1202 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



ApniL 28, 1904. 



GERANIUM DISEASE. 

 I enclose a geranium leaf. Can you 

 tell nie what the trouble with it is an.l 

 what to do for the plants. L. A. D. 



We have seen this same trouble on 

 some varieties of zonale geraniums, not- 

 ably on the olil single scarlet, General 

 Grrint. While the leaf was dotted over 

 with a number of spots that remained 

 green and apparently healthy, the body 

 of the leaf was withered and yellow. I 

 am not able to say what disease it is, ex- 

 cept that I believe it is a fungus, al- 

 though it docs not show on the surface 

 of the leaf as the common mildew does 

 on our roses and other plants. I don't 

 believe there is any antidote you could 

 applv, or rather that it would pay to 

 bother with, except the best of all cures, 

 proper conditions. A cool temperature 

 with little ventilation and a damp house 

 with, perhaps, too much water at the 

 roots is, I feel sure, the cause of this 



trouble. The zonale geranium is largely 

 a succulent. If kept at a high temper- 

 ature in winter they will grow fast and 

 then would need a liberal supply of 

 water, but if kept cool during the dark 

 months, as they always should be when 

 grown for flower gardening purposes, 

 thev want little water in the winter 

 months. Pull off all leaves showing 

 signs of the disease, give them the full 

 sun, room to grow, a little fire heat and 

 plenty of ventilation and tliey will grow 

 out of this yellow jaundice disease. 



Just a word about the geraniums in 

 winter. I can well remember the method 

 in vogue forty years ago in England. A 

 dozen cuttiugs were put into a 6-inch 

 pot, perhaps in November, where thay 

 remained till the following March, and 

 in the mild winters of the south of Eng- 

 land would go through the winter with 

 perhaps not six days of any fire heat the 

 whole winter and for a mouth at a time 

 no water was given them. W. S. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The Season of Rapid Growth. 



We are about to enter the month and 

 season when it calls for skill, watchful- 

 ness and energy to keep our rapid grow- 

 ing plants in good order, far more than 

 it does in the cold months of winter, when 

 to keep up the temperature is the main 

 object. Growth is exceedingly rapid just 

 now. If you don't realize it just keep 

 out of a house for a week and notice 

 the great change on your visit again. 



One of the mistakes too often made by 

 those growing many kinds of bedding 

 plants is to let the fires go out in early 

 May. I would rather have many tender 

 plants in cold frames, where an abund- 

 ance of fresh air could be given day 

 and night, than in a house with no fire 

 and little ventilation. 



On this important subject I am going 

 to trespass a moment on some good 

 men's territory. 



Fire Heat in Cut Flower Houses. 



I never saw after May 1, or when 

 there was no longer danger of tho 

 nights going below 45 degrees outside, 

 ,any harm in letting the fires out in the 

 carnation houses. From early April to 

 the end of May their growth is wonder- 

 ful. But when you cease firing give plenty 

 of ventilation day and night. 



Now about roses. There is no one who 

 is growing roses in our climate who will 

 not agree that it is impossible to dis- 

 pense with fire heat before the middle of 

 June. And is it wise or profitable to 

 shut off the heat even at that late date? 

 No, it is not. Last summer there were 

 not seven consecutive days when you 

 could do without fire and not have mil- 

 dew. 



Localities differ. I have seen a first- 

 class rose grower of Darby Koad leavo 

 the end door of the Bridesmaid house 

 wide open in October while he showed 

 visitors around the housf. On bein^ 

 questioned, "Are you npt afraid of mil 

 dew t" " Oh, no, "that won 't hurt, " was 

 the reply. It would hurt sorely with 



us, and mil.lew would appear. A little 

 steam and ventilation will be the order 

 of things every night this summer uu- 

 less we should "get a hot, dry spell, and 

 then all things should be in readiness in 

 case of a sudden change. 



I am not going to say any more about 

 carnations or roses, because experts tell 

 you all about them, only the firing ques- 

 tion opened up the subject. 



Heat for Bedding Plants. 



In the houses where a great variety 

 of our summer bedding plants are grown 

 the sudden stopping of fire heat is very 

 disastrous to many plants. The show- 

 pelargoniums, as well as the single zonale 

 varieties, will drop their petals the first 

 cool, damp night and the florets of the 

 semi-double zonales will rot. If you 

 had a house with nothing but zonale 

 geraniums in it, if there was not a speck 

 of shading on the glass, if you were very 

 particular that before night came there 

 was not a drop of moisture in the house, 

 and if you had ventilation on all night, 

 then you might get along with these 

 popular plants without fire, but a little 

 beat is much safer through the month 

 of May. Avoid that dampuess that you 

 see settled on the plants in the morning 

 after a night without fire, for it is 

 deadly. 



Don't think for a moment that a lit- 

 tle heat from the pipes and at the same 

 time ventilation is by any means forc- 

 ing. It is not. Pure, fresh, warm air 

 is more conducive . to hardiness than a 

 close, stagnant atmosphere, even j if it 

 is cool. Coleus, acalyphas, achyranthes, 

 cannas, calauiums, in fact all these trop- 

 ical plants, will just stand still if you 

 let out your fires before settled warm 

 weather. The brightest coleus becomes as 

 lustrous as brown paper. Besides these 

 tropical plants there are any amount of 

 others, such as fuchsias, abutilons, sal- 

 vias, heliotropes, etc., which will be sadly 

 stunted with such a check. There are 

 three places or positions for our plants 

 for the next three or four weeks: the 



cold frame for the almost hardy plants, 

 such as the young carnations, feverfew, 

 seedling hardy annuals and others; the 

 mild hotbed, where so many things that 

 are slow-growing but want heat do so 

 well, and, thirdly, the greenhouse, with 

 lire heat kept judiciously going. 



Shading. 



Shading is important just now, and 

 often as important left off as put ou. 

 (.'(immon whitewash is often used, but 

 white lead and naphtha makes a better 

 looking shade, and will subdue the sun's 

 rays without giving so dense a shade as 

 liiiie. Don 't use any linseed oil in the 

 lead unless you want to get on the roof 

 and scrub it off in the fall. 



I heard a most illustrious carnation 

 grower when in Detroit say that he had 

 Just shaded his Lawson carnations, that 

 was about March 1. ' ' What shade did 

 you use, Eugene," was the query. 

 ''Cheesecloth tacked on inside the roof." 

 AVe have used this material for shading 

 the cutting bed for years, and it is ex- 

 cellent for the purpose, or anywhere 

 where shading is necessary. Light tut- 

 ors through the thin cloth but it stops the 

 direct rays of the sun. To keep the 

 temperature down the cloth should be 

 ou the outside, but that, of course, is 

 almost impracticable and this cheese- 

 cloth, either inside or out, for general use 

 would be too expensive, so some easily 

 applied liquid shading we have to depend 

 on. Don't put it on with a syringe; 

 you will get over the job quicker with 

 a syringe, but it would not be as well 

 done, and you will use much more ma- 

 terial than with a brush. 



It is not necessary early in the sea- 

 son, when some shade is needed, that 

 the panes of glass be entirely covered. 

 If it is to keep down the temperature 

 in the bright suns of May, then a streak 

 of the brush down the center of the 

 glass will do, leaving two or three inches 

 of clear glass next to the bar. The sun, 

 or rather the earth, is ever moving, so 

 that every few minutes all the plants in 

 turn get the direct sunlight. 



Broadly, I would say put off shading 

 your fast-growing, soft-wooded bedding 

 plants as long as possible. They will be 

 all the better suited for outside if you 

 do. Coleus, cannas and caladiums want 

 no shade at any time, and a whole lot 

 of other plants would not if you could 

 keep their roots uniformly moist. It is in 

 the bright, sunny days of May, if water- 

 ing is neglected, that the plants in the 

 small pots begin to suffer. 



Plunging the Pots. 



Did you notice, but of course you have, 

 that you can plunge the pots of gerani- 

 ums and even tuberous rooted begonias 

 in the soil of a hotbed and let the fierce 

 rays pour down on the clear glass and 

 your plants will smile and grow strong, 

 simply because the roots are moist, the 

 hot, dry clay pot is not parching the 

 roots? We used, in times gone by, to 

 begin to plunge our zonale geraniums 

 on the benches about May 1 in some 

 easily handled material, decayed leaves, 

 or, best of all, decayed refuse hops. Sup- 

 posing these plants were in 4-inch pots 

 and the plunging material was oidy two 

 or three inches up the side of the pots, 

 as in most cases it was. The difference 

 in vigor, size and robustness of these 

 plants compared with those just stand- 

 ing on the bare sand or ashes was simply 

 marvelous, and so it is with all plants 

 grown in pots. It is not the sun 's rays ou 

 the foliage that burns and exhausts;" it is 

 tlie continual drying out and injury to 



