FUBBUARY 15, 1917. 



The Florists' Review 



15 



VEGETABLES AND 

 FRUITS DEPARTMENT! 



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I WHO'S WHO SaSL and why I 



PESTS ON LETTUCE PLANTS. 



I have a good bed of lettuce, but 

 green flies have settled on the plants. 

 These I keep under control by using 

 tobacco smoke, but now a white insect 

 has made its home on the stalks and 

 on the ground. It is not the white fly 

 that attacks fuchsias; it has no wings. 

 How can I get rid of it and prevent its 

 future appearance? W. F. — I*a. 



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I would like to see one of the wing- 

 less flies which trouble your lettuce 

 plants. I cannot think what it can be. 

 Mealy bug is white, but would hardly 

 thrive in a lettuce house temperature. 

 If you have mealy bugs on your lettuce, 

 they can be killed by hydrocyanic 

 acid gas, but I would hesitate to advise 

 any beginner to use this remedy, ex- 

 treme caution being necessary on ac- 

 count of the acid's deadly qualities. 

 Cannot you mail one or two of the in- 

 sects in a small tin or wooden box? 

 Give your lettuce a night temperature 

 of 48 degrees and use a compost con- 

 taining plenty of horse manure which 

 is well incorporated witli the soil. 



C. W. 



BED SPIDEB ON CUCUMBEBS. 



Can you tell me how to get rid of red 

 and green bugs on lettuce and cucum- 

 bers? I have fumigated the house by 

 burning tobacco stems, but this does not 

 seem to stamp out all the pests. 



G. G. M.-- O. 



The red bugs you refer to probably 

 are red spiders, a most destructive pest 

 and one not easy to fight. Tobacco 

 smoke has no effect on them. A too arid 

 atmosphere is responsible for their pres- 

 ence. A force of water and a moist at- 

 mosphere are conditions distasteful to 

 them. If red spider gets a secure foot- 

 hold, it will be hard to exterminate. Use 

 a fine spray nozzle and direct the water 

 on the affected plants. 



Green aphis are more easily destroyed. 

 I would not use tobacco stems; as a 

 fumigant tobacco stems now are well- 

 nigh obsolete. Use one of the tobacco 

 papers, like Nico-Fume, or even tobacco 

 dust. These are effective, leave no nau- 

 seous odor behind them and are not lia- 

 ble to burn the foliage as tobacco stems 

 often do. A light fumigation once a 

 week will be a good policv and aphis will 

 not trouble you. ' C. W. 



LETTUCE TBOUBLES. 



Will you please tell me how to get rid 

 of green flies on lettuce? I have used 

 sulphur smoke, nicotine papers and air- 

 slaked lime, and have painted my pipes 

 ■with sulphur, but without killing the 

 flies. Would I spoil the lettuce plants 

 if I were to spray them with nicotine 

 while they are small? My lettuce is not 

 doing well this year. The soil contains 

 an even mixture of old soil, new soil 

 from under the sod and rotted manure. 

 I used the same kind of soil last year 

 and could cut the lettuce every six 

 weeks. The present crop has been in the 

 benches about nine weeks, but so far 

 only one bench has done fairlv well. 



GUNNAB J. TEILMANN. 



IF any of a society's members are not far enough advanced in years to give the 

 organization the benefit of wide experience, they may supply, instead, the infec- 

 tious enthusiasm and up-to-date alertness of youth. Gunnar J. Teilmann, one of 

 the active advocates of the Tennessee State Florists ' Association, was born in May, 

 1895, at Westtown, Pa. His mother died in 1906. His father, Gunnar Teilmann, 

 Sr., is a Dane and has been in the florists' trade since boyhood. While the father 

 has been engaged in business, at Marion, Ind., and later at Johnson City, Tenn., 

 the son has been imbibin{^ knowledge in the schools and in the trade. To his high 

 school education he has added a correspondence course in landscape gardening. 

 He now has charge of the bookkeeping and a part of the sales department at his 

 father's establishment in Johnson City. 



Can you to 

 condition? 



me tlie reason for this 

 W. H. H.— Mo. 



Green apliis below the foliage of let- 

 tuce is hard to dislodge, but fumigation 

 on two successive nights with such a 

 tobacco paper as Nico-Fume should 

 clean them out. If this fails try evap- 

 orating Nicoticide, over lamps contain- 

 ing denatured alcohol. I would give the 

 lettuce a spraying the morning after 

 fumigation to prevent danger of burn- 

 ing the folLige. If you were to fumigate 

 once a week your plants would not get in 

 this condition. Painting the pipes with 

 sulphur is all right for mildew, but not 

 for green aphis. A painting with nico- 

 tine would be more effective. If you 

 spray with nicotine, it would not be safe 

 to use the plants for some time, as nico- 

 tine is a deadly poison. 



I cannot tell you just why your let- 

 tuce plants have failed to do better. 

 For one thing, plants infested with aphis 

 will never amount to much. The tem- 

 perature may not be correct. They 

 should be run about 48 degrees at night; 

 if warmer, green aphis will trouble them 



more. A good soil consists of well rot- 

 ted pasture loam to which is added a lib- 

 eral dressing of horse manure, which 

 need not be fully rotted, but should be 

 well incorporated with tlie soil. Careful 

 ventilation is necessary to prevent leaf- 

 burn, particularly when a bright day 

 succeeds several sunless ones. C. W. 



Punxsutawney, Pa. — V. E. Carr re- 

 ports steady and satisfactory business. 

 He is proprietor of the East End Green- 

 house, which is the oldest florists' estab- 

 lishment in this vicinity, although it 

 did not come under Mr. Carr's manage- 

 ment until a couple of years ago. 



Saddle Biver, N. J.— John G. Esler 

 says Assembly Bill No. 16 of the New 

 Jersey legislature, to exteud the cor- 

 porate existence of the Florists' Hail 

 Association for thirty years, has passed 

 the House and is on the calendar of the 

 Senate for action. Assemblyman Wal- 

 ter G. Winne was the sponsor for the 

 measure and to him the F. H. A. is un- 

 der obligation for the rapid passage of 

 the bill through the lower house. 



