u 



The Florists' Review 



AUGU3T 5, 1915. 



plants, before making a start at plant- 

 ing, so that the job can go on without 

 a break. Some nice rains have fallen 

 this season and the plants, in conse- 

 quence, have done well in the field. 

 Thero is no special advantage in plant- 

 ing early in July, unless in a section 

 where the rainy season begins early, or 

 in an unusually dry season, when the 

 plants will make a much better growth 

 inside. 



The plants should always be lifted 

 in as dry a spell as possible, Tfhen there 

 is really no danger of a check. When 

 they are lifted dry, no shading is re- 

 quired on the houses; nor will the 

 plants even flag if they are sprayed a 

 few times each day for a week and 

 if the walks are kept dampened down. 

 All the air possible should be given 

 day and night. A nice ball of soil at- 

 tached to the roots when lifting is a 

 big help to the plants' reestablish- 

 ment, though this is far from essential 

 if most of the root is intact. 



Plant just deep enough so the plants 

 will stand erect, and firm the soil well. 

 Many southern growers plant extremely 

 shallow, as a precaution against stem- 

 rot, but in my opinion this point is 

 much overemphasized. I have never 

 been able to trace any difference in the 



ravages of this fungus in shallow or 

 deeper planting. \ 



Watering and Syringing. 



The beds will need a thorough soak- 

 ing after planting. This watering 

 should keep pace with the planting 

 and should not be deferred until a 

 whole bed is planted. The soil dries 

 out rapidly in the sunny south and will 

 need a lot of water each day to keep 

 it in a good, moist condition. If kept 

 on the dry side, the plants will not 

 make good growth. I have found this 

 method an improvement on the plan of 

 leaving a depression at the base of each 

 plant and watering each plant separate- 

 ly. . Too much time is required for this, 

 without any compensating advantages. 

 There are probably some sections iiu.the 

 south where the individual watering is 

 the better plan, and if the plants are 

 lifted in a soft, sappy condition, it. 

 would be almost a necessity. But when 

 lifted dry, as they ought to be, the 

 plants want a good soaking at planting 

 and plenty of water every d&y to keep 

 the soil in a good, moist, growing condi- 

 tion. 



Syringe hard every day, so long as 

 the hot weather lasts, to keep red 

 spider at bay. When this pest gets a 

 foothold, it is a man's sized job to get 



Camping Among Chatles VHUs Ward's Redwoods Near fiureka, Cat 



rid of it. I have never been able to 

 see any advantage in running the plants 

 extremely dry to prevent stem-rot. The 

 plants are brought into the house to 

 grow as fast as they can with safety, 

 and to do this they need water and lots 

 of it. Besides, the stem-rot fungus will 

 endure more drying than a carnation 

 plant will and keep on growing, so it 

 is preferable to give enough water to 

 keep the plants growing steadily and 

 iake a chance on the stem-rot, as we 

 have to do in any case. 



To Check Stem-rot. 



Nearly every carnation grower one 

 m^ets, in the . south or elsewhere, 

 has a different theory about stem- 

 r<)t arid different points . in culture 

 to preverit it. Some even go so far as 

 to blame the variety for it. So far as 

 my experience goes, stem-rot is neither 

 checked nor affected by deep or shal- 

 low planting or by keeping the soil drjy. 

 To overcome' the trouble by any of 

 these processes, it would be necessary 

 to carry the processes to an extreme 

 that would destroy the plants. Tke 

 fungus is present, more or less, in sill 

 soils, and if it comes in cfontact with ia 

 plant, especially if that plant is ev^n 

 slightly bruised on the stem, it is onjy 

 a question of a short time until the 

 plant goes under. i 



The experiment stations recommend 

 soaking the beds with a solution of one 

 part of formalin to 200 parts of water 

 to destroy the fungus. Here, in the 

 south, I would advise doing this twice, 

 at three days' interval, because the 

 heat is liable to dry up the beds before 

 the fungus is entirely killed if only one 

 application is made. Try the experi- 

 ment on some of the beds at least. 

 Formalin is cheap, and if it does no 

 good it will at least do no harm. L. 



MB. WARD'S BEDWOODS. 



For those who are so fortunate as 

 to receive invitations and can accept 

 them, there will be no feature of the 

 San Francisco convention more inter- 

 esting than the excursion planned for 

 a party of his trade friends by Charles 

 Willis Ward. He will take them camp- 

 ing among his redwoods. 



Florists have seen little of Mr. 

 Ward the last few years, for he makes 

 his home at Eureka, Cal., but he has 

 lost not one bit of his interest in 

 the trade and, indeed, is more closely 

 connected with it than ever before, 

 as he has started a new Cottage Gar- 

 dens there. Mr. Ward went to Eureka 

 to fight^-a lawsuit regarding the dis- 

 posal M hi^ father 's estate. He was 

 a sick man at the time. Curiously, it 

 was as a man ill of nervous prostra- 

 tion and seeking surcease from idle- 

 ness that Mr. Ward founded the now 

 widely known Cottage Gardens at 

 Queens, N. Y. While he was winning 

 his point in the courts at Eureka he 

 aW won back his again shattered 

 health, for the climate there is said 

 to be the most even in America and 

 peculiarly beneficial in strengthening 

 the nervous system. Mr. Ward came 

 into possession of a splendid redwood 

 forest, as part of his inheritance, and 

 it is through this as well as to other 

 natural wonders that Mr. Ward pur- 

 poses taking his friends at convention 

 time, rather than to the new green- 

 houses at Eureka or the new nurseries 

 at Carlotta. 



The trip among the redwoods is one 

 of the grandest in the world, as a 



