24 



The Florists^ Review 



May 18, 1916. 



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VEGETABLES AND 

 FRUITS DEPARTMENT 



liiiMiiiiiii 



THE A B C OF CUCUMBERS. 



I would like to find out what is the 

 trouble with my cucumbers. I have 

 650 plants on a bench with bottom 

 heat, in paper dirt bands. Some of 

 the plants are all right, while others 

 rot at the top of the ground and grow 

 spindly. Should the glass over the cu- 

 cumbers be whitewashed, and what 

 kind of fertilizer would be the best? 

 I keep the temperature at 65 to 70 de- 

 grees at night. W. P. B. — Mass. 



return pipes are under the benches. My 

 house is 20x48 feet, has three feet of 

 glass on the sides and is twelve feet to 

 the ridge. I fumigate with nicotine 

 papers once or twice a week, using four 

 papers to the house. I ran out of let- 

 tuce plants early in the fall and bought 

 1,000 more. Do you think this may be 

 the cause of the trouble? I grew good 

 lettuce with this treatment in 1915, ex- 

 cept that I used no nitrate of soda. 

 My house is now filled with lettuce 

 and it all seems to be affected. Please 

 tell me the cause of this trouble. 



E. H. W.— Neb. 



BOSTON'S MAY SHOW. 



' Use a light loam for your cucumber 

 seeds. A little well decayed and brok- 

 en manure can be added, but no chem- 

 ical fertilizer must be used under any 

 consideration, or your seedlings will 

 be ruined. Cucumbers like a good bot- 

 tom heat to start them and you should 

 use muslin to shade them while small, 

 or a coating of whitening or kerosene 

 and white lead on the glass will answer 

 the same purpose. Water somewhat 

 sparingly kt first. Good seed should 

 germinate evenly, provided the temper- 

 ature, soil and watering are right. 



C. W. 



MTLDEW ON UITTUCE. 



Under separate cover I am sending 

 some lettuce leaves. Something white, 

 like mildew, forms on the under side of 

 the leaves and brown spots appear on 



Your plants are attacked by mildew 

 and, if it has spread all over your 

 house, I am afraid the crop will be 

 practically a failure. Mildew is 

 usually caused by cold drafts. Once 

 it makes its appearance measures must 

 be taken -tq check it. The remedial 

 measure is usually sulphur dropped on 

 one of the heating pipes or painted on 

 same. Flowers of sulphur can be iJlown 

 through a powder bellows on the af- 

 fected plants. The atmosphere should 

 be kept dry, and sharp fluctuations in 

 temperature carefully avoided. A 

 night temperature of 48 to 50 degrees 

 is all right, with a rise to 56 or 58 de- 

 crees on dull days and 10 degrees 

 higher on bright days. Be sure to give 

 and reduce ventilation gradually. If 

 you allow your house to become quite 

 warm and then rush on a lot of air 

 you are courting mildew. 



Nitrate of soda I do not consider a 

 necessary or safe fertilizer for lettuce. 

 It makes the plants soft, and such fall 

 an easier prey to mildew and leaf- 



Rose Display of the F. R. Pierson Co., Tarrytown, at the Boston Show. 



the upper side. I noticed this first 

 about two weeks ago. I have picked 

 off all the affected leaves, but this 

 trouble seems to be spreading. I keep 

 the temperature from 45 to 50 degrees 

 at night and am growing the third 

 crop. I take off from two to three 

 inches of soil after each crop and en- 

 rich with rotted cow manure. I have 

 used nitrate of soda about once a 

 week, at the rate of one ounce to two 

 gallons of water. I do not water the 

 soil unless it is dry; then I give it a 

 good soaking and leave it until it is 

 dry again. I wash the lettuce several 

 times while it is small. On bright days 

 the temperature goes up to 60 and 70 

 degrees. I use hot water heat and the 



burn. While cow manure answers well, 

 I have found that partly decayed stable 

 manure makes a more satisfactory ma- 

 nure for lettuce under glass, working 

 it well into the soil. C. W, 



Superior, Wis. — In a lawsuit last 

 month William Berg charged that T. J. 

 Tjenswold was violating an agreement 

 made between them when Mr. Tjens- 

 wold sold his business to the plaintiff 

 last December. According to the al- 

 leged agreement, Mr. Tjenswold was not 

 to engage jn the florists' business in 

 Superior for two years. Shortly after 

 the sale Mr. Tjenswold became man- 

 ager of a rival flower store. Hence the 

 action. 



Show Too Late; Trade Too Busy. 



The Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety, in courtesy to the managers of 

 the Philadelphia National Flower Show, 

 this year held a much reduced spring 

 exhibition and scheduled a larger one 

 for May, somewhat as an experiment. 

 The postponed show was held May 10 

 to 14, at Horticultural hall. While the 

 show was a large and attractive one, 

 it failed to come up to expectations. 

 The time selected was most unfortu- 

 nate. Commercial men were well 

 cleaned out of plants for Easter and 

 both they and the private gardeners 

 were rushed to the limit to keep 

 abreast of their work, with a shortage 

 of labor all around. Furthermore, in 

 the middle of May, when trees, shrubs, 

 bulbs and rock plants are blooming in 

 profusion outdoors, the general public 

 cannot be blamed for preferring the 

 open-air displays. Boston, after this 

 experiment, hereafter is unlikely to 

 postpone its regular . spring show. 



In some classes there was no compe- 

 tition; in fact, several should never 

 have been included in the schedule. 

 Early May is no time to have classes 

 for achimenes, Campanula pyramidalis, 

 gloxinias or amaryllis. The walls in 

 the main exhibition hall have just been 

 painted a grayish color. This is better 

 than the previous horrible brick color- 

 ing and it appears well under artificial 

 light, but is mildewy and sepulchral 

 under natural light. 



The Exhibitors Who Won. 



Some of the leading classes and the 

 winners follow: 



Eight antirrhinums— W. C. Rust, jrardener to 

 Mrs. C. G. Weld, first, with Weld Pink. 



Azalea Indica, group coveriDg 200 square feet 

 — A. M. Davenport, first. 



rour azaleas— A. M. Davenport, first; Henry 

 htewart, gardener to Miss Cornelia Warren, sec- 

 ond. 



Calceolaria hyhrida, eight plants— William 

 Thatcher, gardener to Mrs. J. L. Gardner, first; 

 Alex. McKav, gardener to E. A. Clark, second 



Caloeolurl*Stewarti, six plants— Daniel Whyte 

 gardener to Winthrop Ames, first; Henry Stew- 

 art, second. ' 



Campanula Medium, eight plants— Henry Stew- 

 art, first. 



Ericas, six plants— Henry Stewart, first. 



Tree fern, specimen— Duncan Finlayson, ear- 



^wnd ^^'"^ Garden, first; A. M. DaveniK>rt, 



Fuchsias, four plants-r-S. J. Goddard, first. 



Heliotropes, standards— W. N. Crale. of Faulk- 

 ner Farm, first; W. W. Edgar Co., second. 



Hydrangeas, group covering 150 square feet— 

 W. W. Edgar Co., first; Alex. McKay, second. 



Hydrangeas, four plants — W. W. Edsar Co 

 first; W. T. Walke, second. 



I- HtV*'?-^''!*!^' ^^'' plants— W. N. Craig, first; 

 F. W. Fletcher Co., second. 



Orchids, group covering 200 square feet — F J 

 Dolansky, first, winning gold medal and $200 

 Cattleyas, Dendroblum thyrslflorum, phalsenopsls 

 and mlltonias, mostly were used in this exhibit 



Orchids, six varieties— J. T. Butterworth, first. 



Palms, two arecas — Duncan Finlayson, first. 



Palms, two kentlas — Duncan Finlayson, first: 

 William Thatcher, second. 



Two palms. Phoenix Roebelenli— Duncan Fin- 

 layson, first; E. H. Wetterlow, gardener to Mrs 

 Lester Leland, second. 



Palms, two of any other variety — Duncan Fin- 

 layson, first. 



Pelargoniums, show, twelve plants— W. C 

 Rust, first. 



Pelargoniums, show, six plants— W. C. Rust, 

 first; Henry Stewart, second. • 



Pelargoniums, show, specimen— W. C. Rust, 

 first. 



Pelargoniums, zonale, speelmen— S. J. God- 

 dard, first. 



Rhododendrons, group covering 300 square feet, 

 all varieties admissible — T. D. Hatfield, gardener 

 to Walter Hunnewell, first. 



Rhododendrons, group covering 300 square feet, 

 hardy varieties of Massachusetts — T. D. Hatfield 

 first. 



Rhododendron, specimen — T. D. Hatfield, first. 



Roses, group covering 200 square feet — Thomas 

 Roland, first. 



Roses, six hybrid perpetnals — Henry Stewart, 

 first. 



Roses, single plant — Henry Stewart, first. 



Roses, rambler, four specimens — Thomas Rol- 

 and, first. 



