April 23, 1903. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



913 



View in the store of David Clarke's Sons, New York, at Easter. 



was thought this trouble could i)e held 

 in check; it proved to he the ease. 

 I'erhajis a mistake was made in shading, 

 which we did a very little, causing the 

 plants to spindle somewhat. but the shade 

 being lemoved early the plants thickened 

 up so that by November 1 we had a 

 magnificent lot of plants in full bloom. 



On the same bench a like number of 

 field grown plants of same variety were 

 benched about August 15. B.v Christ- 

 mas there was no perceptible difl'erence 

 between the two lots except the field 

 grown ones were ati'ected with rust while 

 the others were free from it. The only 

 advantage gained was that those grown 

 under glass bloomed earlier and the 

 quality of bloom was a .shade better, al- 

 though not enough to materiall.y affect 

 tlie selling price. 



Daybreak and .Jubilee weie tried the 

 next year, followed by Mrs. Bradt. 



A great man.v little changes were 

 adopted during the last two years of 

 growing tmder glass all summer, but af- 

 ter sununing up the three first years' 

 work in this direction, I concluded after 

 taking into consideration the amount of 

 watering, springing, fumigation and the 

 close attention required, that this meth- 

 od of culture was not practical, commer- 

 cially. The experience gained us knowl- 

 edge and we felt satisfied in knowing 

 what could be done. 



If some varieties of toda.v were to be 

 grown in like manner, the outcome 

 might be better, but later experience has 

 convinced me that the compromise 

 spoken of last week is the safer course 

 to follow. The second year Lawson was 

 grown we potted along a batch of March 

 struck cuttings to 3-inch, planted them 

 out in June, giving them about four 

 weeks in the field. Tlie plants were 

 small, but as an experiment we lifted 

 them with a good ball, benched them, 

 using no shade whatever, and I never 



saw carnation plants grow as did these 

 after being housed. 



This led me to believe that a further 

 shift to 4-inch and standing them out- 

 side in a well drained place for a month 

 or six \yeeks would be a step toward fur- 

 ther improvement and it has so turned 

 out. Llav^■son has been the variety witli 

 which we have done the greater part of 

 experimental work along this line with 

 a view of producing long stems earlier 

 in the season than can be gotten from 

 field grown plants. 



Xo shade whatever is necessary, in 

 fact it would be detrimental to the 

 plants. When planting it is a good plan 

 to hollow out the soil around the plants, 

 watering only in these depressions until 

 well established. S.vringe lightly on 

 mornings of bright da,vs ; keep the soil 

 between the rows well broken up, thtis 

 keeping it open and sweet, at the same 

 time destroying many weeds. On an 

 average of once a week, give a liberal 

 dose of Grape Du.st, choosing the hot- 

 test part of the day to apply it. Pro- 

 vide abundant ventilation, as it is abso- 

 lutel.y necessary to keep the air con- 

 stantly changing. In my opinion Cress- 

 brook and Mrs. Potter Palmer would be 

 good varieties to grow in the above man- 

 ner. Geo. S. Osboux. 



THE CROCUS. 



Last fall I planted 8,000 crocus bulbs 

 in a neighbor's lawn. I had them 

 planted from two to three inches deep, 

 making a hole with a stick and dropping 

 in the bulbs and closing up the hole 

 with the foot. Tliere were not more 

 than twenty-five that came up. I think 

 they w-ere planted about November 1. 

 What is the cause of failure? 



StJBSCRIBEn. 



I have seen crocus bulbs planted in 

 grass plots and do very well, and again 



have seen them a failure, or a very small 

 ])ercentage grow, and the reason for that 

 I never looked into. The crocus is the 

 hardiest of our spring flowers. It's just 

 possible that in making the hole for the 

 corm with a blind stick you leave the 

 sides very hard and compact with no 

 encouragement for roots to be made. In 

 that case failure might occur. I believe 

 that when planting them in .sod the corm 

 should be surrounded with a little good 

 earth. Tlien I think failure would be 

 impossible if sound corms were planted. 

 Kxcuse me for using the name "corm," 

 but the crocus is a corm and not a bulb. 

 WrLLiAM Scott. 



TOMATO LEAF BLIGHT. 



W. ('. S. asks if anv one has ever had 

 any success in fighting the leaf blight 

 w-ith Bordeaux mixture. He has used it 

 for years and it docs no .good, and evcrv 

 .vcar the blight gets worse in his section. 



So far as I know the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture is the onl.y remedy that your cor- 

 respondent can use, and this is really 

 more of a preventive than a cure. Bor- 

 deaux is of no use unless spraying is 

 commenced in time. The trouble with 

 many glowers is that thev do not com- 

 mence its use \mtil the plants are badlv 

 infected with tlie disease, and when in 

 this condition the fungus will grow 

 through the Bordcau,x. 



Your correspondent does not give his 

 method of culture at all, but I am in- 

 clined to believe that he sets out his 

 plants and does not stake them up. for 

 I have not seen the disease do much 

 damage when the plants were properlv 

 staked and pruned. Set out the plants 

 about 3 feet apart and drive in a stout 

 (i-foot stake alongside, then when the 

 first truss of fruit shows and the plant 

 breaks naturally, take up two stems and 

 keep all other shoots closel'- pinched ofl. 



This system of growing is comparative- 



