r 

 12 



The Florists' Review 



Seftbhbeh 4, 1913. 



SHOULD LEAVES BE REMOVED? 



I grow chrysanthemums, both pot 

 plants and single stems. My pot plants, 

 about 100 of them, are in 9-inch to 12- 

 inch pots at present. I pinch so that 

 I get from two to four breaks. The 

 crowns of some measure from two and 

 one-half to three feet across and stand 

 as high as four and one-half feet. The 

 single-stem plants are in good condi- 

 tion, both strong and healthy. The 

 other day someone advised my em- 

 ployer to strip off all the foliage from 

 below to a height of about a foot, in 

 order to get more air in between the 

 plants. The pot plants, if pinched in 

 the way he advised, would not make 

 any breaks or produce any flowers. I 

 objected to his advice in both par- 

 ticulars and I should like to have some 

 grower tell me whether I was right or 

 wrong. P. D. 



I certainly would not be in favor 

 of stripping the foliage off the chrys- 

 anthemum plants. Nature takes care of 

 this without any aid from man. When 

 the leaves are unable to procure needed 

 nourishment, they simply turn yellow 

 and die. The leaves are the lungs of 

 the plant and, all other things being 

 equal, it is a shame to remove even one 

 leaf unnecessarily. 



Pot plants intended for specimens 

 should not be pinched after the third 

 week in July. If pinching is continued 

 too long, the flowers will be small and 

 in many cases a great many shoots will 

 go blind. Chas.'H. Totty. 



SCALE ON OUTDOOR MUMS. 



I am mailing you under separate 

 cover some leaves of Chrysanthemum 

 Mrs. Bobinson, which are badly af- 

 fected with a scale that is entirely new 

 to us here, in southern Louisiana. If 

 you can give me any information as 

 to what to use to remove this scale, 

 I shall certainly appreciate it greatly, 

 as I have exhausted every means that 

 I know of and have used about every 

 insecticide in the catalogue, from 

 Aphine at 12 to 1 to kerosene emul- 

 sion at its maximum strength, with- 

 out any of the desired effect. This 

 scale seems, practically, to grow over 

 night. The entire stock of 5,000 plants 

 is now more or less covered with it. 

 However, I have not discovered any in- 

 jurious effects so far, as the plants are 

 vigorous and strong. Nearly all mum 

 crops in this city have a few of these 

 scales, but mine seems to be more af- 

 fected than any others. These chrys- 

 anthemums you will understand, are 

 grown outside and are subject to all 

 changes and conditions of the weather. 

 I would thank you to give these minute 

 inspection and let me know whether 

 you have ever had any report of this 

 trouble in your vicinity and what rem- 

 edy there was for it. H. M., 



The leaves were so withfec^d upon 

 arrival that it was impossible to tell 

 what they were affected with. Kero- 

 sene emulsion is the only means I know 



of for removing scale, but, as H. M, 

 says this has no effect, I am at a loss 

 to suggest any method of procedure. 

 If the plants continue strong and 

 healthy, as stated, perhaps it will not 

 be troublesome. I regret that my lim- 

 ited knowledge of southern Louisiana 

 and its climatic conditions prevents my 

 giviHg a more definite reply. 



Chas. H. Totty. 



CATERPILLARS ON MUMS. 



Our chrysanthemum plants are in- 

 fested with small caterpillars or worms 

 that work on the under side of the 

 leaf, leaving the leaf in such condi- 

 tion that it resembles a sieve. They 

 are about one-half inch in length when 

 mature, but are extremely small when 

 first discovered and are collected in a 

 cluster of fifty or more. What is the 

 best way to get rid of them? Will 

 spraying with nicotine extract do any 

 good? Being on the under side of the 

 foliage, they are hard to reach. 



H. L. C. 



The best way to get rid of caterpil- 

 lars is to watch the plants closely and, 

 when the leaves indicate that a young 

 brood is starting, turn the leaf over and 

 kill them by crushing them between the 

 thumb and finger. The man who nips 

 the caterpillar crop in the bud this way 

 is not bothered so much later. For the 

 first week or st), the larvae can all be 



found on the host leaf, but when they 

 once scatter over the plant the labor 

 of removing them is tripled. A weak 

 solution of Paris green is the best ex- 

 terminator of these that I know of. 

 It is away ahead of nicotine extract 

 or any such spray, because it is poison- 

 ous and it will stick, though it must 

 be applied to the unflfer side of the 

 leaf, as most of the caterpillars work 

 on the under side until they get large 

 enough to eat the leaf entirely. Many 

 grasshoppers and other pests fall by 

 the wayside also when Paris green is 

 intelligently used. C. H. Totty. 



LIMING THE GARDEN. 



I have a vegetable garden, the area 

 of which is 25,000 square feet. This 

 year's crop is the first one. It is all 

 drained with 4-inch tile. Last spring it 

 was a heavy sod and was covered with 

 three inches of well rotted compost. I 

 want to plow it this fall and replow it 

 in the spring. When would be the best 

 time to lime it and how much lime 

 should be used? After the spring plow- 

 ing I shall use 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of 

 vegetable fertilizer and no compost, 

 W. F. G. 



Fall is the best time to lime your 

 ground, immediately after plowing it. 

 Harrow it in after applying it. The 

 quantity of lime to be applied would de- 

 pend upon the acidity of your soil. It 

 would be well to make a blue litmus 

 paper test to find out whether lime is 

 actually needed. From 1,000 to 4,000 

 pounds per acre can be applied; all de- 

 pends on how sour your soil may be. 

 The amount of fertilizer you propose to 

 use should be ample. Potatoes and 

 some other root crops come "scabby," 

 to use a common term, in newly limed 

 land, and it would be well to give them 

 higher and drier soil. C. W. 



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THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



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THOSE FISHIN' WINDOWS. 



They Hold the Crowds. 



Did anyone at the S. A. F. conven- 

 tion see as large crowds in front of 

 any other store in Minneapolis as stood 

 before the Whitted window in the 

 Kadisson hotel? Of course not, because 

 the Whitted show was a little fellow 

 fishing in a mountain brook with a 

 background of flowers. The minnows 

 nibbled at his hook, "but he don't 

 ketch nothin', " as one young woman 

 in a slit skirt was heard to remark. 

 Still the crowd watched. 



And Here's Another Idea. 



The following paragraphs are from 

 a South Dakota newspaper, and tell 

 another A^ariation of the story intro- 

 duced by The Eeview's articles of 

 July 3 and August 7: 



"T. D. Smedley's gone a-fishin'. 



"Crowds of Fargo people became 

 very much aware of the fact yesterday. 



Mr. Smedley's departure on his vaca- 

 tion was advertised in a unique man- 

 ner by the window display in the Smed- 

 ley floral shop on Broadway. 



"Before Smedley left he told his 

 office force, and especially Mr. Poague, 

 his new window trimmer, of the de- 

 lightful time he expected to have. Mr. 

 Poague had a mental picture of Smed- 

 ley's summer home when Smedley fin- 

 ished his description and yesterday he 

 made his mental vision a reality. 



"Poague transformed the main win- 

 dow of the floral shop into the fishin' 

 grounds. A little lake, flanked by a 

 shady shore with a camp, tent, camp 

 fire and even a camp pot a-boilin', 

 make up the display. Green, fresh 

 moss and ferns from the greenhouse 

 give the camp a ' real ' look. To one 

 side of the display itself is a neat 

 placard which states, 'Smedley's gone 

 a-fishin'.' 



"Crowds of people stood before the 

 Smedley window all day yesterday look- 

 ing interestedly at the clever display. ' ' 



