AuoDsx 24. 1916. The Florists^ Review 



15 



getting rid of injurious insects. Under 

 field conditions this can best be brought 

 about through good drainage, clean cul- 

 ture and rotation of crops. Under glass- 

 house conditions this can best be accom- 

 plished by sterilization with steam or 

 carbon bisulphide. Cleaning the soil 

 does not mean that its liveliness shall 

 be destroyed, but rather that its life 

 and response shall be improved. Indeed, 

 where the most severe treatments are 

 used desirable bacteria that may be 

 killed in the process can be largely re- 

 placed. 



It is reasonable to consider the prac- 

 tice of absolute cleanliness about the 

 field and glasshouse as another impor- 

 tant step in the control of plant para- 

 sites. Under field conditions this state 

 of things is incidental to cleaning the 

 soil, but under glass it is not necessarily 

 so. As often as the crop is removed, the 

 house should be given a complete clean- 

 ing and sterilization. 



Clean Stock. 



With a clean soil, in a clean environ- 

 ment, clean plants are needed to pro- 

 duce a clean crop. In obtaining plants 

 free from parasites the florist finds his 

 chief difficulty and there appears to be 

 no good way of getting around it. Per- 

 haps the best method is that of care- 

 fully examining all incoming plants and 

 rejecting or treating all that exhibit 

 signs of infestation by serious parasites. 

 Where the crops grown are of such a 

 character that the plants live for a 

 period of years, the placing of the re- 

 cently arrived plants which seem 

 healthy in an entirely separate part of 

 the glasshouse system, where they may 

 remain for a time sufficient for the 

 parasitism to develop, followed by a 

 ruthless weeding out of the sickly, 

 should prove a good practice. 



After the crop has started, the first 

 step in its protection from insects is 

 to keep it healthily growing, for a vigor- 

 ous plant resists attack more success- 

 fully than one the nutrition of which is 

 abnormal. The second step is to keep 

 the sharpest possible lookout for trouble 

 and treat it as soon as it appears. 



Widely Varying Practice. 



It is in the treatment of the plant 

 after the insect has appeared that flo- 

 rists' practice appears to have reached 

 its most bewildering diversity. Meas- 

 ures advocated by one grower as a spe- 

 cific for a given species are completely 

 discounted by another and an opposite 

 type of remedy substituted for them. 

 This difference of opinion is partly due 

 to the fact that florists are able to and 

 do produce their wares under so widely 

 different conditions that in some in- 

 stances what works for one grower will 

 fail for another, and partly due to a 

 failure to comprehend the general prin- 

 ciples which underlie proper practice. 

 The first is, of course, an entirely legiti- 

 mate cause for difference, but the latter 

 is inexcusable. 



The treatment which shall be adminis- 

 tered to plants infested with parasites 

 depends upon whether the injury has 

 reached a stage where treatment other 

 than prompt destruction is worth while, 

 what the plant itself will stand without 

 damage to growth and appearance, and 

 the nature of the parasite. Injury be- 

 yond a point where the plant may read- 

 ily recover, or of such a character (say 

 borers in the main stem of herbaceous 

 plants) that treatment is impracticable, 



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I WHO'S WHO ,ZJK- AND WHY I 



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GORDON M. BENTLEY. 



THE idea that work is a joyous privilege seems to form a large part of the 

 philosophy of Prof. G. M. Bentley, secretary-treasurer of the Tennessee State 

 Florists' Association, for he says: "September 23, 1877, at Great Barrington, Mass., 

 I first had an opportunity to peep into this world of beauty and action." As to 

 the genuineness of his activities, this summary of the evidence must here suffice: 

 Began his special education with a 4-year course at Cornell University; returned 

 to Cornell for post-graduate work, leaving the institution in 1901 with the degrees 

 of B. S. and M. A.; taught science for four years in Union Academy, Belleville, 

 N. Y.; became assistant state entomologist of North Carolina and instructor in 

 A. and M. College, Baleigh, N. C; now is state entomologist and plant pathologist 

 in Tennessee, and associate professor of entomology in the University of Tennes- 

 see. Besides being secretary-treasurer of the florists' organization, as aforesaid, 

 he also holds the same office in the Tennessee State Nurserymen's Association. 



must be followed by prompt destruction 

 of the plant and the parasite infest- 

 ing it. 



The Question of Treatment. 



If the injury is one from which the 

 plant may readily recover, the question 

 of treatment then becomes one of na- 

 ture, time and methods of applying. The 

 nature depends on the parasite and upon 

 the plant. 



If the parasite is an animal, the ques- 

 tion whether it consumes foliage or sap 

 must first be determined. If the for- 

 mer, arsenicals should be used if the 

 plant will stand the necessary dosage 

 without injury to its structures or to 

 its appearance. If the latter, nicotine or 

 oil should be employed if the plant will 

 stand the necessary treatment without 

 serious injury to structure or to appear- 

 ance. In the former case it is quite 

 sufficient to coat the foliage "which is 



being consumed, while in the latter 

 the insect itself must be thoroughly 

 drenched. This procedure will answer 

 for the bulk of the fiorists ' insect pests. 



There are, however, certain species to 

 which these general rules will not apply 

 and each of them may be considered on 

 its merits. For instance, many scale in- 

 sects do not yield to contact sprays of 

 strength which will leave the plants 

 uninjured, and hand removal becomes 

 necessary. Many of the scales infesting 

 palms are illustrations of this sort. Some 

 chewing insects attack plants of such a 

 nature that arsenical staining is inad- 

 missible and contact insecticides must 

 be used, as is the case with the Florida 

 fern caterpillar. 



There are crops, such as tomatoes un- 

 der glass, the insect pests of which yield 

 most easily to fumigation, which will de- 

 stroy a chewing insect as readily as a 

 sucking one. 



