July 9, 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



39 



SEASONABLE NOTES ON CUL- 

 TURE OF FLORISTS' STOCK. 

 Asters. 



The first buds that show should bp 

 nipped off. By so doing you will have 

 a greater percentage of long-stemmed, 

 first-class flowers. Pinching the first 

 central bud will always pay. Those 

 who have adequate means for water- 

 ing should, just as soon as the 

 buds begin to form, give great quan- 

 tities of water, and if the season is 

 dry continue right along through the 

 cutting period. From now on they 

 should not be disturbed at the roots 

 any more than is necessary, just to 

 keep the ground from cracking and 

 free of weeds. Keep a watch out for 

 the aster beetle. His presence can be 

 known by the punctured leaves. As 

 soon as this is seen spray with a tea- 

 spoonful of paris green to a pail of 

 water. This should be done two or 

 three times before the buds open. 

 Cyclamen. 

 This important and beautiful plant is 

 very often bound to be neglected in 

 this season of busy rush. These plants 

 should now be in 4-inch pots and in 

 quarters where they will have abun- 

 dance of light and air. The full blaze 

 of a July or August sun is bound to 

 stunt and cripple them and they 

 should be spared this exhausting or- 

 deal by some sort of shading during 

 the bright and hot hours of the day, 

 say from about 9 a. m. till 4 p. m. 

 Plenty of air and watering regularly 

 are among their principal requisites, 

 and syringing overhead should be fol- 

 lowed up on all bright mornings in 

 order to help to keep down thrips and 

 red spider, also weekly fumigation so 

 as to prevent the aphis from getting 

 a hold, for they sometimes are a very 

 persistent pest on the cyclamen. The 

 plants should be shifted when the pots 

 get filled with roots till they have 

 reached a 6 or S-inch pot. As to soil 

 they like a firm sod that is well de- 

 cayed, using about two parts of this 

 and two parts leaf mold, with about 

 one part of some well-rotted cow ma- 

 nure. Cyclamens call for good drain- 

 age in all cases. 



Freesias. 

 Whenever it is possible to spare a 

 bench these bulbs should be planted, 

 for the sooner they are planted the 

 finer their blooms will be next winter. 

 It is of great importance that they 

 have a light and sunny bench. The 

 soil should be of a friable, porous na- 

 ture. A good compost should consist 

 of three parts of sandy sod to one part 

 of old cow manure, and some air- 

 slaked lime or gypsum, all thoroughly 

 intermixed. The corms can be planted 

 in rows or hills; 5 or 6 inches apart 

 by 2 or 3 inches in the row is about 

 right. When using the hill system 

 they may be planted half a dozen in a 

 hill, these forming regular rows across 

 and lengfhwise of the bench. This 

 plan affords a greater convenience in 

 stringing and the picking of the flow- 

 ers. After they are planted give the 

 bench a good watering so as to run 

 through. Never let them become dry 

 if you wish to grow first-class free- 

 sias. A winter temperature of 50 to 

 55 degrees suits them very well. 

 Mignonette. 

 If you want to cut good mignonette 

 sow the seed now. If you can sow the 

 seed directly into the bench where they 

 are to grow it is the best course to 

 pursue. Sow a pinch of seed about a 

 foot apart each way, and when they 



are up good and strong you can thin 

 to two seedlings and a little later to 

 one. They like a heavy but open loam, 

 generously enriched with manure. If 

 you are going to grow o:i benches now 

 taken up by chrysanthemums, in about 

 a month start the seeds in 2y2-inch 

 pots and shift as required up to 4 or 

 5-inch pots, and then you can transfer 

 these plants to the benches as they are 

 cleared off. Mignonette should have 

 the fullest light as soon as the seed is 

 germinated, with an abundance of ven- 

 tilation on all favorable occasions. By 

 planting in a house where the tem- 

 perature can be kept near to 45 degrees 

 you will have stout and heavy spikes. 

 Keep a lookout for the green worm. 

 Painting Inside. 

 Every up-to-date florist should see 

 that the interior of his houses is kept 

 in sweet and clean condition. At no 

 time of the year are the facilities for 

 painting better than in July and Au- 

 gust. The planted stock is yet small, 

 so it will be quite easy to fix a scaffold 

 over them and paint on the inside of 

 your houses. The heat and glaring 

 rays from the sun can be modified by 

 the use of a portable shade of canvas 

 which can be moved along as the work 

 progresses. This painting will destroy 

 most, if not all, of the lurking in- 

 sects which have taken shelter in the 

 various parts of the house. In short, 

 painting makes a new house by mak- 

 ing it lighter and cleaner and will pay 

 for the material and labor involved. 

 Pot Roses for Flowering. 

 I think that potted roses intended 

 for next winter's forcing or for the 

 plant trade in the spring do better if 

 kept in the greenhouse during the sum- 

 mer. When they have completed their 

 growth they can be removed to some 

 outdoor frames so they can fully ripen 

 their wood: and it is a point that 

 should not be questioned by any florist. 

 A rose dug up and potted late in the 

 fall, dormant and inactive, cannot put 

 forth working roots in sufliciency to 

 stand the ordeal of hard forcing as 

 well as pot-grown roses, which are 

 firmly established in their pots and 

 provided with a solid ball of active 

 roots before being subjected to forc- 

 ing. Each method has its good and 

 bad points. With field culture there 

 is very little to be done beyond keep- 

 ing the ground clear of weeds and sur- 

 face cultivation. The objection against 

 pot culture is that they entail much 

 extra care and labor, but the greater 

 ease with which the pot-grown are 

 forced should outweigh all objections. 

 JOHN J. M. FARRELL. 



Mv. Farraird next notes will be on the 

 fiillowui^: AS|)i(llstr:is: Calceolarias: Chi-y- 

 santlu-nmni Routine Work; Cypripediums; 

 Kouvardias; P'ansies. 



SWEET PEA SHOW AT PHILADEL- 

 PHIA. 



The annual Sweet Pea Show of the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultui al Society was 

 held on June .jOth. A very good show- 

 ing was made — the lower hall being 

 comfortably filled. There was also an 

 excellent display of hardy perennials. 

 The feature of the show was the ex- 

 hibit by W. Atlee Burpee & Co., who 

 put up eighty-four vases of tnagnifl- 

 cent sweet peas — far superior to any- 

 thing ever seen here before. The 

 weather has been more favorable than 

 usual this year and that combined with 

 improved cultural methods made the 

 grand showing possible. The principal 

 prize winners were: J. W. Pepper, 

 gardener Wm. Robertson; Miss Ger- 



trude Ely, gardener Robt. Snyder; C. 

 B. New bold, gardener Samuel Batche- 

 lor; Geo. H. McFadden, gardener D. 

 Aiken; Countess Eulalia. gardener 

 Thos. Gaynor; Colonel Edw. De V. 

 Morrell, gardener Thos. Roberts; Mrs. 

 Chas. Wheeler, gardener Wm. Fowler; 

 Mrs. F. C. Penfield, gardener Jno. Mc- 

 Cleary. A collection of dahlias was 

 staged by Miss Gertrude Ely. These 

 were mostly of the decorative and cac- 

 tus types, and were very creditable for 

 this season; awarded special mention. 

 A certificate of merit for culture was 

 awarded the Burpee exhibit. The 

 judges were Harry A. Bunyard of New 

 York, Secretaiy of the National Sweet 

 Pea Society, Wm. Graham and A. E. 

 Wohlert of Philadelphia. 



We append a list of the varieties in 

 the Burpee exhibit, many of which aa 

 will be seen, are not yet generally in 

 commerce but will be soon, and as 

 they are all considered improvements 

 it is well for growers to maike a note 

 of them: 



Spencer Type — America Spencer 

 (Ready. 1911); Audrey Crier (Bread- 

 more, 1908); Apple Blossom Spencer 

 (Burpee, 1908); Asta Ohn (Morse, 

 1909); Aurora Spencer (Burpee-Morse. 

 1909); Beatrice Spencer (Morse, 1909); 

 Capt. of the Blues Spencer (Morse, 

 1909); Colleen (W. Deal, 1910): Con- 

 stance Oliver (Lumley, 1908); Countess 

 Spencer (Sydenham-Cole, 1904); Dain- 

 ty Spencer (Bath, 1909): E. J. Deal 

 (John.son, 1910); Earl of Plymouth 

 (Baker. 1909); Evelyn Hemus (Henius, 

 1908); Flora Norton Spencer (Morse, 

 1909); Florence Morse Spencer (Morse, 

 1908); George Herbert (Breadmore. 

 1907); George Stark (Stark, 1910); 

 Gypsy Queen (Watkins & Simpson, 

 1909); Helen Lewis (Breadmore- Wat- 

 son, 1906); King Edward Spencer 

 (Burpee, 1909); Lady Althorp (Cole, 

 1906); Lovely Spencer (Morse, 1909), 

 Lady Hemus (Hemus, 1908): Maggie 

 Stark (Stark, 1909); Marie Corelli 

 (Burpee-Morse, 1910); Marjorie Willis 

 (Lumley, 1908); Masterpiece (Dobbie, 

 1910); Menie Christie (Dabble. 1908); 

 Miriam Beaver (Burpee-Morse, 1910): 

 Mrs. Andrew Ireland (Dobbie, 1909); 

 Mrs. Charles Foster (Baker. 1907): 

 Mrs. Charles Mander (Baker. 1907); 

 Mrs. Henry Bell (Bolton, 1908): Mrs. 

 Hugh Dickson (Dobbie, 1910): Mrs. 

 Routzahn (Burpee, 1910) ; Mrs. R. W. 

 Pitt (Stark, 1909); Mrs. Sankey Spen- 

 cer (Morse, 1909); Nancy Perkins (Per- 

 kins-Unwin, 1910); Olive Ruffell 

 (Stark, 1908): Othello Spencer (Bur- 

 ]iee-Morse, 1909); Paradise Ivory (He- 

 mus. 1907); Primrose Spencer (Burpee, 

 1908); Princess Victoria (Dobbie, 

 1908): Queen Victoria Spencer (Burpee, 

 1909); Ramona Spencer (Morse, 1909); 

 Senator Spencer (Burpee-Morse, 1910): 

 Sunrise (Gilbert, 1909); Sutton's Queen 

 (Sutton-Rothera, 1908) ; Tennant Spen- 

 cer (Morse, 1909); The Marquis (Dob- 

 bie, 1908); W. T. Hutching (Burpee- 

 Morse, 1910); White Spencer (Burpee, 

 1908). 



Unwin Type— A. J. Cook (Unwin, 

 1907); Chrissie Unwin (Unwin, 1908); 

 E. J. Castle (Unwin, 1907): Frank 

 Dolby (Unwin, 1907); Gladys Unwin 

 (Unwin, 1905); Mrs. Alfred Watkins 

 (Unwin, 1907); Nora Unwin (Unwin, 

 1907); Phoenix (King, 1909). 



Grandiflora Type— Agnes Johnston 

 (Eckford, 1909); Dorothy Ecltford 

 (Rckford, 1903). 



New Varieties— Ethel Roosevelt, A. 

 B. Bantock, Seedling Spencer 12, G. W. 

 Kerr, Martha Washington, Magnificent. 

 Zebra. 



