970 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



MAT 26, 189S. 



to "do it" again, and to keep at this 

 with very little interruption through 

 the whole season. A few days' care- 

 lessness and inattention at any time 

 will allow them to get such a start 

 that you can hardly catch up again 

 during the season, and besides does 

 much harm. 



In reference to the stock for experi- 

 ment, which we mentioned ai our last 



notes, it is really amusing to see the 

 difference in the prices, and what con- 

 stitutes "rooted runners" with differ- 

 ent growers. I am not sure but that a 

 conference of violet growers would be 

 of value if they would agree on some 

 of these things, so that one would real- 

 ly know what they were going to get 

 when ordering by mail. R. B. S. 



FIELDWORK TOPPING. 



If we would allow our plants to grow 

 at will in the field, the result in the 

 case of free blooming varieties would 

 in a short time be a stem and flower, 

 without showing much tendency to 

 branch and lay the foundation for a 

 bushy, branching plant. It would do 

 this, too, after the first flower is de- 

 veloped, but to let it bloom would re- 

 tard the development of the plant to 

 the desired form and size for work 

 when housed again in the fall. 



The detached cutting is a part of a 

 matured plant, ready to bloom, and 

 this tendency to bloom, interrupted by 

 the process of rooting and the forma- 

 tion of a new plant, is again evident 

 as soon as the new plant is able to 

 perform the function of assimilating 

 food; in other words, when in a grow- 

 ing condition. This process of grow- 

 ing to size is very much retarded when 

 the young plant is allowed to bloom. 

 It is a check to its growth. All the 

 strength it possesses and all the food 

 it is able to absorb from the soil is 

 used and centered in the effort to pro- 

 duce and mature that flower, and all 

 other growth, the branching out to a 

 larger plant, is stopped, until that ef- 

 fort of maturing the bloom and ripen- 

 ing the seed are accomplished. 



This is common with all free and 

 continuous blooming varieties. True, 

 there is not much seed developed in 

 double flowers on account of their im- 

 perfection regarding the sexual or- 

 gans, but the tendency to develop the 

 blooms is the same, and insects,, the 

 agents which affect fertilization, are 

 profuse during their summer growth. 



We have two objects in topping the 

 plants. The first is to prevent the 

 young plants from blooming, thereby 

 spending their strength in an unde- 

 sired direction, and second, to give the 

 plants the desired form. These two 

 objects are so closely linked together 

 that if one is observed, the other will 

 not be missed. The whole object is to 

 grow good plants for winter blooming. 



The process of topping the plants is 

 a very simple operation, and should 

 not be neglected, for any cutting away 

 afterwards that may be necessary is 



useless. When the young plants have 

 grown to about five inches high, they 

 should be topped, by removing the 

 heart of the plant, stopping its up- 

 ward growth, and forcing it to branrh. 

 We are often compelled to top it lower, 

 when a flower stem appears below, for 

 a flower stem should be removed as 

 near as can be determined at its base. 

 When only a part is removed, the re- 

 maining part will break forth and 

 form other buds, and thus the object 

 of forcing the plant to branch is lost. 



When the young shoots, two. three, 

 or more, depending on the strength of 

 the plant, have gi-own to about four 

 inches, they should be topped again in 

 the same manner. After this, when 

 the plant is not checked in its growth 

 by some cause or other, the branches 

 will at least be doubled after the sec- 

 ond topping, and from now on the 

 growth will be more uneven; the sign 

 of maturity, the tendency to bloom, 

 becomes more apparent. While some 

 shoots seem apparently inactive, oth- 

 ers push on to bloom, and our atten- 

 tion is only called to these; to top 

 them whenever they appear, to give 

 the plant a nicely rounded form, and 

 force it to save its strength for fTio 

 ordeal of being transferred to the 

 house, and its subsequent blooming. 

 With a judicious topping during its 

 field growth, we force the plant to 

 grow and lay the foundation for its 

 winter work. 



Do not neglect your other work; 

 keep the cultivator going; have the 

 ground in shape for any protracted pe- 

 riod of dry weather. On a careful 

 summer culture depends the success of 

 the plants during the winter. If stem 

 rot appears, remove the plants at once 

 and destroy them. I would recom- 

 mend the same in the case of rust. 

 If the plant cannot be spared, cut 

 away the affected part, and prevent 

 the spreading of the spores to the ad- 

 jacent plants. With spot it only needs 

 the pinching of the affected leaves. If 

 these diseases are given attention in 

 the start, a few hours' work in time 

 will save days of labor afterwards. 



FRED DORNER. 



TRY AN ADV. in the Review if you 

 have any surplus stock to sell to the 

 trade. 



PLANTS FOR SUMMER FLOWERS. 



This was the subject for discussion 

 at the meeting of the Chicago Florists' 

 Club last Friday evening. When lead- 

 ing retail florists, such as Messrs. C. 

 A. Samuelson and P. J. Hauswirth. 

 were asked what varieties of summer- 

 grown flowers were most salable, they 

 responded very discouragingly, stating 

 that nowadays there was very little 

 call for any kind of flowers during the 

 summer months aside from what could 

 be used in an occasional funeral order. 

 Mr. Hauswirth suggested as the most 

 useful flowers white and lavender as- 

 ters and gladioli of light shades, and 

 Mr. Samuelson agreed with him that 

 these would be most .apt to bring 

 money to the grower. 



Speaking for the wholesalers, Mr. 

 McKellar stated that asters, campan- 

 ulas, cosmos and coreopsis sold fairly 

 well in their season. In regard to cam- 

 panulas Mr. G. Swenson stated that he 

 had been quite successful with them 

 and that they had been tairlv profit- 

 able. He sows the seed in June and 

 grows the plants outside all summer. 

 They are then carried through the 

 winter with simply a covering of 

 slough grass. He grows the pink and 

 white single sorts, which sell very well 

 at .3.5 cents per hunch. 



Mr. C. J. Stromback thought that tu- 

 berous begonias and gloxinias shouM 

 be profitable summer pot plants for the 

 florist to grow, and that they could be 

 handled in a shaded frame better than 

 in a greenhouse. 



Mr. G. Stollery told of his attempts 

 to grow sweet peas, which had met 

 with failure on account of the plants 

 being attacked by club root. V.'ith him 

 they generally died out in June. An- 

 other grower suggested lime in th:; 

 soil as a remedy. Mr. Stollery had 

 also had considerable trouble with the 

 McGowan carnation being affected 

 with club root in summer. He ex- 

 plained that cabbage and celery had 

 been grown for many years on the 

 ground he now occupies, and he 

 thought that the club root might be 

 due to the germs in the soil from the 

 old cabbage crops. Mr. Stollery is also 

 bunting for a means of eradicating 

 grasshoppers. He says that of late 

 years they have done very great dam- 

 age in his vicinity. Last summer they 

 ate up 1,nOO carnations in the field for 

 him. A flock of chickens or turkeys 

 was suggested as a remedy. 



Mr. Oscar Kreitling, a retailer, sug- 

 gested an increase in the number of 

 light colored gladioli. 



Mr. J. T. Anthony thought that 

 white carnations were as good a sum- 

 mer crop as could be grown, and that 

 Wm. Scott was also a good variety tor 

 the purpose. He made it a practice to 

 grow quite a number of pot plants of 

 carnations for spring sales .xnd the left 

 over ones were planted out for sum- 

 mer flowers. These plants were prop- 

 agated in October and were kept in a 

 pot not exceeding .'! inches in size till 

 February or March. They were then 

 shifted to a 4-inch pot and sold. He 

 found that when some were left over 



