22 



The Florists^ Review 



Mauch 31. 1921. 



incorporating a lot of niauuie and pos- 

 sibly bone meal and lime, and get 

 our plants to take hold and .start into 

 immediate, active growth. If we renew 

 our soil from the field without the addi- 

 tion of manure, only adding a moderate 

 coating of lime, our plants start readily, 

 but the flowers and stems are lacking 

 size, length and strength for a part of 

 the season, until the fertilizer and 

 manure added as a niulcli begin to show 

 effect. 



The market gardener will fertilize 

 heavily one sea.son, and expect to realize 

 results from such applications the fol- 

 lowing year and each successive year. 

 The soil, through continual addition of 

 fertilizer and humus, will be annually 

 put in better condition. Now, does it not 

 appear a little useless and foolish to 

 throw out soil just as the fertilizer in- 

 corporated in it is beginning 'to .show 

 eflFectt Is it not possible that a few of 

 us who may have difficulty in getting 

 our plants to take active "hold in the 

 fall may be able, by a little experiment- 

 ing, to take advantage of improvement 

 in our soil through years of fertilizing? 



The rose grower does not renew soil 

 under a 2 to 5-year period. I have seen 

 houses of the finest roses grown on 

 soil that was planted to sweet peas for 

 years previous. Last year one hou.se 

 on this place was replanted to roses 

 that had been just planted to roses five 

 years ago. Part of the soil was renewed 

 and part was not and today the plants 

 in the old soil are making the better 

 growth. Last spring we planted Pilgrim 

 roses in a house that had been used for 

 sweet peas and carnations for five years 

 without changing the soil. We renewed 

 part of the soil and left some of the old 

 soil in as a check. Today the plants 

 in the old soil are ahead, though at the 

 start the plants in the new soil appeared 

 to do better. 



Pointers in Planting. 



The argument is advanced tlint a 

 freeze is necessary to put the soil in 

 good mechanical condition. Tf this were 

 absolutely necessary, have you ever 

 wondered how they would do it in the 

 most wonderfully fertile land in the 

 country, Florida or southern California? 

 Do they not grow luxuriant crops there 

 twelve months in the year? 



It does not matter how rich your soil 

 is; if your plants are in pots or paper 

 bands they will start readily and grow 

 rapidly. Of course, it niny be possible 

 to overdo the feeding and give them in 

 digestion, as we know it is easily jios- 

 sible to do that to ourselves, tn our 

 case the results are generally unpleasant 

 for a short time — sort of a dark brown 

 taste and a grouchy feeling. The <'!irna- 

 tion is likely to be aflfected with splitting 

 calyxes and weak stems. 



Our cuttings are all planted in .T inch 

 dirt bands and kejit growing in these 

 until planted in the house. Mr. Sim 

 stated that he jilanted 8xS inches and 

 some varieties, such ns Bennra and Avia- 

 tor, we plant 7x8 inches and Lassie 

 8x10 inches, as the latter is a rapid 

 grower. Our plants suffered somewhat 

 by being in the bands too long, though 

 a few weeks after ]danting the growth 

 started, vigorous and healthy. We have 

 never before grown carnations of as 

 good quality: the flower cut is con- 

 tinuous and will average away ahead of 

 our annual totals in the past. 



For many years the average carna- 

 tion grower followed the advice of a 

 man prominent at the time as a grower, 



to allow the soil to become quite dry 

 and then water thoroughly. If you prac- 

 tice that method today and consider it 

 an essential to success, do not try indoor 

 culture, for you will surely fail; if not 

 entirely, at least partially, and then 

 you will be ready to condemn the 

 method and say uncomplimentary things 

 about it. Throughout the summer and 

 winter we have been watering our car- 

 nations as often as the roses, except 

 several times when we have been too 

 busy to get it done. We never let this 

 "too-busy" excuse keep us from it in 

 the summer and early autumn. 



Watering the Beds. 



We use the Skinner irrigation system 

 in our houses and water a bed until it is 

 saturated, possibly several feet deep. 

 We find after such watering in the sum- 

 mer time the beds dry off much more 

 uniformly than after they are watered 

 with a hose. Just as soon as the sur- 

 face of the soil felt a little on the dry 

 side, though barely dry enough to cul- 

 tivate, it was soaked again. Our aim 



He Went Somewhere. 



was to keep the soil so that it never 

 looked dry. Every two weeks the beds 

 were dried off sufficiently to hoe the sur- 

 face until it was fine and loose; allowed 

 to lie a day to kill any possible weeds 

 that escaped the sterilizing, and then 

 watered again. 



When the shorter autumn days re- 

 tard the drying of the foliage, we dis- 

 continue the use of the Skinner system 

 and water underneath the foliage. The 

 Skinner system is only a summer proposi- 

 tion for carnations. 



One mistake we made this year that 

 we shall not repeat was in topping the 

 plants too late, all varieties being topped 

 last season early in Sejiteniber. Match- 

 less and other slow-growing varieties 

 should not be topped after August 1, 

 while Reiu)ra and White Benora wiU be 

 about right to]iped August I.'). Aviator, 

 Lassie and Reel IJead ran have a last 

 topping September 1. August 1 is late 

 enough for Lnddie. With these dates 

 for topping, blooming will start about 

 October 20 to Xovcmher 10 with us. 



Spraying for Red Spider. 



Another detail, almost as essential 

 as watering, is to keep a cireful watch 

 for green aphis and red spider. Neither 

 of these insects is difficult to control 

 if preventive measures are taken in time. 

 We do not syringe our roses or carna- 



tions nearly so often as the majority of 

 the growers do, but when we do get on 

 the job we aim to do it more thoroughly 

 than I have seen it done on some places. 

 Our water pressure can be regulated at 

 from ten to seventy-five pounds, but we 

 find forty-five to fifty pounds will clean 

 spider off carnations in about three 

 syringings, three days apart, so that the 

 job need not be repeated for six or eight 

 weeks; in fact, part of our plants have 

 not been syringed from the time they 

 were planted to the present day. Match- 

 less appears to be more susceptible to 

 spider than some of the other varieties, 

 and has been syringed four times to date. 

 To get a thorough job we make our own 

 nozzles, or rather have our tinsmiths 

 make them, by soldering a female hose 

 coupling to a piece of %-inch brass tub- 

 ing about twenty inches long. The end 

 of this tube is soldered shut and a slot 

 sawed one-third of the way through one 

 side of the pipe at an angle, about one- 

 half inch from the end. This slot was 

 made wider with a thin, flat file. We 

 have had to make several of them to get 

 the slot the satisfactory size and angle. 

 We have several oilcloth suits to protect 

 the operator from the spray. These long 

 nozzles are guided between the rows on 

 the ground, and the water goes almost 

 straight into the air, playing sad havoc 

 with the spider browsing in his happy 

 hunting ground. 



While the weather is warm, green 

 tiy can be kept in check quite easily by 

 spraying with nicotine or by fumigat- 

 ing. 



Simple and Successful. 



Under the above method of culture 

 the plants lose no roots and receive no 

 check at transplanting and they can 

 1)0 fed at any time without fear of in- 

 jury, Jjuch as would result from the in- 

 discreet feeding of plants from the field 

 that were not properly established. I 

 firmly believe that by taking advantage 

 of some mistakes made this season, we 

 can get better results from indoor plant- 

 ing, in spite of the fact that a number 

 of my friends have tried it for years 

 and finally abandoned the practice. Some 

 lime each season, plenty of manure 

 added to the same old soil, good, healthy 

 plants in 3-inch bands ready early in 

 June, an abundance of water and a sharp 

 watch for insects sums up the whole 

 thing. Simple and successful it has been 

 for us, after many years of partial or 

 almost complete failure from planting 

 out of the field. 



GOING SOMEWHEBIJ. 



The man who had made a name for 

 himself by the products from nearly a 

 quarter of a million feet of glass in one 

 state and had later established a still 

 larger range in another state was asked 

 the question, "How would you account 

 for your making a success! ' ' 



"I haven't made a success yet," was 

 the reply. 



' ' Then to what would you attribute 

 your good start on the road to success?" 



"To put it briefly, I never got any- 

 where till I went somewhere." 



"That's somewhat enigmatic. Will 

 you explain your moaning?" 



' ' Well, when I was first in business 

 it was with my brother in a range of 

 small greenhouses which wouldn't be 

 considered of much account today, but 

 with which we were quite satisfied. In- 

 deed, I wondered if we were too much 

 satisfied to make real progress. I wanted 



