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The Florists^ Review 



Mat 22. 1919. 



pests which may be lurking on their 

 roots. 



Ser Bisset advised the board to al- 

 zaleas to come in for seven years, 

 it growers here could get a chance 

 to stock up. Why was the advice of 

 such a man ignored? Could it be that 

 he was too "practical" and not suf- 

 ficiently ' ' scientific ' ' t 



A comparison of British and Ameri- 

 can methods is interesting and illumi- 

 nating. Over there the advice and opin- 

 ion of the entire trade were sought and 

 legislation such as they desired will be 

 enacted. Here the Federal Horticultural 

 Board asked the opinion of nobody. Is 

 it not high time that the personnel of 

 the board be changed and that some, 

 at least, of its members shall be prac- 

 tical men instead of "scientific" theo- 

 rists? Surely it must be so changed 

 before it can recover the confidence of 

 the horticultural interests of America. 



The Harvard Professor's Moth. 



Among the specious arguments now 

 being used to bolster up a failing cause 

 and justify the new exclusion quaran- 

 tine, we are now told of the grave dan- 

 gers facing us from the importation of 

 gypsy moth and brown-tail moth egg 

 clusters. In regard to the brown-tail 

 moth, whose possibilities for damage 

 were always exaggerated, it was once 

 abundant in New England, but is now 

 about as extinct as the dodo. The gypsy 



moth costs us $1,000,000 a year to fight 

 in Massachusetts alone, but remember 

 always that it was a legacy originally 

 given us by one of those studious en- 

 tomologists near Boston. 



Disease has practically exterminated 

 the brown-tail motli and, if our state 

 and government scientists would combat 

 the gypsy mothr with parasites and dis- 

 ease cultures, we soon would suppress 

 it, but objections to this course are that 

 many men now filling lucrative positions 

 would lose them if this sensible course 

 were adopted. 



Figbt Only Beginning. 



The new quarantine will soon become 

 law, but the fight against it has hardly 

 begun. Congress will be appealed 

 to and in no uncertain fashion. It is 

 unthinkable that a law, which I believe 

 at a conservative estimate has not the 

 support of over ten per cent of the hor- 

 ticulturists of America, can long dis- 

 grace the statute books. The fight will 

 be taken up in earnest by the S. A. F., 

 American Association of Nurserymen, 

 National Association of Gardeners, flo- 

 rists' clubs, garden clubs, horticultural 

 societies and other allied bodies, and 

 from such a vigorous war a change is 

 bound to come, not in the law only, but 

 in the personnel of a board which has 

 so flouted the entire horticultural in- 

 terests of America. W. N. Craig. 



SPOTS ON GERANIUM LEAVES. 



We are forwarding, under separate 

 cover, some geranium leaves which are 

 disfigured with spots which we call rust. 

 Please tell us what will check this dis- 

 ease. State, also, the real name of the 

 trouble, and its cause. 



L. A. E. & S.— O. 



leaves and what to do for themf This 

 trouble seems to affect only the crimson 

 varieties. M. J. 0. — Kan. 



The geranium leaves arrived in a 

 dried-up condition, so that it is hard 

 to tell what is the matter with them. 

 It is always best to submit a few 

 branches of such a plant, with the 

 affected leaves attached. The speci- 

 mens sent do not have any trace of the 

 rust so often met with on antirrhinums 

 and a few other plants. Neither do the 

 leaf-stems appear to be affected in any 

 way. As nearly as I can tell, the trouble 

 is due to some kind of scald, which may 

 be caused by escaping gases or fumes. 

 I have met with a similar trouble when 

 the geranium plants were set on coal 

 ashes from the boiler pit. The action 

 of the sun on the damp ashes generated 

 a gas which caused the leaves to scald. 

 After removing the ashes and using 

 _^sand or limestone screenings, we have 

 'not had any trouble in this respect. 



M. P. 



This is not an uncommon trouble with 

 geraniums. It often has its inception 

 in the cutting bench, where cuttings 

 frequently are allowed to remain far 

 too long before potting. Other condi- 

 tions favorable to this disease are a too 

 close and humid atmosphere, injudicious 

 spraying overhead and keeping the 

 plants too wet at the roots. The last- 

 mentioned cause gives us plants with a 

 soft, luxuriant growth, which falls the 

 most easily a prey to disease. 



To correct the trouble, let the plants 

 have plenty of fresh air and all possible 

 sunshine. Keep them well spaced apart 

 and let the soil dry out well between 

 waterings. Give the plants worst 

 affected a spraying with Fungine or 

 Bordeaux mixture; repeat the applica- 

 tion a week later. Bemove the worst 

 affected plants and avoid throwing dead 

 or diseased leaves below the benches. 

 Cleanliness, sunshine, fresh air, a dry 

 atmosphere, moderate watering and a 

 minimum of 50 degrees on cool nights 

 will grow geraniums to perfection if the 

 soil is right. C. W. 



Can you tell me the real cause of the 

 trouble! Do you think it could be due 

 to red spider f The disease is most ap- 

 parent on the variety S. A. Nutt. If 

 there is any remedy, I should like to 

 learn about it at once. C. B. K. — O. 



The specimen geranium plants clear- 

 ly show signs of black rot from the roots 

 up into the stems. This trouble is often 

 caused by overpotting and then carry- 

 ing the plants along in a wet condition 

 and a low temperature. Some growers, 

 in their haste to get their geraniums 

 into 4-inch pots, transfer them from 2- 

 inch to 4-inch and then treat them in 

 the same way as the plants that were 

 strongly established in 3-inch pots be- 

 fore being repotted into 4-inch. This is 

 a mistake. Geraniums are of succulent 

 growth and during dark or cold weather 

 are easily affected by moist, unnatural 

 conditions. 



At this late date about the only ad- 

 vice that can be given, with reference 

 to the plants that are not affected, is 

 to hold them a little on the dry side 

 until the roots are firmly established in 

 the soil. M. P. 



BUOHT ON GEBANIUM FOLLAOE. 



Will you please tell me what is the 

 trouble with the enclosed geranium 



BLACK BOT OF OEBANIUMS. 



I am sending you a sample of gerani- 

 ums that are affected by some disease. 



FBEESIA BULBS HELD LATE. 



We are sending a few freesia bulbs 

 that we ordered from California for 

 forcing. They were supposed to be %- 

 inch bulbs and to bloom this spring. 

 If you break them open you will find 

 they are full of little bulbs, such as we 

 grow on for two years. We wrote to 

 the concern we obtained them from and 

 they wrote back saying that the bulbs 

 were first-class and would bloom this 

 summer. We planted some last fall 

 without breaking them open and they 

 are not up yet. We do not look for 

 them to come up. We wish you would 

 examine these bulbs and let us know 

 what you think about them. 



K. F. C— Neb. 



Every florist knows that there are 

 many bulbs and seeds which undergo 

 certain changes if they are kept too 

 long out of the ground and that there 

 is a date beyond which they cannot be 

 kept and produce the results that are 

 had by planting at the proper time. 

 With the freesia the bulbs must be 

 planted in late summer or early autumn 

 to insure satisfactory flowering. Some- 

 times good results are had with bulbs 

 that have been kept to an unusually 

 late date, but ordinarily bulbs that have 

 been kept into the winter or following 

 spring will be like these samples. The 

 external appearance is unchanged, but 

 on breaking them open, instead of one 

 large bulb, a shrunken old bulb is found 

 with a cluster of little ones, one of 

 which probably is considerably larger 

 than the rest. This is nature's way of 

 perpetuating the new species; not be- 

 ing planted at the proper time, the bulb 

 nevertheless makes an effort at repro- 

 duction. Such bulbs will not force; on 

 being planted, all their energy goes into 

 the development of the new crop of 

 bulblets. If the little bulbs are grown 

 on they will make flowering bulbs in 

 one or two seasons. 



To find bulbs in this condition is not 

 unusual, nor is it evidence that the bulbs 

 were or were not perfectly sound when 

 sold. They may have begun the repro- 

 ductive process before the dealer sold 

 them, or afterwards. It is merely that 

 they have not been replanted in time. 



A. F'. 



