10 



The Florists^ Review 



Jamuaby 7, 1916. 



I 



temperature of about 60 degrees at 

 night? F. L. 



SEASONABLE SUOOESTIONS. 



Oncidiums. 



Oncidium Rogersii is now nearly over 

 and the plants should have a resting 

 period of some weeks before being over- 

 hauled. This is unquestionably the 

 most valuable oncidium for florists. Its 

 long-branched spikes of igolden yellow 

 flowers are useful for decorations in 

 the fall and early winter. O. tigrinum, 

 with its lusty branched spikes of yel- 

 low flowers, heavily spotted, is now in 

 season, following Rogersii nicely. It 

 is our best Christmas oncidium and its 

 flowers have the advantage of being 

 sweet-scented. O. ornithorhynchum, 

 with its drooping spikes of rosy lilac 

 flowers, is still in good shape. This 

 makes a charming basket plant and the 

 flowers are sweet-scented. All these 

 oncidiums do better if grown without 

 sphagnum. Many of the small shell 

 snails lurk in the moss and they soon 

 raise havoc with the flower spikes, eat- 

 ing them off almost before they can be 

 seen. 



Odontoglossums. 



Plants of Odontoglossum Crispum, 

 Pescatorei and Hallii are now sending 

 up a nice crop of spikes. They should 

 be protected from attacks of snails by 

 little bands of cotton-wool. These 

 odontoglots should now have a house 

 where they can get full sunshine and a 

 temperature of 52 to 55 degrees at 

 night, rather than a cool, sunless 

 northern exposure, such as is often 

 given them. In the lighter, warmer 

 house the foliage soon takes on a rich 

 bronzed hue, and the plants become 

 tougher and will stand the hot summers 

 much better than when they are win- 

 tered in a cold, dark house. O. grande, 

 now done flowering, should have a rest- 

 ing period in a night temperature of 

 50 degrees. The free-flowering, pure 

 white, sweet-scented Guatemalan spe- 

 cies, O. pulchellum majus, is showing 

 its spikes. This odontoglot does well 

 at the cool end of the cattleya house 

 and is one of the most easily grown 

 and free-flowering of the family. 



Fhal^enopsis. 



'' Where several varieties of phalffinop- 

 sis are grown., in a special house, pha- 

 Isenopsis flowers are seldom lacking. 

 P. amabilis is now done with its 

 Christmas crop. Many spikes com- 

 ing along on Schilleriana, Rimestadiana 

 and grandiflora give indications of a 

 beautiful show for a few weeks. Pha- 

 laenopsis always does best if hung from 

 the roof, doing particularly well in nar- 



row but deep baskets containing fern 

 fiber and sphagnum over plenty of 

 crocks. They must have a hot, moist 

 atmosphere and drafts must be avoided 

 at all hazards. Sponge the leaves over 

 occasionally with tepid water, as a pro- 

 tection against thrips and red spider. 



TREATMENT FOB CATTLEYAS. 



I have a small collection of orchids, 

 including C. Trianae, C. labiata, C. Mos- 

 siae, C. Gaskelliana and C. Mendellii. I 

 should like to know when each variety 

 should be breaking growth and what 

 the treatment and temperature for each 

 variety should be. After the plants 

 have flowered, is it proper to dry them 

 off and put them in a cooler house, or 

 should they be kept watered and in a 



All the cattleyas named will do well 

 in the same house. A night tempera- 

 ture of 55 degrees in midwinter will 

 suffice and on severe mornings 5 degrees 

 lower will do no harm. It is a great 

 mistake to maintain a high tempera- 

 ture by overheating the pipes. Noth- 

 ing can be more ruinous to plants. C. 

 labiata finishes flowering early in De- 

 cember, C. TriansB about the end of 

 March, C. Mossise in May, C. Mendellii 

 in June and C. Gaskelliana ia August. 

 After flowering, keep the plants a lit- 

 tle drier at the root for a few weeks, 

 until the new bulbs start to push, when 

 any repotting can be done. Water 

 should De applied somewhat sparingly 

 until the roots become active, when a 

 liberal supply is necessary. It is a 

 mistake to dry '.he plants off as you 

 would dendrobiums. It was at one time 

 thought necessary to dry them severely, 

 but such treatment is more harmful 

 than helpful. There is no need to move 

 the plants to cooler quarters while rest- 

 ing. All that is necessary is to reduce 

 the water supply somewhat. Give full 

 sunlight in midwfiter and air the 

 plants on every possible occasion, bojh 

 night and day. Except when cold winds 

 prevail, or the temperature is abnor- 

 mally low, some ventilation should be 

 afforded, either from the ridge or from 

 the sides below the benches. 



W. N. C. 



TWENTY-FIVE FEE CENT SFLIT. 



We are mailing to you today some 

 samples of our carnations, which have 

 been splitting badly during the last 

 week. Fully twenty-five per cent of 

 the calyxes arc split. -The benches have 

 all been wet to the bottom; not too 

 wet, however. The temperature has 

 been held at 50 to 54 degrees at night 

 and 10 to 15 degrees higher during the 

 day. We used a good feed of liquid 

 manure about one month ago, and re- 

 cently we put a little slaked lime on 

 the soil to keep down the moss. Dur- 

 ing the day, when th'e ventilators are 

 open, there is some draft over the 

 plants, but this has been the case right 

 along. The temperature outside for the 

 last week has been from 15 to 25 de- 

 grees below zero at night, causing a 

 heavy coating of frost on the glass 

 inside; could this frost and the heat 

 from below cause them to split? If 

 not, to what can you attribute the 

 trouble? . S. G. C. 



might have contributed somewhat to- 

 ward a natural tendency on the part of 

 Beacon and the Enchantress varieties 

 to split at this time of the year. An- 

 other frequent cause of splitting is the 

 weather. If you have a spell of cloudy 

 weather and it is followed by a bright 

 spell, there is likely to be some split- 

 ting, and the more strongly the plants 

 are growing at the time, the more 

 splitting there is likely to be. This 

 latter condition is unavoidable on the 

 part of the grower, and can be counter- 

 acted only partly by holding the tem- 

 perature low on the first day or two 

 of the bright spell. Plants that are 

 given moderate culture during the short 

 days of winter are not so liable to g^ve 

 trouble of this kind as those that are 

 crowded unduly. A. F. J. B. 



There are a number of conditions 

 that may cause splitting. Some of 

 these conditions we can control, while 

 others we can not. Your temperature 

 seems to have been fairly good; so 

 that eliminates one of the most fre- 

 quent causes of splitting. That "good 

 feed" you gave about a month ago 



A BAD BENCH. 



Under separate cover I am sending 

 some White Enchantress and Enchant- 

 ress carnation buds, also some shoots 

 from the same plants, and shall be 

 pleased if you will tell me what causes 

 them to wilt and dry up. Just half the 

 bed is affected. White Perfection, En- 

 chantress and Lawson in the same 

 houses are not affected. I have had 

 this trouble with this one bed for the 

 lust two years. The plants were 

 healthy and were in good condition 

 when brought in from the field. The 

 first year I had Victory planted in the 

 bed and it was affected in the same 



