14 



The Florists^ Review 



.Uniauy 1, 11)17. 



SPACE BETWEEN SWEET PEAS. 



\\o\x I'ar :i|';i't in the inws '^IkhiIiI 

 ,-\\ cvt ]it';i^ lie jilaiil I'll .' 



\'. i;. !■■. lii.l. 



Iiuiddis |il;mt tliciii loiii- to six imhi's 

 ■ ipart ill the rows. Outdoois, lor ^ood 

 lilooms, allow twoho iiicht's i)otw(HMi 

 \hv iilaiits, (\ W. 



SWEET PEAS LATE. 



Wo \\-A\v a house oO.xirKi jilanteil to 

 sweet jteas I'or the fourth season, and 

 we notiee that the jieas ha\e hloomed 

 later eaeli season. This year they are 

 just starting ti) Mooin. '{"he eioii wa- 

 planted tiie same time eaeli year, alioui 

 the last vi' August. 



We have L;i\en all the jieas the same 

 treatment and liavo liad gooil crops, l)ut 

 later. J'laili year ■we treneh tlic house 

 about eighteen iutlus deep, t'our I'eet 

 three inehes apart, digging iu manure 

 and using thirty five or tdrty 1 lnnse 

 loads ot' horse manure. Now, are \\e 

 using too mueh manure .' 



The lirst season the soil was heavy 

 and we had some trouldc with iuid-- 

 dr(i]ip!ng, luit the next season w c 

 draiui^d the house by putting il iu(di 

 drain tilr uiuler eacdi row and since tluu 

 ha\i' had less troulde with I'uds drop- 

 idn-. d. P. K.^.Md. 



(if lia\ ing licen browiu'd by excessive 

 dryness at tlio root. .MiKlew whitens 

 the foliage and looks quite difl'erent 

 fiom foliage absolutely brown and dried 

 up as yours is. I should say that the 

 culture lias been radically -wrong if the 

 plants liavo been allowed to go for any 

 su(di j>eriod as you name without water 

 Tlie full cultural directions for winter- 

 llowering sweet jtcas appeared in The 

 Review of October 12, 19 IG. The proper 

 treatment for the plants is a mininuim 

 temperature of 45 to 48 degrees until 

 the llowers aj)poar, then ;")•) to 512 degrees 

 ;it night, with a rise of 10 to 15 degrees 

 with sunsliine during the day and 5 to 

 s deorees on < loudy d.ays. Sweet ])eas 

 M.-tturally are moisturedoving plants, and 

 if the b(>ds in whicdi they are planted are 

 widl drained there is not much danger 

 of any oversujiply of water. The sidl 

 in whitdi they are gi owing should have 

 been deeply spaded in advance and 

 plenty (d' cow or other manure, well 

 rotted, iiu'oiporated \vith it. Caridess 

 Ncntilation, causing drafts, will cause 

 niihlew. A dry, overheated condition 

 will stait red spidt r; both need to be 

 guarded against. A mulch of slieep or 

 cow manure when the plants are llouei- 

 iiig will ]iro\(' ben(dicial, but avoid the 

 use of iiuick-acting cdieniical fertilizers. 



NARCISSUS ROOTS ROTTED. 



We would like to know what causes 

 tiie roids (d' Taper White nai'cissi to 

 rot, after the bulbs ha\ e become thor- 

 oughly ro(ded. Wi' ]iotted the bulbs in 

 Octcdier, in a compost of good, iibrous 

 sod, with four or li\i' jiarts (d' rotted 

 nuinuie and one or two parts of sand. 

 Tlu' compost was piled last -May, turned 

 once oi' twice <luriiig the summer and 

 kept W(dl watered. The bulbs were 

 placed in .a trench outdoors to root, 

 and were l)rouglit into the housi' after 

 lia\iMg Idrmeil exctdlent roots. Top 

 growth came (ui linely for a while, and 

 then i)ractically stop]ied. On exaniina- 

 I ion of the. soil balls, ^ve liiul that prac- 

 tically all roots are rotted off on the 

 outside of the ball and that the ends 

 are rtdted cm the inside. I'art of tlio 

 bulbs have had bottom heat part id' the 

 time and the others have not, but the 

 ro(ds ari' all the same. We have kept 

 the plants well watered. 



The lem]ierature of the iiouse has 

 been carried at 50 to GO ilegrees at night 

 and as high as 75 to 80 degrees during 

 the day, with ])lenty of ventilation. As 

 a rule, howevt-r, the day temperature 

 has not been much over 05 degrees. 



K. & L.— Wash. 



In the lirst jilace, your eoui]uist was 

 too rich; one-thiril well rotted niauuro 

 would ha\e been ample. In the second 

 ]ilace, y(Ui made a mistake in placing 

 the narcissi in a trench outdoors, where 

 they probably were left too long, llo- 

 niember that Paper AVhito narcissus 

 bulbs are not hardy like those of tulips, 

 dalYodils and liy.ncinths. They should 

 be placed in a coldframo, cellar or pit, or 

 even under greenhouse benches, where 

 the.x' are I'ree I'rom drip, and in such 

 jdaces they randy fail to do well. While 

 they will stand such a temjierature as 

 you mention, they will tlower vastly 

 better if gi\en lud over 50 to 52 de- 

 grees at night, with a I'air rise during 

 the davtime. T. \\ . 



If you Would reduce the (Quantity of 

 manure used oio' hall', your sweet ]iea 

 Niui's would ui'ow less \ igorousl\ , but 

 bloom e.arlii'r. ('o\v manure, well rotted, 

 is supeiior to horsi' manure, if \ou can 

 secui'e it at a reasonable co>t. I \\owld 

 prefer to teed tiie ]>laut'^ with li(|iiid 

 manure and top dri'ssiiiLis of cow or 

 shi'ep manui'e, as they need it during 

 the urowiuu seamen, lather than make 

 'lie soil S.I rich at planting time. 



('. \V. 



SWEET PEA CULTURE. 



I aui seudiiig under sej'avate co\ei' a 

 siioot ol s\\ eet peas that seem to be dis- 

 eased. Jt appears to be some form ot' 

 mildew. The seeds were jdanted S^ep- 

 1 ember 11, in sandy scdl. They were run 

 ipiite dry from the start, sometimes 

 three weeks without water. At times 

 the ventilators are wide open, also the 

 doors. Would this cause the trouble.' 

 The grower maintains that they are too 

 wet. There are two holes in the roof 

 through which tlio water leaks. The 

 plants underneath tliese holes are thor- 

 iiuuhly wet and the plants on either side 

 are vigorous and larger than the rest, 

 with no signs of disease. Please tell me 

 the cause of the above condition, and 

 i;ive cultural direction-^ for the cro]> 

 irom its beginning. A. T. V. — W. A'a. 



g gg?B5yiSZ5H^TiHtR^.iis^it^Iiiu^|ii^|ii^|ii^ 



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U^ 



EDIBLE ELEPHANT'S EARS I 



:'(i\n^rrr^ift ^if r\^7i^i^fi:^i^tr ^ X^ rr\n7^ rftW 



HIGH COST OF LIVING NOTE. 



Tlie shoot forwarded was not affected 

 with mildew, but had ewry appearance 



Caladiunis for Use and Beauty. 



."<onu' years ago the I'nited States I'e- 

 partment of Agriculture took an inter- 

 est in trying to introduce into this couii- 

 ti\' cei't.aiu species of caladiunis that 

 niiL'ht jirove of \alue as I'ood jdants. 

 The Department reasoned that as sev- 

 eral \arieties of caladiunis are used for 

 food in the trojdcs, aiol as one of the>e 

 is cajiable of inoduciiig nuue food to the 

 acre than any (dher known plant, even 

 being capable of feeding two m- three 

 thousands of people jier .acre the year 

 around, there was no reason why they 

 might not jiroxc of \'alue in this coun- 

 try, at least here, in the south, where 

 the seasons :ire Ioul:. further, it was 

 reasoned th:it nnudi land too wet for 

 other croi)s might be available in grow- 

 ing thes(^ ]ilaiils. 



.\ccordingly, caladiunis weic t^.athered 

 from the four corneis of the earth. 

 These were judiciously distributed in 

 snuall cpi.antities, but thus far none of 

 them has pid\ I'd id' irreat value for the 



juirpose intended. Doubtless this is 

 largely ilue to the dilliculty in inducing 

 peopK' to take u]) ne\v things. I?ut sev- 

 eral ot' these caladiunis are of great 

 \alue frtun an ornamental standpoint, 

 anil as soon as generally known will 

 lari:ely displace tlu^ obi t'aladium 

 eseulentum. 



A Substitute for Potatoes? 



The Trinidad dasheen is perhaj'S the 

 most promising \aricty for fooil. I'rou: 

 a tuber no larger than a walnut a plant 

 is jiroduceil that grows to a height of 

 live or six feet, with leaves two feet 

 broad by two and a half feet long. A 

 tuber is produced by fall that is as 

 large as the largest esculoutu:.i tubers 

 on the market, with several offsets at 

 least as large as the one planted in the 

 spring. These tubeis, when baked, taste 

 fully as well as potatoes. The second 

 season one of these large tubers pro- 

 duces do/x^is of leaves and niakea a. 

 wonderful show. 



As an ornamental plant, this caladium 

 is Tiiost effectivD in the center of beds, 

 surrounded by plants that do not grow 



