DflCBUBBB 14, 1016. 



The Florists^ Review 



37 



IF IT WEEE ONLY MOTHERS' DAY! 



At Fairbury, 111., Kring Bros., who 

 ship their flowers to the Chicago mar- 

 ket, have three houses, 30x300, in car- 

 mations. Two houses are of White En- 

 ehantress and those who have visited 

 the place this month say they never 

 have seen a larger crop. The accom- 

 panying illustration shows how one of 

 the houses of White Enchantress looked 

 December 7. In addition to an abun- 

 ilant crop, the quality is excellent. 



RED SPIDER CONTROL. 



Having of late discovered signs of 

 the red spider in our carnation benches, 

 and as fumigation seemingly is of no 

 avail, we write to inquire if there is 

 any really eflfective treatment for the 

 elimination of this pest. We know that 

 red spiders will not thrive where spray- 

 ings are frequent, but this method pro- 

 duces carnation rust in our houses. 



We are informed that by vaporizing 

 sulphur we may rid the plants of the 

 spiders, and with this in view we have 

 purchased two Campbell vaporizers. As 

 yet we have not tried this remedy, as 

 we do not see how it can be successful. 

 Will vaporized sulphur do the trick as 

 claimed — kill the red spider? If not, 

 what is the most sure cure you know of. 



S. R. J.— Can. 



We have never employed sulphur 

 fumes to destroy the red spider, but we 

 have no reason to doubt the efficacy of 

 that remedy. The principal objection 

 to vaporizing sulphur in a greenhouse 

 with growing crops is the danger of in- 

 juring the plants. The device you men- 

 tion is designed to eliminate this dan- 

 ger, so why not try it? We depend on 

 salt water for keeping the spider in 

 check and have splendid results. If the 

 sulphur does not prove satisfactory, get 

 one of Evans' salt sprayers and use it 

 regularly once each week, after you 

 have the pest under control. Two or 

 three applications each week will not 

 harm the plants, but more than one ap- 

 plication is not necessary after the 

 spiders are cleaned out. A. F. J. B. 



' 'WILD GROWTH' ' IN CARNATIONS. 



We would like to have you inform 

 us what is the trouble with our carna- 

 tions. The plants seem to bo top-heavy. 

 The young shoots, instead of coming out 

 at the bottom, crop out at the top and 

 cause the plants to bend over. The 

 growths are exceedingly soft and rank- 

 g^-owing, and the plants do not yield 

 so many blooms as they should. As 

 yet we have not applied nitrate of soda, 

 •r anything else. The plants were 

 benched during the later part of July. 

 A temperature of 45 to 50 degrees has 

 Ween maintained. L. C. — Mo. 



among carnation growers as ' ' wild 

 growth." This trouble causes the 

 plants to make an abnormal quantity of 

 foliage and young shoots close to the 

 flowering stems, retarding the flower- 

 ing and in aggravated cases stopping 

 the production of blooms altogether. To 

 the uninitiated, there is a strong temp- 

 tation to take many cuttings from such 

 plants, when there are only a few scat- 

 tered through a bench, and the failure 

 of the plants to bloom may not be no- 

 ticeable in the total cut. As every one 

 of these cuttings will produce a similar 

 plant the next season, it can readily 

 be seen that the increase of this kind of 

 plants will be entirely out of proportion 

 to the rest. There is no remedy for 

 this, except to avoid these plants when 

 propagating your next season's stock. 

 The plants will finally bloom, but it 

 will be late in the season and the qual- 

 ity will be inferior and the yield short 

 in numbers. A. F. J. B. 



THE DISEASE IS BRANCH-ROT. 



I am sending you a sample carnation 

 plant. The variety is Nebraska. Fifty 

 per cent of our plants of this variety 

 have from time to time wilted and died. 

 Can you diagnose the case? We do 

 not think the disease can be stem-rot, 

 as we never had a case of this in the 

 houses. We take virgin soil from the 

 vicinity of a lime quarry and have not 

 seen a single ease of stem-rot during the 

 twenty-five years we have taken our 

 soil from that location. The Ne- 

 braskas are the only plants in the 

 house that have gone this way. They 

 have received precisely the same treat- 

 ment as the other plants, which do not 

 show a blemish. R. M. G. — Mont. 



It was not d'flicult to see what ailed 

 your ))lants. They are affected with 

 the disease known as branch-rot. This 

 fungous disease does not act like ordi- 

 narj' stem-rot. Instead of destroying 

 the plant quickly by rotting the bark 

 around the stem, it seems to work 



more slowly and usually destroys a 

 branch at a time. It is no easier to 

 combat than the other, as a plant, once 

 it is attacked, will usually succumb 

 sooner or later. By the time a branch 

 dies off, you will generally find most 

 of the channels pretty well clogged and 

 then the ruin of the plant is only a 

 question of time. The best plan is to 

 pull up all such plants and burn them. 



A. F. J. B. 



FAIRY RING CURE DIFFICULT. 



Under another cover we are mailing 

 you some leaves affected with a disease 

 that is attacking our carnations. The 

 trouble was first found on Champion, 

 but now it is spreading to Herald and 

 Philadelphia and is even crossing an 

 18-inch walk to a bed of Beacon car- 

 nations. The leaves seem to dry at the 

 ends and when a plant is affected the 

 leaves droop. What is the disease and 

 what remedial measures do you recom- 

 mend? S. B.— Idaho. 



You have a bad case of fairy ring, 

 and at this time of the year you will 

 need to adopt heroic measures to get it 

 under control. This disease, like all the 

 carnation spot diseases, is caused by ex- 

 cessive humidity and foul atmosphere in 

 the house. This should give you your 

 cue — maintain just the opposite condi- 

 tions in your endeavors to effect a cure. 

 At this time of the year it is harder to 

 fight these spot diseases than early in 

 the fall, when the summer heat has 

 passed off and the weather still is 

 mainly clear and the atmosphere dry. 

 Go over the plants first and pick off as 

 many of the spotted leaves as possible. 

 Then spray the plants thoroughly with 

 Bordeaux mixture once every ten days. 

 Paint one of the steam pipes with sul- 

 phur and lime made into a thick paint. 

 Renew this treatment about once each 

 week. Water the plants moderately and 

 maintain a bracing atmosphere by ab- 

 staining from unnecessary syringing. 

 Give the plants liberal ventilation at 

 every favorable occasion. In mild 

 weather, run a steam pipe or two, with 

 the ventilators open, rather than close 

 the ventilators and shut off steam. 



A. F. J. B. 



Billings, Mont. — J. L. Poitras, who tor 

 some years has boon associated with the 

 State Nursery & Seed Co., of Helena, 

 has opened a handsome store at 214 

 Broadway \nider the name of Billings 

 Floral Co. 



Prom your description of the plants, 

 I aaspect that you have what is known 



White Enchantress at the Establishment of Kring Bros , Fairbury, III. 



