THE FLORISTS^ MANUAL. 



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 

 business is the old adage, "Prevention 

 is better than cure," so true as it is 

 with our minute enemies. With the 

 fungoids that come because the vital- 

 ity of the plant is checked, guard 

 against any neglect, 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 Sta- 

 tion, by E. G. Lodeman, February. 

 1895, a copy of which all growers 

 should avail themselves of. 



Bordeaux Mixture. 



Copper sulphate, 6 Ibs. 



Quicklime, 4 Ibs. 



Water, 40 to 50 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 quantity of water, then mix the 

 two and add water enough to make 40 

 gallons. It is. then ready for immedi- 

 ate use, but will keep indefinitely, 

 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 ad- 

 here better to the leaves if about one 

 pound of hard soap is dissolved and 

 added to the mixture. 



The above is for rots, moulds, mil- 

 dews and fungous diseases. 



Ammoniacal Copper Carbonate. 



Copper carbonate, 1 oz. 



Ammonia enough to dissolve the 

 copper. 



Water, 9 gallons. 



The copper carbonate is best dis- 

 solved in large bottles, when it will 

 keep indefinitely, and diluted with 

 water as required. Used for the same 

 purpose as Bordeaux mixture. 



Copper Sulphate Solution. 



Copper sulphate, 1 Ib. 



Water, 15 gallons. 



Dissolve the copper in the water, 

 when it is ready for use. This should 

 not be used on any foliage, but can be 

 used on the wood of trees and shrubs 

 before the buds start. 



Paris Green. 



Paris green, 1 Ib. 



Water, 200 gallons. 



This will do for poisoning all insects 

 that' chew, such as caterpillars and 

 worms. We have found that in apply- 

 ing the paris green it was necessary 

 to add something to make the solution 

 stick to the leaves, and you can use 

 with the above quantities two or three 



pounds of hard soap, dissolved, or add 

 two quarts of the Rose Leaf extract of 

 tobacco, which is of a sticky nature. 



London Purple. 



This can be used in the same pro- 

 portion as paris green. To make this 

 safer to use on the foliage of chrysan- 

 themums add one pound of slaked 

 lime. This also is for insects that 

 chew. 



Florists do not always remember the 

 distinction between the chewers and 

 suckers. The aphides bore into the 

 tissue of plants and suck the juices, 

 and although they may be drenched 

 with the paris green solution would 

 feel no ill effects from it. The worms 

 and caterpillars eat the surface of the 

 leaves and must consequently get the 

 poison into their stomachs. 



Hellebore. 



Fresh white hellebore, 1 ounce. 



Water, 3 gallons. 



Apply when thoroughly mixed. This 

 poison is not so energetic as arsenites 

 and may be used on the more tender 

 growths for insects that chew. 



Kerosene Emulsion. 



Hard soap, *A Ib. 



Boiling water, 1 gallon. 



Kerosene, 2 gallons. 



Dissolve the soap in the water by 

 cutting into thin slices; add the kero- 

 sene and agitate with a syringe till 

 thoroughly mixed. In this condition, 

 when cool, it will become of the con- 

 sistency of sour milk and may be kept 

 indefinitely. Dilute twenty to thirty 

 times with water when applying. Use 

 strong emulsion for all scale insects. 



This is used for all insects that suck, 

 as green, black and yellow fly (the lat- 

 ter the most troublesome on chrysan- 

 themums), mealy bugs, red spider, 

 thrips, and all worms with soft bodies 

 will succumb to this. 



It should, however, be always used 

 with caution. It is best to try the 

 weakest emulsion first. 



Hydrocyanic Acid Gas. 



Water, 1 quart. 



Sulphuric acid, 1 quart. 



Cyanide of potash, 5 oz. 



The above quantities are right for 

 1,000 cubic feet of air space in your 

 houses, and measurements and quan- 

 tities must be accurate. As many 

 thousand cubic feet of air as your 

 house contains, so many vessels you 

 must have. Butter jars are the best 

 for the purpose and they should be 

 placed on the floor of the house, not 

 among or near the plants. The house 

 must be shut down closely and must 

 be opened again in half an hour. 



As this gas is very deadly you must 

 contrive to let the cyanide down 

 through a small hole in the glass, or 

 through a crack in the ventilator. As 

 the 5 oz. parcel is a small affair a very 

 thin piece of string attached will do. 

 We suspend the cyanide to the end of 

 the string, as many as required, and 

 divided equally in the house. Beneath 

 place the jars, each containing 1 quart 



of the acid; then add 1 quart of water, 

 and when each jar is ready the cyanide 

 of potash is lowered into the jars. An 

 explosion, as it may be called, imme- 

 diately follows, the gas is generated in- 

 stantly, and that is why you would 

 not dare to be in the house, for you 

 would stop breathing in an instant. 

 This gas is death to every insect that 

 breathes, and does not hurt the most 

 tender foliage. 



Mr. Saltford. of Poughkeepsie, who 

 gave me the formula, showed me a 

 Maidenhair fern that was in perfect 

 health that had frequently been ex- 

 posed to the gas. I used the gas sev- 

 eral times last winter on violets with 

 the best results. 



As compared with tobacco smoke it 

 is quite expensive and some trouble to 

 apply, but if it saves a crop of violets 

 from the ravages of that minute fly 

 that punctures the leaf, laying an egg 

 which destroys the tissue of the leaf 

 and produces what we call curl leaf, 

 it is certainly worth ten times the cost 

 and labor. It is applied principally to 

 destroy the almost invisible insects so 

 injurious to violets, but while doing 

 that it utterly destroys green fly, red 

 spider, centipedes and all else that 

 breathes. It leaves no objectionable 

 odor. 



Have the jar in which you generate 

 the gas four times as large as the mix- 

 ture of water and acid, and when pur- 

 chasing the cyanide of potash have 

 each 5 oz. package well wrapped in 

 double paper. 



Sulphur. 



Sulphur in different forms is the 

 great antidote for fungus, and our 

 chief rose enemy, the mildew, is a 

 fungus. The flour of sulphur is often 

 dusted on the plants. This is perhaps 

 the least useful method, and sulphur 

 should never be allowed to reach the 

 soil. It is sometimes sprinkled on the 

 pipes, and sometimes placed in shallow 

 pans and placed where the rays of the 

 sun will strike it, as when at a high 

 temperature it gives off its fumes that 

 destroy the spores of the fungus. 



I think it is most beneficial, most 

 easily applied, and the least harmful 

 to the plants when it is mixed with 

 linseed oil and painted on the pipes. 

 Don't overdo it. Where there are eight 

 or ten hot water pipes, or twenty 

 small steam pipes, paint the upper 

 surface of one pipe; -that will be suffi- 

 cient. We think the oil does some 

 good with the sulphur. This is an ex- 

 cellent preventive of mildew. 



Sulphur is sometimes burnt on hot 

 bricks or an old shovel made red hot. 

 I have done it and it is of course a 

 very effective way of applying the 

 deadly fumes, but you must be very 

 careful and directly the odor of sul- 

 phur is plainly noted you must move 

 on a few yards. When the carnation 

 rust was at its worst a few years ago 

 we burnt a great deal of sulphur in 

 the houses when they were entirely 

 empty in the month of August. We 

 made it strong enough to kill a Kil- 

 kenny cat and trust it killed all the 



