24 



The Florists' Review 



J^OTEMBBB 24, 1921 



can be given with decided benefit to the 

 plants. 



Damping down should be done accord- 

 ing to the amount of artificial heat 

 given, but never permit the plants or the 

 house to become dry or the plants will 

 soon become infested with yellow thrips 

 and red spider, which will soon greatly 

 disfigure the foliage. Being distichous- 

 leaved plants, phalainopses soon suffer 

 if kept too dry during the resting period. 

 That is the principal reason why culti- 

 vators do not grow them with success. 



One great fault is watering with the 

 hose. It is far the best to have rain 

 water in the house, when the water used 

 will be practically the same temperature 

 as the atmosphere. Using cold water 

 is one of the great causes of black spot. 

 The plants do not show its effects some- 

 times for two months. During the grow- 

 ing season do not allow the house to be- 

 come hot and stuffy. That is the prin- 

 cipal cause of the running spot, which 

 destroys leaves within twenty-four 

 hours. The only remedy is to cut out 

 the infected part clean and to treat with 

 powdered charcoal and sulphur or lime 

 and sulphur. 



In potting, the best materiiil I find to 

 be a mixture of osmunda fiber and clean 

 sphagnum moss, with about one-eighth 

 dried oak leaves, using perforated pans. 

 Some growers prefer baskets. Plants 

 thrive well in them for about two years, 

 when the baskets begin to rot. In re- 

 moving the plants, no matter how great 

 care is used, the roots are damaged and 

 rot up to the base of the plant, in some 

 cases into the base itself. 



Watering should be done carefully un- 

 til new roots appear. Just keep the moss 

 growing and allow plenty of atmos- 

 pheric moisture in the house. Shading 

 is another important matter at all times. 

 Canvas shading I consider the best, the 

 canvas raised about eight inches from 

 the glass. If exposed to the sunlight, 

 the leaves soon lose their bright gloss 

 and never regain it, often turning to a 

 rusty brown surface. 



The varieties of phalsenopscs are not 

 numerous, there being about twenty- 

 four species and natural hybrids. Sev- 

 eral are only of botanical value and 

 there are six garden hybrids. The most 

 useful and showy varieties are P. Aph- 

 rodite, the amabilis of gardens; amab- 

 ilis aurea; amabilis Rimestadtiana, a 

 popular, pure white commercial variety; 

 Lueddemanniana, Lindenii rosea, San- 

 deriana, Schilleriana, Stuartiana, su- 

 matrana and violacea. The natural hy- 

 brids are P. intermedia, intermedia Por- 

 tei, intermedia Brymeriana, leucorrhoda 

 and Veitchii. The garden hybrids are 

 P. F. L. Ames, Harrieta, John Seden, 

 Rothschildiana, Lady Rothschild, Baron 

 Schroeder. The latter hybrids are con- 

 fined to a few plants and are, therefore, 

 practically unprocurable. 



CATTLEYAS. 



[Dlgpst of tlie ndiirpsB of GeorRc W. niitter- 

 ■worth, rrnminKli.im. Mass.. before the Gnrdenera' 

 and Florists' Cliib of Boston, November 15, 1921.] 



Since taking up the cultivation of 

 orchids many new ideas have been 

 gained; for one thing, the old theory 

 that cattleyas are short-lived and must 

 be replaced every four or five years has 

 been exploded. We have many plants 

 in our collection 25 years old and in 

 perfect health. 



I had one experience about five years 

 ago which I do not care to see repeated. 

 The street department of Framingham 

 burned some dry leaves on the street 



near to our large cattleya house, which 

 at the time contained great numbers of 

 Cattleya labiata in flower or bud. Some 

 smoke entered the house through the 

 roof ventilators and the result was that 

 the entire crop of flowers and buds was , 

 destroyed; beside%, the growths were 

 seriously crippled. This should prove a 

 warning of smoke danger, especially 

 if, as in our case, the leaves should 

 contain some oil used in treating streets. 

 This makes the smoke more deadly. 



I had another experience. I thought 

 I could improve on white lead and gaso- 

 line or kerosene as a shading material; 

 so I tried green paint, which refused 

 to be dislodged and the additional shade 

 applied about four years ago so affected 

 the plants that the more stunted growths 

 can readily be seen to this day. I be- 

 lieve in having the glass as nearly clean 

 as possible from the middle of October 

 until spring. 



For compost I prefer black osmunda 

 fiber, as being more indestructible than 

 the brown. The latter is good for mil- 

 tonias and odontoglossums, however. I 

 never use sphagnum moss. Half of the 

 pots is given up to drainage, either 

 of broken clinkers or clean crocks; 

 it does not matter which. Potting is 

 done firmly and with the crown of the 

 plant just showing above the surface. 

 At one time some of the older part of 

 the plant was buried. This is no longer 

 done, as these back growths are utilized 

 for propagating purposes. Plants should 

 be firmed so well that they could be lift- 

 ed up by the bulbs without the com- 

 post's giving at all. At one time the 

 compost was rounded above the tops of 

 the pots; now it is kept a little below. 

 Water is applied to the roots or by 

 spraying almost daily and certainly on 

 every bright day. I do not believe in 

 feeding of any kind for cattleyas, but 

 we use a little crushed bone for cypripe- 

 diums and cymbidiums. It is a food not 

 available at once and taken up slowly. 

 As to temperatures, the night tempera- 

 ture runs to about 50 or 60 degrees. We 

 are gradually working toward the higher 

 figure. We find it gives the best re- 

 sults, especially when we want to propa- 

 gate from our plants. We give the plants 

 no resting periods. Directly the flower 

 season passes, plants are potted and are 

 kept .iust avlittle drier, although they 

 are always soaked well directly after 

 potting. 



Cattleyas pay us better profits than 

 cypripediums, odontoglossums, miltonias, 

 cymbidiums, Iselias or any other orchids. 

 For scale I use nicotine solutions, etc, 

 keeping the plants perfectly clean. While 

 there are many beautiful hybrids of 

 which we grow a considerable number, 

 there are half-a-dozen forest species, 

 such as gigas, MossifP, labiata, Trianse, 

 Dowiana and Mendelii, which are the 

 equal of any of them commertially 

 and it is unfortunate that we can not 

 now replenish our stocks as growers can 

 in Canada. 



I visited the Dale Estate, at Bramp- 

 ton, Ont., a short time ago. There there 

 were about two acres of orchids, the 

 largest lot, unquestionably, in North 

 America, and all these orchids were 

 well grown. All the leading cattleyas 

 are grown there by tens of thousands, 

 nearly all the specimens on the upper 

 tiers "of benches being big specimens 

 in tubs or large pots. I should say the 

 place of Thomas Young, at Boundbrook, 

 N. J., stands second to the Dale Estate 

 in quantity grown and perhaps a little 

 ahead in quality. All visitors wondered 



at the marvelous cleanliness to be found 

 on the Dale place. There was not a, 

 weed to be found anywhere. Canada can 

 secure all types of new orchids she 

 wants as well as azaleas. W. N. C 



FLORIDA FLOEISTS MEET.' 



Effdct New Organization. 



Responding to the telegraphic invita- 

 tion of C. Leslie Whip, of Mills the 

 Florist, Jacksonville, a number of flo- 

 rists of the state met at the Chamber of 

 Commerce building, at Jacksonville, 

 Thursday, November 17, and effected a 

 preliminary organization of the Florida 

 State Florists' Association. The follow- 

 ing officers were elected: President, C. 

 Leslie Whip, Jacksonville; vice-presi- 

 dent, F. A. Knull, KnuU Floral Co., 

 Tampa, Fla.; secretary-treasurer, N. A. 

 Reasoner, Reasoner Bros., Oneco, Fla.; 

 directors, J. M. Carruthers, Violet Dell 

 Florist, Orlando, and W. B. Currey, Cur- 

 rey the Florist, De Land, Fla. 



Besides the above, the following were 

 received as charter members, thirteen in 

 all: C. D. Mills, W. H. Wainwright, 

 Miss Irma Armstrong and A. R. Monroe, 

 all of Mills the Florist, Jacksonville; 

 T. B. Grace, of Jacksonville; W. W. Key, 

 of the Tomlinson-Key Co., Jacksonville; 

 F. W. Fletcher, of the Rosalind Gardens, 

 Orlando, and Mrs. J. M. Carruthers, of 

 Violet Dell Florist, Orlando. 



Telegrams and letters expressing their 

 regret at not being able to attend were 

 read from a number of other florists in 

 the state. Membership application blanks 

 are being prepared and will be sent out 

 to the trade soon. It is confidently ex- 

 pected that the membership will reach 

 approximately 100 before the first reg- 

 ular meeting of the association. This 

 is to be at Lakeland next spring, in con- 

 junction with the State Horticidtural 

 Society meeting. The date is to be an- 

 nounced later. 



A constitution modeled on the state 

 organization was adopted and by-laws 

 are to Vje submitted for approval at the 

 next meeting. 



This organization is in no sense to con- 

 flict with the State Horticultural Society 

 but is a professional organization to in- 

 crease the interest in and knowledge of 

 the wholesale and retail florists' trade. 

 N. A. Reasoner, Sec'y-Treas. 



REMEDY FOB MUM INFECTION. 



The florists' employee troubled with 

 burning and itching of the face, seem- 

 ingly from mums, should try this rem- 

 edy: Mix two ounces of glycerine with 

 six ounces of water and add twenty 

 drops of carbolic acid; rub into the skin 

 after washing and on retiring at night. 

 This remedy is also good for chapped 

 hands and frost bites. If this does not 

 help, try Mosso's Oil of Salt, made by 

 the C. A. Mosso Laboratories, Chicago. 

 The latter is the best remedy I have 

 ever had for all kinds of skin infections. 



W. J. Keimel. 



THAT WORLD TOUR. 



In The Review of November 17, on 

 page 42, I notice S. C. Tcmplin wishes 

 someone to start the ball rolling for that 

 extended trip outlined by the late Ralph 

 M. Ward. I shall be pleased to be in- 

 cluded in the party of 100 or more to 

 make the trip. Will some enterprising 

 agency give us the information asked 

 for by Mr. Templin? L. H. Archias. 



