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12 



The Florists' Review 



Adqust 31, 1916. 



By the first part of November 

 the plants should commence to head. 

 Keep the ground moist and free 

 from weeds, allow plenty of sun and 

 air, see that your temperatures keep 

 as normal as possible and by Thanks- 

 giving week you should be able to 

 harvest your first crop of lettuce. 



A greenhouse 18x100 feet will hold 

 3,000 plants, set eight inches apart, but 

 sometimes all the plants do not mature 

 at the same time. However, you can 

 count on at least ninety per cent do- 

 ing so, and if you do a little judicious 

 forcing toward the last you can often 

 have all your plants ready at once. 



Marketing the Crop. 



Marketing lettuce to the best advan- 

 tage is perhaps the greatest problem to 

 the grower. Some make a practice of 

 sending it by the barrel to the city 

 through the entire season, but the 

 trouble with this method is that, if the 

 market is oversupplied, your stock, no 

 matter how good, must take its chance 

 with the rest, good, bad and indifferent. 

 If you have means of conveying it to 

 a nearby market, you can see that it 

 reaches there in good shape and you 

 will know at once what price you are to 

 get for it. Or, if you advertise it, 

 often hucksters will agree to take so 

 many heads per day or week at a re- 

 gular price for the_entire season. Some- 

 times they will come to the greenhouse 

 and get it, which is an advantage. 



One way in which I disposed of some 

 of my crop — and the way which brought 

 me the best financial results — was to 

 make paraffine paper bags and put into 

 each bag a head of lettuce, first re- 

 moving the roots and large outside 

 leaves. The bags were sealed with a 

 gummed label, on which were type- 

 written my name and the date of 

 gathering. These lettuces, packed in 

 crates and shipped to a fancy grocer, 

 brought 10 cents a head, well repaying 

 the extra care and trouble. 



Selling to Hotels. 



Sometimes you can get in touch with 

 large hotels that will take a regular 

 number of heads per day. While these 

 hotels seldom pay over a few cents a 

 head/ there is this advantage in an 

 arrangement of this sort, that the de- 

 mand will extend through the entire 

 year and you can grow lettuce for this 

 purpose in the open ground through 

 the summer months. Then, too, there 

 is generally a local demand, but this 

 is always more or less uncertain in ex- 

 tent. 



After the first crop of lettuce is 

 gathered, it will be necessary to give 

 the soil in the beds a thorough spading, 

 mixing with it a light dressing of well 

 rotted stable manure and raking it all 

 over smoothly before putting in the 

 next crop, which should have been 

 started and transplanted at the right 

 time, so as to avoid any delav in re- 

 filling the greenhouse beds. The best 

 way is to start two flats of seeds every 

 two weeks, as this will give you a con- 

 stant supply of plants to transplant as 

 soon as there is room for them in the 

 beds. 



In a future issue of The Review, the 

 writer will give some suggestions as to 

 the most suitable varieties of lettuce 

 and the best methods of combating 

 pests and diseases in the lettuce house. 

 n. G. McCallum. 



ON THE MEXICAN BORDER. 



Among the scores of youthful florists 

 who are with the national guard on the 

 Mexican border is Walter Young, sec- 

 retary of the C. Young & Sons Co., of 



Private Walter Young. 



St. Louis. Private Young is not only 

 a good soldier, but an ardent gardener, 

 and already has his comrades digging 

 something besides trenches. 



HOW TO CARE FOR BULBS. 



Please inform me when to pot my 

 bulbs and when to put them in cold- 

 frames; also when should I move them 

 to the greenhouse to have them bloom 

 about the first of March and Easter? 

 About what temperature should be 

 maintained? M. E. E.— Ind. 



You do not mention any particular 

 bulbs, but I will assume that you have 

 reference to such Dutch bulbs as nar- 

 cissi, tulips and hyacinths. These usu- 

 ally come to hand about October 1. They 

 should be unpacked at once and potted 

 as soon as possible. The sooner they 



are placed in the soil after being re- 

 ceived, the better they are likely to do. 

 Bulbs after potting may be placed on 

 the floor of a cold cellar and kept there 

 until wanted for forcing in coldframes, 

 or outdoors, if you have no suitable 

 frame or cellar. If they are kept out- 

 doors it should be on well-drained land, 

 and they must be properly protected. 

 Plants should be housed from three 

 to six weeks before they are wanted 

 in bloom, and should be given an 

 average night temperature of 50 de- 

 grees, according to the season and vari- 

 ety. Watch the cultural columns of 

 The Review for more extended notes on 

 bulbs from time to time. C. W. 



CHINCH BUOS ON DAHLIAS. 



Our dahlias have done poorly this 

 year. The leaves of most of the plants 

 are affected as the samples we enclose. 

 Furthermore, many of the flower buds 

 drop off when they are about to open. 

 Can you tell us what the trouble is? 

 So far we have been unable to find any 

 bugs or other pests on the plants. 



G. R. K.— O. 



I think it probable that the tarnished 

 plant bug, also called the chinch bug, 

 is the cause of the loss of foliage and 

 buds on your dahlias. This pest is de- 

 structive not only to dahlias but also 

 to many other garden plants and is 

 not an easy pest to fight. Sometimes 

 it will sting the shoots so thoroughly 

 that the plants will not produce a soli- 

 tary flower. The full-grown bug is 

 from one-fifth to one-fourth of an inch 

 long, brown and dull yellow in color 

 and so active on the wing that it is 

 almost impossible to kill it with any 

 insecticide. In a young state the bugs 

 may be killed by spraying with a 

 nicotine or kerosene emulsion. 



The chinch bugs hibernate in heaps of 

 crop rubbish. Therefore destroy all 

 such possible abodes for them as one 

 means of control. The chinch bugs, 

 when they pierce the dahlia shoots, 

 suck out the sap, causing the shoots 

 to become distorted and black, and 

 often new shoots formed are similarly 

 destroyed. Cleanliness and early and 

 frequent sprayings as suggested are not 

 complete remedies, but they wilf, if 

 tried, materially assist you in fighting 

 a difficult foe. C. W. 



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3 



THE RETAIL -^.^^^^^^ « 



FLORIST \ 



DO AUTOS PAY? 



I would like to ask the following 

 questions: Do you think auto delivery 

 pays? If so, what make has been found 

 to be the cheapest on upkeep and ex- 

 pense? Our average loads are between 

 .500 pounds and one ton. We have a 

 .'j-mile run to the downtown section of 

 town. Are solid tires better than pneu- 

 matic? Why, or why not? 



I bought a second-hand delivery car 

 this spring and I guess I got a poor deal, 



as I have had a lot of trouble with it. 

 I am thinking now of buying a new 

 car, but would like a little information 

 on the subject before making up my 

 mind. W. J. — Minn. 



The question of whether or not auto- 

 mobile delivery pays depends on the in- 

 dividual conditions and the letter does 

 not give sufficient information for one 

 to be able to judge of the case. If there 

 are several 10-mile round trips to town 

 to make each day, one would not have 



