30 



The Florists^ Review 



November 20, 1919. 



highly for exhibition purposes, wh^n 

 they find the stems commencing to 

 crack, make a little slit up and down in 

 the bark where the crack has com- 

 menced; this relieves the condition and 

 presents cracking all around the stem, 

 whicfi causes the bloom to develop un- 

 der 4.ize. M. P. 



YELLOW TOUSET. 



Is there such a variety as a Yellow 

 Touset mum? W. & M.— Ind. 



There is such a variety as Yellow Tou- 

 set. Doubtless some of the dealers will 

 be able to supply you with it. C. H. T. 



PLANTS FOK DABS COBNEBS. 



The first aid room in a factory is more 

 or less dark, gloomy and bare. What 

 plants can you suggest to make it 

 cheerful? * M. F.— Mich. 



The different varieties of nephrolepis 

 ferns are suitable for this purpose, also 

 Aspidistra lurida and A. lurida vari- 

 egata. Among the palms, Kentia Bel- 

 moreana, Chama>rops Fortunei or Lata- 

 nia borbonica are good. The hardier 

 kinds of draca-nas are also good. Dur- 

 ing their season, cyclamens, begonias 

 and berried plants could be used. 



M. P. 



GBOWINO PANSY SEED. 



How is pansy seed grown? Is the 

 pansy self-fertilii^ing or must it be cross- 

 pollenized by the agency of insects? How 

 are the several Varieties kept pure in 

 seed production? E. W. T. — la. 



Success in growing a good crop of 

 I)ansies or pansy seed de])ends largely 

 on how the seed is treated the first six to 

 twelve days, for, if pansy seeds get dry 

 after once sprouting, they are dead seeds 

 and if kept too close they will damp off. 



A coldfraine is a good place if the 

 boards are not full of fungus. Or use 

 a box nine indies to a foot high, on good, 

 fresh ground, a little sandy, that has been 

 manured well for a previous crop, dug 

 and made fine and given a good watering 

 before the seed is sown. If weedy, sow 

 in drills three inches apart, one-sixteenth 

 inch deep. One ounce of seed will sow 

 about 300 to 350 feet of drill or ninety 

 square feet if sown broadcast. Cover 

 the seed one-sixteenth inch deep with 

 fresh sand or sandy soil, pat down or 

 roll it well and give it a light watering. 

 Dust the surface with sulphur or Grape 

 Dust. I think the latter the l)est to 

 keep the damping-off fungus from start- 

 ing. 



Then cover with boards, but allow 

 for sonic ventilation, or it might get too 

 hot; pansy seed will not sprout well if 

 kept above 75 degrees. Or you can 

 mulch them with moss, hay or whatever 

 you have handy, but keep a good watch 

 "after the fifth day and fake the cover- 

 ing off as soon as they have sprouted, or 

 they will get drawn. Then cover them 

 with the thinnest of muslin tacked on to 

 some frames. The muslin will give the 

 seedlings a little shade and protect them 

 from insects, heavy rains and drying 

 winds. The best plants for wintering 

 over in the field for spring sales or seed 

 are from seed sown from July 10 to July 

 30 in the latitude of New Jersey. Trans- 

 plant when large enough, usually in five 

 or six weeks after sowing, into the field 

 in good, rich ground. It can hardly be 

 made too rich and should be in raised 



beds, so that the water will not stand 

 on them in the winter. Plant seven or 

 eight inches apart each way. If you 

 transplant them the first time into the 

 place where you want them to grow, you 

 will have larger fiowers, since every time 

 the roots of a pansy plant are disturbed 

 the flowers will be smaller. Put just 

 enough mulch on them to hide them from 

 view after the ground is frozen. Take 

 the mulch off as soon as the frost is out 

 of the ground in the spring. 



Pansies are self-fertilizing and the 

 different varieties mix so readily th&t 

 it is almost impossible to keep any va^ 

 riety or color true. The seed is fit to 

 gather when the seed pods look a lit- 

 tle old and brown. We try to go over 

 all the beds twice each week. The seed 

 is put to dry on cloths and is readily 

 cleaned with sieves and a fan mill. We 

 leave as large a space between different 

 varieties as circumstances will allow, 

 planting the intervening spaces to other 

 flowers. We also plant those which are 

 the most alike nearest to each other. 



Charles Frost. 



spot besides picking it out? Our bods 

 are 150 feet long and six feet wide. 



M. E. T.— N. Y. 



HOUSING SINGLE VIOLETS. 



1 have in the field single violets ready 

 to move to the greenhouse for winter 

 blooming. They are nice, healthy 

 clumps. The warm rains lately have 

 made the foliage grow to the height of 

 a foot. As frost is near, would you 

 advise cutting the foliage back or let- 

 ting the frost do the work? The latter 

 would rc(iuiio much picking off of foli- 

 age. M. E. H.— Tenn. 



Do not lift and house your single vio- 

 lets until they have been exposed to a 

 few degrees of frost to check the ex- 

 uberant leaf growth and to stimulate 

 flower production. I would suggest leav- 

 ing them out until the thermometer 

 drops once or twice to 28 degrees. It 

 is best not to subject them to anything 

 lower than 24 degrees. If lifted before 

 they have had any freezing, they will 

 continue to produce foliage in abun- 

 dance and few flowers. Should you have 

 a warm spell after housing the plants 

 and the loaves should start into active 

 growth, the best plan is to let the tem- 

 ])erature in the house fall to 31 or 32 

 degrees on one or two nights. C. W. 



CROP TO REPLACE VIOLETS. 



We have two violet houses and in one 

 of them the plants are badly affecteil 

 with leaf-spot. All the foliage is gone 

 from the plants in one bed. Can you 

 suggest some other flower to grow in 

 that bed which would require the same 

 temperature as violets? We want a 

 flower to give crops between now and 

 Easter. Would pansies be profitable? 

 Is there anythin^j that will stop violet 



Pansies will succeed well in a violet 

 temperature and so will hardy prim- 

 roses or polyanthus. The first najncd, 

 provided you have or can secure strong 

 plants, would soon start to flower and 

 persist until the end of April. The yd- 

 low polyanthus will bloom heavily from 

 February on. Still another crop you 

 could plant and get good returns from 

 before Easter is snapdragons. They 

 prefer a little more warmth than poly- 

 anthus and pansies; 45 degrees at night 

 suits them, while 5 degrees lower will 

 answer for the other crops. 



Violet spot is most destructive on 

 double violets. The more robust-grow- 

 ing singles, like Princess of Wales, are 

 not all immune from spot, but are more 

 easily kept clean. A low night tempera- 

 ture, abundant* ventilation, perfect 

 cleanliness, careful watering and the 

 picking off of diseased foliage will keep 

 violets in a healthy growing condition 

 if anything will. C. W. 



LEAF-SPOT ON VIOLETS. 



Under separate cover I have mailed a 

 violet leaf, having a disease on it. It 

 eventually withers and dries up. Any 

 information or advice as to the cause 

 and rcmedv will be appreciated. 



J. S. S.— O. 



The leaf received" has been attacked 

 by what is commonly called tho leaf- 

 spot disease of violets, the best known 

 and most destructive of the several dis- 

 eases which afflict violets. In the case 

 of double violets it is much more dead- 

 ly and difficult to overcome than with 

 singles and you need not despair of 

 overcoming it. A few points to re- 

 member are: Violets need absolute 

 cleanliness, and you should remove and 

 burn the affected foliage as far as pos- 

 sible. Plants which appear utterly 

 liopeless can be destroyed. Never throw 

 any foliage on the paths or below the 

 benches. Be careful when watering to 

 damp the foliage as little as possible, 

 and water at this season only on clear 

 mornings. Ventilate abundantly both 

 night and day so long as the night 

 minimum does not fall below 40 degrees. 

 This latter temperature proves an ideal 

 one for violets at night during the cjDld- 

 est part of the winter. Spraying with 

 Bordeaux mixture on the first appear- 

 ance of trouble has proved helpful, but 

 I would rely mainly on cleanliness and 

 a suitable temperature to counteract it. 

 A close temperature must always be 

 avoided. C. W. 



St. Joseph, Mo. — Rudolph G. Rau, of 

 the Rau Floral Co., has originated a new 

 curly chrysanthemum, which he claims 

 will bloom outdoors for four to six 

 weeks before killing frosts. Its bloom 

 is of a luirplish hue with a white cen- 

 ter and varies from one to two inches 

 in diameter. 



Defiance, O, — Although local retail 

 business has been quiet, according to 

 Winfield S. Kirchcr, the successor of 

 Christ. Winterich, shipping has been 

 good. A carload of 5-incli and 6-inch 

 cyclamens was sliip]>ed on one order to 

 the east last week. The force was kept 

 busy to wrap and crate the plants in 

 one (lay. 



