14 



The Florists* Review 



Sbptembbk 9, 1916. 



SCALE ON NEPHBOLEPIS. 



I am sending under separate cover 

 a few fern leaves which are badly af- 

 fected with some sort of pest. Can 

 you tell me of a remedy? 



G. E.— N. Y. 



This is another example of the trou- 

 blesome fern scale that is so frequently 

 found on nephrolepis. The first thing 

 to do is to cut off all the fronds that 

 are as badly infested as the specimens 

 submitted, and to destroy them. If the 

 plants are in. pots, dip them in a solu- 

 tion of fish oil soap and nicotine or 

 tobacco extract. The solution should 

 consist of one ounce of the soap and 

 one teaspoonful of forty per cent nico- 

 tine to one gallon of water, and the 

 treatment should be given two or three 

 times at intervals of a week or ten 

 days. W. H. T. 



SCALE INSECTS ON FERNS. 



I am sending you some fern fronds 

 that are infested with small white in- 

 sects, which seem to be spreading 

 among our ferns with great rapidity. 

 We do not know what the pest is, nor 

 are we able to check it. Please tell us 

 what it is and how to get rid of it. 



J. S.— Wyo. 



The pest in question is one of the 

 scale insects, the full grown specimens 

 of which are also to be seen on the 

 fern fronds in the form of a flat brown 

 scale. Any fronds that are as badly 

 infested as those sent for inspection 

 should be cut off and burned. 



If the plants are in pots, the best 

 treatment would be to dip them in a 

 solution of an ounce of fish oil soap 

 and one teaspoonful of nicotine, forty 

 per cent solution, to one gallon of wa- 

 ter, repeating the dose at intervals of 

 one week for a time. If the ferns are 

 planted out, they could be sprayed with 

 the same solution. After dipping, the 

 plants should be laid down to prevent 

 the drip from draining into the soil. 

 As this pest is a persistent one, sev- 

 eral treatments may be needed to over- 

 come it. W' H. T. 



WOEMS ON FERNS. 



A short time ago we wrote to you 

 about a species of worms that have 

 been damaging our ferns. We told you 

 about our unsuccessful attempts to 

 check the pest and asked you to sug- 

 gest some other remedy. You replied 

 that the worms, according to our de- 

 scription, seemed to be some sort of 

 caterpillars and that they could prob- 

 ably be subdued by means of hellebore. 

 Now, we are satisfied that we have not 

 made clear the character of these "var- 

 mints," as they do not appear to us 

 to be caterpillars. We are therefore 

 forwarding a few of the worms, under 

 separate cover, and should like to get 



some further information about them. 

 We are now fumigating with nico- 

 tine extract, which we have been told 

 by a brother florist will kill the young 

 worms just after they are batched, but 

 does not affect the older ones. We 

 contemplate fumigating once a week 

 for about six or seven weeks, thus in- 

 suring the killing of these pests when 

 they arg hatched. We will endeavor 

 to give you a detailed report after this 

 experiment, as to the results obtained. 

 This same florist informs us that these 

 worms originated with the fern grow- 

 ers in Florida a number of years ago, 

 but are now pretty well scattered over 

 the country. He informed us that his 

 place was at one time badly infested 

 with them, but he got rid of them by 

 the nicotine route. However, if this 

 does not prove successful here, I will 

 give the hellebore a trial. 



T. N. C— Tex. 



The worms in question are the cater- 

 pillars of some moth, and bear some 

 resemblance to the currant worm, but 

 I am unable to say whether they are 

 that particular pest or not. This cor- 

 respondent states that he has tried 

 various remedies, but finds that arsen- 



ical compounds strong enough to kill 

 the worms will injure the plants to 

 which they are applied. It would seem, 

 therefore, that powdered hellebore, 

 thoroughly dusted over the plants, 

 would be the most suitable remedy in 

 this case, as this vegetable poison is 

 the most satisfactory preparation that 

 is used against the currant worm. 



W. H. T. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



["How to Lay Ont Suburban Home Grounds," 

 by Herbert J. Kellaway, landscape architect. 

 Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New 

 York. New edition, enlarged. Size, 6x9 Inches; 

 134 pages; Illustrated with forty-one halftone 

 plates and fifteen plans and maps. Price, bound 

 In cloth, $2 net.] 



The object of this book, as stated by 

 the author, is to assist people of mod- 

 erate incomes in their efforts to secure 

 beautiful home surroundings. The sug- 

 gestions that he offers, he says,. * ' are 

 not intended to deal with the treatment 

 of large estates or explain the many 

 principles of landscape architecture, but 

 only as an iuQentive to good taste." 



Yet, though he does not befog his 

 readers with the more abstruse and 

 technical principles of landscaping, he 

 does state clearly such simple, practi- 

 cal principles as are necessary to an 

 intelligent planning and planting of 

 home grounds. He does not lay down 

 cut and dried rules, without reasons to 

 sustain them or explain them, but so 

 illuminates the whole sublject as to en- 

 able the readers to see clearly how to 

 formulate their own rules for specific 

 cases. And the illustrations, being 

 really illustrative, show the successive 

 steps in the landscaper's work, from 

 the drafting of the preliminary plan 

 to the completion of the job. 



For sale by The Eeview at the pub- 

 lishers' price. 



FAIRY RINO. 



We are sending you, under separate 

 cover, one of our carnation plants, and 

 we should like to have your opinion as 

 to whether the plant is attacked by 

 any serious disease. The plants were 

 benched about five or six weeks ago 

 and most of them are making new 

 growth. We have sprayed them every 

 week with Bordeaux mixture, but the 

 leaves continue to dry up as if they 

 were .attacked by some fungus. We 

 picked the dead leaves off at intervals, 

 thinking the trouble was caused by 

 the plants receiving a check from 

 transplanting, but another bench, which 

 we planted about two weeks later, does 

 not seem to be affected. The season 

 has been extremely wet and the plants 

 made a rapid growth. After benching 

 the plants, we cared for them just as 

 we did last year, when we had no trou- 

 ble. The plant enclosed is the worst 

 one in the whole bench. S. E. C. 



The specimen submitted showed a 

 number of fairy ring spots. You will 

 distinguish these by the shape of the 



spots and the distinct circle around the 

 edge of each spot. There are a good 

 many dead leaves, which are merely the 

 result of the check sustained by the 

 transplanting. Your spraying with 

 Bordeaux mixture was the correct 

 thing. Supplement this with picking 

 off every leaf that shows one of these 

 round spots. Keep picking them off till 

 the plants are free from the disease. 

 Reduce the syringing to a minimum as 

 soon as the plants are able to stand up 

 without it, which they should do by 

 this time, as moisture will aggravate 

 this trouble. Give all the ventilation 

 possible, both day and night. 



A. F. J. B. 



STIGMONOSE. 



Will you please let me know what 

 caused the spots on the enclosed car- 

 nation! Is it anything that will hurt 

 the plants! They are still in the field 

 and are growing strongly. The weath- 

 er has been wet and cold here. Is 

 there anything that will cure it, if it 

 is a disease! L. M. & S. 



The spots mentioned in your query 



