234 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



December 30. 1897. 



the appearance of a portion of a leaf of 

 cultivateil phlox that is badly blotched 

 with the mildew. The picture as a whole 

 I loks stranj;e, because owing to the con- 

 .--iderable enlargement only a small part 

 of the leaf is shown, the whole leaf would 

 liave reached across the entire page and 

 I iken up much unnecessary space. '1 he 

 li)uer anil narrow part of the leaf is near 

 t'le end that was attached to the stem and 

 liere the mildew covers the whole surface 

 with a thick coat. 



The leaves of the phlo.x generally begin 

 to become mildewed at or near the base 

 and later on the fungus appeals in spots 

 upon the broad blade of the leaf. The 

 reason for this may be that a greater 

 amount of moisture collects upon ihe 

 ba.se of the leaf where it joins the stem 

 than elsewhere. 



One of the ini])ortant points show'n by 

 lliis enlarged view of the mildew' is the 

 i.idiating growth of the fungus. It is 

 easy to suppose that there were as many 

 I'liints of inoculation as there are .star- 

 sliaped patches of mildew upon the leaf, 

 'i'he original spore probably alighted 

 somewhere near the center of each patch, 

 and starting there developed threads that 

 jnished out in all directions for new feed- 

 i;i.g ground. 



It mi.glit be stated in passing that these 

 mildews do not enter the leaf, fnit grow 

 upon the surface only and suck out the 

 s ilistances from the leaf as needed bv the 

 mildew for its growth and multiplication. 

 'I'his multiplication is effected bv upright 

 filaments, that can scarcely be seen in 

 the engraving, the tips of which form 

 cells that fall away as spores. These 

 spores are for the rapid propagation of 

 the milrlew, and more than likelv each of 

 tlie white blotches upon the leaf in the 

 picture is from such a spore. 



Later on in the develojiment of theniil- 

 d -.'w there is a second form of spore formed 

 inside of a dark spherical body. Near 

 Ihe base of the leaf some of the.se bodies 

 may be seen as dark specks arranged 

 in clusters and varying in size. These 

 winter spores, as they are termed, do not 

 germinate as soon as formed, but remain 

 (juiet over winter and start the mildew 

 upon another season's work the next 

 spring. 



A knowledge of the life cvcle of these 

 uiik-lews is of some value in suggesting 

 thi treatment. Thus it is seen that the 

 fungus spreads by means of minute 

 spores that may be carried bv the winds 

 or washed from plant to plant'by the hose 

 when the watering is done in a green- 

 liouse, or by showers out of doors. These 

 mildews need a moist surface of the 

 plant in order that the spores may germin- 

 ate. It is important, therefore, so far 

 as mildews are concerned, that the 

 foliage be kept as drv as practicable. 

 Again, it is seen that the attack is at tlie 

 surface. It is there that one must place 

 any substance that may serve as a check 

 to the fungus. If there is a thin laver of 

 a sub.stance called a fungicide, usually 

 some compound of copper and generally 

 the Bordeaux mixture, placed upon the 

 surface, the spores as they arrive may be 

 killed as they start to grow, and if they 

 are already there the substance may- 

 destroy them even after they have spread 

 to some extent. 



Sometimes the substance is a powder 

 that is dusted upon the folia.ge, and 

 flowers of sulphur is the one most fre- 

 quently used for this purpose. The 

 grower must use that which is harmless 

 lo the plant and destructive to the 

 fungus, a task that has proved difficult to 

 those who have been working upon reme- 

 dies for the fungous enemies of our 

 plants. Byron D. H.\lsted. 



Rutger's ( 'oUege, Dec. i8, 1S97. 



SUGGESTIONS TO SMALL FLOR- 

 ISTS. 



In nearly every town and smaller cities 

 we find generally one or more green- 

 house establishments where a mi.xcd as- 

 sortment of plants and flowers are grown 

 for the local demand only. Here the 

 proprietor is called upon to perform every 



Mildew of Ornamental Plants. 



imaginable kind of work, from laying 

 out and planting a garden to the making 

 up of brides' bouquets and funeral work. 

 He is suppo.sed to know everything per- 

 taining to horticulture and floriculture 

 and is consulted not only when a flower 

 bed is to be laid out, but also when 

 shrubs and ornamental stock or perhaps 

 fruit trees are to be planted. It is sur- 

 prising how .great a percentage of these 

 hard working men really can give the de- 

 sired information, many of them having 

 gained this knowledge in their long and 

 varied experience; others are careful 

 students and read the leading works on 

 those branches of the trade in which thev 

 may feel themselves only weakly posted. 

 It is not stonishing that mistakes, more 

 or less serious, will occur frequentlv. 

 for no one man can reasonably be ex- 

 pected to be infallible in all details of the 

 many branches of horticulture. 



Men w-ho are established in such towns 

 can gain a wealth of knowledge on all 

 topics pertaining to their vocation by 

 simply reading the Florists' Review; 

 in its columns our most eminent and ex- 

 perienced men, whose authority can not 

 t)e questioned, give their ideas freely, 

 each one having his specialty in which 

 he excels, and what he says is carefully 

 weighed and considered before giving it 

 to the public; therefore, in ninety-nine 

 cases out of a hundred may be relied 

 upon. Also the editor of this paper has 

 a long and wide experience behind him. 

 I know too, that he is exceeilingly watch- 

 ful not to allow any doubtful matter enter 

 into the columns of the Review and this 

 shoulii be another weighty leason why 

 our florists in the smaller towns, who 

 seldom have a chance to e.xchange ideas 

 with their brothers in the larger cities, 

 will find it to their advantage to read the 

 new weekly from first to the last page. 



"No other florist paper can compare 

 with the Review in style as well as in 

 arrangement and substance of re. ding 

 matter, while the illustrations are equal 

 to the best I have ever seen." This was 

 the remark made by one of our leading 

 florists when he received the first issue. 

 The reader may pardon me for .saying 

 these fev\ words in favor of the paper and 

 the men who write for it. I am an oc- 

 ca.sional contributor myself and perhaps 

 you have an idea that I atn vain enough 

 to think that my name should be in- 

 cluded among those of the "eiuinent and 

 experienced men." No, I do not want to 

 be misunderstood; what I have w-ritten in 

 the past was dictated merely by every day 

 practical experience and observation dur- 

 ing the last forty years or more, and most 

 of my writings were only plain descrip- 

 tions of some hardy plants and the situa- 

 tion best adapted for their welfare. ,\ny 

 man familiar with a special class of 

 plants is able to describe their habit, 

 flowers and foliage and knows what soil 

 and surroundings suit them best, and I 

 do not claim to possess any superior 

 knowledge than many of my brother flor- 

 i.sts. nor can I say that I know all of the 

 hardy perennials, but during my life I 

 had an opportunity to become familiar 

 with a great many of these interesting 

 and useful plants, and they always were 

 my favorites, because they were hardy 

 aud could endure our cold winters. 



My interest in perennials wasawakened 

 when I was a very small boy, less than 

 ten yearsold. My father had allowed me 

 a little corner in the garden where I 

 could dig and sow seeds and plant w hat- 

 ever I took a fancy to. One day he bought 

 a fine large plant of fancy pelargonium 

 for me which I planted out into one of 

 my beds, where it grew to extra large 

 size, but, na'urally enough, the following 

 winter it died in the cold, and when 

 spring came I waited in vain to see it 

 sprout like the lilacs, deutzias and snow- 

 balls near by. From that time on 1 was 

 always particidar not to plant anything in 

 my garden which was not perfectly hardy, 

 and when at the age of fifteen, I entered 

 the profession. I was quite proud of my 

 knowledge of hardy plants, but very .soon 

 found out that I knew only very little 

 about them. 



But I nuist stop, this is not to be a 



