14 



The Florists' Review 



Apbil 1, 1015. 



REPOTTma YOUNG PLANTS. 



Early Stock May Need Moving. 



Those young carnation plants you 

 potted into small pots in January and 

 early February will need shifting now. 

 Do not put it off until you have more 

 time, after you have shifted all your 

 bedding stock. That time does not 

 come until near planting-out time, and 

 then your young carnation plants will 

 be potbound and stunted beyond help. 

 This is the one thing that makes early 

 propagating of carnations undesirable 

 for most small places, where a mixed 

 variety of plants are grown for the re- 

 tail trade. Too many other things 

 seem more important and pressing for 

 attention than the young carnation 

 plants. 



Those later cuttings you put into 

 the sand, to provide more stock of va- 

 rieties that did not yield enough cut- 

 tings in the first crop, or perhaps to 

 replace those that, were lost from the 

 early batch on account of a poor strike, 

 will need to be potted just as soon as 

 they are ready. A sturdy cutting, pot- 

 ted from the propagating bench within 

 a week or so, will make a good plant 

 by housing time. A month in a 2-inch 

 pot gives ample time to enable the 

 young plant to become established and 

 make enough growth to be topped be- 

 fore being set out in the field. 



The Needs of the Blooming: Stock. 



The blooming stock will need extra 

 attention, too, about this time. "Warmer 

 weather is approaching, which means 

 that steps must be taken to forestall 

 some of the things that are almost un- 

 controllable after really warm weather 

 once sets in. While the plants are 

 making their rank spring growth, the 

 grower is apt to be misled by their 

 apparent vigor and promise of big 

 crops. 



If you have waged successful war- 

 fare against thrips this winter and your 

 plants are free from them, you need not 

 have any grave fear of them, provid- 

 ing you keep on fighting them oflF. If, 

 however, you see a lot of small white 

 specks on the petals, you would better 

 get busy, if you do not want your en- 

 tire crop to be ruined as soon as warm 

 weather sets in. If you have been 

 spraying with nicotine once each week, 

 then increase the proportion and give 

 a few extra applications until the 

 blooms are free from those specks. 



A Salt Spray for Sed Spider. 



Look around sharply for any signs 

 of red spider. Glean the pests out be- 

 fore warm weather comes, or you will 

 have to take them out with the plants. 

 We spray our plants once each week 

 with salt water, right through the sea- 

 son. By the way, our good friend John 

 Evans has made us the dandiest appa- 

 ratus for' using this salt spray. It 

 is made of aluminum, which is extreme- 



ly light. It is about eight inches long 

 and six inches in diameter, large 

 enough to hold a good-sized chunk of 

 rock salt. We attach it to the faucet, 

 using the hose to apply the spray. In 

 this way we have a good force and a 

 house can be gone over in jig time. 

 Red spider has given us no trouble 

 since we started using this salt mixer. 



Shading and Disbudding. 



Some of the pink varieties will want 

 a slight shade pretty soon. The sun is 

 beginning to take some of the color 

 out of Rose-pink Enchantress and 

 Gloriosa. Now is when we appreciate 

 Enchantress Supreme more than ever 

 before. The salmon tint prevents it 

 from bleaching like! the old variety 

 from which it sported. In another year 

 or so it will have displaced the old 

 Rnchantress altogether. When you put 

 on this shade, do not overda it. Bear 

 in mind that it is not for xhe plant 

 that you are doing it. The plant itself 

 would be better off if it had the full 

 sun for the next two months, but the 



bloom needs the shade to save the deli- 

 cate color. All it needs, however, is 

 just enough to break the fierce rays. 



The buds will be coming fast and dis- 

 budding will have to be attended to 

 right along, or the quality will suffer 

 quickly. Pay attention, too, to keep- 

 ing the young growth in the supports. 

 Not only will the stepis be straighter, 

 but the space between the rows will be 

 kept open, allowing a better circula- 

 tion of air between the plants, and that 

 is worth a great deal to them. The bot- 

 tom leaves will be healthier and there 

 will be less trouble from branch-rot 

 and kindred diseases. 



Mulching and Watering. 



A heavy mulch of long stable manure 

 will prove beneficial in preventing dry- 

 ing out from now on. Do not put it 

 too close to the stems of the plants, 

 but rick it up between the rows. In 

 watering it will be scattered out after 

 a time, but it will do no harm after it 

 has been leached out somewhat. We 

 use it tolerably fresh for this spring 

 mulch and have had only good results. 



Supply a liberal amount of water 

 when the days are bright and warm, 

 but be sure the plants have plenty to 

 eat too. I am ' firmly convinced that 

 a great deal of the trouble experienced 

 with light discoloration of the leaves 

 comes from a lack of proper nourish- 

 ment. Of course you are opening the 

 ventilators wide at every opportunity. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



SHRAPNTT 



Colchester, England. — When the Ger- 

 man aircraft raided this place on a re- 

 cent Sunday a bomb was dropped with- 

 in a few rods of the world-famous rose 

 nurseries of Frank Cant & Co., but ho 

 glass was lost. 



Oostdunklrk, Belgium. — E. Draps- 

 Boudry, who is well known as a grower 

 of American carnations for European 

 markets, reports: "French and Belgian 

 troops have occupied all my green- 

 houses; all the carnations and benches 

 have been thrown out. Horses are 

 stabled in one house, there are black- 

 smiths in another, shoemakers and sad- 

 dle-makers in another, and butchers cut- 

 ting up and preparing food in another. 

 Not finding room enough in my twenty- 

 six greenhouses, they have trampled all 

 over my perennials and made large bar- 

 racks in the gardens." 



Rotterdam, Holland. — Official statis- 

 tics show that in spite of the war the 

 exportation of flowering bulbs this last 

 season has decreased only 77,000 kilos. 

 This appears insignificant when it is 

 seen that the exports for 1914 amounted 

 to 24,883,900 kilos against 24,960,900 

 kilos in 1913. A kilo equals 2.2046 

 pounds. The decrease is not so insig- 

 nificant to the Holland bulb growers, 

 however, as it appears. The crop this 

 last season was an abundant one, the 

 bulbs were heavy, and the prices, on a 

 large part of the crop, were low. As a 

 result, the season was less successful 

 than a comparison of the two years' 

 exports would lead one to believe. 



Carignan, France. — ^Jean Denaiffe, of 

 the firm of Denaiffe & Son, is among 

 those who have fallen on the field of 

 battle. 



Paris, France. — Vincenc Mensik, the 

 secretary, reports that all the members 

 of the Society of Slavic Gardeners of 

 Paris have enlisted. • 



Paris, France. — Louis de Vilmorin, as 

 captain of reserve, commands the eighth 

 section of automobile machine guns. 

 The members voluntarily presented 

 themselves to put in action on the line 

 of battle eighty mountain guns. By 

 supporting the advance infantry, this 

 section has done valuable work in dis- 

 organizing the defense of the enemy. 



Copenhagen, Deimiark. — Considering 

 the large quantities of florists' supplies 

 that have been going from Germany to 

 the United States via this port and 

 Rotterdam, it is of much importance to 

 the trade to note that the attempt of 

 the British government to shut off the 

 trade of Germany has caused the Scan- 

 dinavian-American line as well as the 

 Holland-America line to refuse all ship- 

 ments of merchandise made in Ger- 

 many. This is done in fear of deten- 

 tion by British war ships encountered 

 at sea and it applies even to merchan- 

 dise already paid for and owned by 

 citizens of the United States. Already 

 there have accumulated here consider- 

 able quantities of florists' supplies 

 which cannot at present be forwarded 

 to the consignees in the United States. 



