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NOTBMBBB 17, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



J 333 



Improved Hanson Lettuce as grown for Seed in the Santa Qara District* Gtlifomia. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



RHUBARB. 



I was interested in Mr. Croydon's ar- 

 ticle on riiubarb forcing in a recent Ee- 

 viEW, Will he please tell us the best 

 treatment to give the roots after they 

 are through bearing? We would like to 

 use ours again as the cost of fresh roots 

 is considerable. C. L. W. 



In the article on rhubarb forcing re- 

 ferred to I purposely omitted the after- 

 care of roots, as I don't think it pays 

 to hold them over. The unnatural con- 

 ditions to which they are subjected when 

 forced so saps the vitality of the plants 

 that it takes considerable time and 

 trouble to get them back into a good, 

 healthy conation. Where old plants are 

 used for forcing there is always more or 

 less rot. Some of the crowns having 

 reached the seeding stage, from these 

 only a few stalks of good rhubarb are 

 procured, then the flower spike is pro- 

 duced, after which the crown, having 

 exhausted all its strength in the effort, 

 invariably rots. To preserve the old 

 roots they require to be covered over 

 in sand or some similar material until 

 spring, kept as cool as possible but at 

 the same time free from damp or frost. 

 To attempt to force them again the next 

 winter would be only courting disappoint- 

 ment. 



If it is necessary to preserve them it 

 is better to plant them out without di- 

 viding for one season, after which their 

 vitality will be partially restored. Then 

 the following spring the clumps can be 

 divided up into single crowns. By fall 

 they will have made quite some growth, 

 but seldom make plants strong enough 

 for forcing the first season after divid- 

 ing. Fresh crowns that never have been 

 forced, on the other hand, if divided in 

 spring will make good forcing plants by 

 fall. The best policy, then, if you have 

 available ground, is to keep a stock of 

 fresh plants coming on and throw away 

 your crowns when they are removed from 

 the forcing quarters. 



In breaking up plants for planting in 

 the open ground divide into single 

 erowns, plant not too deeply, in a well 

 enriched, deeply cultivated soil, allow- 

 ing twenty inches or, if ground is plen- 

 tiful, two feet between the plants. Keep 



well cultivated and refrain from pulling 

 the stalks and you will be surprised at 

 the growth they will make in one season. 

 Being kept growing freely, there is little 

 danger of them making flowering crowns 

 and where that is avoided a much better 

 crop can be depended on. Old plants 

 in which the majority of the crowns will 

 have reached the mature stage and 

 formed flower buds will only give about 

 one-third the returns that fresh, free 

 growing crowns will give. 



Another method of producing forcing 

 plants is from seed. From this in two 

 seasons good crowns can be. procured, 

 but, as the plants cannot all be depended 

 on to come true from seed, division is 

 the most satisfactory method. 



W. S. Croydon. 



TROUBLE WITH LETTUCE. 



I am having trouble with my lettuce. 

 The under sides of the leaves are whitish 

 in spots, something to the way mildew 

 looks on other plants. After a while the 

 leaves turn brown where affected. I en- 

 close a specimen leaf and would like to 

 know the cause and remedy for the 

 trouble. A. D. 



The trouble with your lettuce is mil- 

 dew pure and simple and its presence 

 denotes very unsuitable atmospheric con- 

 ditions. The painting of your heating 

 pipes in patches with a paste composed 

 of sulphur and lime would help destroy 

 the germs, but you must be careful not 

 to overdo it or you will scald the edges 

 of the tender leaves. Rather try and 

 get at the bottom of the trouble by 

 careful airing and the judicious regula- 

 tion of atmospheric moisture. Avoid 

 watering as much as possible during dull 

 weather. Water only in the morning, 

 so as to have the moisture all dried up 

 before time to close down the house. 

 Give air on all favorable occasions but 

 avoid cold draughts by closing your ven- 

 tilators gradually as soon in the after- 

 noon as the air begins to get cold. More 

 mildew is caused by careless airing than 

 by anything I know and it* will pay 

 you to spend some time and trouble in 

 the study of the airing question. When 

 you have this down to a fine point I 

 don't think you will have much trouble 

 with mildew. W. S. Croydon. 



We would not do without the Re- 

 view at twice the present subscription 

 price. — G. H. Taepke, Detroit. 



Seed Trade News. 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOOATION. 



Pres., C. N. Piwe, Des Moines. la : First Vice- 

 Pres., L. L. May. St. Paul; Sec'y and Treas., C. B. 

 Kendel, Cleveland. The 23rd annual meeting 

 will be held on the St. Lawrence, June, 1906. 



Visited Chicago: L. L. May, St. 

 Paul; 14ax Wilhelmi, Lawrence, Kans. 



J. M. Clark, secretary of the Leonard 

 Seed Co., Chicago, is on an eastern trip. 



The California growers are making 

 full deliveries of all kinds of onion seed 

 except Southport White Globe. 



The weather is favoring the green 

 pickers in the northern woods but none 

 l3ut very small lots have yet reached mar- 

 ket. 



The French Dulb growers appear now 

 to realize that there is a limit in price 

 above which American buyers will not 

 touch Romans or Paper Whites. 



The St. Louis News for November 6 

 has on its title page a portrait of Wm. 

 F. Nicol, president of the St. Louis Seed 

 Co., and contains an illustrated write-up 

 of that firm's World's Fair exliibits, 

 which included the floral clock. 



In the Boston seed trade bowling 

 league the standing of the teams now is: 

 Joseph Breck & Sons, won five, lost one; 

 R. & J. Farquhar & Co., won five, lost 

 four; Schlegel & Fottler Co., won five, 

 lest four; W. W. Rawson & Co., lost six. 



The country adjacent to Philadelphia 

 cpce produced several tons of onion seed 

 annually, but the estimated yield for 

 1904 is said to be less than 300 pounds 

 and this is confined entirely to Philadel- 

 phia White Silverskin. The onion set 

 crop is equally short. The few fanners 

 who hold white sets refuse $4 per bushel 

 foi them. 



As an example of the importance of 

 some of the seed-growing establishments 

 at Quedlinburg, Germany, it may be 

 stated that the firm of Henry Mette, 

 founded in 1787, now grows 3,000 acres 

 for seed crops and contracts for the crop 

 of some 5,000 acres additional in the 

 same vicinity. The pay roll has over 

 1,200 names, one half of whom are la- 

 borers, however. 



