960 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



April 30, ]i)03. 



favorite stamping gi-ound. Keep the 

 syringe going every bright day as this 

 is Hie only safe preventive. 



By the exercise of a little extra care 

 in ventilating, syringing and firing when 

 necessai-y the stock can be suecessfnlly 

 carried along in good condition till 

 planting time, when after being in the 

 bench for about ten days we will begin 

 to see the advantage of planting well 

 handled stock. Eibes. 



ROSE BUGS. 



Please tell me how to destroy rose 

 bugs on outdoor flowering roses when 

 the plants are in bloom. H. L. 



This inquirer fails to give a descrip- 

 tion of the "bug" he expects to entertain 

 when his roses are in bloom, and conse- 

 quently this fact will somewhat lengthen 

 my answer. 



The various bugs which infest outdoor 

 rose bushes l>efore and at flowering time 

 have difl'erent haliits and different ways 

 of making their living. Some are chew- 

 ers and put in a good daj'"s work to earn 

 their living. Tliese are easily destroyed 

 by any of the arsenite preparations, 

 which act as internal poisons by being 

 eat.en along with the ordinary food of 

 the insect. 



Another class of insects which are 

 equally destructive and much more difli- 

 cult to destroy on outdoor bushes are 



those which make their living by sucking 

 the juices from the tissues of the leaves 

 and buds, and can only be destroyed by 

 IX)isons which kill by contact, viz., by 

 irritating the skin or by closing the 

 breathing pores. 



To destroy the chewing- insects any of 

 the arsenite mixtures, such as Paris 

 green, Bordeaux mixture, or London 

 ])urple will efTect a remedy. 



Tlie Ohio experiment station recom- 

 mends the following combination: Paris 

 gieen two ounces, carbonate of copper 

 two ounces, dissolve in three pints of 

 ammonia, add one-half pound of un- 

 slaked lime and one barrel of water, use 

 a nozzle which makes a fine spray. 



For the suckers, tobacco in its various 

 forms is sure death if applied so that 

 it comes in direct contact with their 

 bodies. Steep five jxiunds of tobacco 

 stems in three gallons of hot water for 

 an hour, then .strain and dilute with 

 enough water to make seven gallons, use 

 a fine spray, both sides of the leaves 

 must be sprayed. 



Pyrethrum or Dalmatian insect [Xjw- 

 der is also very efficacious, either used 

 as a dry powder or in water (one ounce 

 to two gallons of water). For use as n. 

 dry powder it may with advantage be 

 diluted with six parts of flour, and be 

 applied to the foliage with a powder 

 blower. Eibes. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Shading. 



The past week has given us bright, 

 sunny days and frost nearly every morn- 

 ing, and some .shading haa had to be done. 

 I don't believe in shading roses at any 

 time, unless it Ije those you are carrying 

 over for a summer crop. Partial shade 

 is to them a great benefit, particularly 

 if you have the long-span-to-the-south 

 house, which many still believe is the 

 house for roses. Carnations I do most 

 decidedly believe in shading from now 

 until the new crop is planted. Chry- 

 santheinunis should never have a par- 

 ticle of shade after they are once rooted 

 in the 2inch pots, unless it be that some 

 of the dark varieties need shade when 

 the flower begins to open. 



There is a number of plants that are 

 benefited by some shade. It keeps down 

 the temperature, prevents the continual 

 drying out of pots and benches, and 

 with some plants prevents burning. 

 Avoid .shading soft wooded bedding 

 plants like geraniums, eoleus, cannas, 

 etc., as long as you possibly can. Did 

 you ever notice that plants plunged in 

 a hotbed neither burn nor dry out so 

 often beneath bright glass? Of course 

 it's because they are plunged. But more 

 or less shading has to be done, and it 

 is not necessary or proper to cover the 

 whole of the glass surface with white- 

 wash or any other mixture. 



As to the Ijest material for appearance 

 anil for a nice, subdued light white lead 

 and naphtha will be found. I think, the 

 best. Some people in a hurry syringe 

 it on. It is a wasteful plan and a veiy 

 unsightly one. Put it on with a white- 



wash biiish. You will save enough lead 

 to pay for the labor. Supposing your 

 glass is 16 inches wide; draw your 

 brush down the middle and leave 2 or 3 

 inches of clear glass each side of the 

 shaded strip. Tlie sun's rays that will 

 go through the small, unshaded space 

 will be continually moving and hurt 

 nothing, and .it will be shade enough for 

 a few weeks. Tliis is more like a lat- 

 tice shade, one inch of shade and one 

 inch of clear space, and that is consid- 

 ered ideal. 



Firing. 



I would just like to mention here the 

 great necessity of keeping the fires going 

 for a long time yet, particularly in the 

 plant houses. I don't want to tres- 

 pass on other correspondents' ground, 

 and should not, as I have a large enough 

 field without, but how many rose grow- 

 ers at their first attemi)t have said to 

 themselves, "Oh, it won't go below 45, 

 or 40 at least, tonight. I will shut up 

 early and keep the heat in, and we won't 

 bother about a fire tonight," and 

 then in the morning at daylight your 

 pretty young rose leaves are edged with 

 dew drops so lovely and they look so 

 fresh and nice, even if it is a little cool. 

 About four cool nights with these dew 

 drops and with no fire and no ventila- 

 tion and off come your leaves, and even 

 the young shoots will rot and shrivel. 

 It's a fungus, the name of which I 

 don't know, but it's forty times worse 

 than the worst case of mildew you 

 could ever have. 



Wliile geraniums with plenty of ventila- 



tion day and night may get along very 

 well without any more fire heat, you 

 can not do this with eoleus, cannas. 

 acalyphas and many other of our sum- 

 mer bedding plants. Tliey just stand 

 still, and worse. A little heat in th(! 

 piix>s and a little ventilation is ideal. 

 If not possible to fire, then give a little 

 ventilation. One cool, damp night with- 

 out fire will make the show pelargoiiiuins 

 drop their jjetals, which, falling on the 

 leaves, rot them, and your beautiful 

 show is gone. 



Cyclamen. 



The next two months is the time that 

 your cyclamens are likely to be neg- 

 lected. A sei-ious neglect means a total 

 failure. Now, we grew some really good 

 cyclamen last year. Tlie seed was not 

 sown until Januaiy 7, so they were 

 scarcely in good bloom by the holidays, 

 but that was two months too late. Seed 

 sown in October will give you plants 

 in good bloom by December. I lia\e 

 seen cyclamen grown well plunged in a 

 mild liotbe<l dui-ing sirmmer, but tlie> 

 want lots of watchfulness, and unless 

 it is your specialty they are apt to lu' 

 "out of sight, out of mind." While the 

 hotted may give the largest plants, you 

 can grow fine, compact plants full of 

 flowers in 5 and 6inch pots in tlic 

 greenhouse. 



Believing I could not improve on the 

 method pursued last year, I will give it 

 briefly. From the seed pan they were 

 put into flats -in 3 inches of soil. Wlien 

 they had made two or three leaves and 

 the conn was the size of a big pea they 

 were potted into 3-inch pots. At this 

 time, early June, they wei-e plunged 

 in tobacco stems in a small house facing 

 south. Alxiut earl}^ August they were 

 sliifted into .5-inch pots. A few were 

 afterward shifted into 6-inch, but most 

 of them were sold in the 5-inch. From 

 the time they went into the 3-inch pots 

 until they were sold they always had 

 tobacco stems among the pots, as well 

 as a fumigating once a ^^"eek. The s'dl 

 was one-half loam, one-fourth well- 

 rotted manure and one-fourth real leaf 

 mold, that is. niaple and oak leaves 

 two years old and thoroughly rotted. 

 On bright mornings they were always 

 syringed. No greenfly, thrips or rust 

 ever troubled them. 



Now, all that is very simple and what 

 everybody knows, and yet all would 

 have eiMled in failure had we given them 

 either a permanent shade or no shade 

 at all. We had a round pole the length 

 of the sash bar and on it tacked cheese- 

 cloth. On bright days we unrolled tlu' 

 cheese-cloth about 10 a. m., and rolled 

 it up again at 4 p. m. On dull and 

 rainy days the pole and its envelope 

 of cheese-cloth was left rolled up. Now 

 that, I believe and feel sure, is the 

 whole secret, and how many, many of 

 our plants woul'd rejoice in the same 

 treatment under glass. 



Bay Trees and Hydrangeas. 



Last j'ear we (I hope not you) liad 

 a severe frost about the 17th of May. 

 But that does not prevent you from 

 getting some things out of doors. Your 

 sweet bay trees should all be stood out. 

 As you want to sell these, there is no 

 need of plunging the tubs just yet, but 

 when the selling .season is over it is a 

 great lielp to them and saves watering 

 if the tubs are plunged to the rims, 

 and it i)revents them blowing over if 



