20 



The Florists^ Review 



July 5, 1917. 



VEGETABLES AND 

 FRUITS DEPARTMENT 



CULTURE OF MUSHROOMS. 



I am sending you a package of mush- 

 rooms and would like to know which is 

 the right kind. I find many of the 

 small ones, but the majority are more 

 like the large ones. This is my first 

 attempt at growing them, but I intend 

 to continue their culture and would like 

 to know the name of the right variety. 



W. H. H.— Mo. 



These are small fungi which are not 

 poisonous, but not much used for food. 

 They come up abundantly in beds and 

 benches, especially where barnyard ma- 

 nure has been used freely. The mush- 

 room of commerce, Agaricus campestris, 

 of which there are several forms, is 

 touch larger and heavier than these 

 fungi and has thick, white stalks and 

 white skin while young, if it is grown 

 in a darkened position. It comes darker 

 when grown in a strong light. While 

 young the mushrooms are white, no 

 matter where they are grown, and the 

 gills are pink, turning brown and finally 

 black with age. 



Prices of mushrooms fluctuate widely, 

 but they are highest during the hot 

 summer months, when the culture is 

 most difficult on account of the preva- 

 lence of insect pests and the difficulty 

 in securing a suitable cellarage space 

 where the temperature can be kept 

 down to 60 to 65 degrees. It is com- 

 paratively easy to grow mushrooms 

 under greenhouse benches in winter if 

 provision is made to protect the beds 

 from overhead drip and the mushrooms 

 can be kept dark. Cellars also may be 

 used, but the beds must not be made 

 near boilers that radiate a drying heat. 

 I find 50 to 55 degree^ a good winter 

 temperature, while in summer we use 

 cellars where the temperature never ex- 

 ceeds 65 degrees on tlie liottest days. 

 Ventilation is given on cool nights only 

 at that season, and a fumigation Avith 

 gas once in ten days clears out all in- 

 sect pests. C. W. 



Poinsettia cuttings can be taken from 

 now until the end of July for flowering 

 in small pots or pans for Christmas. I 

 have rooted them as late as the early 

 part of August for making up small 

 pans. When the bracts sliow, the plants 

 should be given a night temperature of 

 58 to 60 degrees, and special care in 

 watering is needed if tlie foliage is to 

 be retained. C. W, 



SCALE ON PALMS. 



Can you tell me Iiow to rid palms of 

 scale, witliout washing the plants, so-je 

 of wliich are eight feet in height? It 

 is difficult to wasli the plants tlior- 

 oughly, but something must be done, 

 as much of the foliage is being spoiled. 

 W, J.— Ill, 



I find that a good way to clean palms 



men's accounts of their bouts with the 

 finny tribe are to be shorn of the em- 

 broidery before assimilating, wise men 

 say. C. C. PoUworth, of Milwaukee, is 

 a fisherman of parts, but Mr. PoUworth 

 is an exception to the general run in 

 that he is a proof-producing angler. 

 Mr, PoUworth brings back pictorial 

 record of his good luck, as shown in the 

 accompanying illustration, and thereby 

 has something on which to hang his 

 tales. 



The husky muskellunge partially ob- 

 scuring Mr, PoUworth in the picture 

 was hooked at Pelican lake, the Wis- 

 consin paradise of fishermen, where the 

 sportive Milwaukeean recently tried 

 his luck for a few days. Incidentally, 

 at the conclusion of his letter Mr, Poll- 

 worth places an onerous implication on 

 the heads of our Chicago sportsmen, 

 namely: "I note that quite a number 

 of the Chicago boys go a-fishing, but one 

 never sees any results!" 



Pollworth's Piscatorial Prowess. 



of scale is to lay them on their sides 

 and give the under side of the leaves 

 a spraying of Aphine, I have found 

 that this will kill and loosen the scale, 

 but will not remove it, A couple of 

 days later lay the plants down again 

 and use the hose on them, directing the 

 water through a fine spray nozzle. If 

 the work is done thoroughly, nearly all 

 of the scale will be blown off by the 

 pressure. Be sure to wet every portion 

 of the leaves with the insecticide. Usu- 

 ally the scale is found on the under side 

 of the leaves, but some of it probably 

 will also be found on the upper portions. 

 There are other insecticides which also 

 are good remedies for scale. C, W, 



ROY WILCOX RETIRES. 



A change in the affairs of J. P. Wil- 

 cox & Sons Co,, Council Bluffs, la., was 

 effected last week, when Eoy Wilcox re- 

 tired from the company, his stock being 

 purchased by his mother, Mrs. J. F. 

 Wilcox, and his brothers, Blaine Wilcox 

 and Glen Wilcox. Owing to poor health 

 Roy Wilcox expects for the present to 

 devote his time to personal and estate 

 matters. 



The Wilcox greenhouses are among 

 the largest in the west and since the 

 death of J, F. Wilcox have been under 

 the management of Eoy Wilcox, In 

 future Blaine Wilcox will be at the head 

 of the company and Glen Wilcox will 

 continue in charge of the large Manawa 

 houses. Extensive additions are planned, 

 which will make the establishment of 

 still larger influence in trade affairs 

 west of the Mississippi, 



POLLWORTH'S PULLING POWER, 



The veracity of fisliermen is said to 

 be as elastic as a woman's age; fisher- 



Reading, Pa. — Work has begun on a 

 $25,000 greenhouse by the Lord & Burn- 

 ham Co. for William Leith, who op- 

 erates the Homeacre farms, Mr, Leith 

 has a store at '617 South Main street. 



^IlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllillllllilllilllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllilJ^ 



POINSETTIAS rOR CHRISTMAS, = 



At what time should poinsettia cut- ^ 

 tings be taken in order to have tlie 

 plants in bloom at Christmas in 3-inch 

 and 4-inch pots, and how should the 

 plants be handled ? S. L, L. — la. 



MOTT-LY MUSINGS | 



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Louis Menand, of Troy, N. Y,, re- 

 marked that it looked gloomv early in 

 the week, but that the sudden bright 

 weather enabled them to fill their usual 

 orders at the cemeterv close bv, 



Henry Youell, of Syracuse, says the 

 wet weather has affected the seedling 

 gladioli planted out early. He exam- 

 ined some of his stock and found that 

 quite a number of the plants were rot- 

 ten. If warm weather follows now, a 

 fine growth is looked for. Many seed- 

 lings and new varieties from California 

 are on trial here for the first time. 

 Entries for the show at New York dur- 

 ing the S, A, F, convention. promise to 

 make a full list, according to Mr, Youell. 



Albert It, Davis, of Syracuse, took a 

 day off to indulge in the piscatorial art, 

 "Only the rainy weatlier permitted 

 such recreation at tliis busy time," ob- 

 served Mr, Davis, ' ' for we have been 

 up to our eyes in work right along." 



The Humphrey Floral Co., of Rome, 

 N, Y,, is a corporation formed by two 

 sisters, who conduct a modern retail 

 establishment with every success. 

 Equal to any emergency, in this instance 

 caused by enforced absence of male 

 help, both were performing tasks I had 

 never before seen done by daughters of 

 Eve, and I venture the opinion that 

 never were plants more carefully wa- 

 tered nor window boxes more artistic- 

 ally filled. 



W. T. Hughes, of Rome, notes an 

 increase in general business through the 

 season of fully fifty per cent, and is, of 

 course, sanguine regarding the future. 



E, J, Byam, of Rome, says: "By all 

 means show your patrons by word and 

 action that ours is a business just as 

 necessary in the lives of the people 

 today as it was to the Romans of ancient 

 times," The fine stock so attractively 

 displayed indorses his views and attracts 

 the ducats. W, M. 



