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JCNB 9, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists* Review* 



105 



that when disturbed the beetles drop to 

 the ground. Taking advantage of this, 

 one can catch the beetles by holding a 

 pan containing kerosene underneath and 

 causing the beetles to drop. 



Under some conditions hand picking 

 is a futile measure. When the cultivated 

 roses to be protected are in the vicinity 

 of wild roses which breed the beetles 

 year after year, it will probably be use- 

 less to attempt hand picking. It is said 

 that a spray of Paris green will kill 

 the beetles.— R. A. Cooley, in Bulletin 

 of Montana Experiment Station. 



RENEWING THE BENCH SOIL. 



Some! weeks ago an inquiry was sent 

 to the Review by an eastern professor 

 who is rightly considered a high author- 

 ity on matters pertaining to horticul- 

 ture, particularly on soils, the most ini- 

 lK>rtant of all. The question was about 

 like this: "Why do florists consider it 

 necessary to change or renew the soil 

 on their benches every year, for the 

 important crops, for instance, roses, 

 carnations and chrysanthemums?" I 

 regret very much that I cannot quote 

 the exact text of the question, yet it 

 makes little diflference whether the ques- 

 tion was "Why do they?" or "Why do 

 they not?" Tie delay in answering is 

 because the writer desired to have the 

 opinions and views of men of large ex- 

 ])erience and of some who could speak 

 from a knowledge of the chemistry of 

 the soil. 



Ask about ninety per cent of all the 

 growers of greenhouse flowers of our 

 staple kinds why they put fresh soil 

 on their benches annually and the an- 

 swer would be, if cornered to explain: 

 ''Well, I don't know, but it seelns to 

 me it is worn out, in poor condition, 

 and I should be sorry to trust it the 

 second year." These men answer with- 

 out any specific knowledge, more on gen- 

 eral principles, what they havel always 

 done and what their fathers have done, 

 and they are largely right. 



At the inception and birth of the 

 American Carnation Society, at Phila- 

 delphia some years ago the question of 

 renewing the soil on carnation benches 

 was brought up and the writer was as- 

 tonished to hear several growers from 

 what was then known as the carnation 

 belt, Chester county, Pa., (the belt, 

 like the gulf stream, has deviated of late, 

 spreading north, east and west till you 

 would scarcely recognize the! belt unless 

 it was labeled) stand up and say that 

 they did not change the sml for four 

 or five years and did not think there 

 was any necessity for doing so. Soil 

 that has been used for one season, say 

 for carnations, removed in June and 

 allowed to remain out of doors the fol- 

 lowing winter and in the spring turned 

 over and replenished with manure, 

 lx)ne, ashes or other fertilizers would, 

 in ray opinion, be entirely different from 

 soil that simply had the growing crop 

 yemoved and after a few days worked 

 into the proper condition, with manure 

 added, and then a new crop planted. 



It may be possible with some of our 

 flowers to restore to the soil all that 

 is essential to their growth and vigor, 

 yet I don't know what they are. It is 

 a temptation, when short of time and 

 nuterial, to use the same old soil, or 

 part of it, as we have done and if the 

 result was fairly good ypu would be 

 t*3o apt to persuade yourself that , old 

 "^"il was good enough, forgetting that 



The Rose Beetle in its Variotis Stages. 



a., adult beetle; b., larva; c, egg; d.. sjdevlew o? head of beetle; »., bud injured by the beetle; 

 t. mouthparts of the larva; g.. mouthparts of the beetle. 



with equal care and all other conditions 

 your carnations or chrysanthemiuns 

 might have been much better. In the 

 case of roses let me repeat the retnark 

 of a first-class rose grower. "We threw 

 out our soil as usual and spread it out 

 and seeded it to grass. Three or four 

 years afterwards the boss says, 'Barney, 

 that ought to be good enough.' I say, 

 "No, boss, I don't think so.' However, 

 we did use it and our roses were very 

 poor. It won't do. Give me soil that 

 never grew roses." 



A few of the principal reasons against 

 using soil on our benches the second 

 year are: 



1. The plants have, from the limited 

 amount of soil given them, taken from 

 the soil the essential elements that nour- 

 ish their growth. It may be possible 

 to restore the elements artificially, but 

 who could tell without a scientific analy- 

 sis whether it was potash or phosphorous 

 or ammonia that was needed? 



2. By our treatment of the soil on 

 the benches we have put it in the poor- 

 est mechanical condition. All vestige 

 of fibre is gone and, although it is quite 

 easy, with proper management, to put 

 it again in a good working condition, 

 it is too friable and lifeless for any of 

 our important crops. 



3. All our winter blooming bench 

 crops are subject to many and varied 

 diseases, such as fungi, rust, bacteria 

 and insects. The spores and eggs of all 

 these find a natural resting place in the 

 soil and you can't expect to escape any- 

 thing but a battle against them when 

 you begin again with a young army 

 ready to fight. 



The above three reasons may not be 

 conclusive in some people's opinion, but 

 I must say, both from experience and 

 observation, that it is unwise in the ex- 

 treme to use the soil the second year 

 on our shallow benches for either roses, 

 carnations, chrysanthemums or violets. 

 The farmer and market gardener ro- 

 tates his crops even where he has the 

 blessings of frost and snow and the nat- 

 ural atmosphere. How much more es- 

 sential is it for us to use fresh soil 

 Where our conditions are most artificial, 

 where we drench the beds continually 

 with water and endeavor to extract from 



the) soil and ptit into the plant all wet 

 possibly can. , Williau Scott. 



BEDDING GERANIUMS. 



Please answer us this question through 

 the columns of the Review. What are 

 the best bedding sorts of geraniums, all 

 colors? I. 8. C. 



I am inclined to think that an author- 

 ity like the E. Gr. Hill Co., who import 

 all the new varieties annually and doubt- 

 less give them a trial before sending 

 them out, could give you a more up-to- 

 date list of desirable zonale bedding 

 geraniums. The Frenchmen and some 

 English firms send out every year many 

 varieties, yet, like the chrysanthemums 

 and carnations and other florists' flow- 

 ers, the g^eat majority fall by the way- 

 side and if there are one or two novel- 

 ties of sterling merit in a year it is 

 all w^ expect. Zonale geraniums (pelar- 

 goniums, as they are properly called in 

 Europe) are largely grown there for con- 

 servatory decoration and for that pur- 

 pose many of the single varieties are 

 most beautiful, but useless for our pur- 

 pose as summer bedding plants. Here is 

 a short list of varieties that can be de- 

 pended on to grow and bloom with great 

 success the entire season. 



S. A. Nutt, dark scarlet; Le Soleil. 

 dark scarlet. These are very aUke, yet 

 I think Le Soleil is a little the better 

 and the flnest all-around zonale we grow 

 and the public seems to like that shade 

 better than any. Alphonse Bicard, a 

 light scarlet, splendid floret and truss; 

 John Doyle, bright scarlet, a little dark- 

 er than Ricard; Frances Perkins, the 

 best of all pinks. This has entirely 

 superseded the old favorite Emile de 

 Girardin. Beauty Poitevine, a beauti- 

 ful salmon; Glorie de Paris, a peach 

 blossom pink, good for vases; La Fa- 

 vorite, a very free flowering white; 

 Ernest Louth, a very old, but fine va- 

 riety not unlike the color of Lawson car- 

 nation; Countess de Harcourt, a very 

 fine white; Marquis de Castellane, a 

 grand red; Jean Viaud. 



This latter is such a splendid flower 

 at selling time that I havfi added it. to 

 tlie list, yet it is with us rather disap- 

 pointing when used as a bedder, not 



