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The Florists' Review 



Mabch 23, 1916. 



AMONG TEWSSBUBY QBOWEBS. 



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Louis E. Small. 



Mr. Small is probably the most suc- 

 cessful grower of bachelor's buttons in 

 New England, if not in America. 

 Three roomy houses are devoted to 

 them. The plants now average four 

 to four and one-half feet in height and** 

 give a lot of flowers, which realize as 

 much money as carnations. Two 

 houses are devoted to carnations. 

 Champion I have never seen better 

 grown than here. There are few splits. 

 Alice has proved to be a free bloomer. 

 Pink Delight has been dropped. White 

 Wonder proves far more floriferous 

 thau Matchless. A scarlet and a deep 

 pink seedling looked promising. 



A. Streckwald. 



Sweet peas are grown at Mr. Streck- 

 wald 's place; also a considerable num- 

 ber of carnations. Benora, Pink De- 

 light and Winsor looked particularly 



J. K. Chandler & Sons. 



Among the newer Tewksbury firms 

 are J. K. Chandler & Sons. Yellow 

 marguerites are largely grown and are 

 doing well. Sweet peas were coming 

 along in quantity. Violets, Spanish 

 iris, gladioli and calendulas are all 

 grown well. Carnations are also 

 grown. The best varieties noted were 

 Beacon, Benora, Champion, Matchless, 

 White Wonder and Philadelphia. 



H. S. Chandler & Sons. 



Another new firm is that of H. S. 

 Chandler & Sons, who grow chrysanthe- 

 mums heavily, particularly the early 

 ones; these are followed by single vio- 

 lets and Spencer sweet peas. 



There are other Tewksbury estab- 

 lishments, in addition to those named, 

 which time would not permit me to 

 visit on this trip. W. N. Craig. 



VEGETABLES AND 



POTTED PIiANTS FOE BLOOM. 



Will you please give me a list of the 

 best plants to grow in pots to bloom in 

 the house from the end of June until 

 the end of September? I would like 

 to grow them from seeds or bulbs, any- 

 thing except hydrangeas. What could 

 be grown now, and what could be 

 crown for another yeart 



J. C. S.— 111. 



The following flowering plants will 

 bloom after the end of June: Gloxinias 

 and tuberous begonias, each from seeds 

 sown early, or from bulbs, which can 

 be purchased now; fuchsias, propagated 

 from cuttings; AUamanda Williamsi, 

 from cuttings; achimenes, plant corms 

 now; Trachelium cseruleum, from seeds 

 or cuttings of previous year; Cleroden- 

 dron fallax, from seed; zonale gerani- 

 ums, and abutilons, from cuttings; 

 browallias, seeds or cuttings; Lasiandra 

 macrantha; Linum trigynum, cuttings; 

 iuch fibrous-rooted begonias as Gloire de 

 Chatelaine, seeds or cuttings; Lilium 

 speciosum and L. auratum, potted the 

 previous winter. C. W. 



Bochester, N. Y. — Owing to a severe 

 case of quinsy, it will be necessary for 

 Horace J. Head to undergo special 

 treatment at one of the city hospitals. 

 Mr. Head trusts that there will be no 

 inconvenience caused by the omission 

 of the weekly Rochester letter from The 

 Beview for a short time. 



FRUITS DEPARTMENT 



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TOMATOES UNDER GLASS 



Moisture and Ventilation. 



In two previous articles, in the issues 

 of The Eeview dated March 9 and 16, 

 the writer offered some suggestions on 

 sowing tomato seed and on transplant- 

 ing the seedlings to flats. 



While these young tomato plants are 

 growing, we must not forget that toma- 

 toes require a dry, buoyant atmosphere. 

 Too much moisture will cause weak 

 and sappy growth, a most undesirable 

 state of things. Great care must be 

 taken in watering the young plants. 

 Do not water them unless they want 

 it, and then soak them thoroughly. 



Free ventilation should always be 

 given when possible. Always avoid a 

 draft, but ventilate suflBciently to 

 maintain a dry, buoyant atmosphere. 

 In extremely hot weather leave the 

 ventilators open all night. 



Planting on Benches. 



As soon as the plants in 3-inch pots 

 have filled the pots with roots, plant 

 them out in their permanent quarters. 

 This is an operation that should never 

 be delayed. If the plants remain in 

 the pots too long, they will become 

 potbound. The foliage will turn yel- 

 low and drop off. The plants will rap- 

 idly deteriorate and will not be of 

 much use to the grower. It is better 

 to plant them out a week early than 

 a week too late. To be in time, you 

 must plant in time. 



To get tomatoes really early, they 

 should be planted on raised benches. 

 The bottom heat thus obtained will 

 accelerate the growth and make it con- 

 tinuous. Tomatoes like a dry, warm 

 atmosphere, with plenty of air. To 

 get them early, the temperature in the 

 daytime must range from 65 to 80 

 degrees or more, in clear weather. A 

 steady, regular heat is the best. A low 

 temperature and chill will hold back 

 the early crop of tomatoes for weeks, 

 and in many cases the chill will cause 

 the flowers to drop instead of setting. 



Compost for the Benches. 



The compost for an ordinary 6-inch 

 bench should consist of good fibrous 

 loam, to which has been added well de- 

 cayed stable manure in the proportion 

 of one to six. This will give both 

 chemical and physical action, invalu- 

 able to the plants. To this compost 

 I would add one-fourth pound of super- 

 phosphate, one-half pound of bone meal 

 and two ounces of potash sulphate to 

 every two square yards of bench, fork- 

 ing this in just before planting the 

 tomatoes. Some growers may object 

 to this, but experience proves that 

 tomatoes are heavy and balanced feed- 

 ers. True, they can be spoiled in the 

 early stage by gross feeding either 

 in the form of sappy manure or an 

 overdose of some compounded nitrog- 

 enous manure. This I have avoided, 

 and it should always be avoided. It 

 is an easy matter to turn a fruitijig 

 plant into a foliage plant, thereby hav- 

 ing your first fruit trusses a foot from 

 the soil instead of having two bunches 

 in that space. 



The condition of the compost is an 

 essential point. It should be sufficiently 

 moist to hold together in the hand 

 when squeezed, and dry enough to fall 

 to pieces when released. A sodden 

 soil means a cold soil; a cold soil 

 means no root action; no root action 

 means no growth, and this spells dis- 

 aster. 



Taking it for granted that we are 

 going to grow the plants on the single 

 stem, they should be planted eighteen 

 inches apart each way. Make the 

 ground quite firm around the plants 

 when planting. F. E. B. 



BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. 



Last week several hundred feet of 

 motion pictures, a part of a weekly 

 news film, showed a large field of 

 Eastftr lilies in full bloom in Massachu- 

 setts. Outdoors, in March! If there 

 were any florists in the audience it is 

 safe to say that they were mildly as- 

 tounded at seeing Easter lilies flower- 

 ing in the open in Massachusetts the 

 second week of March. The literature 

 accompanying the picture said that the 

 lilies recently were photographed at the 

 R. & J. Farquhar & Co. greenhouses, 

 Roslindale, Mass., and, further, that 

 these flowers were grown in large num- 

 mers in anticipation of a heavy de- 

 mand at Easter. Notwithstanding that 

 Easter this year is April 23, these mo- 

 tion picture lilies persisted in blooming 

 outdoors more than a month ahead of 

 time! Perhaps the whole thing was a 

 trick of photography, intended to fool 

 the people but not the florists. The 

 truth probably is that a field of Lilium 

 myriophyllum was photographed some- 

 time last summer, and the film put on 

 the shelf for a year. But then, better 

 late than never. 



FLOWER GUM. 



Can you give me any information as 

 to a preparation of mucilage for pelar- 

 goniums t It is called floral cement in 

 England, and is dropped in the center 

 of the flowers from a small oil can, to 

 prevent the flowers from falling. Where 

 can it be bought t J. E. T. — Wis. 



Floral gum, or cement, is used to a 

 large extent in England and has been 

 for many years, especially in the cen- 

 ters of pelargonium flowers, either cut 

 or on the plants, when they are sent 

 to the market. A single drop suffices 

 for each flower. Thin mucilage might 

 answer, but is not so colorless as floral 

 gum. I do not know of any American 

 concern offering this cement. Sutton 

 & Sons and other English houses offer 

 it at 1 shilling and 2 shillings per bot- 

 tle. It would import easily. C. W. 



LILY LEAVES BROWNING. 



Will you please tell us the cause of 

 the brown spots on the ends of the en- 

 closed lily leaves t You will notice 

 that only the tips of the leaves are af- 

 fected. K. & 8. C— Wis. 



This may be due to disease in the 

 bulbs, improper temperatures or too 

 much water. Keep your temperature 

 for g^ganteums about 60 degrees at 

 night, water them carefully and spray 

 them freely, and I do not think the 

 trouble will spread. Such leaves often 

 appear when bulbs have been over- 

 watered in the early stages of growth 

 and the plants kept too cool. C. W. 



