12 



The Florists^ Review 



July 15, 1916. 



of adjournment, there can be no doubt 

 that this meeting ranks with the most 

 successful of the season. And for the 

 series of enjoyable evenings the club 



has afforded its members this year, 

 credit must be given to Michael Fink, 

 chairman of the good of the club com- 

 mittee. 



yourself? No special skill is needed to 

 produce them. C. W. 



SPOTTED GfSBANIUM FOLIAGE. 



You will find enclosed two geranium 

 leaves on which are red spots. Can you 

 tell me what is the cause of these, and 

 the remedy? E. B. P.— N. Y. 



WBEN TO BOOT CUTTINGS. 



When is tha^^begt time to pot geran- 

 ium cuttings for spring blooming ? What 

 kind of soil should be used for grow- 

 ing them? Also, please give me the 

 same information as to chrysanthemums 

 and carnations. T have two small green- 

 houses and want to know when to start 

 the plants. E. C. — Ohio. 



Geranium cuttings can be put in from 

 early Septemi)er until the end of 

 October. If you wait until the hottest 

 weather has passed, fewer cuttings will 

 damp off. Use pasture loam and sand 

 for compost, but no manure. Do not 

 give the cuttings any shade. If the 

 cuttings are quite succulent, let them 

 lie on the bench a few hours to dry. 



Chrysanthemum cuttings for single- 

 stem plants for benches can be put in 

 from April 1 to June 1. Sometime in 

 May would probably be sufficiently 

 early for you. Carnations can be pro- 

 pagated from October to May, but De- 

 cember to February would be a good 

 season for you to root what you need. 



C. W. 



MAY BE CAESAB FBANCK. 



I should like to know whether there 

 is a good, double, dark red ivy-leaved 

 geranium on the market and what its 

 name is. I have a dark red geranium 

 which I propagated from one among 

 20,000 of the coral-colored ivy-leaved 

 sorts. I should like to know whether 

 it is a new variety or what it is called. 

 It is almost the same shade as Nutt. 

 O. W. F.— Utah. 



Possibly you may have the variety 

 Caesar Franck, which is rich crimson in 

 color and a fine sort. It is practically 

 the same shade as S. A. Nutt. C. W. 



A BBONZE-LEAVED GERANIUM. 



I am enclosing a photograph of a 

 seedling geranium. It has prettily 

 shaded bronze leaves and scarlet flow- 

 ers. The truss was four and one-half 

 inches across. Please tell me if there 

 are any bronze-leaved geraniums with 

 red or scarlet blooms, as I should like 

 to know if I have a new variety. 



S. P.— Ore. 



There are several old bronze-leaved 

 geraniums, such as the Shah and Mar- 

 shal McMahon, which have red or scar- 

 let flowers. These are termed golden 

 bronzes. The flower trusses on these 

 varieties are smaller than on yours. 

 Your plant appears to be vigorous in 

 habit and the truss is of good size. If 

 this is a true bronze, it should prove 

 valuable for bedding purposes. It is 



of different habit from the old varie- 

 ties already named and should be worth 

 propagating. I could judge better of 

 its value if I could see a leaf and 

 flower truss. C. W. 



The plants, I should say, have been 

 kept too dry at the root and have not 

 had sufficient^food. Give them a weak 

 dose of nitrate of soda water, at the 

 rate of one pound to twelve and one- 

 half gallons of water. Eepeat the dose 

 ten days later. Soot water, made from 

 soft coal soot, with some cow manure, 

 will also tone them up. I do not be- 

 lieve the leaves have any disease on 

 them. C. W. 



PI.ANTS GBOWN AS STANDABDS. 



Does any florist carry standard gera- 

 niums and heliotropes, and what are 

 the best varieties for the purpose? 



W. B.— N. J. 



Seedling heliotropes, which possess 

 greater vigor than cuttings, are best 

 adapted for standards. Almost any of 

 the zonale geraniums make good stand- 

 ards. Those which naturally make a 

 short-jointed growth make better heads 

 than the more vigorous ones. I do not 

 know of any firm that offers standard 

 geraniums, but probably there are such. 

 The W. W. Edgar Co., Waverley, Mass., 

 grows standard heliotropes in quantity 

 and undoubtedly there are others who 

 do so. Why not start some standards 



PABASITE ON SALVIAS. 



I am sending you under separate 

 cover a yellow vine that appeared 

 among my salvias. Can you tell me 

 what it is? The vine lives on the 

 plant when it is disconnected from the 

 soil. The plant is strangled and the 

 leaves drop. I Ivave been fifty yeai'S 

 in the florists' business, but never have 

 seen it before. Please state your opin- 

 ion. G. C— Ohio. 



This is one of the parasitic plants. 

 There are many varieties of these, but 

 I have not previously heard of, or seen, 

 any case of salvias being attacked. 

 Perhaps some other readers may have 

 seen this parasite. It certainly made 

 the salvia look sickly. I cannot sug- 

 gest any remedy beyond pulling off and 

 destroying the parasites, or, better stilly 

 destroying both parasites and salvias. 



C. W. 



LOOKING AHEAD. 



While the flowering season for 

 peonies has passed, it does not pay to 

 neglect the plants. Give them a top- 

 dressing of tankage, dried blood or 

 nitrate of soda, scratching the teoil 

 about them after applying it. This will 

 be found of special value for such as 

 did not bloom satisfactorily this 

 season. Food of this character applied 

 now will wonderfully strengthen the 

 plants and the number and quality of 

 flowers in 1916 will show that the extra 

 trouble has been well repaid. 



A PEONY CATECHISM 



I am a beginner in peony growing, as 

 you will perceive. In the following 

 questions, when varieties are designated 

 by the word old, it means that this 

 spring was the second cutting season. 



and when the word new is used, that 

 this spring was the first cutting season. 



A. J. P.— S. C. 

 Question — Pseonia edulis superba and 

 Queen Victoria did poorly, both old and 

 new; maxima, old, well and f estiva 

 maxima fairly well. Meissonier did 

 fairly well, although it misses greatly 

 in coming up. Mme. De Verneville, 

 new, did not bloom much. The Queen 

 Victoria plants last year were fine, 

 large bushes, well budded, but this year 

 they are little, low bushes, mostly with- 

 out buds or with only a few small 

 ones. Many of the plants of all va- 

 rieties have little red buds which only 

 dry up, as well as good-appearing buds 

 which simply die with no visible rea- 

 son for it. The Mme. De Verneville 

 bushes were tiny and low last year and 

 are still small. I have read that if 

 the roots are planted too deeply the 



