36 



The Florists^ Review 



|»K< KMBKIt 1, lillil 



as soon ns tliry ;iic i'i|ic, watering aiiil 

 Kliailiii^r tlu'in until fall, 'riicii they can 

 lie carricil (ixcr in the open j^rouiid and 

 arc Ix'ttcr plants in the spriiiji;. We 

 often sow ill liic open in l'\'l)niary and 

 most of these jilants hlooiii the first year. 

 Tlie liest of flieiii are large eiioiiiih to 

 shi]) north by the last of Ajiril or the 

 first of May. 



J'ereiinial plilox, in order to he sue- 

 cessfully grown, should he jiroteeted by 

 lattieo, a.s lliey siilTer badly during .the 

 hot, dry days of siiiiiiiier. Often entire 

 stoel<.s are lost at this tiin(> for laek of 

 shade. We lia\e faith enough in them, 

 however, and we are ])laniiing to ])roi)a- 

 gate something like 1(1,000 next spring 

 and this faith is tiased on past experi- 

 ■enee. 



GROWING VICTORIA REGIA. 



The Royal Water Lily. 



The royal water lily, Victoria regia, 

 indigencnis to ttie Amazon river, al- 

 though in its native habitat it is a per- 

 ennial, is trc^ated at Ihe I'liipps eoii- 

 servatory, in Sclienley jiark, Pitts- 

 burgh, as an annual. The seeds are 

 started about danuary 1, inserted in 

 sand in shallow pans and ])laced in a 

 tank containing water, the temj)erature 

 of the water being 90 to !).") degrees. 

 This tcmjjerature is maintained until 

 tlic seeds germinate, whieh takes from 

 eight to ten days. The temperature of 

 the water after that period is <lecreased 

 to about 80 to 85 degrees, at which time 

 the seedlings are j>laecd singly in li'i"- 

 inch pots. (TlK-yare rei)otted wlienever 

 necessary until the final j)otting, whieh 

 is generally in 8-iiuh pans, from which, 

 at the beginning of May, they are 

 lilanted in their permanent (piarters for 

 the summer. At this time the temjiera- 

 turc of the water is decreased to about 

 80 degrees. The temperature of the 

 Iiouse at night is 70 degrees. This also ^ 

 ai)plies to the house where the si-eds are 

 start e(l. 



They are jilanted in cement boxes, 

 eight feet square and thirteeii iiiches 

 deep, in an irregu)ar-sha[>ed tank 28x-lS 

 feet, two plants lieing jilaced in the 

 tank. The coinjiost in which they are 

 j)lanted consists of three ]iarts ordinary 

 soil .and one jKirt widl decnmposeil cow 

 manure, with a gooil sprinkling of bone 

 Hour. In addition to this, six inches of 

 manure is ])laced on the bottom of the 

 boxes before they .are tilled. After they 

 are filled, the surface is covered with 

 about two inches of sand, which helps 

 to keej) the water clear. When jdanting, 

 the water is run up to within an inch 

 of the top of the boxes. After the 

 ])lanting is done, the water is run up so 

 as to have about four in(dies of water 

 covering the crown of the i)lant, gradu- 

 ally increasing as the pl.ants grow, until 

 finally there are fifteen inches of water 

 over the crowns. 



At the time the accompanying ])hoto 

 graph was taken there were twenty 

 leaves in the tank, two fo eight feet 

 in diameter, with rims .'liiomt six inclies 

 liigli. If the tank were larger, there 

 would be far more leaves, but the rapid 

 growth of the plant makes it necessary 

 fo remove the older leaves to make room 

 for the newer ones. 



The peculiarities of the Victoria 

 regia are the smallness of the flower 

 compared with the gigantic leaves, and 

 the changing of the color of the blossom. 

 When the blossom, which is about 8 

 inches in diameter, first opens ia the 



morning it is a ]uiie white, with a ba- 

 nana like fragrance. About 3 ]>. m. 

 the c(d(ir -yt^+i li;i\e gradually changed 

 from white to^i faint ])ink, increasing 

 in intensity unn+-ttT\'veiiing it is about 

 the color of an American Ueauty rose. 

 The following morning it will be sub 

 mergi'il and will sink gradually to the 

 bottom of the t.'ink, where it will j)er- 

 fect the see(l for the f(dlovviiig year. 

 The blossoms are not hand ])(dlinated. 

 One of the jieculiarities of the lily is the 

 fact that there are fiercq, si>ines on the 

 undei' side of the leaves, try which they 

 are protected from fish, etc., below. 



A good method of saving the seed is 

 to place a receptacle on the bottom of 

 the tank early in the summer for six or 

 eight of the largest flowers. A shallow 

 j)an is best, as it keeps the seed to- 

 gether; otlu'rwise, if there VA'ere fish in 

 the tank, thev would scatter the seed. 



J. W. Jones. 



10,000 and a third grower (),000. Prac- 

 tically all these batches are a coni])lete 

 loss. ■ Every vear some growers suffer 

 this loss, no m'after how skillful growers 

 they !ire and no matter how careful they 

 mav I.e. Jt would be advisable not to 

 gro'w any cyclamens next year. The 

 spores of' the" mite seem to jjcrsist. Keep 

 clear of them for a year. Then try 

 again. It is harassing and discouraging, 

 but 1 have more than once had the 

 same experience and can sympathize 

 with vou. 



C. W. 



MITE ON CYCLAMENS. 



T have sent you by j.arcel post a 

 cyclanuMi ]dant that seems to have a 

 fungous disease. This starts on the un- 

 der side of the lea\es and they get 

 wilted and leathery-a]iiiearing. Then 

 they turn yellow or l.rown. 1 have been 

 careful about w.atering them, watering 

 only when on the dry side. I have sprayed 

 them twice with Nico-fume since hous- 

 ing. The soil here is com]ioscd of two 

 parts of soil from the field, two parts of 

 leaf-mold ami one ]>art of well rotted 

 cow i;iaiiure that cont.ains sawdust and 

 sand. The teiniierature has been kept 

 at about ~i~> degrees at night,- except 

 two or three nights when it went down 

 4 (U- ~) degre(>s lower. Will you tell me 

 what the tiouble is and suggest a 

 remedv.' H. JI. J.— Ind. 



TROUBLE WITH CYCLAMENS. 



We are sending under separate cover 

 some of our cyclamen leaves, which are 

 spoiling. J should like to know what we 

 can do to save them from further loss. 



B. G.— Ia. 



The leaves were much decomposed on 

 recei))t .and it is not easy to diagnose 

 your trouble. No signs of mite were 

 seen. Mite causes the leaves to l)ecome 

 more or less distnrted. Spots at inter- 

 vals would seem fo indicate that you 

 ll}j:ve some sort of fungous trouble. It 

 would be advisable to throw away 

 the ])lants most affected and to isolate 

 others affected in a less degree. 



Keep ;i tolerably dry atmosphere and 

 do not shade the jilants at all now. Do 

 no syringing and in watering dampen 

 the foliage as little as jiossible. Use a 

 powder bellows and blow a mixture of 

 sulphur and fine ch.arcoal dust on the 

 affected plants. Give the plants a tem- 

 ]ierature of ").") degrees at night and 

 lower the tem]ier;it ur(> as tly^ blooms 

 o])en well. Air the plants freely on 

 (dear, ])leasant days. Keej) some heat 

 in the j.ij.es all the time. C. W. 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS. 



The jdant came safely anil shows un- 

 mistakabl(> signs of mite. This will 

 wipe out, probably, your whole batch. 

 This is a heavy loss and is regrettable. 

 1 do not know of any cure for mite and, 

 while sonu' have been suggested, it is 

 (buibtfiil if a real one exists. It is a 

 common disease. At jnesent I h.ave in 

 mind one jnominent grower who has lost 

 L'0,000 jdauts; another grower has lost 



Plant Registration. 



Public notice is hereby given that, as 

 no objection has been filed against the 

 registration of Coleus Harding, bv Louis 

 Ilahn & Son. Pittsburgh, Pa., and 

 (ieranium Alice Mae, by the Tong & 

 Weeks Floral Go., A'-lit.abula, ()., the 

 same luis liecome complet(\ 



.lolni Voiing, Sec 'v. 



Victoria Regia House at Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh. 



