12 



The Florists^ Review 



Pbbbuart 25, 1915. 



success. I have tried several times to 

 grow lemon verbenas from seed, but 

 this, too, refuses to germinate for me. 

 Do you think the seeds are probably 

 poor or that I do not understand how 

 to handle themf J. E. C. 



PIiANTING POMPONS. 



How many plants of pompon chrys- 

 anthemums would it take to fill a bench 

 4x20f Kindly give us the names of 

 three good commercial varieties, with 

 thei/ colors. What is their average 

 height and how far should they be set 

 apart f E. C. C. 



We plant our pompons a foot apart, 

 which would give E. C. C, in his meas- 

 urements, twenty plants in a row or 

 eighty plants in the bench. 



There are, of course, many varieties 

 that can be grown. Three good com- 

 mercial sorts are Golden Climax, deep 

 yellow; Queen of the Whites, and Lil- 

 lian Doty, pink. Two and one-half to 

 three feet is sufficient room for Golden 

 Climax and Queen of the Whites, but 

 Lillian Doty will run up to four and 

 one-half feet. This latter variety is so 

 wonderfully fine that it is becoming 

 exceedingly popular. If E. C. C. does 

 not wish to allow this head room, 

 Dawn, Rita or Ruth will make a good 

 substitute so far as color is concerned. 



Chas. H. Totty. 



TILE DBAINAGE IN MXTM BEDS. 



I am planning to put tile drainage in 

 some beds on which to grow chrysan- 

 themums. The beds are 5 x 45 feet. 

 Will you tell me how many rows of 

 drainage tile, and what size, should be 

 put in each bedf Please inform me, 

 also, whether the same sort of drainage 

 would answer for carnations. 



H. A. C. 



I think nearly every florist who uses 

 ground beds has come to the conclusion 

 that he does not need any drainage tile 

 at all; most growers seem better satis- 

 fied with a bed that has eight inches or 

 more of gravel stone, or ashes with a 

 lot of clinkers in them, which furnish 

 ideal drainage without any further trou- 

 ble. Ashes are the cheapest thing one 

 can use, as there are generally plenty 

 of them lying around in greenhouse es- 

 tablishments. A bed so prepared, with 

 about six or seven inches of good soil 

 on top, seems to be the best form of 

 ground bed. 



Personally, in growing chrysanthe- 

 mums I would prefer to have the stock 

 planted on raised benches — the usual 

 benches with 6-inch boards for the 

 sides, allowing four and one-half inches 

 of soil. This is not saying that mums 

 cannot be successfully grown on solid 

 beds, but when they are grown in 

 raised benches the roots are more di- 

 rectly under control and consequently 

 are easier to handle. Ashes for drain- 

 age, as described, also furnish an ideal 

 bed for carnations. Chas. H. Totty. 



CHKYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Annual Meeting and Exhibition. 



The fourteenth annual meeting of the 

 Chrysanthemum Society of America will 

 be held at Cleveland, O., November 10, 



1915. The annual exhibition, in con- 

 junction with the Cleveland Florists' 

 Club, will be held at the same place 

 November 10 to 14. 



An exhibition of chrysanthemums un- 

 der the auspices of the Chrysanthemum 

 Society of America in conjunction with 

 the gardeners and florists of the Pacific 

 coast will be held at the Panama-Pacific 

 international exposition, San Francisco, 

 Cal. Thedate and other details will be 

 announced later. 



Chas. W. Johnson, Sec'y. 



SEEDS FAIL TO OEBMINATE. 



I wish to learn how to grow campanu- 

 las from seed. I have planted the 

 seeds several times in flats in my green- 

 house, giving them the same treatment 

 as I give other flower seeds, but have 

 never succeeded in getting them to ger- 

 minate. I also wish to know how to 

 grow lantanas. I made two plantings 

 of lantana seed last year, but had no 



The seeds of some campanulas are 

 slow to germinate, but I presume you 

 refer to C. Medium, better known as 

 the Canterbury bell. Its seed is among 

 the easiest of flower seeds to start and 

 I cannot imagine how you could fail 

 with it, provided, of course, that your 

 seed is of good quality. Neither should 

 there be any trouble in raising lantanas, 

 although the bulk of these plants are 

 now raised from cuttings. Lemon ver- 

 bena seed is somewhat uncertain. The 

 demand for it is light and dealers may 

 carry stock over from year to year. 

 The best way to propagate lemon ver- 

 benas is from cuttings rubbed off with 

 a heel, taken from dormant plants 

 which had just started into growth. Be 

 sure you buy the best quality of seed 

 of whatever plants you need. Cheap 

 seed is always the dearest in the end. 

 Make a nice, even surface for your 

 campanula seed and give it an ex- 

 tremely light covering of fine, light soil 

 "before watering. A temperature of 60 

 degrees at night, shade from all sun 

 and careful watering are necessary to 

 successful germination. C. W. 



NOTES FROM FOREIGN lS3teNDS 



r 



UiV 



Mechlin, Belgium. — What has been 

 described as the ' * rain of shells ' ' that 

 fell here, completely destroyed many of 

 the greenhouse establishments beyond 

 hope of repair. One bomb was sufficient 

 to destroy one range of two houses and 

 its boiler plant. The Buelens establish- 

 ment, covering almost eight acres, was 

 three-quarters of it shattered to bits 

 by eleven bombs. 



Yokohama, Japan. — The giganteum 

 crop is reported to be about seventy 

 per cent of normal only, and large sized 

 bulbs will be especially short. Mag- 

 nificum and rubrum will also be short, 

 from present indications. It is stated 

 that freight rates via the Panama canal 

 have been advanced twenty-five per cent 

 and ten per cent since January 25. This 

 knocks all the saving and more, too, out 

 of Japan bulb shipments that way, and 

 the old routes will be cheaper now. The 

 same advance in freight rates has been 

 made via Suez canal to New York. 



Paris, France. — Despite the great 

 number of men belonging to the nurs- 

 ery trade who are at the front, the 

 Paris flower markets go on pretty much 

 as usual, as it is generally the wife of 

 the proprietor who looks after the sale 

 at market. - The decision of the Cham- 

 bre Syndicate des Fleuristes de Paris 

 not to buy any forced lily of the val- 

 ley, in order to avoid the possibility of 

 the entry of German pips, under any 

 pretext, is well maintained. For this 

 reason none have been forced even by 

 the nurserymen who had received pips 

 before the war. 



Mechlin, Belgium.— Growers are in a 

 state of indecision in regard to contin- 

 uing the cultivation of certain lines on 

 account of the uncertainty of a market 

 for their products and on account of the 

 high price of coal, now 50 to 60 francb 

 per thousand kilos, or, roughly speak- 

 ing, $10 to $12 per ton. 



London, England. — One of the inter- 

 esting developments of the war has 

 been the disclosure of quantities of 

 valley pips "guaranteed English, 

 Dutch or Danish grown." Few had 

 appreciated that there were so many 

 pips grown outside of Germany, and 

 some still are skeptical. 



Dannstadt, Germany. — "At the be- 

 ginning of the war," says Ludwig 

 Heyn, councilor of commerce and pro- 

 prietor of the seed business of Conrad 

 Appel, established in 1789, "our seed 

 trade, as well as all other trades in 

 Europe, was quiet, especially at first, 

 (luring August and September. About 

 half of my assistants and a certain 

 number of my workmen left my office 

 to enter the army, and even now a few 

 are leaving every week to join the col- 

 ors. Notwithstanding, I was able to 

 continue my business in a regular man- 

 ner, with my older clerks and workmen. 

 The crops of nearly all grass seeds were 

 good and above average and, although 

 the war had just started when the seeds 

 had to be harvested, the crops were 

 brought in safely with the help of 

 women and older men. Recleaning has 

 been completed only a little later than 

 usual." 



