June 28, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



11 





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Two Acres of Frames Like These, With Slatted Covers for Use in Summer, Will Winter a Quarter Million Azaleas. 



gated aspidistras, this variety being 

 simply a variation from the original 

 green type. A strong soil sometimes 

 will encourage the habit of reverting 

 to the green form, and it is quite pos- 

 sible that this may have had something 

 to do with the change in your stock. 

 There is little that can be done toward 

 altering this condition, except to give 

 the plants a fair amount of light and 

 not to overfeed them. W. H. T. 



CHLORINE IN THE WATER. 



The water on this island all con- 

 tains more or less chlorine. What is 

 the maximum percentage of this gas 

 that water can contain and still be fit 

 for watering a general run of plants in 

 the open? I am using rain water for 

 the potted stock. The citv water shows 

 over 3,000 parts of chlorine in 1,000,000 

 and I have found it harmful to many 

 plants. A test well I dug recently con- 

 tains 1,660 parts in 1,000,000. Wi'll this 

 water be safe to use? Besides a great 

 variety of tropical and subtropical 

 plants, I grow about two acres of vege- 

 tables during the winter and T am es- 

 pecially anxious to get water for these. 

 Any information you can give me will 

 be much appreciated. G. D. — Fla. 



Just how much chlorine may safely be 

 contained in water wiU depend largely 

 upon the salts with wliich it is com- 

 bined. Most commonly it is uniteil 

 with sodium, forming common salt. 

 When that is the case even one-fourth 

 as much as is contained in the water 

 from the test well would be injurious, 

 and since this salt would accumulate in 

 the soil, the cumulative effect would 

 make it unsafe to use anything like 

 even the above comparatively small 

 amount. Another factor that sliould 

 be considered is the amount of rainfall, 

 or ratlier the amount of irrigating or 



sprinkling that the crops will require. 

 The use of a comparatively small 

 amount of water at long intervals would 

 permit the use of water that would be 

 unsafe to use if large amounts were ap- 

 plied at frequent intervals. 



We would certainly advise great care 

 about relying on the water from the 

 test well, whatever the base with which 

 the chlorine is combined, for anything 

 more than an occasional light sj)rin- 



kliiu 



T. 



ODEN LETTEn^^" PEADEne 



CAPRICIOUS WEATHER IN SOUTH. 



The gulf coast section has been up 

 against it nearly a year. Since the 

 tropical hurricane of July 5, 1916, the 

 weather has been so unseasonable that 

 we do not know what to expect next. 

 After the hurricane there were floods 

 for a month. Xearly four months of 

 drouglit followed. Then in November 

 came a freeze, which was followed by 

 abnormally warm weather. February 1 

 tliere was another freeze, which practi- 

 cally cleaned up cabbage and other 

 truck-garden crops. Summer weather 

 followed until March 1, when again 

 there was a freeze. The weather during 

 March and April was colder than 

 it had been in December and January. 

 There had been but little rain since 

 April 1 and that in scattered showers. 

 January 1 to June 23 there had been a 

 sliortage of rainfall in Mol)ile of more 

 ^tliiin twelve inches in the face of the 

 fact tliat there had been several rains 

 there, l)ut tliese had not reached our 

 section, forty-four miles away. 



The drought, which had lasted nearly 

 tliree nutntlis ])ri()r to June 23, did great 

 damage to crojps, espi'cially seed and 



bull) cr()[)s. It was interesting to note 

 June 23 how such a drought affects 

 different j)lants and how much of it 

 some can stand. 



Cardinal climbers did not seem to 

 suffer at all and some ripe seeds were 

 gathered June 19. They were making a 

 vigorous growtli. 



Morning-glories were d(»ing almost 

 nothing and moonflowers had not come 

 up. 



Kainbow hibiscus was making a good 

 growtii, although this ty])e of hibiscus 

 is a native of damp locations. It made 

 a medium growth during the drought 

 and was a mass of bloom in white and 

 all tints of rose and ])ink. 



Tiie dasheen, another wet-ground 

 plant, had kept up a fair growth and 

 was standing the drought much better 

 than we expected. 



Canna had stood still and had made 

 practically no growth. Undoubtedly it 

 had made some root growtli and when 

 rain came, it was expected that it would 

 improve rapidly. 



It was a question June 23 how much 

 longer any jilants could survive with- 

 out rain and a great deal of rain would 



