J3H 



The Weekly Florists* Review, 



May 12, 1004. 



large. Send 25 cents in coin or postage 

 stamps to tlie Review and tlie Clirvsan- 

 themuni .Manual will be sent by "mail, 

 prepaid. 



Annual Flowering Plants. 



The U. S. IVparliiient of A,i;rioultuvo 

 has issued, as Fanners' Bulletin Xo. 195, 

 a very practical liandliouk by L. C. Cor- 

 bett. horticulturist in (be Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. The pamphlet is en- 

 titled "Annual Flowering Plants" and 

 describes the cultivation and uses of 

 these plants in an eminently practical 

 and interesting manner. While much 

 of the matter is of the most elementary 

 character, yet it is just such infornuitioii. 

 advice and instruction as is asked of a 

 florist a dozen times a day at the ]ilant- 

 ing season. 



There are chapters of general advice 

 on the treatment of small places, on the 

 use of plants about a dwelling, on school 

 gardens, on the use and construction 

 of hotbeds, cold frames, etc.. whitb add 

 much to the popular value of the work. 



In sending out this bulletin the De- 

 parlnu'nt has made use of the far-reach- 

 ing power of the daily and weekly news- 

 papers, which have been sui)i)lieil with 

 brief reviews aiul which have aided ma- 

 terially in putting the pamphlet in the 

 hands of a large number of interested 

 readers, where it will do nmcb to point 

 out the way to success and foster the 

 love for the flower garden. 



Bulletin 195 is sent free on ajiplieation 

 to the Department of Agriculture. Wash- 

 ington, i). C. 



The Pecan. 



Catalogue makers are finding it more. 



the' south, and here one tinds all the 

 facts with regard to planting, cultiva- 

 tion, harvesting and marketing, with 

 the vaiious varielies de.scril)e<l and the 

 firm's |)rice list iinobtrnsivcly inserted 

 at the luick of the lx)ok. 



LEAF-MOLD IN ORCHID CULTURE 



We read with interest your qnotatiou 

 from the Cianleners' Magazine in rela- 

 tion to orchid culture in leaf-mold. Hav- 

 ing had considerable experience during 

 the past three years with orchids in this 

 material, and having very carefully noted 

 its effects on the various batches of 

 plants tried in it, we venture to give you 

 our impressions. We do not suppose that 

 this (piestiou will interest a large |U-o- 

 portion of your readers, but the number 

 of orchid cultivators, particularly on pri- 

 vate places, steadily increases and some 

 day orchids will be more of a commer- 

 cial factor than they are today. If. 

 therefore, this new leaf compost is going 

 to revolutionize their culture, facilitate 

 the raising of seedlings ami, in fact, do 

 away with some of the harassing uncer- 

 tainties which now beset the growers of 

 these beautiful plants, by all means let 

 us adopt it. but — beware iest the new cul- 

 ture ruins our valuable pets! 



In 1900 we started experimenting with 

 orchids in leaf-m(}ld. We used light, 

 tlakey oak leaves gathered from the sur- 

 face of the soil in our own woods, leaves 

 about half decayed, which felt spongy to 

 the touch. W'e used a little fine sand 

 with them and in some cases we also 

 added a proportion of chopped sphag- 

 num. We did not use the fine, powdery 

 nuiterial sold here for imported Belgian 

 leaf soil, for we believed then, and still 

 are of the opinion, that our own leaf 

 compost is fully as good as the high- 



Dining-room Decorations at the Wilcox Reception. 



and more to their profit to present their 

 publications in the form of literature of 

 h, permanent, informational value, rather 

 than as mere lists of varieties, priced. 

 Such a btKik of carefully selected facts 

 is Tlie Pecan, pidjlishcd by the G. JI. 

 Bacon Co., DeWitt. Ga. Tlie pecan in- 

 dustry is becoming an iniiiortant one in 



priced foreign article. For some months 

 we detected signs of betterment on some 

 species of orchids, and even two years 

 ago we were not prepared to pass a" defi- 

 nite opinion on the final outcome, but we 

 have no hesitation in doing so now. We 

 may say right here that mir plants are 

 not grown commercially, but they receive 



as careful attention as it is possible to 

 give them on a private estate, watering 

 being always done very carefully. 



A batch of some .foO- odontoglossums 

 were tried in leaf-mold and for a time 

 they appeared to thrive, but with the ad- 

 vent of torrid weather they went to 

 pieces rapidly and suffered much more 

 from the heated spell than plants in fern 

 fibre. The flowers produced on leaf-mold 

 plants hicked substance; they also failed 

 to keep as well either on the'plants or cut 

 as those grown in fern root. We watched 

 them particularly to discover this. Prob- 

 abl.y our poorest success was with mil- 

 tonias. A good batch of M. vexillaria in 

 its various forms were tried in leaves. 

 The year before being potted this par- 

 ticular lot gave us about 15Q spikes. 

 Six or eight months' culture in leaves 

 reduced the spikes the succeeding year to 

 sixty and we verily believe that had we 

 left the plants in the compost another 

 year we would have lost them. The niil- 

 tonia spikes were weak flowers, flabby and 

 totally lacking in substance. Happily, 

 today these pilants are in good condition, 

 no thanks, however, to leaf-mold. 



It seems to be the general opinion in 

 Europe that cypripediunis do not take 

 kindly to leaf-mold. All our plants tried 

 in it did very badly. Ca?logyne cristata 

 did fairly well in leaf-mold' and moss. 

 We think the moss probably was the bet- 

 ter of the component parts. We can get 

 far better results, however, from plants 

 in fern fibre. We had nine and ten 

 flowers on spikes of C. cristata last 

 spring in fern fibre, but never had over 

 five or six on leaf-mold jilants, 



Comiiig to cattleyas anii helias, we 

 found leaf-mold a veritable humbug. All 

 plants tried in it eventually went 

 ' ' queer. ' ' We received a batch of Cat- 

 tleya Mossiie from Europe four years ago, 

 ]>otted in Belgian leaf soil. The plants 

 had nice, green leaves but not a live root. 

 We gave them six months' trial on the 

 Belgian diet, but it took them nearer 

 tile grave weekly. 



We have tried other orchids than those 

 nani^d in leaf-mold, including dendro- 

 biums. restrepias, adas, lycastes, masde- 

 vnllias and phaius. 'We never dis- 

 <o\ered any advantage from its use. We 

 have also used a proportion of half-de- 

 cayed leaves mixed with fern fibre and 

 moss, but did not find it so safe a com- 

 post as one of straight osmunda fibre. 



We have carefully read for several 

 years past the numerous contributions to 

 your foreign contemporaries, the Orchid 

 Review, Gardeners' Chronicle and The 

 Garden, on this sub.-ject. Some excellent ' 

 growers commend it. others equally as 

 good condemn it. We find very few now 

 advocating culture in pure leaf-mold, but 

 ratber mixed witli polypodium fibre and 

 nuis's. and it is admitted on all han<ls that 

 much greater care in watering is neces- 

 sary. In America our orchid collections 

 are fewer and smaller than in Europe, but 

 an orchid grower here must care for 

 ilcmble or treble the number of plants of 

 the European grower. In Europe the hose 

 is little used, here it is universal. They 

 have cool summers compared to ours and 

 a plant which may only need water once 

 a week there will require it daily here. 

 An overplus of water on the leaf-mold 

 plants is disastrous. The porosity of fern 

 fibre is such that plants in it do not mind 

 an extra soaking in the least. 



We h,ave carefully noteil quite a num- 

 ber of orchid collections of late. The 

 best plants were in nearly everv case 

 ?rown in osmunda fibre. Particularly is 

 this true of odontoglossum.s. Occasional 

 plants may be seen in good condition in 



