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18 



The Florists^ Review 



December 25, 1919. 



ing thirty-six commercial varieties was 

 obtained from various sources. From 

 this seed about 1,800 plants were 

 grown to maturity without a single 

 pustule of rust developing. Again, seed 

 gathered from badly infected plants in 

 the field and in the greenhouse, sown 

 and grown in the usual manner, de- 

 veloped no rust whatsoever, even 

 though seed was taken from pods on 

 which rust pustules were present. 



It can be safely stated that rust is 

 not carried 6n seed nor propagated by 

 seed. Although seeds of the snap- 

 dragon do not carry the rust from 

 season to season, and seedlings are not 

 easily susceptible to infection, propa- 

 gation by seeds has a disadvantage in 

 , the fact that few strains are fixed, and 



/ selection must be practiced in order to 



' have desirable strains. However, the 



4 use of seedlings makes it possible to 



; ^- eliminate the rust. If in a rust-in- 

 fected house or field all infected plants 

 are burned, and after a lapse of a year 

 or two a new beginning with seedlings 

 is made, clean, healthy plants will re- 

 sult. From such plants good strains can 

 then be developed by means of careful 

 selection. 



Outdoor Snapdragons. 



JiJxperiments with snapdragons in the 

 field led to the same conclusion, with 

 reference to the ineffectiveness of fungi- 

 cides, as in the indoor tests. In the 

 majority of cases rust is propagated 

 from season to season in the green- 

 house and is carried from there to the 

 field. During rainy, cloudy seasons in 

 the field, rust will completely kill the 

 plants just before blooming time and by 

 fall the whole planting will be dead. 

 It is important, then, to use only clean 

 plants in the field; this means that the 

 grower must eliminate entirely the rust 

 from the greenhouse before he can be 

 sure that he is using clean stock in the 

 field. 



A few florists grow snapdragons 

 throughout the year, but the majority 

 prefer to plant in August for an early 

 winter crop or else reserve them to 

 follow the early or midseason chrysan- 

 themums. Plants are used from both 

 seeds and cuttings. If plants are rusted 

 when benched, they rarely reach ma- 

 turity or produce salable spikes. When 

 clean plants are benched, little or no 



rust develops until in the early spring, 

 when it spreads rapidly. Temperature 

 is of importance in the development of 

 rust; it has been observed that the 

 spread of rust is checked in the house 

 by a uniformly low temperature. High 

 temperatures are favorable to the rapid 

 spread of the fungus. 



DUMSER'S DATA. 



J. M. Johnston, McKeesport, Pa., re- 

 ports that this year 's business is greater 

 and better in dollars and cents than that 

 of former years, but that not so many 

 people are buying flowers. The ones 

 that do buy take better quality, 



Joseph Thomas, Greensburg, Pa., had 

 a fine lot of good pot plants for Christ- 



ONE DAY EARLY 



Because the New Year's holiday 

 falls on Thursday, the day The 

 Review usually is mailed, the 

 issue of 



— FOR — 



JANUARY 1 



will go to press one day 

 earlier than usual . 



Correspondents and Advertisers 

 FORMS WILL CLOSE MONDAY 



Send your Copy in Early 



mas trade and found that the better 

 quality sold best. 



George S. Ferguson, Greensburg, Pa., 

 after serving in the army for fifteen 

 months, is back again and is enlarging 

 his greenhouse, having a fine trade in 

 potted plants. He looks forward to a 

 good spring trade. 



Stenson & McGrail, Uniontown, Pa., 

 had a fine lot of pot plants and found 

 that the people preferred them to cut 



flowers, as the cut flowers were hot sat- 

 isfactory for Christmas gifts. 



Mr. Thompson, manager at the green- 

 houses of W. E, Barton, Uniontown, 

 Pa., says that the pot plants helped out 

 well for Christmas, as the weather had 

 been too cloudy to bring the roses and 

 carnations into bloom. 



Jas. E. Schell, Connellsville, Pa., has 

 a fine lot of Boston ferns in 5-inch and 

 6-inch pots and finds a ready sale for 

 them. He is still cutting mums and 

 finds that the really late ones pay well, 

 since the cloudy weather is holding back 

 the carnations. 



Warrick Bros., Washington, Pa., were 

 well prepared for the Christmas trade 

 with a good line of pot plants and a 

 fair cut of carnations. 



Mr. GriflSth, of Crall's Greenhouse, 

 Monongahela, Pa., says that since the 

 government has reduced the express 

 service he finds shipping cut flowers ex- 

 ceedingly diflScult'and that if there is 

 no improvement soon they will change 

 their line to pot plants and ferns, of 

 which they have a fine lot now. 



Joseph Haube, Charleroi, Pa., finds 

 that the coal and steel strikes have 

 caused the people to buy more cau- 

 tiously. 



Western Pennsylvania growers com- 

 plain of having more than their share 

 of cloudy weather this season and there- 

 fore many firms have had to buy their 

 cut flowers this season instead of being 

 able to ship their own stock. Those 

 having late mums were enthusiastic, .be- 

 cause of the strong demand they met. 



D, W. D. 



VERBENA BEAUTY OF OiXFOBD, 



Please tell me the name of the verbena 

 which I am sending you. It has a 

 strong growth and the flower gets much 

 larger than this, with a cluster about 

 four inches across. It turns lighter as 

 it grow* older. It is seedless. 



D. F. C— 111. 



There are now so many fine strains of 

 verbenas which can be grown from seed 

 to suit the purpose of bedding out that 

 I am somewhat out of touch with the 

 named varieties. I used to have several 

 similar in color to the flower sent, so 

 that it is almost impossible to give its 

 proper name, but it closely resembles a 

 variety known as Beauty of Oxford. 



Importations of Nursery Stock by Country of Origin, durinf; the Year ended June 30, 1919. 



