﻿April 8. 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



25 



mercial growers, unless less extreme 

 measures are adopted. 



The Houghton-Gorney Co. had for 

 Easter a particularly pleasing window 

 display; the colors were harmonious 

 and choice and unusual flowers and 

 plants were used. A heavy Easter busi- 

 ness was done. 



Merle W. Farr, of the West Street 

 (ireenhouses, Beading, had a line crop 

 of sweet peas for Easter; he marketed 

 over 20,000 April 2 and many more the 

 following day. Such peas proved to be 

 ijmong the most popular of Easter cut 

 flowers. 



The trade was fortunate to escape an 

 Easter morning snow storm, but ex- 

 perienced a storm Easter afternoon, 

 following a day of leaden skies. Every- 

 one was glad that it did not come a day 

 earlier. 



Thomas P. Galvin, Jr., at 260 Devon- 

 shire street, reports a fine Easter busi- 

 ness, with sales April 3 alone of $3,000, 

 even though he has a basement store 

 in the wholesale district. 



The Welch Bros. Co. had a splendid 

 Easter trade in both cut flowers and 

 plants; the latter this firm shipped di- 

 rect from the greenhouses of its 

 growers. W. N. C. 



GERMINATINa PRIMULAS. 



I should like to get some information 

 on the best and most successful way to 

 germinate Primula obconica. What tem- 

 perature and soil composition would you 

 advise for the seed flats f E. F.— 111. 



Use pans, well drained; place some 

 rough, fibrous loam or a few half-de- 

 cayed leaves over the drainage. The 

 compost should consist of two-thirds 

 leaf-mold, one-third loam and a dash 

 of sand and the upper surface should 

 be passed through a fine screen. Make 

 the surface smooth and over this scatter 

 the seeds as evenly as possible. Gently 

 press them in with a small piece of 

 board; round pieces, with a handle at- 

 tached, to fit the tops of various pans 

 are useful. Dust a little sand over the 

 surface after firming, but give no fur- 

 ther covering. Water, shade from sun- 

 shine and keep in a warm, moist house. 

 Usually seedlings will appear in a fort- 

 night. Then they can have more light 

 and be kept in a temperature of 50 to 

 •')2 degrees at night. Always water 

 through a fine rose and keep a sheet of 

 glass over the pan until the seedlings 

 germinate. C. W. 



PROBLEM: FIND THE BUG. 



"The Uttlp bugs that eat our crops 

 Have other bugs to bite 'em. 



The other bngs have lesser bugs, 

 And so. «d Infinitum." 



Entomologists declare that the up-to- 

 date way of combating insect pests is 

 not by means of fumigants and other in- 

 secticides, but by discovering the bugs 

 which prey upon those which cause our 

 trouble. Some day, perhaps, instead of 

 sending to his supply house for so manv 

 cases or cans of this or that brand of 

 "Ji'ff-killer, the florist will write to John 

 .iones & Co., bug breeders, with the slo- 

 gan, "Buy Our Bugs to Protect Your 

 ' lants," on their letterhead, and order 

 so many live Gobitum andchasum, which 

 the experts will have recommended as 

 ine insect enemy of some pest that is 

 •lamaging the florist's crops. Bv that 

 V}^ ^^^ anti-tobacco societies will prob- 

 ably have banished the "wee<i"' to the 

 same innocuous desuetude as alcoholic 



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WHO'S WHO 'Al^l AND WHY 



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JACOB DIETERICH. 



BUSINESS sagacity and horticultural skill are well combined in Jacob Die- 

 terich, of Los Angeles, Cal. He was born in Wiirtteniburg, Germany, in 1867, 

 and gained with Mertz, of Stuttgart, and J. C. Schmidt, of Erfurt, a thorough 

 grounding for his life-work. After two years of landscajjc work in Switzerland, 

 he came to this country in 1888, not stopping till he reached Los Angeles. There 

 he worked in the first flower store in the city, then called the Central Park Floral 

 Co. Four years after his arrival, he started in business for himself on Wall street. 

 In 1908 he formed a ])artnership with H. W, Turner, for growing at Montebello, 

 buying out his partner's interest nine years later. In 1919 he sold his business to 

 Roy F. Wilcox and in the same year bought land at Wintersburg, where he is 

 growing chiefly aspidistras, having a special permit from the government to import 

 large quantities. This year he bought ten acres in the San Fernando valley, much 

 of which he expects to plant to Erica melanthera. 



jpotions, so that form of nicotine poison- 

 ing for pests will be a thing of the past. 



If you think that the above is not 

 penned in a serious vein, read the fol- 

 lowing from the weekly bulletin of the 

 Department of Agriculture: 



' ' The Japanese beetle is going to have 

 its old enemie^ on its trail in this coun- 

 try. The United States Department of 

 Agriculture has sent a man to Japan to 

 find those enemies and send them across 

 the ocean. They will then be estab- 

 lished in the sections of New Jersey 

 where the Japanese beetle has gained 

 a foothold and they are expected to aid 

 greatly in the control of the pest. 



"The agent employed for the work in 

 Japan is familiar with Japanese condi- 

 tions and is a specialist in this charac- 



ter of work. It is expected that the 

 task will require his sojourn in Japan 

 for two or three years. While some- 

 thing is known of parasites of the Jap- 

 anese beetle, a great deal is still to be 

 learned, much of which can be learned 

 only under field conditions where the 

 beetle lives with all the enemies that 

 prey uj>on it. The beetle reached this 

 country with importations of green- 

 house plants and thus far apparently has 

 been comparatively free from molesta- 

 tion bv natural enemies." 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



A. M. B., O.— No. 



G. D., La. — You can use young stock 

 or old plants from the benches. See the 

 ads. New soil is better. 



' I n-i'f^m)t ^i-\\ .*«'^ 



