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NovHifBSR 10, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



J 249 



as a walking stick and with leathery 

 leaves to the neck. Then came John 

 Jones, of the Phipps Conservatories, with 

 faultless blooms of gigantic size and s^e 

 potted plants to show how he had grown 

 them. Among his blooms was a Vallis 

 fourteen inches in diameter. It waS 

 the largest flower in the hall. All bis 

 plants are grown in pots and nearly all 

 are single-stemmed. Every plant must 

 have perfect foliage from the pot up 

 and any in the least degree deficient in 

 this respect never see the conservatory. 



All of the out of town flowers and 

 those from Mr. Peacock's place and the 

 parks, after doing duty at the Florists' 

 Club were taken by the president and ex- 

 hibited, a day or two after, at the meet- 

 ing of the Botanical Society of West- 

 ern Pennsylvania, thus being doubly 

 honored. 



Several of the prominent growers gave 

 their methods of cultivation. Young 

 plants are struck and potted in early 

 spring and later on the tops of these are 

 struck. "While both strikings are used, 

 preference is given to the later batch. 

 They are stronger, stockier and less hide 

 bound than the other and give an evener 

 crop of bloom. They are planted in 

 beds in May, June and July, as liduses 

 are ready for them, in three to five 

 inches of soil and eight to nine inches 

 apart. Usually two and sometimes 

 three blooms are allowed to a plant. 

 They occupy houses emptied of bedding 

 plants or spring blooming stock and are 

 removed in time to make room for fill- 

 ing with carnations from pots and longi- 

 florum lilies or hydrangeas. 



Some feed with liquid manure. Aside 

 from a little bone dust mixed with the , 

 soil very little artificial fertilizer .iff 

 used. There is an impression it has a 

 tendency to cause the dropping of the 

 lower leaves. In potting, John Jones 

 doesn't fill his flowering pots quite full, 

 but when the soil becomes well filled with 

 roots he fills them up with rich compost 

 containing a goodly quantity of pulver- 

 ized sheep manure and a sprinkling of 

 bone fiour; later he waters freely with 

 sheep manure liquid. Beware* of over- 

 feeding; defoliated and cankered-looking 

 plants are often the result. Mr. Jones 

 believes in firm potting. For pot plants 

 cane stakes are used, but for bench plants 

 Fred Burki runs string lengthwise and 

 uses a wire stake to each plant, fastening 

 it to the overhead string. 



For black fly fumigating once a week 

 with tobacco stems and a liberal use of 

 fresh stems about the floors and under 

 the benches is practiced, also freely dust- 

 ing the tips of the shoots with tobacco 

 powder. The parks use tobacco paper 

 for fumigating, letting it smoulder for 

 hours, but Fred Burki says this is too 

 expensive for commercial purposes. 



Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 

 evening, December 6 and it is to be a 

 smoker. E. C. Beineman and Gus Lud- 

 wig have been appointed a committee with 

 full power to get it up, so if any of our 

 florist or gardener friends throughout 

 the country happen this way about that 

 time, just drop in to see us. Guess you 

 won't be soriy. Prex. 



Harrisburg, Pa.— John Kepner, of 

 Elkwood, has opened a flower store here. 



Des Moines, Ia. — Bobert Newcomb, 

 of this city, and W. E. Kemble, of Oska- 

 loosa, have purchased their partners* in- 

 terests in the Morris-Blair Floral Cdm- 

 j)any. Mr. Newcomb has been the man- 

 ager since the company was organized a 

 year ago. 



Chrysanthemum Mrs. W, Duckham. 



WORLDS FAIR AWARDS. 



The individual nature of the informa- 

 tion which has come to hand with regard 

 to the World's Fair awards in the De- 

 partments of Horticulture and Agricul- 

 ture prompted a request on the manage- 

 ment for a complete and official list of 

 the awards. The following is the reply 

 of Chief F. W. Taylor, dated Novem- 

 ber 3: 



"Replying to your letter, I have been very 

 much disturbed at the way in which the givlug 

 out of awards information has been handled, but 

 It has seemed impossible to do it in any other 

 w^%y. A,8 a matter of fact, it now stands so 

 that I am under orders not to give out Informa- 

 tion as definite until some questions pending be- 

 tween the national commission and the manage- 

 ment are settled. I regret more than I can tell 

 you this condition and will be glad .to give you 

 information as soon as possible." 



ROSES. 



Watering;. 



One of the most essential requirements 

 of a rose grower, or, indeed, of a grower 

 of any kind of stock under glass, is a 

 thorough knowledge of the art of water- 

 ing. To a lack of this knowledge may 

 be ascribed many of the failures in 

 rose and carnation growing. The art 

 can only be acquired by long practice, 

 keen observation of the wants of the 

 plants, deliberative and careful adjudi- 

 cation of attending conditions, accom- 

 panied by a knowledge of the real service 

 that water performs in supplying the 

 plants with food. That plants require 

 water, every man employed in a green- 

 house knows, but the reason why is often 

 beyond their reach. Unfortunately there 

 ;ire among the craft a large number who 



are content to be copyists, and either 

 deluge or withhold, according to copy, 

 without using their own judgment in the 

 matter. i , ^i 



A year or two ago Mr. Scott gave a 

 most practical and scholarly article on 

 this very subject, but, as the ordinary 

 reader is so prone to lorgetfulness, I do 

 not think I am treading on William's 

 patch if I remind my particular readers 

 of the importance of attention to this 

 particular study. 



With the shorter duration of sunshine 

 and less intensity of heat there will be 

 a corresponding decrease in evaporation, 

 and, as evaporation means increased root 

 activity, there will of necessity be less 

 and less need of water as the days 

 shorten and the hours of sunshine con- 

 tinue to diminish. 



The supply of water necessary to 

 transform the ingredients of the soil or 

 mulch into an assimilable food for the 

 plants when root activity is at its lowest / 

 ebb should be carefully considered and 

 the grower who safeguards himself 

 against over- watering at this season will 

 reap the full benefit in future crops. 



After mulching, especially where the 

 pipes are under the benches and close 

 to the roots, there is great danger that 

 without a careful inspection every day, 

 as the mulch absorbs and retains the 

 moisture, the bench will have the appear- 

 ance of being moist enough, when in 

 reality the soil may be quite dry at the 

 bottom. This state of matters will re- 

 tard crops, weaken the plants, causing 

 a loss of foliage, abnormal buds and 

 make them susceptible to any or all trou- 

 bles in the list. 



