April 1, 1916 



HOETICULTURE 



443 



The Flower Shows. 



Business may keep you away from one of the shows, 

 but it may be possible to attend the other. It will be well 

 worth while. There will be more flowers than ever, with 

 all the latest inventions, time savers and improvements 

 in greenhouse construction, and all these will be well 

 worth while seeing. Growers doing a retail business 

 will do well to see that all tlieir customers are informed 

 of the show and many will think it a real treat to re- 

 ceive a ticket. The more people attending the better 

 it will be for the florist trade all over, as the more the 

 public see of flowers the more will they buy. There 

 still are people who have never been to a flower show, 

 and to send these to the coming show will make them 

 enthusiastic about flowers, to say the least. If every 

 grower secures two there will be quite a crowd. 



Keep the Houses Cool. 



With the thermometer out:^Hle at 56 the snow is go- 

 ing very fast and we certainly hope we will not see any 

 more until next winter. The sun is vei7 wann on 

 clear days and tlie result is that the houses will have 

 to have good attention or they will become too warm. 

 If this happens quite often the roses will become soft 

 and a dose of mildew is almost sure to follow. There 

 is very little use to air by the inch on a clear warm day. 

 If the houses have been closed down at night they 

 shoidd have a crack of air first thing in the morning 

 and more air added as soon as they begin to rise. As 

 soon as four inches of air is put on and the houses rise, 

 double tho amount can be safely put on and this again 

 doubled, until they are up full if necessary. It will be 

 best to have them up full when they go up to 78, and if 

 they go above this with full air on the heat will not hurt 

 them so much as the air will not be so humid and the 

 leaves will not become soft. In the wide houses the 

 wind blowing in will not hit the plants very mucli for 

 tho vents are very high up, so there will be little danger 

 of the plants getting chilled. In the small three-quar- 

 ter-span houses, the plants are quite hardy as a rule 

 and if the wind does blow in a little, it will do no luirm. 

 Do not allow any doors to remain open, for the draft 

 from the cross houses will start new air currents and 

 this may chill tho plants for they will not ho accustomed 

 to it as they are to the air from the ventilators. Doors 

 that are hard to close and are used a great deal should 

 have springs attached so that they will close nutomat- 

 ically after a person passes through. The end doors 

 should not be used and the same is true of the side 

 ventilators. The latter should not be used until the hot 

 summer weather and then tliey should ho looked after 

 by an experienced man. 



Syringing. 



The plants can hardly got too much syringing from 

 now on and no opportunity to syringe should be lost. 

 We have had quite a little cloudy weather the last two 



or three months and there is bound to be a little spider 

 here and there, and if these are not cleaned out they 

 will spread very fast until they are beyond control and 

 the result will be several hundred dollars damage to 

 the plants, as it W'ill take them quite a while to recover, 

 if they succeed in getting over it. Syringe as rapidly as 

 possible being careful to syringe the top benches first 

 and then directing the stream so that all the spent water 

 will fly into the walk if possible. The plants must not 

 Ije diT when this work is done, for they would get 

 burned badly. If inclined to lie dry at all they had bet- 

 ter get a watering, and defer the syringing for a day. 

 However, by getting around early the houses can be 

 watered early in the morning and they syringed later. 

 Many growers syringe late in the afternoon or on 

 cloudy days. This may be good and well where the 

 water di'ains right down and the houses dry off quickly 

 but we would never recommend it or do it ourselves. It 

 is always best to have the plants nice and dry before 

 night and to have them so it will be necessary to shake 

 them after they receive their syringing. This should 

 be done as soon as the house is finished, so that they 

 will have every chance possible. 



Sulphur. 



It will be necessary to use sulphur a little more free- 

 ly from now on, and this especially on plants that are 

 not sprayed to prevent mildew. A little applied to the 

 pipes here and there will kill all the mildew as long as 

 steam is used. Should there be any troublesome spots 

 here and there it will be best to blow a little sulphur 

 over these with bellows. It is not advisable to blow sul- 

 phur over all the plants, unless it is necessarj', for the 

 sun is quite strong and the fumes created when the rays 

 hit the sulphur will bleach the buds pretty badly. Spray- 

 ing with Frmgine will be more effective and will not 

 harm or discolor the buds or foliage. However, with- 

 proper attention paid to ventilation during the day and 

 proper care of the fires at night, there shoud bo little- 

 trouble with mildew-, and a little sulphur applied to thei 

 steam pipes as stated above will take care of the little, 

 speck here and there that may a[)pear in spitx? of goodi 

 care. j 



That Easter Crop. 



Right now- is the time to take care of the plants to in- 

 sure nice roses for Easter. All buds that will be cut 

 for the holiday will be shooting up now, and with prop- 

 er feeding, watering and ventilating will turn out to be 

 nice. It will not pay to run the liouscs warm to force 

 the plants more, for if anything were gained by this 

 method it would all be lost later and more. Keep the 

 house cool, plants well fed and surrounded by pure 

 sweet air, and you will be doing as much a* you can. 

 The plants will usually do the rest. It is best not to 

 try to dictate to the plants. Give them ideal gi'owing 

 conditions, and if they have any vitality at all. they will 

 respond accordingly. 



