106 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



Fuchsias should be used in vases and 

 veranda boxes only where the sun reaches 

 them for but a few hours during the 

 day. They may look attractive when 

 first put in a vase, but are soon leafless 

 sta^s without shade ana plenty of water. 



FUNGICIDES AND INSECTICIDES. 



If it were not for our enemies the 

 aphides, spider, thrips, mealy bug and 

 many other minute animals, with the 

 low plant organisms, the mildews, rusts. 

 etc., our calling would be comparatively 

 easy, and we are not the only ones. The 

 fruit grower, market gardener and 

 farmer all have their foes, compelling 

 us to keep up a continual watch and 

 fight against their attacks. 



It is really half the battle to keep 



thoughts are taken up repelling the at 

 tacks of the many afflictions he is heir 

 to in the fungoid and insect line. 



Peter Henderson wrote, more than 

 thirty years ago, that the least excus 

 able of the gardener s failings was al 

 lowing his plants to become infested 

 \vith aphis, because it was easily reme 

 died. Quite right. Yet you see men 

 today walk through their carnation 

 houses where every shoot is covered with 

 aphis. If any remark is made the reply 

 is usually : Yes, I must smoke. &quot; Or : 

 I am all out of stems. I must get 

 some. Alas, the greenfly is the least 

 to be dreaded. It succumbs to tobacco 

 in several forms. Not so with all our 

 insects and as for the mildews and rusts 

 it is more the condition of the plant 

 that we must improve than to combat 



Wreath Loosely Arranged. 



our minute enemies in check, but think 

 what would be the consequence if there 

 were no greenfly or red spider, no mil 

 dew or rust. What would be the profits 

 of flower growing? It would be small, 

 for every careless fellow would have what 

 is called good luck. &quot; As it is, it is 

 not good luck but good reward for con 

 tinual care, watchfulness and industry. 

 Perhaps it is just as well as it is, for 

 although you can scarcely imagine a past 

 or future paradise in which white scale 

 will trouble the orange trees, or where 

 some future Eve will have to apply 

 kerosene emulsion for mealy bug, the 

 present time is one that rewards the 

 gardener for his industry and faithful 

 ness to his duty, and no little part of his 



the diseases. Keep the plant vigorous 

 and its environments right and the mil 

 dew and rust will not appear. 



Some years ago I attempted to grow 

 Mermet roses in a house that could not 

 on cold nights be kept at over 50 de 

 grees, and very cold nights perhaps not 

 over 47 degrees. I did not pick many 

 roses, but the plants looked healthy. 

 One morning I discovered the end ven 

 tilator open six inches and the ther 

 mometer down to 10 degrees outside. 

 I thought to myself, frost inside sure ; 

 if not, then a good dose of mildew. It 

 was nearly a frost, but not a sign of 

 mildew appeared. The plants were mak 

 ing a slow, firm growth and could stand 

 the chill they got. If the house had 



been kept steadily at 58 or 60 degrees 

 mildew would have appeared for certain. 

 The above is not quoted to instruct you 

 in rose growing by any jneans. 



Man and other animals hate a draught 

 and so do plants. Man can stand for 

 a while in a gale of wind, and the 

 mercury at zero with no more damage 

 than cold fingers and chilled nose, but 

 let him sit in a warm room with a 

 draught of cold air on him, even if it is 

 only a few degrees cooler than the room, 

 and the result is often pneumonia. And 

 so, I believe, it is with plants, and why 

 not? 



In no part of the exercise of our busi 

 ness is the old adage, Prevention&quot; is 

 better than cure, so true as it is with 

 our minute enemies. With the fungoids 

 that come because the vitality of the 

 plant is checked, guard against any 

 ueglect, day and night, and with the 

 insects that will attack our plants even 

 in the best of health apply your remedies 

 regularly, not to cure but to prevent. 



The formulas for several of the fol 

 lowing solutions and fungicides are 

 copied from the bulletin issued by the 

 Cornell Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 by E. G. Locleman, February, 1895, a 

 copy of which all growers should avail 

 themselves of. 



Bordeaux Mixture. 



Copper sulphate, six pounds. 



Quicklime, four pounds. 



Water, forty to fifty gallons. 



Dissolve the copper sulphate by put 

 ting it in a bag or coarse cloth and 

 hanging this in a vessel holding at least 

 four gallons, so that it is just covered 

 by the water. Use an earthen or wooden 

 vessel. Slake the lime in an equal quan 

 tity of water, then mix the two and add 

 water enough to make forty gallons, 

 ft is then ready for immediate use, but 

 will keep indefinitely. If to be used on 

 young, tender leaves, it is advisable to 

 add an extra pound of lime to the 

 formula. When applied to such plants 

 as carnations it will adhere better to 

 the leaves if about one pound of hard 

 soap is dissolved and added to the mix 

 ture. 



The above is for rots, molds, mil 

 dews and fungous diseases. 



Ammoniacal Copper Carbonate. 



Copper carbonate, one ounce. 



Ammonia enough to dissolve the cop 

 per. 



Water, nine gallons. 



The copper carbonate is best dissolved 

 in large bottles, when it will keep in 

 definitely, and diluted with water as re 

 quired. Used for the same purpose as 

 Bordeaux mixture. 



Another solution we have found very 

 useful, particularly for destroying the 

 fungus of the cutting bench, is made as 

 follows: 



Dissolve one pound of sulphate of 

 copper in two quarts of ammonia, put 

 this away in a corked jar and add one- 

 half pine to twenty gallons of water. 

 This can be used on the sand before a 

 batch of cuttings is put in. We also 



