May 2fi. 1915. 



The Florists' Review 



33 



iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimii^ 



1 SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS I 

 I FOR SOUTHERN FLORISTS | 



^illillMlllllillilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllillllllllilllliT 



CALLAS IN THE SOUTH. 



Their Feiiod of Best. 



Calla lilies are widely popiilar in the 

 south for social purposes, ' as well as 

 for cemetery bouquets and funeral de- 

 signs. They are mostly grown in 

 ground beds, and when so grown they 

 make mueh finer ■ flowers than when 

 grown in pots. The only trouble is in 

 carrying over the bulbs during the rip- 

 ening or drying process, in summer. So 

 many of the crowns rot that most south- 

 ern growers have given up trying to 

 carry them over, and simply throw 

 them out when the flowering season is 

 over and plant new bulbs in the fall. 



The last two seasons I have departed 

 from the usual methods of ripening 

 them, and with good success. I have 

 left the bulbs in the beds and kept 

 them only in a semi-dormant condition, 



fiving them enough water to keep the 

 oliage green. In September I cut ofF 

 most of the foliage and start them off 

 slowly on their new journey. In this 

 manner I have not lost a crown by 

 rotting. One or two bulbs, under a 

 gutter between two beds, had not been 

 disturbed for years, and they grew so 

 vigorously and flowered so profusely 

 every season that I was led to adopt 

 the method described. L. 



It is fortunate to have a big crop on 

 at the holidays, but ' a regular supply 

 the whole season is preferable and more 

 profitable.*' 



^ Preparing Houses for Planting. 



Whfc solid beds are used, as is gen- 

 erally'^ the case in the south, and the 

 soil is a good, heavy clay, it is not 

 always necessary to renew the soil 

 every year. Remove only one to two 

 inches of the top, add a good inch of 

 cow manure and spade the whole bed 

 over. This should be allowed to lie in 

 a rough state until planting time comes, 

 when it will have sweetened up and be 

 in fine shape for preparation to receive 

 the plants. Keeping the beds bone-dry 

 for as long a period as possible will 

 aid materially in killing the fungi that 

 cause stem-rot. I strongly advise get- 

 ting as many beds as possible ready now 

 and letting the sun have full play on 

 them until planting time. 



Where benches are used it is always 

 advisable to clean them out entirely. 

 They always need more or less repair- 

 ing and a good, hot whitewashing, but 

 if it is possible to have them filled two 

 weeks before planting time, by all 

 means do so and let the soil get a 

 thorough drying out. It is easy enough 

 to wet them down the day before 

 planting. 



Stem-Bot in the South. 



Stem-rot seems to be rather on the 

 increase each year and is a serious 

 menace in most places in the south. 

 Last season, owing to the excessive 

 drought, was not favorable to the 

 growth of the fungi; hence consider- 

 ably less loss resulted than usual. We 

 experimented last year with formalin, 

 in the strength advised by the experi- 

 ment stations, viz., 200 to 1, but found 

 no difference between the beds so treat- 

 ed and those untreated.. I believe, how- 

 ever, this can be accounted for to a 

 certain extent. Here, in the south, 

 though the beds are soaked thoroughly 

 with the mixture, in two days they are 

 as dry as ever, so that it is possible 

 the fungi are not entirely killed before 

 the mixture has evaporated. It would 

 be well, on the third day after first 

 applying the mixture, to rake up the 

 surface of the beds and give them an- 

 other good application. Were it pos- 

 sible to retain the fumes in the soil at 

 the first application, by covering the 

 beds with some close material for a 

 week, no other application might be 

 needed, but it seems this would in- 

 volve a greater outlay than giving a 

 second dose. 



A barrel force pump is, I think, the 

 best medium for applying the formalin. 

 It is scarcely necessary to say that the 

 beds should be thoroughly soaked. I 

 would advise every grower to try the 

 remedy on at least some of his beds, 

 and note the results. There is no dan-' 

 ger of its injuring other plants in the 

 house. Indeed, I soaked a few rows of 

 growing carnations with it last season 

 and no harmful results followed. L. 



OABNATIONS IN THE SOUTH. 



The Young Field Plants. 



This season in the south has been ^ 

 aomewliat hard one on the yoimg plants 

 just set out. In the early spriug it 

 rained so constantly that it was impos- 

 5I'» I -flible to prepare the ground for plant- 

 y -ling. Then from April 2? to May ^-it*- 

 . ^'^-did not rain a drop and plants set tet 

 ■^ •" during that time suffered. Many-dWd 

 and some growers were compelled to 

 resort to watering with the hose to 

 •save the plants. This is a makeshift 

 remedy at best, and must be continued 

 regularly until a rain comes, unless suf- 

 ficient water can be given to soal^the 

 ground thoroughly at least four inches 

 Kieep. Anyone who has tried this rem- 

 •edy once will understand the dif^culties 

 to' be overcome and will only t1^ it 

 again as a last resource. 



Copious rains have now fallen pretty 

 generally. With constant cultivation, 

 therefore, the plants should now make 

 good growth. Run the cultivator after 

 every rain, as soon as the ground is 

 dry enough to work, and at least once 

 every week during dry weather. The 

 hoe also must be used, to cut down the 

 weeds that the cultivator misses, but 

 do not get so close to the plants as to 

 injure the stems. Use the hands to 

 pull the weeds around the base of each 

 plant. 



In 'pinching back the plants, make it 

 a rule to go over them once a week 

 and pinch each shoot as it is ready. It 

 IS better to do it in this way than to 

 wait three weeks and then have to do 

 a wholesale pinching.. It will also in- 

 ■sure a more regular fiowering season. 



i!lllillllilllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllll|£ 



I NEW -FLOWER STORES [ 



^iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiS 



St. Maries, Idaho. — A. J. Russell, pro- 

 prietor of |he St. Maries Greenhouses, 

 i|f planimig to open a store in the west 

 q^d of ^n. 



Erie, Pa.— The Baur Floral Co. has 

 established a branch store in the Com- 

 merce building. The main store, in the 

 Marine Bank building, will be con- 

 tinued. 



Uma, O. — A new store has been 

 opened at 136 North Main street under 

 the name of Feniger 's Flower Shop. 

 The management is the same as that 

 of the store of the same name in 

 Toledo. 



Portland, Me.— The E. J. Harmon Co. 

 opened its downtown store, at 493 Con- 

 gress street, just in time for Mothers' 

 day, the opening taking place May 8. 

 The uptown store of the company is at 

 657 Congress street. 



Virginia, Minn.— The Virginia Floral 

 Co., which has had a salesroom in the 

 Mesaba Street railway waiting station 

 on Wvoming avenue, has rented the 

 store building at 108 Mesaba avenue, 

 and will make that its headquarters. 



New Brighton, Pa.— The refrigerator 

 for the flower store being opened by 

 H. L. Thompson, the Rochester florist, 

 at 813 Third avenue, was built by the 

 Bernard Gloekler Co., of Pittsburgh. 

 It weights 2,200 pounds and is esti- 

 mated to hold 1,800 blooms. 



F^^rmer City, Ill.--j^he Peterson 

 Floral Co., of Gibson City, has opened 

 a branch establi^uent atj'i^he Hammer 

 & Webb store. Claude Bei^strom is in 

 charge. 



Davenport, la. — Forber & Bird have 

 moved into new quarters at 313 Brady 

 street. Their new store, which is 

 equipped with Buchbinder's fixtures, i$ 

 attracting a great deal of attention. 



Cumberland, Md. — The Flower Shop, 

 formerly located at 53 North Liberty 

 street, has moved a few doors nearer 

 Baltimore street. Dussel Paupe is pro- 

 prietor and Miss Paupe is manager. 



Sterling, 111. — Harry Bent, formerly in 

 the newspaper business, has returned 

 from Adrian, Mich., and will open a 

 flower store in the Randolph Hotel 

 building. Associated with him will be 

 Mrs. Bent and a Mr. Henderson, an 

 experienced florist, from Adriaji, Mich. 



Winston-Salem, N. 0.— ^The opening 

 of the store of the Westbrook Floral & 

 Drug Co., April 23, drew a large num- 

 ber of visitors. A large refrigerator 

 extends across the rear of the store, 

 which is finished in pure White. In 

 the rear and on the second floor is 

 ample room for making up pieces of 

 all kinds. J, H. Shine is the head 

 decorator. The members of the firm 

 are Fred N., Robert H., George A. and 

 Samuel W. Westbrook. 



