SkI'TEMHKU 11. Ullit. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



i^ 



has not been any commercial fertilizer 

 put on them to cause burning, but my 

 beds seem to be gradually turning the 

 color of the sample. Wo have had warm 

 sunshine, but the ferns are under slats. 

 They appear as if they were infested 

 with fungus. They are not grown in 

 muck soil, but in sandy loam. 



W. P. N. Co.— Pla. 



WHITE MITE ON FERNS. 



Can you recommend anything that 

 will kill the small white mite on Boston 

 ferns? They seem to suck the life out 

 of the fronds and nicotine does not ;if 

 feet them. We cannot use gas. 



E. A. E.— 111. 



Continued spraying with nicotine so- 

 lution will usually kill this insect, but 

 if you are unable to get results from 

 this treatment try spraying, or dipping 

 if the plants are in pots, with a solution 

 of whale-oil soap in the proportion of 

 one-half ounce of the soap to a gallon 

 of water. Soap solutions are liable to 

 injure the tips of the young fronds if 

 used too strong. It is best to apply 

 the insecticide on a cloudy day or late 

 in the afternoon. W. H. T. 



\ 



FBOPAOATING BOSTON FEBNS. 



Enclosed you will find a small piece 

 of frond from a fern that I grow and 

 lind to be an excellent seller. Will you 

 inform me as to the best way of increas- 

 ing the stock and tell me the name of 

 tho fern? D. R.— Neb. 



The fern in question is the Boston 

 fern, Nephrolepis exaltata Bostoniensis, 

 and in order to grow the greatest num- 

 ber of young plants the stock should be 

 planted on a table in a fairly light 

 greenhouse. The runners are taken 

 from the parent plant, as one would do 

 with the strawberry plant, leaving the 

 runner on the plant until the young 

 plant has made a leaf or two. Then 

 cut back the leaves one-half their length 

 and pot the young stock in 2V4-inch 

 pots. Place in the greenhouse and pro- 

 tect from the sun until the plants be- 

 come established. Give them enough 

 water to keep the plants from suffering, 

 but not too much before thev have made 

 roots. 'W. H. T. 



THE SOUTHEBN FEBN WORM. 



In a recent issue of The Review there 

 was an interesting article with regard 

 to a grower's experience with the so- 

 called Florida fern caterpillar. We 

 know that pest. For a number of years 

 our firm found it practically impossible 

 to grow ferns at Savannah, Ga. It was 

 the fern caterpillar which made the trou- 

 ble. It first came on the place, we think, 

 with some Boston ferns obtained from 

 Florida. Once established, it devoured 

 everything in the place; we simply could 

 not grow ferns. Then we found out how 

 to control the pest. 



Anyone who ever has had a bad case 

 of the fern caterpillar recognizes it the 

 moment he steps into a greenhouse; 

 there is a peculiar sweetish odor never 

 noted in a greenhouse unless this pest is 

 present. 



We found that we could clean up this 

 pest by simply spraying with nico- 

 tine extrdct to which fish oil soap had 



been added. Our method is to dissolve 

 seven or eight pounds of the fish oil soap 

 in a barrel of water. Then, in diluting 

 the nicotine to the proportions pre- 

 scribed on the can, we use one-fourth 

 soapy water from the barrel and three- 

 fourths clear water. Spraying this on 

 the plants, the soap makes the nicotine 

 stick and it does the business. 



This is another case in which a stitch 

 in time saves nine. In other words, we 

 found prevention better thaji cure. Now 

 we spray our fern houses every week or 

 ten days, even though there are no fern 

 caterpillars there. The spray will de- 

 stroy the pests only in certain stages of 

 their life cycle, so that, when a green- 

 liouse is badly infested, repeated ap- 

 plications are necessary to clean it out. 

 Albert C. Oelschig. 



The fern fronds were received two 

 (lays after the letter and were naturally 

 rather dry after so long a journey. The 

 impression given by these fronds is that 

 they were rather thin and weak in tex- 

 ture and apparently had turned brown 

 to some extent before they were cut. 

 There does not seem to be any special 

 mark of fungus on the fronds and I am 

 inclined to trace the trouble to sour 

 soil. 



If this diagnosis is correct, the best 

 remedy would be lime and probably the 

 best form for fern growers to apply the 

 lime would be ground limestone. Many 

 ferns do better with limestone in the 

 soil and it is an excellent corrective for 

 aciditv. W. H. T. 



PERHAPS SOIL IS SOUB. 



I am sending you, by separate post 

 some Boston fronds and would like to 

 know what is wrong with them. There 



BBIEF ANSWERS. 



J. C, N. Y. — Use one of the standard 

 nicotine extracts at the strength stated 

 in the directions on the can. 



A. C, Pa. — Put in a by-pass, so that 

 you can send the steam around the tank 

 if it gets too hot. Then you will be 



G. P. G., N. H.— Tie the cuttings in 

 bundles and bury in sand in a cold 

 cellar. 



U MMiu^}y.¥>yflu^ti^MiiLL»iiyii^^ 



HYDRANGEA CULTURE 



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PROPAGATION OF HYDRANGEAS. 



When should cuttings of French hy- 

 drangeas be started, to bloom next 

 year? Is it too late to start them now? 

 I have a bunch of rooted cuttings now. 

 Should they be cut back this summer, 

 and at what date? I also have some 

 4-inch plants, which did not bloom this 

 spring. When should they be cut back 

 and how short? What kind of soil do 

 they require? Is it better to keep them 

 in the greenhouse or grow them outside 

 during the summer? Can they be kept 

 in a cellar during the winter, and how 

 much time do they require to come into 

 bloom after being brought into the heat, 

 with a night temperature of 50 degrees? 

 What is the best commercial variety in 

 each color — white, shell-pink, rose and 

 blue? O. A. L.— O. 



No, it is not too late, even now, to 

 start some hydrangea cuttings. The 

 ideal time, perhaps, to put them in the 

 propagating bench is during February 

 or March, but they may be inserted any 

 time from January till June and even 

 as late as September. Of course the re- 

 sults vary accordingly, and the lateness 

 of the start may curtail or entirely ex- 

 clude the usual period of rest. Late 

 autumn-struck cuttings produce useful 

 dwarf-flowering plants in spring, not 

 exceeding one foot in height. Plants 

 that are propagated in early spring, and 

 grown on in pots for the next year, are 

 much stronger and taller. One Massa- 



chusetts grower states that for several 

 seasons he has started a batch of hy- 

 drangea cuttings in the first part of 

 September, placing the cuttings singly 

 in small pots of sandy loam in a frame, 

 which is kept close and moist until roots 

 are formed. These cuttings are later 

 shifted to 4-inch and 5-inch pots and 

 are never allowed to rest. They pro- 

 duce big single heads of flowers the fol- 

 lowing spring. 



As to the cuttings that are already 

 rooted, the tops of the plants must be 

 pinched out. This pinching is generally 

 done just before placing the plants out- 

 doors for the summer. For they spend 

 the summer outdoors, either plunged in 

 their pots in coal ashes or porous soil, 

 or planted out in rich ground. In either 

 case they should be liberally watered 

 and occasionally manured. The 4-inch 

 left-over plants should be cut back to 

 within a few eyes of the pot. Remove 

 some of the soil, give them a shift and 

 plunge them outdoors. They will make 

 fine plants for another spring. As fall 

 approaches, the water supply should be 

 reduced and finally eliminated. The ob- 

 ject is to insure a strong growth in sum- 

 mer and well ripened wood in the fall. 



After the first light frosts, the plants 

 should be removed to a cool greenhouse 

 and allowed to remain in a dry condi- 

 tion until about the end of December. 

 If intended for Easter flowering, they 

 should then be transferred to a warmer 

 house, with a temperature gradually 

 rising from 50 to 60 degrees. Plenty 



