Fkbhuauy 22, 1917. 



The Florists' Review 



15 



have been, and are toeing, built in great 

 numbers. In fact, growers have been 

 realizing such good prices that every 

 inducement is being held out to them . 

 to augment their supply of flowers. 



Outdoors in Warm Climates. 



"Until a year ago I never dreamed 

 of the winter-flowering varieties being 

 of value except for greenhouse culture, 

 but they have proved to be just what 

 was wanted for subtropical, or at least 

 almost frostless countries. In Florida, 

 where the regular summer-flowering va- 

 rieties, even when sown in the autumn, 

 lo not bloom until April, by sowing the 

 i.arly sorts in late September or early 

 October, they begin to flower in late Pe- 

 i-ember and continue throughout spring, 

 or indeed until the heat knocks them. 



"On our seed ranch in California this 

 season they came into flower in March, 

 from November sowings, and bloomed 

 continuously well into summer. In fact, 

 all warm climates can now grow sweet 

 peas to perfection if the seed is sown 

 at the proper season and the true eaily 

 varieties are used. 



"This was apparently recognized in 

 Australia with the advent of Yarrawa, 

 with the result that hybridizers there 

 liave also been busy and Australian seed 

 fjrowers are offering quite a number of 

 new early-flowering Spencers, some of 

 which I hope to try out another year. 



"Frank G. Cuthbertson has also been 

 liusy in the same direction and his firm 

 is now offering a set of new early-flow- 

 oring Spencers, while A. C. Zvolanek 

 liad apparently made a start when Coun- 

 tess Spencer was introduced in 1904 and 

 lias had a number of varieties on the 

 market for the last two seasons." 



HALBROOKS' SWEET PEAS. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 .'I part of a house of sweet peas grown 

 'ly X. 0. Ilalbrooks, at the establish- 

 ment of William Halbrooks, Evansville, 

 lud. The peas were planted September 

 1 and were in full crop January 10. 



SWEET PEAS DROPPING BUDS. 



We are having trouble with our sweet 

 peas. The buds dry u]) and drop off. 

 *''»uld this be caused by a drop in the 

 iii^lit temperature to 40 or 45 degrees, 

 ^\liich lias oceurred several times lately, 

 "1- would the use of water at a tem- 

 Jierature of 35 to 40 degrees be the 

 ' aiise? We aim to keep the temperature 

 ["!• botli sweet peas and carnations at 

 ■'" to '>-2 degrees at niglit, watering 

 j-|ia.riiig]y and fumigating with nicotine 

 iightly every two weeks. 



For the last few weeks we have also 

 '•ad trouble with some of our carna- 

 'ion blooms. On a majority of the 

 Mooms the ends of the petals curl in 

 •*ard tightly and the flowers do not 

 •'Pen at all. Those that do open look 

 sleepy. The varieties affected are Kn- 

 '•hantress, White Enchantress, Dorothv 

 '■"I'ion and White Wonder. We are 

 4i()win<,' Ward, Beacon and Herald in 

 'lie same house, but these varieties <l() 

 ""t seem to be affected. J. M. K.— Ta. 



Bud dropping is-^the bane of the sweet 

 pea grower. Some of us think we have 

 a pretty good idea of what causes it, 

 "It inasmuch as we cannot eliminate 

 Ine cause, wo are unable to prevent the 

 ''■•^PPinf!:. Dark, cloudy weather, ap- 

 I'-ireutly, is wliat brings on bud drop- 

 I'lKg and as long as we are unable to 



A House of Spencer Sweet Peas Grown by Wm. Halbrooks, Evansville, Ind. 



substitute sunlight we shall have to i)ut 

 up with the bud dropping. High feed- 

 ing and excessive moisture may aggra- 

 vate it, but we are not sure about that. 

 Some day we may ha\e varieties tliat 

 will lie free from this trouble, but they 

 iiave not been offered to the trade as 

 yet. 



I tannot tell, from your letter, what 

 iniglit ])e tlio cause of your carnations 

 beliaving as they do. If you will send 

 me a plant sliowing the trouble, I may 

 be able to lielp you. I'ack it so that if 

 will reach me in a fresli condition. 



A. F. J. R. 



hot water pipes until the rhizomes start, 

 after which tliev are shifted to 4-in'',h 

 ].ots. ' W. F.— N. Y. 



CROPS FOR ROSE TEMPERATURE. 



Please suggest some blooming plants 

 which can be grown in a rose liouse tcm- 

 j)eriiture and wliich are suitable for fu- 

 neral work and cut llowers. We are 

 growing callas, but lia\e more room, as 

 our demand for roses is small. 



a. F. C— Tenn. 



Your jdau should answer well. A 

 ^^ood plan is to ])lace the tubers on a 

 bencli on which a layer of moss has been 

 laid and to scatter a little broken moss 

 over them. The bench should be above 

 heating pipes, in a warm house. Sprinkle 

 the plants moderately and pot them 

 before tlie roots become too long. Flats 

 of sand or moss should also answer well. 

 Be careful to water the plants sparingly 

 at first, or there is danger of rotting 

 the tubers. C. W. 



LANCASTER. PA. 



In addition to callas, of which Go<l- 

 frey is l)y far the best \arioty, you 

 could grow lilies, such as giganteum, 

 Formosa, Harrisii and speciosum album; 

 bulbous flowers, such as narcissi, tulips 

 and hyacintlis, in winter; lilacs and 

 other shrubs. For stocks, candytuft, 

 feverfew, sweet peas, snajxlragons, gla- 

 dioli, Spanish irises, etc., a rose house 

 temperature is a few degrees too warm. 



C. W. 



HOW TO START CANNAS. 



What is the best method of starting 

 dormant canna rliizomes, and when 

 should they be started ? Our method has 

 been to clean, cut them and i)lace them 

 in flats of sand. We place the flats on 



The Club Trip. 



The Lancaster County Florists' Club 

 visited the Manheim florists Februarv 

 15. 



At E. P. Ilostetter's [ilace, where for- 

 merly carnations held sway, it was 

 found that the sweet jiea is gradually 

 superseding the divine flower. The va- 

 rieties are Rose Queen, Mrs. Skach, 

 Cliristmas Pink and one or two others 

 of equal merit. They have ])een bloom- 

 ing since Christmas and the vines are 

 in perfect health and promise to pro- 

 duce liigh-quality blooms until the out- 

 iloor varieties arrive in .lune. Much 

 space is devoted to yellow daisies, which 

 have been and are producing long- 

 stemmed, mammoth blooms. Several 

 houses of them have been carried over 

 for years and are veritable forests of 

 bloom. Where the early mums were 

 yellow snapdragons now are blooming, 

 riiey are of superb quality. Primula 

 Forbesii, of which there are 50,000 



