Sbptbmbsr 11, 1013. 



The Florists^ Review 



11 



been removed. New soil, or soil which 

 has grown some other crop for three or 

 four years, is drawn in. To this a large 

 but varying amount of manure is added 

 and thoroughly mixed with the soil in 

 the beds by repeated turnings with the 

 fork. Plants are taken from the sand 

 >■ and sorted into firsts and seconds. The 

 ►' "'beds are set with firsts, the popular dis- 

 tance of planting being 9x9 inches. A 

 number of the seconds are placed be- 

 tween the other plants, to be used as 

 reserves in case any plants die. 



Moisture and Ttmperature. 



When the plants have become estab- 

 lished in the soil they are cultivated 

 from week to week with a tool com- 

 monly known as a five-finger. Great 

 <;are is used in watering and ventilating. 

 Many growers think the secret of their 

 success lies in careful attention to these 

 two details, although, as a matter of 

 fact, one can often find two successful 

 growers who employ quite different 

 methods in this respect. Cultivation 

 continues until it is time to permit the 

 runners to spread over the intervening 

 space. By autumn the entire surface 

 of the soil is covered with a mat of 

 interwoven runners and this matting 

 increases as the season progresses. 



The temperature most favorable for 

 . violet culture lies between 35 and 45 

 degrees. When the warm spring days 

 arrive, the plants begin to decline and 

 the returns are no longer profitable. 

 It is to be noticed that the plants are 

 grown in a rich soil, that the houses 

 are kept covered with a coat of lime 

 to reduce the amount of light, and that 

 the plants require a large amount of 

 water. These conditions resemble quite 

 closely the conditions under which the 

 violet plant grows naturally. The point, 

 however, which most growers do not 

 seem to bear in mind is the fact that 

 the violet in the wild usually grows in 

 open woods, where the roots of trees 

 and shrubs take away great quantities 

 of moisture. 



Boot Bot, or Thielavia. 



While there are a number of diseases 

 of the violet, some of which I shall 

 disctiss a little later, the one of great- 

 est importance at present is, without 

 question, the so-called thielavia dis- 

 ease, or root rot. Indeed, with growers 

 of violets in New York state the im- 

 portance of this disease so greatly over- 

 shadows any others that it is often 

 spoken of as "the violet disease." 

 Many of our growers refer to it as 

 black rot; others as black root or root 

 rot. 



Although the violet is the host plant 

 in which we are particularly concerned, 

 it is to be noted that this disease is 

 not confined to the violet alone, as is 

 often the case with diseases of plants, 

 but occurs on a wide range of hosts; 

 almost every year sees an increase in 

 the list of host plants. 



Some of the most important plants 

 upon which the disease has been re- 

 ported to occur are violets, sweet peas, 

 field peas, cyclamens and asters. The 

 ^iisease has received most attention, 

 however, on account of its ravages on 

 the roots of tobacco both in Europe 

 •md America. 



Destructiveness of Boot Bot. 



Where the root rot, or thielavia dis- 

 ease, may have first occurred remains 

 'u doubt. It was certainly present in 

 England in 1850, in Germany in 1876 



"WHO'S WHO-AND WHY" 



•r -.-.*. 



B. SCHBOETEB. 



IT WAS 3,400 years ago, inore or less, that the Hebrew sage uttered the oft- 

 repeated words: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if 

 by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sor- 

 row." Is there any good basis for the assertion, also frequently repeated, that 

 the human race has sadly degenerated physically, and the average length of life 

 has sadly diminished, during those thousands of years? If the manhood of the 

 present suffers so greatly by comparison with the manhood of the long-distant 

 past, there are plenty of exceptional cases. For instance, B. Schroeter, of De- 

 troit, Mich., celebrated his seventy-second birthday a few weeks ago and the years 

 of his life are atill years of labor, but there is no evidence of increasing sorrow, 

 but rather of tranquillity and contentment. It is stated that "he is on the job 

 every day, from early morn until closing time. ' ' His son, Hugo Schroeter, who 

 took the snapshot from which the accompanying portrait was prepared, says: 

 "The picture shows my father in one of his familiar poses, sitting at his desk 

 and employing his occasional moments of leisure in reading The Eeview, which he 

 invariably peruses from cover to cover." 



and in the United States in 1891. How 

 many years it may have existed in all 

 of these countries previous to the date 

 of discovery is problematic. From the 

 nature of the disease, one might be led 

 to believe that it has existed for an 

 indefinite period but simply has been 

 unobserved. There is no evidence 

 whatever to indicate that this is a dis- 

 ease that has been brought to us from 

 another country. 



One should not infer, from what has 

 just been said, that the disease is of 

 little economic importance, for this is 

 not at all the case. It is almost in- 

 variably true, when any plant is brought 

 under cultivation and is grown under 

 conditions different from those under 

 which it grows in the wild, that dis- 

 eases of little importance under natural 

 conditions become of considerable im- 



portance. In the case of the violet, for 

 example, the losses from this disease 

 are frequently great, but in its milder 

 form it frequently is not recognized 

 as a disease at all and losses occur 

 without any particular comment. There 

 is, of course, no way of making esti- 

 mates of such losses; nor, indeed, is 

 there any satisfactory way of estimat- 

 ing losses from severe injury except in 

 cases where the whole planting is de- 

 stroyed. It may be said, then, that the 

 toll is sometimes rather small, at other 

 times much larger, while occasionally 

 the whole house may be lost. 

 I To be continued.) 



Shrewsbury, N. J. — McElhinney 

 Bros., formerly at Franklin, Pa., and 

 later at Lakewood, N. J., are now in 

 business here. 



