JOLV 26, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



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How^ R. Vincentt Jr.> & Sons Co.t White Marsh, Md.> Beat the High Cost of Labor in Planting Acres of Dahlias. 



PLANTING OUT BY MACHINERY. 



Because of the scarcity and increased 

 cost of labor, machines are taking the 

 places of men on the E. Vincent, J"., & 

 Sons Co. place at White Marsh, Md. 

 Plowing is done by tractor, while a 

 planting machine is used to plant out in 

 tlie field. The tractor and planting 

 machine in operation are shown in the 

 accompanying illustrations. 



It was to meet the labor conditions 

 that the Vincent company experimented 

 witii the machines. It was discovered 

 that with the tractor one man can do 

 the work of three men and ten horses. 

 Three men and the planting machine 

 can accomplish as much in a day as six 

 or seven men. 



The soil is prepared for planting by 

 disk harrows drawn by the tractor. The 

 planter is of the same type that is used 

 for planting out vegetables, tobacco and 

 other plants with the exception that for 

 tlie plants named there is a barrel of 

 water carried and a little is dropped at 

 the root of each plant. For flower 

 plants, the barrel is removed and a plat- 

 form installed. "We can plant with 

 this machine about 20,000 2-inch pot 

 dahlia plants and the same quantity of 

 3-inch pot canna plants," declares Mr. 

 Vincent. 



THEIPS IN HOUSE AND FIELD. 



I am having trouble with thrips on 

 gladioli outdoors and in two houses, 

 one used for sweet peas and the other 

 tor carnations. I am anxious to get the 

 jiests cleaned out before the new crop 

 of peas is planted. I do not know 

 whether these are like the thrips in the 

 fast. The young ones are straw- 

 colored and cannot jump far. The 

 mature insects are black and about 

 one-eighth of an inch long, and 

 '•an jump fast. I have two beds of Bon- 

 iiaffon mums in the sweet pea house and 

 these insects are on them also. I am 

 spraying with Nico-Fume twice a week, 

 syringing with strong pressure twice a 

 '>ay and keeping the ground stirred. 

 This does not seem to help. Will Paris 

 green or arsenate of lead help and at 

 "what strength is it safe to use these in- 

 Joors? Will fumigating with tobacco 

 stems help? The thrips are much worse 

 outdoors than in the houses. 



V. G.— Mo. 



Do not use Paris green alone. It will 

 not kill the pests and will probably burn 

 the foliage. Neither will arsenate of 

 lead prove effective in itself and it 

 disfigures foliage badly. Tobacco stem 

 fumigation I have little faith in. 

 C. W. 



A FAILURE WITH BEGONIAS. 



I have had a failure with tuberous 

 begonias and should like to get some 

 suggestions as to the probable cause. 

 The tubers were started in flats in Feb- 

 ruary and made a fine growth at first, 

 but since they were moved from 4-inch 

 pots into 5-inch and 6-inch pots to flower 

 they have been going down steadily. 

 The root action is poor. The flowers 

 wither as soon as they open and the 

 plants have a sickly apeparance, with 

 sometimes a branch or leaf-stem rot- 

 ting. The soil used was such as we 

 grow coleus in, consisting of one part 

 leaf-mold, one part rotted manure and 

 three parts old compost from the sweet 

 pea beds. The soil is clay. Was this 

 too light and rich for the final potting? 

 The plants are in a shaded house. The 

 ventilation is not first-class and the 

 temperature runs from 90 to 100 de- 

 grees in the daytime, with about 60 de- 

 grees at night. Would a cooler house 

 suit them better and should they be car- 

 ried wet or on the dry side? Does wet- 

 ting the foliage on bright days harm 

 them? V. G.— Mo. 



wallias, lavateras, Scilla sibirica, pusch- 

 kinias. Anemone Giant St. Brigid, Al- 

 lium neapolitanum grandiflorum. 



L. A. W.— Miss. 



Your soil was not of the best for 

 tuberous begonias. If you would leave 

 out the leaf -mold at the last potting and 

 use one part old, decayed cow or horse 

 manure and three parts well rotted and 

 broken up sod, with some coarse sand 

 and broken charcoal added where the 

 loam is of a clayey, retentive nature, 

 your plants would do much better. How- 

 ever, I think you have grown them much 

 too warm and close. These begonias 

 need some shade and should not be 

 syringed overhead at all. They want a 

 cool and well ventilated house and the 

 shade must not be heavy. Allow them 

 to dry out fairly well between the 

 waterings, but never let them become 

 anything like dust-dry. Feed well with 

 liquid manure when the pots are well 

 filled with roots, C. W. 



Try spraying with a mixture of one 

 pound of Paris green, 100 gallons of 

 water and twenty pounds of brown 

 sugar. I have found this quite effective. 



PLANTS FOR CHRISTMAS BLOOMS. 



I would like to have some plants in 

 bloom at Christmas and want to know 

 when to plant and when to expect 

 blooms of the flowers: Godetias, bro- 



You cannot flower Scilla sibirica, 

 Puschkinia libanotica, Anemone St. 

 Brigid, Allium neapolitanum and lava- 

 teras for Christmas. Browallias, if 

 sown now, can be flowered at that time, 

 and godetias sown early in August and 

 grown as cool as possible can be 

 flowered for the holidays. None of the 

 plants you name will prove of much 

 value for the holidaj^s. Godetias, even 

 if you can flower them, are likely to be 

 in poor condition during the darkest 

 period of the year. C. W. 



SMILAX THE THIRD YEAR. 



Will smilax plants do well the third 

 year, providing they are cleaned and 

 transplanted into new soil? The plants 

 are doing splendidly, sending up a fine 

 batch of new shoots. C. A. — Pa. 



Smilax may be grown for three years 

 in the same bed if the plants remain in 

 good condition, and probably will give 

 better results without replanting. Ke- 

 move the rubbish from the surface of 

 the bed and the dead growth from the 

 plants; then give the plants a good top- 

 dressing, with the compost consisting of 

 one part soil and one part cow manure. 



Syringe the plants regularly and 

 water them moderately until the growth 

 gets a start. After this season it would 

 be safer to dig out the bed, refill it with 

 new soil and plant with strong, young 

 plants from 3-inch pots. W. H. T. 



OLEANDER FOLIAGE BURNED. 



I am enclosing some oleander leaves 

 and would like to have you tell me the 

 cause of their condition. 



C. E. W.— N. J. 



This condition may be due to the 

 plants having been kept too dry while 

 in winter storage. If you water the 

 plants abundantly, feed them with 

 liquid manure or top-dress them and 

 syringe them freely, they will soon 

 make abundant new growth. C. W. 



Peoria, HI. — The continued advance 

 of prices of materials has caused the 

 florists of Peoria to form an organiza- 

 tion for the purpose of pooling their 

 purchases in the future. Plans for the 

 cooperative buying were completed at 

 a meeting last week at the Siebenthal & 

 Nelson store. 



