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200 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



June 23, 1904. 



he has the same thing and had it fir^t. 

 He is mistaken, as we have a few plants 

 of Croweanum and his fern side by side 

 and they are entirely distinct. Unlike 

 A. ftuneatum and A. concinniim, whose 

 spores germinate so freely, this fern has 

 no fertile spores and propagation must 

 be entirely by division. Now I wish to 

 say that the little that follows about the 

 culture of this splendid fern is not tt 

 the request or even permission of Mr. 

 Crowe or Mr. Kasting, who is sending it 

 out, yet I can scarcely think that either 

 of these young men will object to any 

 hint that will help toward your success 

 in growing it. 



How Mr. Oowe Does It. 



If you have grown A. cuneatum really 

 well, then you will grow Croweanum, and 

 it is im^iensely superior in all desirable 

 qualities. If you have made a poor at- 

 tempt at growing cuneatum you will also 

 fail with Croweanum and many a florist 

 will buy it, starve it and then declaim 

 that he "don't see nothin' in it." Here 

 is what can be observed at Mr. Crowe's. 

 The fern is grown on raised wooden 

 benches in five or six inches of soil. In 

 some of the houses there are two 1-inch 

 steam pipes beneath the benches, but 

 near the ground, and in some houses no 

 pipes beneath the benches. Mr. Crowe 

 thinks it is of no consequence whether 



the pipes are there or not, but by no 

 means would he have many pipes, or 

 any of them near the boards. The soil 

 is just what he uses for his rose beds, a 

 rotten sod from a rather heavy, yellow 

 loam, with a fourth of animal manure. 

 The night temperature is kept at about 

 60 degrees. The plants and the surface 

 of the beds are dusted with air-slaked 

 lime. So heavily is this put on that the 

 crowns of the plants are white with it. 

 This was first applied to keep the slugs 

 away but now it is thought to be a fer- 

 tilizer of considerable value. 



All of the above is very simple and 

 easy to copy, but now comes the all-im- 

 portant item, the one that has made 

 Croweanum famous and produced those 

 wonderful fronds. The benches are nevsr 

 watered with pure cold water, never; 

 when they need water they get a soak- 

 ing of warm liquid manure. By warm, I 

 mean about 65 degrees. The ingredients 

 of this liquid manure I can 't tell you, for 

 I never tasted it, but I have seen the im- 

 mense tank in which it is brewed, then 

 pumped up to a wooden tank and by 

 gravity goes to any part of the houses. 

 It is this warm liquid that makes these 

 splendid fronds and without it I don't 

 believe you can ever produce such won- 

 derful results as can be seen in Utica. 

 Use plenty of liquid manure, but no old 

 Crow whiskey. William Scott. 



.'* GREEN APHIS. 



J should like to know the best way to 

 get rid ffi green aphis on pansies and 

 carnations in the field ; they are unusually 

 bad thi^-year. E. T. 



tyou can use much the same methods 

 to destroy the green aphis on your car- 

 nation as^ pansy plants in the field as 

 you would use for them inside. Of 

 cotirse, y(tu cannot fumigate outside, but 

 you can dust the plants with tobacco 

 or, spray ^em with tobacco liquid. Put 

 it on in tW evening or early in the morn- 

 ing, especially the liqmd, as it will burn 

 th6 foliage if applied a little too strong 

 when the feun is quite hot. 



During- the past few weeks we have 

 had on trial some of the To-bak-ine pro- 

 ducts wMch are advertised in the Re- 

 viiw, and.X must say that they are the 

 best thinOT I have ever come across for 

 apbii; .thnps,^ spider and all such green- 

 hotise pestd. O^e form is ground about 

 as fine as your wife grinds coffee and ha? 

 a certain amount of nicotine added to 

 make it of uniform strength. This is to 

 be burned and for general fumigatine thia 

 is very cflScient and handy, as it burns 

 slowly and will keep your house filled 

 with the fumes most of the night, yet 

 never dense enough with smoke to burn 

 the most tender plants. Another form 

 looks like blotting paper saturated with 

 a solution of nicotine made of a certain 

 strength. This is as effective as the 

 other, but is preferable to it in some 

 cases. It does not leave the least odor 

 on the blooms and while a house is in 



full crop we would much prefer it to the 

 other. Many growers who are obliged to 

 cut blooms every day find it difficult to 

 fumigate as often as desirable and al- 

 ways have their blooms free from the 

 disagreeable burnt tobacco odor, but 

 with this To-bak-ine paper you can fumi- 

 gate in the evening and cut your blooms 

 the next morning without any foreign 

 odor. The third form is a liquid which 

 is the best thing we have ever run across 

 to fight thrips and red spider. When di- 

 luted to the proper proportions with 



water it is so nearly clear that it does 

 not spot the half-open blooms nor burn 

 them, although it is as strong as you 

 dare use tobacco water. We find that 

 two teaspoonfuls to a gallon of water will 

 destroy every green or black aphis with 

 one application. Thrips, of course, take 

 seversil doses as you cannot reach them 

 all with one or two applications. Of this 

 last you should always have a case on 

 hand as you sometimes need it quick. 



I would recommend this to E. T. for 

 his carnations in the field. It may tako 

 more than one application out of doors, 

 as the odor will be carried away more, 

 but it will do the work for him. For sev- 

 eral years I have been looking for a rem- 

 edy to be used against thrips, to recom- 

 mend in my answers to inquiries. I 

 wanted something which would do the 

 work expeditiously vdthout causing so 

 much loss and annoyance to the grower 

 as continual tobacco smoking invariably 

 causes. I am truly glad to have found 

 something which I feel sure will be a 

 boon to the grower and especially those 

 who have had trouble with this pest every 

 spring, or perhaps all through each sea- 

 son. I think that a good spraying once 

 each week during the winter will keep 

 them down and perhaps two each week to- 

 ward spring will keep your plants clean 

 and prevent those white spotted and 

 brown edged Lawson we see so much of 

 after hot weather sets in. Try to use it 

 as a preventive against thrips. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



NAME OF HARDY SHRUB. 



Enclosed you will find a leaf and a 

 spray of bloom of a hardy shrub for 

 name. The bloom is white and fragrant. 

 The spray we send you is in poor condi- 

 tion to send but is the best we can get 

 at this time, as the shrub is through 

 blooming, but it will show the shape of 

 the blooms. T. & C. 



As near as we can tell from the sam- 

 ple leaf and flower forwarded, the shru1> 

 is the white fringe, Chionanthus Virgin- 

 ica. This is one of our most beautiful, 

 strong growing shrubs in Massachusetts. 

 It usually blooms about the middle of 

 June and its charming, fringe-like flow- 

 ers in terminal panicles attract every- 

 one 's attention. W. N. G&mq. ' 



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ETIQUETTE OF THE BUSINESS. 



Messages With Flowers. 



Perhaps the first thing we think about 

 under this title is the how and why and 

 where of the card. How much or how 

 little of a message, if any at all, is per- 

 missible on the visiting card which ac- 

 companies flowers? Many people do not 

 appreciate the fact that the sending of 

 flowers itself is an expression of sym- 

 pathy, or congratulation, as the case 

 may be. The arrangement, selection and 

 quality of flowers should be a sufficient 

 expression of sentiment, but customers 



will often ask you what inscription they 

 shall use on a card. 



"Compliments" or "congratulations" 

 are too commonplace terms, except when 

 you are requested to write the former 

 on a card to accompany a funeral design! 

 For floral offerings for any occasion the 

 most simple and chaste style is the visit- 

 ing card with the name only. For ladies-, 

 the medium sized, nearly square card is 

 the approved size, and for gentlemen a 

 smaller, narrow card. Where a personal 

 message is sent, the card should always be 

 enclosed in an envelope and sealed. 



The personal visiting card is to be 

 preferred to a card written for the occa- 



