738 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



MARCH 31. 189S. 



Now it has been suggested that I 

 should say something about the San 

 Jose scale and about the attempts to 

 legislate it out of existence. I am afraid 

 that almost too much has been already 

 said on the subject— enough at any rate 

 to induce Germany to forbid the en- 

 trance of our fruit and living plants into 

 her markets. Just how far this will be 

 enforced, it is impossible to say at pres- 

 ent, but perhaps far enough to make the 

 unwisdom of the "scare" that has been 

 caused, tlioroughly apparent. Tliat tliis 

 insect is a destructive one if left to itself, 

 is beyond question, and that we have not 

 yet found the best method of dealing 

 witli it may also be admilted. I am 

 firmly convinced, however, that legisla- 

 tion is not that best method, for laws do 

 not enforce themselves, and if the energy 

 displayed in securing legislation were de- 

 voted to experiments in the orchard, the 

 result might be different. We know the 

 life history of tlie insect now, thor- 

 oughly; we know that we can kill it if 

 we are persistent, and as compared witn 

 some plant diseases it is almost harm- 

 less. In the very worst infested district 

 in New Jersey the fire blight killed more 

 trees last year tlian the scaie has dorie In 

 the ten years that it has been with us. 

 In one of the best peach orchards in New 

 Jersey the scale has been present ever 

 since it was put out. None but careful 

 horticultural treatment was given until 

 the present Winter and of more tlian 

 1,000 trees, not one has been in the 

 least harmed by the scale. Plant disease 

 cut oft 10 per cent, of the orchard last 

 year, and 20 per cent, of some varieties. 

 Why not legislate against that? 



Legislation has a place undoubtedly in 

 our battle with insect foes, but it is 

 ratlier to give us a weapon than to act it- 

 self. There are always some men who are 

 behind the times or who are congenitally 

 unable to comprehend tliat anyone has 

 rights that they are bound to respect. 

 Such men occur among the farmers as 

 well as elsewhere, and in some cases they 

 maintain a veritable nuisance on their 

 grounds in the form of insect infested 

 plants from which adjoining lands be- 

 came infested; such men should be com- 

 pelled to look after their property to the 

 extent of saving their neighbors, and leg- 

 islation can help us to that point and no 

 further. Of course, inspection of nurser- 

 ies is a good thing in so far as it informs 

 the nurseryman of the condition of his 

 own affairs and he can make it, if he 

 chooses, the basis of a guarantee to pur- 

 -chasers that his stock is clean. This 

 will be of some tangible benefit to the 

 purchaser if he is careful to deal with re- 

 sponsible firms, but as it is now. a certi- 

 ficate is a protection to a dishonest 

 dealer since it gives him something to 

 hide behind should his stock prove, later, 

 to be either diseased or infested by in- 

 sects. 



It seems almost as if there was an epi- 

 ■demic of a new disease which may be 

 called "certiflcatitis," sweeping through 

 the country, and its most prominent 

 symptom is a craving tor a written for- 

 mula which is expected to replace the 

 necessity for personal care and examina- 

 tion. 



It is admitted in the very latest expres- 

 sion from Mr. Alwood, who is one of the 

 chief promoters of legislation, that a cer- 

 tificate may be dishonestly affixed to 

 stock or that an inspection may fail to 

 discover infestation it it is slight. As a 

 matter of fact, certificated stock has 

 been received in New Jersey from three 

 states this past Winter infested by the 

 scale. 



In such cases certificates are a positive 

 source of danger, since the purchasers 

 are apt to rely upon them too implicitly 

 and to assume that they are a guarantee 

 which obviate the necessity for personal 

 care and inspection. Whetlier florists 

 will ever suffer from this pernicious scale 

 Is a question. The insect infests almost 

 everything. Its normal food plants are 

 perhaps the tree forms of the Rosaceae. 

 But vines and shrubs, as roses, black- 

 berry, raspberry and the like, are also 

 infested, and roses particularly, are 

 ■sources of danger. 



ORCHIDS IN JADOO. 



I send you this day the photo which 

 represents three plants of a batch of 

 100 Cattleya Gigas which arrived late 

 last fall from a friend of mine in South 

 America. Half were potted in the usual 

 way, with peat and moss; the other 

 half I potted in "Jadoo." The two out- 

 side plants are those potted in "Ja- 

 doo," the center one being the one 

 most advanced of the .50 that were pot- 

 ted in the old way. Think this as good 

 an object lesson as could possibly be 

 given. 



Would state that a few grains of 

 common sense will have to be exer- 

 cised by those growing orchids in "Ja- 

 doo," as they will not stand overwater- 

 ing. The method I have used is th's: 

 For cattleyas, Laelias and the like, 

 shake out all the fine particles, the 

 same as when using peat, using only 

 the most fibrous parts, adding about 

 half the quantity of small nodules cf 

 charcoal. This makes the compost 

 reasonably open, and the air gets at 

 the roots to some extent. For cypri- 

 pediums and such as are to be grown 

 in pots, use the finer parts, making the 

 compost somewhat more open with ad- 

 ditional charcoal, and, if possible, wa- 

 ter with the Jadoo liquid, diluted with 

 rain water. 



Experiments with other plants are 

 just as satisfactory, notably with rub- 

 bers, fuchsias, gloxinias, and ferns. 



The Cypripedium bellatulum album 

 exhibited by me January 1, 1898, and 

 awarded silver medal by Mass. Hort. 

 Soc'y. was grown in "Jadoo:" also Cy- 

 pripedium Lathamianum and the Cy- 

 pripedium Wm. Wallace Lunt exhiEit- 

 ed February 19 and 12 respectively, 

 and each awarded first-class certifi- 

 cates by above society, were grown in 

 "Jadoo." 



In conclusion, would say that if hor- 

 ticulturists have brains and are w 11- 

 ing to exercise them, by all means 

 grow your plants in "Jadoo," but if 

 you are going to grow plants on the hit 

 or miss plan — let it alone. 



WM. WALLACE LUNT. 



Hingham, Mass. 



CHICAGO. 



CluS Meeting. 



The disease of Lilium Harrisii was 

 the subject for discussion at the last 

 meeting of the Florists' Club, and it 

 was opened with a most interesting 

 talk by Mr. E. Buettner, who brought 

 with him for purpose of illustration 

 quite a variety of diseased bulbs and 

 a hand magnifying glass. As has been 

 previously stated in these columns, Mr. 

 Buettner believes the disease is wholly 

 due to the little white mites found on 

 diseased bulbs, and he showed bulbs 

 that had been honeycombed by the lit- 

 tle pests. Under the naked eye they 

 look like small grains of white sand. 

 Under the magnifying glass they are 



seen to be nearly round, and slow in 

 movement, though they are blessed 

 with six legs. Mr. Buettner has found 

 the same mite on diseased bulbs of 

 hyacinths, tulips, irises, Japan longi- 

 florum and tuberoses. His experience 

 with Harrisii has this year been more 

 disastrous than ever and he estimates 

 his loss from disease at about 60 per 

 cent. He does not care to grow any 

 more Harrisii unless he can be assured 

 of unaffected bulbs. He believed the 

 disfiguring of the foliage to be caused 

 by the bites of the insects on the ten- 

 der heart of the bulb before growth 

 had started. He found that tight bulbs 

 seemed less affected than those in 

 which the scales were loose. The 

 mites do their work mainly at the base 

 of the bulb, and that is where decay 

 starts. 



In his opinion, the only way to erad- 

 icate the disease is to promptly destroy 

 every affected bulb. He believes that 

 if the Bermuda growers made a re- 

 ally earnest effort to that end they 

 could yet preserve the lily growing in- 

 dustry, and that if they do not take 

 some radical and effective steps at once 

 their market for bulbs will dwindle 

 to the zero mark with lightning-like 

 rapidity. He is firmly convinced that 

 Harrisii bulbs can be grown in this 

 country, and spoke of a lot of bulbs 

 he had a few years ago that had been 

 grown in Louisiana. They were quite 

 green in color and he had grave doubts 

 about them, but they proved to be the 

 most satisfactory lot of bulbs he ever 

 had. 



In speaking of the theory that the 

 difliculty with the Bermuda Harrisii was 

 due to exhaustion of the soil from lack 

 of rotation in crops, he said that we 

 were too prone to advance that excuse 

 when mysterious troubles arose. He 

 cited the case of growers of the sugar 

 beet in Germany. Sections where the 

 sugar beet had been successful for 

 years suddenly met with almost com- 

 plete failure and the trouble was con- 

 sidered due to lack of rotation in crops, 

 but investigation showed that the real 

 cause was a nematode similar to the 

 eel-worm that now gives rose grow- 

 ers so much trouble. The soil was 

 cleared by planting a crop of summer 

 turnips, of which the nematodes were 

 equally fond, and when the worms 

 were in the turnips they were gathered 

 and burned. After clearing the ground 

 in this way the sugar beet was again 

 cultivated as successfully as before. 



He compared the careless methods of 

 the Bermuda growers to the scrupu- 

 lous care exercised by the Holland 

 growers. There every bulb to be used 

 for propagating from is rigidly exam- 

 ined before being so used, and any 

 bulb found to be in any way affected 

 by disease is promptly burned. While 

 it is true that the Holland growers 

 have found diseases that they cannot 

 eradicate, they have kept them in 

 check, and but for this care and watch- 

 fulness the bulb growing industry in 

 that country would have been seriously 

 threatened. 



