16 



The Florists' Review 



August 31, 1916.. 



SEASONABLE NOTES. 



Cattleyas. 



The last half of August and the first 

 half of September finds us with few 

 cattleya flowers. In fact, they are al- 

 ways scarcer at this time than in any 

 other period of the year. Except for 

 the small-flowered but ever useful C. 

 Harrisoniaj and a few late stragglers 

 of C. gigas and C. Miss Willmott, the 

 flowers would be practically nil. Every 

 florist who grows cattleyas for home 

 trade should include a few of C. Har- 

 risoniflB. It grows well in pans or 

 baskets suspended near the ridge of 

 the house, where it gets fairly good 

 light and plenty of fresh air. 



C. labiata now has its sheaths well 

 advanced and buds can be seen on some 

 of the plants. How ill we can afford to 

 lose this fall cattleya! And it is a 

 thousand pities that imported plants 

 get smaller each year and at the same 

 time more expensive. Will not some 

 enterprising raiser of orchid seedlings 

 select good types of labiata and raise 

 them in quantity! Such seedlings 

 should command good prices even be- 

 fore they flower and should prove a 

 paying proposition. The seedlings will 

 have far more vigor and better lasting 

 properties than collected stock. Keep 

 the labiatas well supplied with water, 

 but not too heavily shaded. This sum- 

 mer has proved the wonderful advan- 

 tages growers have who possess mov- 

 able shades, as there have been many 

 days when all orchid houses would have 

 been vastly better without any shade 

 at all. 



C. Triana?, C. Percivaliana, C. 

 Schroederffi and other cattleyas which 

 follow C. labiata have all got bulbs 

 pretty well made up. Where feeding 

 is done — and I consider it a decided 

 benefit to well rooted cattleyas where 

 they are given an abundance of fresh 

 air — it is well to use it in weaker doses 

 when the sheaths are well advanced. 

 An overdose may destroy some of the 

 flower buds, even though the plants 

 may show no ill effects. C. Mossiae, C. 

 Mendelii, C. Skinneri, C. speeiosissima, 

 C. gigas, C. Gaskelliana and other late 

 spring or summer-blooming varieties 

 will still need a good water supply, but 

 as the evenings grow cooler be sure to 

 have the atmosphere of the house dry 

 before nightfall. Do not, on any con- 

 sideration, close the ventilators be- 

 cause of one or two cool nights. Cat- 

 tleyas love fresh air and there are few 

 days in even the most severe weather 

 when the ventilators cannot be opened 

 for a few hours, while at this season 



there is no earthly excuse for closing 

 them either night or day. 

 Dendrobiums. 

 Plants of Dendrobium formosum 

 giganteum, and D. Phakenopsis and its 

 form Schroederianum, should still be 

 kept in a warm, moist house. These 

 two dendrobes love heat, and if a little 

 fire heat can be given on cool nights 

 it will be of decided benefit. Many of 

 the plants of D. nobile and its many 

 hybrids, also D. Wardianum, now have 

 their pseudo-bulbs well developed and 

 firmed, and these should be removed to 

 drier and somewhat cooler and more 

 airy quarters, to assist in ripening their 

 growths. The water supply also should 

 be gradually decreased. Where the 

 plants have not completed their 

 growths, keep them hot and moist, clos- 

 ing the house sufficiently early to bottle 

 up a nice, brisk heat. 



tom saved the craft, but she was forced 

 to lay up in Kirkwall fqr repairs. The 

 cause of the accident lay in the lack 

 of lights. 



From his mother's home near Lisse 

 Mr. Van Aart could hear the roar of 

 the cannon on the Belgian front. "The 

 roaring was continuous and sounded 

 like an earthquake," he said. Mr. Van 

 Aart also saw numerous aeroplanes and 

 at night once discerned two in a battle 

 in the sky above Belgium. The flash 

 of the rapid-fire guns of the planes 

 could be seen, although they could not 

 be heard. 



To go into Germany from Holland it 

 is necessary that one show letters and 

 credentials, explaining one 's business in 

 full, and to wait eight days for the 

 papers to be sent in to headquarters, 

 examined and returned. Directly across 

 the Holland border in Germany it is 

 necessary for one to secure a permit 

 from the mayor of the town in order 

 to get food at a hotel. 



While food is obtainable in Holland, 

 the prices are extremely high. Butter 

 sells for $1.25 a pound, while eggs bring 

 7 and 8 cents apiece. Potatoes sell at 

 $2.25 and $2.50 a bushel. Meat is un- 

 obtainable. 



Every lot and fence corner is under 

 cultivation in Holland, according to 

 Mr. Van Aart, and the chief difficult}' 

 is in securing labor to ■work the farms 

 and gardens. Wages ar^^twice as high 

 as usual. A part of the problem is 

 solved in allowing each of the soldiers 

 to return to his home one month in 

 every six to work his garden or farm. 



VAN AART HOME FEOM HOLLAND. 



John Van Aart, of Paducah, Ky., re- 

 turned home August 24 from a trip to 

 his native town, iLisse, in Holland. Some 

 of his experiences are of general in- 

 terest. 



Mr. Van Aart left New York June 

 17, sailing aboard the Ryndam. The 

 steamer's first stop was at Falmouth, 

 England, where they spent two days, 

 not being allowed to land. They had a 

 safe passage across the Atlantic, but 

 after leaving Falmouth struck a rock, 

 tearing a hole in the ship's side twenty 

 feet long. The steamer's double bot- 



MULCH FOR ASPARAGUS. 



Would a mulch of oak leaves benefit 

 Asparagus plumosus nanus? How would 

 it do to mix stable manure with the 

 leaves as a mulch for asparagus? 



G. K.— Fla. 



The oak leaves, when rotted, could 

 be mixed in compost and used to ad- 

 vantage for some crops, but as a mulch 

 for asparagus the stable manure alone 

 would be preferable. Asparagus is a 

 rank feeder and enjoys a liberal quan- 

 tity of cow manure, either in the soil 

 or when used as a mulch, or both. 



W. H. T. 



CLUB-ROOT ON CARNATIONS. 



Is there any remedy or check for 

 club-root on carnations, or are my 

 plants all doomed? They were planted 

 in April under a light shading of laths, 

 in soil that had never before been culti- 

 vated, and were lightly mulched with 

 stable manure. The plants grew lux- 

 uriantly. I gave them the first hoeing 

 three weeks ago, during a period of 

 rains. The week following they began 

 showing a decline and today I pulled 

 one up and found it badly infected 

 with club-root or root-knot. 



O. W. H.— Fla. 



As far as we know, no remedy has 



been found for this disease. Once the 

 plants are badly affected, they succumb 

 sooner or later to such an extent that 

 the returns from the bench space do 

 not pay for the cost of growing. This 

 trouble seems to be confined chiefly to 

 the southern states, from which we 

 have received a number of complaints, 

 and it would seem worth while for one 

 of the experiment stations located in 

 that section to take up this subject for 

 investigation. It has been suggested 

 that a salty fertilizer, such as nitrate 

 of soda, might prove beneficial, but 

 this is merely a suggestion. 



A. F. J. B. 



