j^^'^'i;^^;^^^- 



■::Wir^' 



20 



The Florists^ Review 



.Ocak>BKK 12, 1018. 



t 



cut off \)j the war two years, has not 

 been heard from, so that nothing could 

 be learned of the progress made by the 

 variety with him. Speaking broadly, 



few of the foreign varieties are as 

 promising here as the seedlings, al- 

 though there are one or two exceptions 

 to this rule. v Phil. 



- 



I 



i 



IC=3C 



ac=3c 



3cac 



a^zac 



a^^i 



SEASONABLE jfcv 

 Mr SUGGESTIONS 



3c=ac 



ac^c 



acac 



a^^c 



ac=ic 



I 



Canterbury Bells. 



Pot up any Canterbury bells needed 

 for spring flo,wering under glass. The 

 size of the pots will depend on how 

 large your plants are and inay have to 

 vary from six to eight inches in diame- 

 ter. Do not give them too large pots; 

 it is much better to give them a shift 

 in the spring as the flower spikes start 

 to run up, if this is found necessary. 

 Canterbury bells make glorious pot 

 plants and should be more grown in 

 this way. They will not tolerate hard 

 forcing, succeeding best in a cool green- 

 house. Plants in the field, which are 

 intended for wintering outdoors or in 

 coldframes, should be kept frequently 

 stirred, so as to get as much growth as 

 possible on them while the growing 

 season lasts. 



Poinsettlas. 



The nights are getting quite cool and 

 care must be taken not to allow the 

 temperature to run too low where poin- 

 settlas are growing. There is little 

 trouble in keeping good foliage on the 

 plants while the weather is warm, but 

 a sharp check now, especially if accom- 

 panied by careless watering, will speed- 

 ily cause a yellowing of the lower 

 leaves. It is best not to subject poin- 

 settlas to a lower night temperature 

 than 55 degrees. When the bracts show, 

 60 degrees should be maintained. Small 

 plants in pots should be made up into 

 pans without delay. Do not allow them 

 to become potbound before shifting 

 them. Water with care at all times, 

 and in using stimulants be sure they 

 are moderately weak; heavy feeding 

 will cause a heavy loss of foliage. 



Mignonette. 



When the earliest sowing of mignon- 

 ette has made growths six inches long, 

 these should be pinched back. It is of 

 no advantage to let these flower spikes 

 run up yet, as they would be of poor 

 quality and practically unsalable. In 

 order to secure strong spikes, a number 

 of the side growths should be rubbed off 

 each plant or clump of plants. When 

 the benches are well filled with roots, 

 applications of liquid manure once in 

 ten days will be beneficial. Mignon- 

 ette succeeds best in a low temperature, 

 40 to 45 degrees at night being sufficient 

 in winter, and fire heat should not be 

 turned on until it is absolutely neces- 

 sary. Perhaps you may want a spring 

 crop of mignonette to succeed part of 

 the mums. If so, seeds can be sown 

 now in 2%-inch or 3-inch pots and the 

 seedlings transplanted later. 



Single Violets. 



Double violets do better if housed 

 late in August or in September, as the 

 heavy night dews followed by hot sun- 



shine start leaf-spot, but single varie- 

 ties, like Princess of Wales, ^ould not 

 be housed before they have had one or 

 two moderate freezings, sufficient to 

 check the leaf growth. As a rule these 

 violets are in about the right condition 

 to hou8^ from October 10 to November 

 1, according to latitude. Before lifting 

 them, go over the plants and trim off 

 runners and any decaying foliage. With 

 cool nights, the plants in the fields are 

 now giving a considerable crop of flow- 

 ers, which will realize fair prices in 

 the markets. If carefully lifted with 

 a nice little ball of earth, well firmed 

 and watered, the violets speedily be- 

 come established. Ventilate the houses 

 fully night and day, leaving doors as 

 well as top and side ventilators open 

 as long as the weather permits. 



Marguerites. 



Before frost arrives, take good 

 batches of cuttings from any of the 

 marguerites planted outdoors. Pine cut- 

 tings in abundance are now obtainable 



and these can either be grown along as 

 pot plants' or planted in beds or 

 benches to follow some of the main 

 crop, or to fellow late chrysanthemums 

 as a spring crop. It is better to use 

 shallow benches for winter or early 

 spring flowering, but for a late spring 

 crop solid beds answer fully as well. 



Christmas Peppers. 



Christmas peppers are quite tender 

 and will not endure ~fi;ost like the 

 solanums, or Jerusalem cherries. There- 

 fore they should go under glass before 

 the temperature falls to the freezing 

 point. Coldframes will answer well for 

 them while greenhouse bench space is 

 occupied by mums and other crops. If 

 you have any well berried Jerusalem 

 cherries or peppers in the field, they 

 can still be potted. Shade them for a 

 few days, until the roots become active 

 in the pots. _,,^ 



Primula Malacoldes. 



Primula malacoides is the most valu- 

 able of all pot-grown primulas. It is 

 a rapid grower and many florists still 

 err in sowing it too early. If the 

 plants now are in 4-inch pots they are 

 sufficiently large and they can have a 

 shift to 6-inch or 7-inch pots before 

 they become too much potbound. Late 

 sowings which are just of sufficient size 

 to pot off will make excellent 4-inch 

 plants for winter blooming. Grow this 

 primula in a cool, light and well ven- 

 tilated house. Its foliage is quite 

 dense and careful watering is necessary 

 in dark weather' to prevent rotting of 

 the central leaves. Also, be specially 

 careful never to spray the plants over- 

 head, for the same reason. 



ABMY WORM ON MUMS. 



I am having trouble with my Smith's 

 Advance chrysanthemums and I am 

 sending you one of the lot to help you 

 in diagnosing the case. The plants were 

 benched the latter part of June, in 

 raised benches, the soil being four parts 

 loam and one part cow manure. In 

 July I mulched the plants with a %- 

 inch spread of well rotted horse ma- 

 nure. At this time, September 20. each 

 day I find five or six of the plants 

 wilted. I have given them a dose of 

 air-slaked lime, but they still continue 

 to die. Their symptoms are somewhat 

 similar to carnations affected with 

 stem-rot. Other varieties in the same 

 house are not troubled. Can you tell 

 me what the disease or insect is and 

 what is a remedy for it? D. B. — ^Ky. 



If you examine the affected plants 

 closely you will find that they are gir- 

 dled near the ground; that is to say, the 

 bark has been eaten away. This is 

 caused by the army worm, unless I am 

 greatly mistaken. This worm you will 

 find by searching in the soil near the 

 roots of the plant. It is almost the 

 same color as the soil. It was carried 

 into the house in the soil or manure 

 and is now causing the trouble. All I 



can suggest is that you look carefully 

 around each plant and by working the 

 mulch or soil find and remove quite a 

 number of the grubs. C. H. T. 



THE JOHNSON MUMS. 



What kind of chrysanthemums are 

 the C. W. Johnsons f I have some that 

 were sent to me without any other 

 designation and I cannot find the name 

 in any catalogue and do not know how 

 to treat them. A. L. S. — Mass. 



The subscriber probably has refer- 

 ence to what is known as the Mount 

 Greenwood Novelty Set disseminated 

 this season by A. N. Pierson, Inc.', 

 Cromwell, Conn. This is a set of six 

 singles raised by C. W. Johnson, presi- 

 dent of the Illinois State Florists ' Asso- 

 ciation, and secretary of the Chrysan^ 

 themum Society ef America, at the- 

 greenhouses of the Mount Greenwood 

 Cemetery Association, Morgan Park, 

 111. The names are: Cinderella, dark 

 pink; Firefly, copper bronze; Gipsy, 

 yellow; Priscilla, light pink; Bamona, 

 reddish bronze; Wenonah, silvery 

 bronze. Each of these varieties is de- 

 scribed in full in the Pierson catalogue. 

 In previous years the Pierson concern 

 also has distributed several new pom- 

 pons raised by Mr. Johnson. 



^~,rt,^-.i.^-ic-.'jt^^ii.'-ff.-^'1a.T^^M.^:x:.->i-a3i. ■ .■,fS\riAMjS^-'^-^^*^^^^^^V^tf^iiM'rik ■ 



