298 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



July 7, 1904. 



caused the plants to become abnormal 

 asd die? Chemical tests of every bed 

 sfibwed such a preponderance of abnor- 

 mal constituents that it was a wonder 

 that plants could thrive in such soil. 

 The acidity of the soil was in every case 

 high and the amount of sulphates, chlor- 

 ides, ammonia and nitrates were excess- 

 ive. Our soil was not treated differently 

 * from that of the best growers, except, 

 perhaps, that the plants were Jiot fed 

 so highly as some growers feed them. 



In order to apply a remedy for this 

 trouble, all the beds were completely 

 flooded with water and the roses were 

 cut back, with the result that all made a 

 quick recovery and no further loss of 

 plants was experienced. The flooding 

 of the beds lasted from one hour to one 

 and a half hours each. A number of 

 samples of percolated water were gathered 

 and tested. We found by this practice 

 that the acidity was greatly reduced and 

 the excess of sulphates, chlorides, ni- 

 trates, etc., was washed out. 



Soils Not Exhausted. 



These results show that where crops 

 are highly fed the soil becomes filled with 

 various detrimental constituents and 

 causes certain plants to become sickly and 

 die when grown in such soil. Probably 

 in no instance does the rose plant ex- 

 haust the soil of any of the essential 

 elements, for greenhouse soils usually 

 contain a large amount of available ma- 

 terial at the start and, moreover, they 

 are well supplied with additional food. 



Lettuce soils seldom appear to get into 

 this condition, although they are liberally 

 supplied with horse manure, containing 

 straw, etc., every year. Occasional 

 troubles are experienced with lettuce and 

 cucumber soil where attempts have been 

 made to apply other kinds of manure and 

 fertilizers. 



The writer has started a third crop 

 of roses in the same soil as described, 

 the same having been washed out thor- 

 oughly before planting. "With the ap- 

 plication of sod to increase the fibre there 

 appears to be no reason why roses will 

 not do something in such a soil^ but 

 whether this practice would be desirable 

 for commercial growers remains to be 

 seen, or at any rate it remains to be 

 seen whether by washing soils and ap- 

 plying organic matter in the form of de- 

 composed sod we can put them in as good 

 condition as they were at first. 



If washing out soils and supplying 

 them with fibre would give as good re- 

 sults as those obtained from newly pre- 

 pared soil, it would be advantageous in 

 many cases to follow this practice. The 

 rose plant has a limited root develop- 

 ment and cannot be considered a heavy 

 feeder. One of the principal reasons 

 why soil has to be changed for such crops 

 is because heavy feeding renders the soil 

 constipated, as it were, and it needs a 

 laxative or a purgative to rectify it. 

 Outdoor roses will stand heavy feeding 

 because there is a better chance of the 

 fertilizer constituents becoming washed 

 out. G. E. Stone. 



CULTURAL NOTES, 

 Early planted stock is now growing 

 apace and the question of supports must 

 be looked into. Many commercial grow- 

 ers use a cheap string, two-ply jute gen- 

 erally, strung on two wires running par- 

 allel with the rows of plants, one wire 

 well overhead and one on the ground. 

 I never cared for this system person- 

 ally, owing to the practical impossibility 

 of getting the string tight enough to pull 

 the shoots of the plant up close when they 

 showed a disposition to crook in the stem. 

 I prefer wire stakes, supported by stretch- 

 ing one wire for each row of plants to 

 which the stakes are tied. Use some 

 judgment in your staking, putting short 

 stakes on the dwarf kinds (stakes two 

 feet long are high enough for Cheltoni 

 or Donald McLeod) and five or six feet 

 stakes on the Eatons and others of that 

 ilk. 



Now that the benches are getting filled 

 with roots considerable water is needed. 

 Soak the soil thoroughly and then do not 

 water again until the plants really need 

 it. This habit of giving a light watering 

 every day is utterly wrong, because while 

 water has got to be applied at certain 

 times to keep the soil moist, the roots 

 of a chrysanthemum work best in a soil 

 that is neither wet nor dry. The deli- 

 cate feeding roots will all rot when the 

 soil is being perpetually drenched. This 

 .condition will be found in pot plants 



when they become water-logged and is 

 manifested in the benches by the plants 

 making long, soft growth and pale foli- 

 age. When a plant is doing well the 

 foliage is dark green and rich-looking. 

 On bright days, when the temperature 

 runs high, spray the house over three of 

 four times to cool things off a little. 

 We are growing our plants under some- 



what unnatural conditions under glass 

 and the mum is not a stove plant by any 

 means. Keep the house as cool as pos- 

 sible. About once a week put a nozzle on 

 the hose that will throw a spray of water 

 upwards and with this give the plants 

 a thorough syringing on the under side 

 of the leaves. It is not on the top of 

 the foliage where the insects find a con- 

 genial home, but underneath where the 

 water from the hose, as ordinarily ap- 

 plied, never reaches. I have many, many 

 times found red spider working on the 

 leaves when a casual inspection indicated 

 that the plants were pictures of health. 



If any of your plants are showing any 

 tendency to leaf disease try using po- 

 tassium sulphide, one ounce to two gal- 

 lons of water. I have great faith in this 

 preparation myself. It will kill mildew 

 or rust and I believe will hold down leaf 

 spot, if the cause, which is generally ex- 

 cessive watering, is removed. 



Mildred Ware is showing some ten- 

 dency to leaf spot, but it is such a 

 grand thing that it will pay to go 

 to a little trouble with it. Keep it pretty 

 well on the dry side, so as to encourage 

 as much as possible the formation of 

 roots. When a plant has a good root 

 system it will generally take care of 

 the top without any trouble. 



Brian Bobu. 



Utica. N. Y. — The establishments of 

 Peter Crowe and Brant Bros, were 

 brought within the city limits by a re- 

 cent annexation ordinance. They think 

 the advantages of fire ?ind police pro- 

 tection more than compensate for added 

 taxes. 



South Bend, Ind.^ — Kinyon Bros., of 

 Lowell, Mich., have secured ground for 

 an extensive range of greenhouses just 

 outside the city limits. The work of 

 construction will begin at once. The 

 gentlemen are experienced in the trade 

 and see in South Bend a first-class field. 



The preliminary schedule for the sev- 

 enty-third annual fair of the American 

 Institute of New York has been issued. 

 The dates are November 10 to 17, and 

 liberal premiums are offered for cut chry- 

 santhemums, chrysanthemum plants, mis- 

 "Cellaneous plants, roses and carnations, 

 also fruits and vegetables. Those who 

 have not received copies of the schedule 

 may obtain them by addressing Dr. 

 Bobert Taylor, manager, care of Herald 

 Square Exhibition Hall, New York Citv. 



CULTURAL NOTES. 

 Now that you have your young plants 

 growing nicely and all the weeds killed 

 out, you will be asking yourself whether 

 you should plant early in July or late in 

 August. Those who grow both roses and 

 carnations will likely be busy with rose 

 planting until late in this month and to 

 suggest planting carnations before they 

 have fimshed planting the roses would 

 only cause them to shake their heads, 

 and rightly so, but hurry up and finish 

 with your rose planting so your carna- 



tions will not also have to be late in 

 coming in. 



That it pays to plant carnations early 

 cannot be dem'ed. The best growers all 

 over the country are planting their hotises 

 between July 10 and August 20. I would 

 not say that you can make more money 

 or cut finer blooms from plants benched 

 July 10 than you can from plants housed 

 the first week in August, but you cer- 

 tainly can cut more and better blooms 

 from plants housed before August 20 

 than you can from those housed later. 



