18 



The Florists* Review 



MAltcil ;'.l, ll»21. 



MHS^zi5y s^gsgz?ii!^ii.^i'>y{iMi>y{i^^ 



BEST BEGONIAS 



WINTER FLOWERING BEGONIAS. 



Discussed by Expert. 



At tJie aiitmiiii i'xhil)iti(iii of llic Mas 

 sachuHftts JIortitMiltiiial Society, last 

 November, a ri'inarkable exliibit of 

 forty-three \arieties of the winter-llow- 

 <>rin}j bej;;oiiia was made by Thomas K. 

 Proctor, of To]is(iehi, Mass., for wliich 

 the society's t;ol(l moilal was awarded. 



A.S this coiii]iaratively new vaee of 

 tioweriiif^ jdaiits is likely to jirove of 

 groat value in fjreciihouse cultivaf ion, 

 sotne notes on their history and culture 

 are jiresented in the latest issue of tiic 

 society's bulletin, the cultural notes be 

 infj sup]ilie(l by .lames Marlbonnifrh. jjai 

 ileuer to Mr. Procter. 



The Parent Plant. 



Begonia socotrana, from which the 

 winter flowering varieties have been 

 evolved, was introduced in 1860 from the 

 island of Socofra, in the Red sea, by 

 Prof. Isaac Hayley Balfour, of Kdin 

 burgh, Scotland. John Heal, of .lames 

 Voitch & Sons, Chelsea, lOnghuul, recog 

 iii/.e(l tht> ])ossibilit iis of this s])ecies for 

 hybridizing .-ind to him belongs the 

 honor of raising the first hybrids of the 

 winter flowering begonia which are the 

 results of crossing Begonia socotrana 

 with several large flowereil, tultiMous 

 rooted varieties. 



The first of these varieties to receive 

 recognition from the Koyal Horticultural 

 Society was the John Heal, exhibited 

 by James Veitch & Sons in 1885. Little 

 wiis heard of them again until 1002, when 

 James Veitch & Sons exhibited a grouii 

 of these plants and about fhis time listed 

 twelve varieties in their catalogue. 



In later years the work was taki'ii u]' 

 by Clibrans, Manchester, Kngland, who 

 have now listed about fifty varieties in 

 their catalogue. The flowers are large, 

 single, double :ind semi double, some over 

 three inches in diameter, and vary in 

 color from scarlet to light salmon jiiiik. 

 A pure y(dlow or a juire white has not 

 yet appeared. Tiny ;ire ]iroduced in late 

 "autumn, when showy flowers are desir 

 able. The flowers are sterile, wlii<h nc 

 counts for their long duration, and with 

 ordinarv care a plant will last in full 

 bloom from six to eight weeks. 



Greenhouse Ciiltiire. 



After lloWiiiMg. the )il:Mits ;ire jiL-K-cd 

 where they ^et some light ami a tem 

 perature of .".."> ilegrees. They should be 

 kejit moder.-itely dry until about March 

 1, when most of the old stems will have 

 fallen off and the young growths will 

 have developed from the axils of the 

 leaves. Following the directions of 

 Clibrans, when these new growths are 

 about two and one-half to three inches 

 in length they should be taken off as 

 cuttings, inserted singly in thumb pots, 

 and ]>laced in a i)ro]iagating case or in a 

 close house in a temperature of 70 de- 

 grees. 



Many of them have small tubers and 

 the o]<i stems should not be cut off too 

 near the crown. Let them fall off, which 

 thev will do as the new growth starts. 



When they show new roots they should 

 be potted into small iiots, using a light, 

 sandy mixture of loam and leaf-mold in 

 ecpial jiarts, and jdaci'd in a teni])erature 

 of (ill degrees at night. Do not syringe 

 the ]ilants or water them overhead, but 

 ke(>)) the house moist. Fumigate about 

 once a week, somewhat stronger than 

 \\ith other plants, to ])revent insect 

 jiests, of which the mite is the worst. 



These will make good flowering ])lants 

 in the autumn, but for large exhibition 

 ]dants it may be necessary to st.'irt leaf 

 cuttings in November in the same way 

 as with (Jloire de Lorraine. In this way 

 many of the varieties can be grown to 

 s])ecimens thrt>e to four feet in diameter 

 ill one year. 



■Vajieties. 



The following is a list with a briel' 



description of the forty-three varieties 



shown in the exhibit of .Mr. Pioctor: 



.VUriniliimi I'iiik Iloulilf. hriulit pink. 

 Apriiiil Doulilc, oniii).'.. pink. 

 .Xiiri'Miiia — Sini;lc, K'l'ei'nisli vcUdw. 

 Ht'acoM— Doulili', nil. 

 » Kciiuty of H:ilf It(inl>lo, siilmou pink 

 Hritiinni:i Koiil.li'. si'iirli't. 

 liowiloii lii'iuit.v Ilonlili', rciHi' pink 

 Ciiarmin),' Doiibli', pink, 

 ('liliriin's Ci'iinsipn -Dmilpli', crimson 

 ClilTiin'.s rink— I»(>iililc. Iiiit;lit pink. 

 Clilirnn's lied — Sint;!'', ri<l. 



Coiiipii'sl .Siiit'lc. salmon pink. 



llaz/.lci'- Scnii diiulili', I'limsou. 



Display Sinj;k', salmon. 



Diuhi'ss of Wl•slmili^O•I• Double, liwiil piuk. 



Kclipsc- Sinulc. salnion-ii'il. 



ICIalior- Scnii (lituMf. ruse carmine 



Kmily ('lilir.'Ui DouMc. salmon pink 



lOniprcss Donlilo, salmon ml. 



lOnsi^u — S(ini-(lo\ililc, larminc. 



Kascin.'ition -Single salmon oranci- 



Kircllamc Sintjlo, liriulit oranm'. 



I'"lanilicail--Douhlo. oiansic srai'lt'l. 



Hit Majesty -Sinwlo, lirii;lit orange 



Idea la -.Single, rose carmine. 



l,u<y Cliliran Doulile, salmon pink 



Maleliless - I)o\ilile. salmon. 



Miss Clihran Donl>le. hlnsh pink. 



Mr. 'J'. II. Cook— Donlde, HkIii jiink 



.Mrs. ('libran--Donble, liKbt pink. 



Mrs. Ileal — Single, rose <arniiiie. 



Optima — Single, salmon. 



Orange King — .Single, orange yellow 



I'icolee— Double, orange salmon. 



I'ink rerfeelion — Double, blusli pink. 



Premier Double, rose salmon 



Kailiant Double, cerise crimson. 



Kosaliml- Single, pink. 



Hose Queen Semi-double, rose. 



Splendor Double, red, 



.Sunrise -Double, ros.v red. 



Vnlean Double, larmine pink 



Winter I'lieer -Seniidouble, ros<' earmine 



JACKSONVILLE, ILL. 



(iood Friday at Jacksonville saw 

 spring showers and this was followed 

 by a good rain Saturday morning. The 

 rest of the day w.as warm, with a little 

 s})rinkle. Easter Sunday was good un- 

 til about noon, when another shower 

 came up. By Cloudily morning the tem- 

 per.'itnre had droi>ped to ir> degrees. 

 Faster business with Joseph Heinl & 

 Sons was first-class. Fverything was 

 cleaned up and the delivery went on 

 without a hitch. Lilies and hyacinths 

 were the bi'st sellers. Orders as low as 

 50 cents were taken by this firm and 

 given good service. 



4M^'i M'ityj|}!^iiu'iM¥ij|ty.w>{iiy{iiy{i^|tyii}U'^^^ 



POISONING ANTS 



t7^TS^^^Ig^l^^Tmfltf^tI??^tT??^^^ 



ELIMINATING THE ANT PEST. 



Results of a Government Experiment. 



The i)resen<e of ants in greenhouses 

 is usually an indication that some of the 

 pl.'ints are infested with one or more 

 species of boneydew ]>rodiiciny insects, 

 such as nii'aly Inigs, soft scales, plant 

 lice and others, it is generally recog 

 ni/.eil that ants ;ire much i-oiicerued 

 .■iliout the welfare of these insi cts. They 

 j)rotect them from natural enemies, 

 transfer them iroiu time to time to 

 young siici-ulriit orowth .lod liiiild 

 shelters for their jirotect ion. This in 

 terest on the part of the ;nits may be 

 ;iccounted for by the f.iet tli.it they col 

 lect and tr.insfer to their nests th<' 

 hoiieydew or swect fluid which is f\ 

 creteil by the various inseets. It is this 

 habit of till- ants which is t:iken .-ol 

 v;int;ige of in the use ot poi-oind bait, 

 writes (J. A. Weigid. of th. Iinri.iii oi 

 entomology of the Dt p.-irt noiit of .\<;ri 

 culture, Washington, I). (', 



A recent experiment, in which ,'i syniji 

 jioisoned with sodium arsenite w;is used, 

 definitely determined that ants can bo 

 satisfactorily controlhNl, if not entirely 

 eliminated from infested greenhouse's. 

 So coinincing were the results that the 

 experiment is briefly descriheil for the 

 benefit of those growing plants under 

 glass. 



Facts about the Greenhouse. 

 The greenhouse in wliich this t<'st 

 was conducted containtnl misctdlaneous 



plants, including crotons, which were 

 infested with two hon(>y(lew-producing 

 coccids, the long soft scale (Joccus 

 elongatus Sign., and the common mealy 

 bug, Pseudococcus citri Risso. Two 

 species of ants were concerned; a small 

 sjiecies jiojuilarly known as ''the crazy 

 iinf," Prenoli'psis longicornis Latr., 

 ami a larger one, Tetranmorium 

 ;,niineensis F:ib. The ants were present 

 in such numbers that the plants, 

 lieiiclies and w.ilks were liter.ally alive 

 with them. 



The Poison Bait Formula. 



The formula for the |)oison bait useil 

 ill this experiment was as f(dlows: 



< ir.'inul.ited sugar 15 lbs. 



Water 7V> pts. 



T;irt;iric acid (crystallized) .. . % oz. 



Tliesr ingredients were slowly boiled 

 Ifir thirty minutes and allowed to cool. 

 In thr meanfiine three-fourths of one 

 ounce of sodium arsenite (NaAsO.), 

 was dissolved in one-half pint of hot 

 water and allowed to cool. The two 

 were then combined by thoroughly 

 stirring to insure a complete combina- 

 tion. Finally one and one-half pounds 

 of pure honey was adiled to increase the 

 .attractiveness of the mixture. 



The Experiment and Results. 



At 11 o'ldock on the morning of Feb- 

 ruary 11. 11>1.'1, twenty five jdeces of 

 sponge saturated with the poison bait 

 were distributed throughout the green- 

 house. To ]irevent dilution of the 

 poison syrup in the sponge when the 



