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The Florists^ Review 



March 18, 1915. 



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 Mr SUGGESTIONS 



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Spring Spraying. 



Winter may not have entirely passed, 

 although spring, according to the calen- 

 dar, arrives March 21, but the worst 

 has passed. The ground is already 

 nearly free from frost, and, although 

 we may still look for some sharp frosts 

 and perhaps considerable falls of snow 

 in some regions, the season is now so 

 far advanced that such spells of winter 

 cannot stay long with us. This is the 

 commencement of the busy season out- 

 doors and for some weeks now we shall 

 have more work than we can properly 

 cope with. 



Since the coming of the San Jose 

 scale, this pest has done an immense 

 amount of damage to fruit trees and 

 shrubbery. When we remember that 

 this pest multiplies with such aston- 

 ishing rapidity that the offspring of a 

 single scale in one year, if allowed to 

 increase unchecked, would be over 

 3,000,000,000, we can form some idea 

 of the necessity for taking energetic 

 measures to keep it in subjection. 



All fruit trees and all shrubs should 

 be sprayed in the fall or spring; if at 

 both seasons, so much the better. Some 

 shrubs are not attacked, as those be- 

 longing to the rosacesB family are us- 

 ually the scale's favorites, but it will 

 do no harm to spray them all either 

 with lime-sulphur or one of the soluble 

 oils, such as Scaline or Scalecide. These 

 latter are the best for the use of the 

 small country florist. They mix readily 

 in water, and if the bark is all damped 

 by the use of a fine, misty spray nozzle, 

 we can be sure that at least nine-tenths 

 will be killed. Do not forget to spray 

 hardy roses; nearly all are liable to be 

 infested with 8cale,^while willows, pop- 

 lars and chestnuts are likewise often 

 attacked. Do this spraying, however, 

 before the buds begin to expand. This 

 spray will not only kill the scale, but 

 will also help to destroy the eggs of 

 the destructive aphides. 



Pruning Hardy Boses. 



Do not be in too big a hurry to 

 prune the hardy roses. March may be 

 a balmy month, but April is then all 

 the more likely to show her teeth, and 

 early-pruned roses, which have made 

 little growths during a warm March, 

 are likely to get a severe setback in 

 April. During the average spring, 

 April 1 is not too late to prune roses 

 in Philadelphia; the work may be de- 

 ferred until a week later in New York 

 and southern Connecticut, while Boston 

 can safely wait until the middle of 

 April. Do not be in a hurry to pull 

 away all the winter covering from 

 roses. They may look fresh and green 

 when uncovered, but a few nights of 

 sharp frost, with cutting winds and 

 bright sun, will soon discolor them. 



Cut back such hybrid perpetuals as 

 Frau Karl Druschki, John Hopper, Paul 

 Neyron, Ulrich Brunner, Baron de Bon- 

 stetten, S. Reynolds Hole, Mme. Gabriel 

 Luizet, Mrs. John Laing, etc., quite 

 hard. Remove all dead and weak wood. 



Leave not over three eyes on the last 

 season's growth on strong shoots and 

 one or two where the growth has Tjeen 

 more moderate. Hard pruning means 

 that the plants will break strongly and 

 give much finer flowers than where 

 lighter cutting back is practiced. 



The hybrid teas, such as Killarney, 

 Testout, Gruss an Teplitz, Mme. Ravary, 

 Mrs. Ward, Viscountess Folkestone, 

 Lyon, Richmond, etc., need light prun- 

 ing. Merely remove dead and weak 

 wood and cut back the ends of the 

 strong shoots a little. Where these 

 hybrid perpetuals are not hardy and 

 they are stored in frames and pits or 

 buried in the ground over winter, they 

 should be taken out and carefully 

 planted as soon as possible after frost 

 has gone and the ground becomes work- 

 able. 



The rambler roses should merely have 

 their dead wood and extremely weak 



wood removed. Rosa rugosa must bo 

 pruned but little; the same holds true 

 of Harrison's Yellow and Austrian Yel- 

 low. The so-called baby ramblers need 

 moderate pruning. 



April is a good month for the plant- 

 ing of hardy roses. An earlier date is, 

 of course, necessary in the south. 

 Grafted stock costs more than own-root 

 plants, but is far hardier and more 

 vigorous and possesses greater longe\- 

 ity. Own-root roses do well in somo 

 sections, but on the eastern seaboarl 

 they are of little value, although man} , 

 owing to their cheapness, are planted 

 each year. 



Dutch Bulb Beds and Borders. 



If the ground was hard frozen before 

 the beds of tulips and hyacinths Were, 

 mulched, and the winter has been fairly 

 steady, they should not have made much 

 growth yet. Whether they have or 

 not, it is not safe with the arrival of 

 one or two warm days to remove all 

 the covering. Take this away gradu- 

 ally; we shall still have , some cold 

 nights and a mulch will be a great pro- 

 i;ection to the somewhat tender sprouts. 

 Use the hands and not rakes when 

 removing this covering. A careless 

 man will soon do a lot of harm with a 

 rake. A careful man can use his hands 

 so tha1> few bulbs are broken. 





iniini 



GEBANIXTM FOLIAQE DISEASED. 



Enclosed you will find some geranium 

 leaves which are diseased. Is this the 

 disease on which I have seen articles 

 in The Review? It shows on 1,000 S. A. 

 Nutt and on some Doyle. It seems to 

 have spread from the Nutt to the 

 Doyle. I have used Aphine once and 

 Nico-fume paper four times since Feb- 

 ruary 4. I have us«d sixty sheets of 

 the paper in a house 25x60 feet. I 

 cannot find any thrips, red spider or 

 aphis on the plants. If there is any 

 remedy, I should like to know of it at 

 once. W. E. J.— N. Y. 



The foliage showed no signs whatever 

 of any insect attacks, but is diseased. 

 Fumigation is of no avail against leaf 

 affections, and Aphine, while excellent 

 as a remedy against aphis and other in- 

 sect pests, is useless against leaf dis- 

 eases. You certainly gave the house a 

 terribly heavy fumigation if you used 

 sixty sheets of Nico-fume in a house 

 25x60. Such a dose would be more 

 likely to aggravate than to alleviate 

 tne trouble. 



Pick off all the worst affected leaves. 

 If the plants are crowded, space them 

 apart a little. Do not hose overhead 

 at all. Let the plants dry out well be- 

 tween waterings. Avoid feeding with 

 liquid manure, as this promotes a soft 

 growth which easily falls a prey to 

 blight. Keep the atmosphere of your 

 house dry, let the plants have lots of 

 sun and ventilate freely. A close, stuffy 



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house will cause the trouble to spread. 

 Spray with either Fungine or Bor- 

 deaux mixture. Each of these is an 

 excellent remedy for fungoid affections. 

 If you will follow out these directions 

 I think your trouble will gradually dis- 

 appear. C. W. 



DISEASED FOLIAQE. 



I am enclosing some geranium leaves 

 I think are diseased. I am picking the 

 diseased leaves off every day, but it 

 does no good, some of the plants hav- 

 ing lost all their foliage. Please tell 

 me what I can do for them. 



J. W. N.— Pa. 



The leaves received were quite badly 

 diseased. Picking off the affected 

 leaves is a good plan. Better throw 

 away the worst attacked plants. Qivo 

 your stock one or two sprayings of somi! 

 good fungicide, such as Fungine or 

 Bordeaux mixture. Maintain a dry at- 

 mosphere. Do not allow the plants to 

 be crowded. Space them out occa- 

 sionally, picking off all dead or decay- 

 ing leaves when doing so. Let the tem 

 perature run about 50 degrees at night. 

 Ventilate freely. Give full sun and let 

 the plants dry out well between water 

 ings. Do not throw bad leaves oi' 

 other rubbish below the benches. Re- 

 member that cleanliness is next to god- 

 liness. These fungoid diseases fre- 

 quently have their inception in the cut- 

 ting bench. Plants left there too long 

 before being potted are liable to be 

 attacked. 0. W. 



