ca- 

 pable of taking charge," is the stereo- 

 typed phrase. With so much talent, all 

 the best, how is a man to make a 

 choice? We make a venture; the se- 

 quel you all know. The man who knew 

 it all when put to work and given the 

 test knew almost nothing, or else had 

 storeil u]i all the knowledge there was 

 and immediately took upon himself the 

 benevolent task of instructing his ig- 

 norant employer. The itinerant florist 

 is a wonder. When a man pulls out a 

 pocketful of testimonials you had bet- 

 ter have a hurry call to the telephone, 

 slip out of the back door, and never 

 come back that day. 



It seems to me that in trying to 

 solve the labor problem we shall have 

 to do one of two things: employ only 

 unskilled labor and furnish the brains 

 and intelligence ourselves, so that the 

 men will simply need to execute orders 

 and work machine fashion; or else we 

 must try to secure journeymen florists 

 of a higher stamp of morality and intel- 

 ligence than those we have at the pres- 

 ent time. A number of growers that I 

 have talked with are trying the former 

 method with more or less success; they 

 at least have the satisfaction of run- 

 ning their business in their own way 

 and having the work done as experi- 

 ence and common sense dictates. One 

 very serious drawback to this method, 

 however, will be found in the fact that 

 if the intelligence of the overseer is, 

 through sickness or any other cause, 

 withdrawn for any length of time, 

 something serious is liable to happen. 



If we adopt the other suggestion, I 

 believe we will have to make our busi- 

 ness more attractiv'e, and offer greater 

 inducements for young men of educa- 

 tion and intelligence to seek such em- 

 ployment. Bright boys to-day will not 

 choose a business for life that pays 

 them no better and gives them no high- 

 er rank than that of a common laborer. 

 The treatment which some employer* 

 give their men in the way of long hours, 

 little recreation, scanty and poor food, 

 and utter disregard for all the comforts 

 of life is scandalous in the extreme, I 

 have passed through it. 



"IT IS TO LAUGH." 



The following ' ' fairy tale ' ' originated 

 in the brain of one who must have had a 

 previous demonstration of the gullibility 

 of the editors of daily newspapers. The 

 first victim, according to all accounts, 

 was the New York Globe, but the 

 ' ' story ' ' was given credence in dozens 

 of newspaper offices through the coun- 

 try and so reputable a journal as the 

 Chicago Tribune gave the canard a place 

 on its front page March 16. The narra- 

 tive is reproduced here simply because, 

 while the daily papers have published 

 many ridiculous things about the flower 

 business those familiar with the violet 

 market will agree that this is ' ' the best 

 ever : ' ' 



John D. Rockefeller has cornered the violet 

 market, and H. McIC. Twombl.v has a monopoly 

 of the orchid ontput. This announcement, not 

 new to the florists of New York, who have been 

 buying 30.000 violets a day from Mr. Rockefeller 

 at Dobbs Ferry, and have for many months been 

 depending entirel.v upon the greenhouses of Mr. 

 Twombly. at Madison. N. J., for their suppLv 

 of orchids — particularly those of the popular 

 mauve variety — came like a thunderbolt out of 

 a clear sky to the men on 'Change and the 

 thousands of people who wear violets and are 

 familiar with the Standard Oil Company. Mr. 

 Twombly. who also sells milk, does not, there- 

 fore, depend upon the sale of orchids for his 

 sole revenue. His gardener gets most of ihe 

 benefit. Mr. Twombly merely wears an orchid 



