14 



The Florists' Review 



June 18, 1914. 



you stick the nozzle right into the heart 

 of the plant, in order to get the material 

 onto the stem and the soil immediately 

 around the plant. That is where the 

 attack is made and unless you o«n 

 reach that portion with the solution, 

 there will be little use in applying it. 



Go over the field every day, pulling 

 up the affected plants and dusting the 

 soil heavily with hydrated lime where- 

 ever you have pulled up a plant. Carry 

 the dead plants off the field and burn 

 them. 



I would further suggest that you pre- 

 pare to house your plants early. After 

 you get the stem-rot checked, with 

 every day's delay you will be taking a 

 chance with the weather. As already 

 stated, a heavy rain followed by a hot 

 spell might undo all the work you have 

 done. A. F. J. B. 



THBIPS ON CABNATIONS. 



A number of our carnations turn out 

 wilted at the edges, and we should 

 like to know the cause. They seem 

 to turn dry in the buds as soon as the 

 color shows and are slow in opening, 

 some not opening at all. We should 

 like to know what causes this and how 

 to remedy it. C. B, 



Your carnations are no doubt trou- 

 bled with that most common green- 

 house pest called thrips. It affects the 

 buds in just the manner you describe. 

 In our latitude the carnation season is 

 beginning to draw to a close and we 

 would not think of doing anything 

 else with a badly infested bed of carna- 

 tions but throw it out. In your north- 

 ern climate the carnations ought to be 

 good for a month or two yet, and it 

 might pay ^ou to try to get the pests 

 under control. Get some of one of the 

 nicotine preparations and spray every 

 other day for about two weeks. Then 

 keep it up twice each week until the 

 end of the season. You might find it 

 advisable to reduce the number of ap- 

 plications somewhat, in case you find 

 the pests less tenacious than I suspect. 

 Next season start in spraying once each 

 week right from the start. You will 

 find it a good policy to prevent their 

 getting a start. A. F. J. Baur. 



BENCHING CUTTINGS. 



How would it be to bench good, 

 strong carnation cuttings directly from 

 sand and pots and not plant them out- 

 doors at all? D. G. 



Many growers plant part of their 

 carnations into the benches from pots, 

 and with good success. I would not ad- 

 vise planting from the cutting bench, 

 because the cuttings would need to be 

 shaded a few days and that would be 

 a big task. To insure success, however, 

 proper preparations must be made. The 

 plants are either planted into the 

 benches from the small pots before 

 planting in the field is commenced or 

 they are shifted into larger pots and 

 benched according to the size of the 

 pots in which they are growing. Per- 

 haps a better way to put it would be 

 to say that they are shifted into dif- 

 ferent sizes of pots according to when 

 they are to be benched. If they are to 

 be benched about the middle of May, 

 right after the field planting is done, 

 3-inch pots are large enough, but if 

 the benching will not be done until 

 June or later, 4-inch or even 5-inch 

 pots are the proper size. Do not make 



the mistake we have seen made a time 

 or two, of thinking that late propa- 

 gated stock will do for inside growing 

 and that it will catch up with the 

 earlier outside planted stock. It in- 

 variably results in a scant, or tardy 

 winter crop. A. F. J. Baur. 



GERMINATING CABNATION SEED. 



Please advise me how to handle car; 

 nation seed to get the best results. I 

 have tried to grow carnations from 

 seed, but they do not come up. Please 

 tell me how to gather the seed and 

 how to plant it in order to get the best 

 seedling carnations. C. P. 



There is no great trick about ger- 

 minating carnation seed; in fact, we 

 consider it one of the easiest seeds to 

 handle. Judging from your letter, I 

 take it that you have succeeded in ma- 

 turing the seed, and I will not go into 

 the process of hybridizing, etc. Most 

 hybridizers do their crossing early 

 enough to get the seed ripe in time 

 to sow it by March or early in April. 

 That gives them time enough to get 

 the young plants nicely established by 

 planting out time. They . are then 

 planted in the field under labels indi- 

 cating the cross, etc., so that when 

 they bloom the parentage will be 

 known. Late in August or in Septem- 

 ber the plants will throw their first 

 bloom, at which time the promising 

 ones are marked and the inferior ones 

 pulled up and thrown away. Wh^n a 

 good proportion have bloomed, or be- 

 fore hard frosts have checked the 

 plants, the good ones are transferred to 

 the greenhouse benches, where they are 

 allowed to bloom again and the un- 

 worthy ones culled out. Those which 

 are considered worthy of further trial 

 are perpetuated by propagating in the 

 same way as the standard varieties. 



Seed that is matured too late to han- 

 dle as suggested above is sometimes 

 handled in the following way; some 

 growers handle all their seedlings this 

 way: Pot off the young seedlings and 

 when they are established in the small 

 pots, shift them into 4-inch or 5-inch 



pots instead of planting in the field. 

 Keep them either in the greenhouse or 

 out in the frames. They will probably 

 bloom a little later than those planted 

 in the field, but you will be able to 

 tell more about them from the first 

 bloom. For that reason we prefer the 

 latter method. "When a promising one 

 blooms, it can be either planted in 

 the bench or allowed to remain in the 

 pot, providing the pot is large enough 

 to properly nourish the plant. 



When sowing the seed, use a sandy 

 loam. Sow the seeds thinly and cover 

 with finely sifted soil or sand a scant 

 eighth of an inch. Water just enough 

 to keep the soil fairly damp. Excessive 

 watering will cause damping off. 



A. F. J. Baur. • 



NEW METHODS IN GERMANY. 



Cyclamen 'and Begonia Culture. 



In growing cyclamen from the time 

 they are potted, the German commer- 

 cial establishments have hitherto de- 

 pended on hotbeds well packed with 

 horse manure to furnish bottom heat. 

 The introduction of the automobile in 

 place of horses in most of the large 

 establishments has, however, made it 

 exceedingly difficult of late to obtain 

 manure in the large quantities needed. 

 The necessity of obtaining the moist 

 bottom heat in some other manner has 

 led to experiments by the growers, and 

 as a result of his trials in this line, 

 Ferdinand Fischer, of Wiesbaden-Au- 

 kamm, found a most successful method 

 in the following: 



On each of the two side benches in 

 several new, well ventilated houses, 

 built for the purpose, were placed a 

 2-inch layer of coarse peat and imme- 

 diately over this five 1-inch heating 

 pipes, ten inches apart. These were cov- 

 ered to a depth of two inches with fine 

 peat. To secure the infection of this 

 peat with manure bacteria, a light layer 

 of not too fresh cow manure was spread 

 between the two layers of peat. To sup- 

 ply carbonic acid gas, which plays an 

 important part in the development of 



Cyclamen Grown by Ferdinand Fischer Under New Method. 



