1098 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



April 14, 1004. 



in by the heels, till near the end of 

 April we found time to plant them, Thev 

 were planted properly and cut back hard 

 and not five out of the lot but what 

 grew, and grew strongly. I merely men- 

 tion this to say that had they been 

 planted as too often they arc, not fivp 

 per cent would have lived. 



Pruning Hardy Shrubs. 



It may seem a little late to give ad- 

 vice regarding pruning slirubs, but it is 

 not. Any time before they start into 

 growth will do and many shrubs should 

 not be pruned till they have flowered. 

 It's a common ocenrrence to have a dear 



ROSES. 



The Rose Midge. 



The very interesting article by F. M. 

 Webster which appeared in last week's 

 issue of the Review, giving a descrin- 

 tion of the latest rose pest, must certainly 

 be t)f the utmost interest to rose growers 

 in all sections of the country as, if it is 

 like other pests, it is certain to spread, 

 and progressive growers would do well to 

 secure the bulletin describing its habits, 

 etc., so far as at present known, as early 

 as possible. As yet I am thankful that 

 I have had no personal experience with 







Stumpp, New York, had Lilies and Ramblers in the Easter Window. 



woman tell us that "a man came around 

 last spring and pruned her shrubs and 

 very few flowered." How could a lilac 

 or viburnum flower if all the shoots that 

 held the flower buds were cut off? 



You want, broadly, to distinguish those 

 shrubs that form their flower buds the 

 previous summer, and have only to ex- 

 pand their petals the next spring, from 

 those which make a growth of leaf and 

 wood and terminate with a flower. To 

 the former class belong all our hardy 

 fruit trees. Before a leaf is visible are 

 they not a bank or cloud of blossom? 

 Among the familiar flowering shrubs of 

 this class is the lilac, viburnum, pynis. 

 tamarix. prunus, forsvthia and others. 

 Now, if you prune these hard in the 

 spring, or before flowering, it is evident 

 you won't get any flowers, but just as 

 soon as they are out of flower they should 

 be pruned. To the latter class, or those 

 that need pruning before flowering, be- 

 long Hydraneea paniculata, altlia>a, the 

 hybrid perpetual roses, etc. A little ob- 

 servation will soon teach you which is 

 which. 



You frequently see some trusting pa- 

 tron of a tree peddler recei^nng a few 

 evergreens, or Austrian pine, or Norway 

 spruce, or retinospora along with their 

 pear tree and raspberry bushes in early 

 spring, or as soon as the nurseryman can 

 dig. This is all vn-ong. Evergreens 

 should not be moved till the middle of 

 May, but this is a country of such wide 

 latitudes that an arbitrary date is a poor 

 guide. Just when they start to make 

 their spring growth is the time to trans- 

 i>lant an evergreen, and not before. 



■WiLLi.*.M Scott. 



it, but I have seen the result of its dep- 

 redations. 



A particular friend of mine, an exten- 

 sive grower whose Meteors have long been 

 noted for their excellence, had just pre- 

 vious to my visit to his place last fall 

 thrown out his entire crop of this va- 

 riety owing to this pest. The investiga- 

 tion at that time not being complete, I 



was unable to gather very many facts 

 concerning it and, the natural desire to 

 keep such reports from spreading made 

 reticence necessary. 



However, now that the report is free 

 to growers for the asking, they ought 

 to take full advantage of it, so that they 

 may bo equipped with the best knowledge 

 available. 



So long as the means of destroying 

 this post remains unknown it will con- 

 tinue to be the most serious menace to 

 rose growing that we have yet experi- 

 enced in this country. I have little doubt 

 that if it continues to spread some one 

 of our brainy growers, aided by the sci- 

 entists, will eventually hit upon a remedy. 

 Every successful fight and tlie means em- 

 ployed should bo duly reported for the 

 benefit of the craft. 



Having had some experience with the 

 British species which attacks the leaf 

 buds, I herewith give the remedies em- 

 ployed which seemed the most success- 

 ful": 



Syringing with Gishurst 's Compound, 

 using one-fourth pound to each gallon 

 of water, certainly had the effect of di- 

 minishing the numbers. Syringing with 

 kerosene emulsion had about the same 

 effect. I tried tobacco in nearly all of 

 its forms without effect and finally had 

 to resort to hand picking. Whether this 

 was the most effective remedy I am not 

 sure, but they did not reanpear the fol- 

 lowing season. I may state, however, 

 that a near neighbor who also had an at- 

 tack and used none of these remedies 

 with the exception of tobacco smoke was 

 also relieved of their presence the same 

 season. 



The bulletin will be of great use in 

 enabling us to identify this pest if it does 

 pay us a visit, which I hope it may not. 



Kibes. 



SOIL FOR ROSES. 



In their work on soils Messrs. A. F. 

 Woods and R. E. B. ilcKenney, of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, have found that a 

 great variety of soils can be successfully 

 used for forcing roses, but a moderately 

 heavy loam from rotted turf sods is gen- 



The Easter Window at Thorley's, New York. 



