22 



The Rorists^ Review 



Mabch 24, 1921. 



at this time of the year and will stand 

 considerable feeding. W. J. Keimel. 



BLOOD FOB BEAUTIES. 



Is fresh blood from the slaughter 

 house good for American Beauty roses I 



J. S.— 111. 



BADLY AFFECTED BY THRIPS. 



Please give us any information you 

 can in regard to the roses we are send- 

 ing you. The foliage appears to be in 

 good condition, but the flowers fail to 

 open up well. W. S. H. — la. 



The rose bud on arrival was badly 

 wilted and the edges of the petals had 

 turned brown, so that it is uncertain 

 what is causing the flowers to fail to 

 open. From the appearasce it seemed 

 to be badly affected by thrips, which 

 cause the malformation of buds and pre- 

 vent them from opening perfectly. 



A solution of Paris green should 

 remedy this trouble. Give the roses a 

 weekly spray of Paris grcon and brown 

 sugar, five parts of sugar to one part 

 of Paris green. Dissolve about one 

 ounce in a gallon of water. This spray 

 will keep the thrips in check. 



W. J. K. 



TEMPERATURE TOO LOW. 



Under separate cover I am sending a 

 number of Columbia roses and should 

 like to know the cause of the trouble 

 with them. The plants were fine until 

 the beginning of January, up to which 

 time I had been growing them at a 

 temperature of 70 degrees during the 

 day and 60 degrees during the night. 



After January 1 I began to grow 

 them at 60 degrees during the day and 

 r>0 degrees at night, and a few times 

 the buds became almost bullheaded. 

 They would partly open and then drop 

 oflF. I then gave them manure water, 

 but they began to show brownish 

 stripes on the stems; so I discontinued 

 the manure water and gave them blood, 

 bone and soot every ten days. I kept 

 the soil just wet enough so that I could 

 insert a pointed stick with slight pres- 

 sure. The climate is extremely damj) 

 here, but we have had a fair amount of 

 sunshine. I have a bench divided be- 

 tween Columbia and Ophelia and, al- 

 though I treated the Ophelia the same 

 as the Columbia, the former are doing 

 well. When filling the bench last 

 .\ugust, I used seventy-five per cent 

 heavy black loam and twenty-five per 

 cent cow manure. J. W. — N. Y. 



The Columbia rosebuds were dried 

 up when received and nothing could 

 be learned from their appearance, but 

 if the temperature of the houses was 

 kept down to 60 degrees during the 

 day and 50 degrees at night, there is 

 no* doubt that it would prevent the 



flowers from developing and cause them 

 to become bullheaded. Ophelia will not 

 suffer so much from the low tempera- 

 ture as will Columbia, but even Ophelia 

 cannot be commercially grown at that 

 temperature successfully. 



Keep the temperature from 68 to 72 

 degrees on sunny days and 64 to 66 

 degrees on cloudy days.. At night dur- 

 ing cold weather they slrould be kept at 

 from 58 to 60 degrees aijd when the 

 weather is mild the temperature should 

 be 60 to 62 degrees, with a little ventila- 

 tion whenever possible, to prevent the 

 plants from becoming soft. 



At the low temperature you men- 

 tioned the plants stand practically dor- 

 mant and are unable to assimilate the 

 fertilizer. This will do them more harm 

 than good, causing them to act as you 

 described, but at the higher temperature 

 the plants should start a strong growth 



It might be well to go a little slow in 

 the use of fresh blood for any green- 

 house crop. ^ M. P. 



CXJLTURE UNDER BENCHES. 



' Is it possible to get stems and foliage 

 on Narcissus poeticus ornatus, as with 

 Paper Whites,, by resorting to the under- 

 bench method, with heat and darkness 

 under the bench? R. W. — Mass. 



This useful narcissus can be grown 

 and flowered by under-bench methods, 

 but you will not get the same quality of 

 either flowers or foliage by adopting 

 this plan. It is all right to place your 

 flats under the bench for a short time, 

 but if you want blooms and foliage with 

 substance, give them a position well up 

 to the light in a bed or bench and in a 

 house which is not too warm. The 

 writer's first batch of this variety 

 flowered this season February 20, in a 

 cool house with a night temperature 

 averaging 45 degrees. C. W. 



Marion, lU. — F. B. Bell, of Creal 

 Springs, 111., has entered into partner- 

 ship with Harry Shafer and the two are 

 building a store. The firm name will be 

 Shafer & Bell. 



being yellow and of inferior quality. 

 Can vou tell nie what the trouble is? 



J. T. F.— Okla. 



RUST ON ENCHANTRESS. 



I have sent you a cutting of En- 

 chantress carnation, which, to my mind, 

 is badiv infested with rust. J. I. — O. 



The carnation cutting is badly in- 

 fested with rust. I would advise that 

 you procure stock that is clean for the 

 coming season 's planting, because the 

 chances for success arc against plants 

 from cuttings badlv infested with rust. 



M. P. 



FRESH MANURE HARMFUL. 



I am sending a few specimens of my 

 carnations, which are badly aiTected 

 with something that I am not able to 

 get under control. I know that they 

 have been infested with thrips, but I 

 have sprayed for the riddance of them, 

 and there are none to be found now. 



The plants never have done well since 

 they were benched. Two other houses 

 of carnations, liowever, are not affected 

 in this way. I have grown carnations 

 for ten years and never have I had 

 plants act like this. Practically every 

 shoot on the plants is affected. 



The soil had been treated with fresh 

 horse manure before I benched the 

 plants. Even freesias, which I planted 

 along the edges, are affected, the plants 



The fresh manure in the soil is prob- 

 ably the cause of your trouble. These 

 specimens showed only the natural re- 

 sults of failure on the part of the plants 

 to take hold properly after being 

 benched. There are signs of red spider 

 and thrips, but not enough to stunt the 

 growth. It jjvould have been better to 

 leave tlie fresh manure out of the soil 

 and later on supply fertilizer in the 

 shape of top-dressing and mulch. 



A. F. J. B. 



TOPPING CARNATIONS. 



What is the proper time to top carna- 

 tions? We grow several varieties. The 

 plants are over six inches high and are 

 strong. How far should thev be topped? 



■j. D.— 111. 



The proper time to top young carna- 

 tion plants is when they have made 

 sufficient growth to show the stem 

 l)lainiy between the joints. Sever the 

 stem above the highest joint that will 

 throw a strong break. Varieties will 

 differ somewhat in this and you will 

 have to be guided by the kind of cut- 

 tings that were used and the condition 

 of the plants. A joint that will throw 

 a weak shoot or a bud should be taken 

 off. A. F. J. B. 



