12 



The Florists^ Review 



OcaoBUB 28, 1918. 



TEMPERATUBE FOB KILLABNEY. 



In my answer to H. G. A. in the is- 

 sue of The Review for October 16, my 

 meaning might be misunderstood. The 

 subscriber asked if 80 degrees at noon 

 is too high for Killarney. I said "80 

 degrees is too high a temperature for 

 Killarney at any time if it can be 

 kept lower by giving more ventila- 

 tion." In other words, if on a hot 

 day the ventilators are full open and 

 the temperature runs up to 90 degrees 

 or more, it can not be prevented and 

 does not materially injure the plants. 

 W. J. K. 



THE WHITE SUNBUBST. 



Is there the opportunity for a white 

 Sunburst that was found awaiting the 

 yellow parent! Sunburst has proved 

 an easy doer thus far, for a quality 

 rose, with most of the growers who 

 have tried it. It really has not had 

 a thorough commercial test, for last 

 season all the wood available in win- 

 ter months was taken for propagating 

 purposes. Sunburst is recognized as 

 the yellow rose of quality, and if it 

 proves to do as well in midwinter as 

 it does prior to the propagating sea- 

 son, its commercial future is assured. 

 Now comes forward Ira B. Sturges, 

 proprietor of the Baker Floral & Seed 

 Co., Baker, Ore., with a white sport 

 of Sunburst. As a forcing rose it will 

 come into competition with "White Kil- 

 larney, which is a quite different prop- 

 osition from competing with Perle, or 

 even with Mrs. Ward or Melody. 



TO FBEVENT MILDEW. 



Will you kindly tell me how I can 

 prevent mildew from coming on my 

 roses f We watch the temperature 

 carefully; our watering is right, and, 

 except that our houses are low, we 

 can find no cause for the appearance 

 of thfl^^ouble. Can you tell me of 

 any oilier good remedy, besides the 

 burning of sulphur, and how can I 

 prevent more of the mildew from 

 comingf E. M. L. 



Sulphur has so far been found to be 

 the best remedy for mildew, and is 

 used either by dusting it over the fo- 

 liage in the form of a powder or by 

 painting it on the heating pipes. Grape 

 Dust is also used a great deal in the 

 first-mentioned way, with good results. 

 But it is not so much a remedy as a 

 preventive that you are probably look- 

 ing for, and the preventive is to keep 

 a little heat in the houses from now 



on every night and on chilly days, leav- 

 ing enough ventilation on the houses 

 to keep the temperature down to the 

 right figure. It is especially important, 

 also, to keep the plants in good grow- 

 ing condition, as in most cases the 

 plants have received a check from 

 some other cause before mildew has 

 attacked them. The presence of mil- 

 dew is favored either by too close an 

 atmosphere or by weakness of the 

 plants from being starved. 



W, J. K. 



SEEM TO NEED FEEDING. 



I have a bench that contains about 

 100 own-root Killarney, White Killar- 

 ney and Richmond roses, which do not 

 seem to be doing well. They were 

 planted in the last week of July, from 

 3-inch pots, after arriving in rather 

 poor condition. The Killarneys were in 

 bad shape, being affected with black 

 spot and red spider. The Eichmonds 

 were clean, but small and weak-look- 

 ing. They all dropped most of their 

 leaves, but the wood looked well and 

 had plenty of good eyes, just starting. 

 They broke well and made a fair start. 



A White Sunburst. 



but the foliage looked dry and harsh as 

 time went on and they seemed to be 

 starved. I watered them once with 

 Bon Arbor, as I was doubtful whether 

 the soil was rich enough. They fresh- 

 ened up after that and loolced better, 

 but did not maintain the improvement. 



About three weeks ago they had a 

 slight touch of mildew and I evap- 

 orated some sulphur on a small oil 

 stove. The air was quite strong with 

 the sulphur fumes and a few days 

 afterward the plants began to drop 

 their leaves. Could I have used too 

 much sulphur f It did not catch fiu. 

 There has been no mildew since then. 

 The Killarneys are doing better now, 

 but the Bichmonds are not making 

 much headway. The soil is a heavy 

 clay, loam and is none too rich. They 

 were kept on the dry side; that is, the 

 bench was not soaked, only watered 

 around the plants, until I was advised 

 a week or two ago to soak roses fhat 

 were not doing well. I then gave the 

 bench what I thought was a thorough 

 soaking, but not enough to run through. 

 Since then no water has been applied 

 except in spraying, but the bench has 

 not dried out yet, though the drainage 

 is good. We are having dark, muggy 

 weather, with the outside temperature 

 seldom under 60 degrees. I turn on a 

 little heat every night, with the top 

 ventilators open about an inch. 



Should I mulch the plants? I have 

 some old, thoroughly decayed manure, 

 a mixture of horse and cow manure. If 

 the plants were outside or were larger 

 and stronger, they would get the mulch 

 at once, but I am not sure about young 

 stock and I know the mulching can be 

 overdone. W. C. 



If the soil in which the roses were 

 planted does not contain one-third 

 barnyard manure and a good sprinkling 

 of bone meal, about one pound to five 

 square feet of bench, it is probably too 

 poor to permit the plants to make a 

 good growth. Moreover, even if the 

 soil does contain sufi&cient food to sup- 

 ply the plants, if it is not dissolved 

 with water the roses can not absorb it 

 and will not make a good growth. The 

 fact that the plants, as stated, were 

 refreshed for a time by the applica- 

 tion o!^ a. stimulant, seems to show that 

 they were in need of it and probably 

 want still more nourishment. 



A light mulching with the decayed 

 manure, as suggested in the inquiry, 

 will do them good — about a good dou- 

 ble handful to each row on both sides 

 of the bench. Dissolve this thoroughly 

 by working it through the hand while 

 the water is running over it, until it 

 is all fine. Do not let it lie on the 

 bench in lumps, as in that case it 

 would only dry up and the plants would 

 get no benefit from it. If the plants 

 freshen up again after receiving this 

 dose, give them another in two or three 

 weeks. "Little and often" is the rule 

 to follow until you have good, strong 

 plants, and even then the plants will 

 do better if the benches are not ovC 

 loaded with manure, but kept open to 

 allow the air to get to the roots. 



That the roses dropped their leaves 

 after the sulphur was evaporated in the 

 house, is no doubt due to an overdose- 

 The best way to fumigate with sulpb'i' 

 is to keep it painted on the heatin? 

 pipes. The fumes of an oil stove 8f* 

 injurious to the plants and may als" 

 have had something to do with the 

 dropping of their leaves. W. J. K. 



