18 



The Florists' Review 



Deckmber 7, 191C. 



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i Buddlela Aslatica. 



Buddleia Asiatica, the white, sweet- 

 scented buddleia, commonly called the 

 white winter lilac, now is opening its 

 flowers. It makes a most welcome addi- 

 tion to the list of Christmas-flowering 

 plants. It may be true that scarlet 

 plants are preferred at the holidays, 

 but no other Christmas plant has the 

 delightful fragrance of this buddleia, a 

 fragrance which equals that of Olea 

 fragrans and Daphne odorata. Unlike 

 these two plants, however, the buddleia 

 is of easy propagation and a rapid 

 grower. Plants from spring-rooted cut- 

 tings now are in 8-inch pots and are 

 bushy and three to four feet in height, 

 each carrying scores of white racemes. 

 A temperature of 50 degrees at night 

 brings this into flower for Christmas, 

 but it can be kept 10 degrees cooler 

 and flowered »6 late as mid-February. 



I Fjrapagating Begonias. 



It is ■about the right time now to get- 

 in a good batch of leav-es of any of 

 the popular winter-flowering begonias. 

 Place clean, sharp sand in the cutting 

 bench. If too fine, add some fine coal 

 ashes, coal or charcoal to give porosity. 

 Either break or cut off the leaf stalk — 

 it makes little difference which. Water 

 well as soon as benched and give the 

 necessary shade. A steady bottom 

 heat is necessary for successful propa- 

 gation and this should be 80 to 85 de- 

 grees. Plants propagated from leaves 

 are much more vigorous than those 

 raised froni cuttings later in the sea- 

 son. In addition to Gloire de liorraine, 

 Glory of Cincinnati, Melior and Mrs. 

 Peterson, the large-flowered English 

 hybrids, which far outclass all other 

 begonias in size of flowers and bril- 

 liancy, can also be increased from 

 leaves in the same way. Of these lat- 

 ter Mrs. Heal, optima, Apricot and 

 aurcana are a fine quartet.. 



Early Tulips and Narcissi. 



I doubt whether there is any money 

 in tulips and narcissi for Christmas, as 

 so large a percentage will come short; 

 stemmed or blind, but in January they 

 sell well. The present is a suitable 

 time to house a batch of any of the 

 earliest tulips and narcissi, but be sure 

 they are well rooted and have made 

 two or three inches of top growth. 

 Draw the tulips up in a warm, dark 

 case, but give the narcissi a position 

 below a bench in a warm house. La 

 Eeine and White Hawk are the best 

 early tulips for forcing, while the 

 French-grown narcissi force much ear- 

 lier than the Dutch stock, although 

 they carry smaller flowers. 



Freesias. 



Christmas freesias are always splen- 

 did sellers. To have them on time, the 

 plants will now need 55 degrees at 

 night. Give them a light bench or 

 shelves, if possible, and an abundant 

 water supply. Our plants showed 

 flower spikes before Thanksgiving. 



They are grown in 8-inch and 10-inch 

 pans and average thirty inches in 

 height. 



SpecioBum Lilies. 

 Speciosum lilies have just come to 

 hand from Japan and should be planted 

 outdoors or potted with as little delay 

 as possible. When plantipg •. them out, 

 cover the bulbs to a depth of nine 

 inches, placing some sharp sand above 

 as well as below them. A common 

 blunder is made in planting lilies too 

 near the surface. Such bulbs speedily 

 fritter away their strength when hot, 

 dry weather sets in, unless well wa- 

 tered. An ideal manner of planting 

 hardy lilies is to dot them in rhododen- 

 dron beds. The soil in these suits them 

 and the leaf mulch prevents the soil 

 from drying out. 



If wanted for indoor work, the bulbs 

 may be planted in boxes six to eight 

 inches deep, or in pots. I prefer to 

 use 8-inch pots, which will hold four, 

 five or six bulbs each, according to the 

 size of the bulbs. Place the pots in a 

 coldframe, under a bench in a cool 

 greenhouse or in a cellar. It is well 

 to state that these lilies cannot be flow- 

 • ered for Easter or even for Memorial 

 day, but will be of great value from the 

 end of June until September. For ear- 

 lier bloom cold storage bulbs, which 

 start more quickly, must be used. 



Deciduous Shrubs for Forcing. 



No time should be lost in lifting and 

 potting carefully any field-grown stock 

 of lilacs, deutzias, laburnums, malus, 

 prunus, etc. While it is customary to 

 depend on imported pot-grown plants 

 of these shrubs for forcing, any stock 

 which has been forced and planted out 

 a couple of years in the field, if lifted 

 carefully with good fibers and some 

 ball, will force just as well as the 

 Dutch-grown, imported; pot plants and 

 will often give-better results. As this 

 stock should not be started for some 

 time yet, store it in a cold, frost-proof 

 pit until it is wanted. 



STEMS SLENDER AND WEAK. 



Kindly inform us as to the advisa- 

 bility of using bone meal for our car- 

 nations. They are growing nicely, but 

 something seems to be lacking in the 

 soil, as the stems are slender and weak. 

 We are applying plenty of liquid cow 

 manure, but that does not strengthen 

 the stems sufficiently. 



T. B. A.— N. C. 



stem could be stronger. Will you please 

 advise me as to the cause of the trou- 

 ble and how to avoid it? A. S. — 111. 



Liquid cow manure is not the proper 

 thing for producing strong stems on 

 your carnations. If your plants had 

 good stems, the liquid manure would in- 

 crease the size of the' blooms and pro- 

 mote a strong growth, but in your case 

 there is something lacking either in 

 your soil or in your cultural methods. 

 Possibly your soil is too light and is de- 

 ficient in potash. In that case an appli- 

 cation of wood ashes or ground lime- 

 stone might remedy the trouble. Per- 

 liaps you have run your houses too warm 

 and neglected to ventilate sulliciently, 

 or you may have kept too much shade 

 on the glass. Any of these things would 

 have the result of which you complain. 

 Cut out the liquid manure for a while 

 and work along the lines suggested. 

 A. F. J. B. 



MAY BE ESCAPING GAS. 



I have a strong, healthy-looking batch 

 of Enchantress carnations. The plants 

 have received the usual care, with a 

 night temperature of 45 to 50 degrees. 

 Now, while the blooms are large, they 

 take on a wrinkled, sleepy appearance 

 when open. Sometimes the flower looks 

 well on the plant, but as soon as it is 

 cut it goes to sleep. Moreover, the 



If your carnations are making a 

 strong growth and are growing in a 

 temperature of 50 degrees or less, they 

 should have good keeping qualities. 

 The stems should be stronger, unless 

 your soil is deficient in lime. A light 

 dressing of lime, watered in, should 

 correct that. See if you can find escap- 

 ing gas around the place. That would 

 have the effect you complain of. 



A. F. J. B. 



YELLOWS YET UNCONTROLLABLE. 



Please identify the disease on the car- 

 nations enclosed herewith. When "the 

 plants were benched a few of them 

 showed yellowish spots, which later 

 spread and sometimes formed white 

 spots. Some of this trouble appeared 

 last year, but this year it is spreading 

 over the entire house. The soil is a 

 clay loam and sod, with about one- 

 fourth well rotted cow manuie. I have 

 maintained an even temperature and 

 the ventilation has been good. I have 

 sprayed the plants with nicotine ex- 

 tract and Bordeaux mixture, but this 

 does not seem to have checked the dis- 

 ("ase. G. E. Y.— Okla. 



The disease you complain of is the 

 carnation yellows, formerly known as 

 stigmonose. bacteriosis, etc. There is 

 a great difference in opinion as to the 

 cause of this disease. It is under in- 

 vestigation at the present time at one 

 of the experiment stations as well as 

 on commercial places. You cannot ef- 



