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414 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JANDAKT 12. 1905. 



CARNATION NOTES-EAST. 



A New Disease. 



In this vicinity there has recently ap- 

 peared on plants of Lawson, an affection 

 •of the stem unlike anything before seen. 

 ■Growers in other sections may be ac- 

 <[uainted with it, but, from what can be 

 Jearned on short notice, it seems to be a 

 jiew disease. My purpose in giving in- 

 formation regarding this trouble is to ask 

 if others have any knowledge concerning 

 :it, also to induce every grower to be on 

 the watch for it, or, if already discovered 

 and experience has resulted in finding the 

 cause, a remedy or preventive, to give 

 some light on the matter. 



I first heard of it from a grower who 

 wrote describing it as follows: 



"A bud and its stem will look per- 

 fectly sound and healthy and in a good 

 many cases the flower will develop per- 

 fectly, but on pickling same, there will 

 be found low 4o^ on the stem a place, 

 about an inch long where i| appears dead 

 and is brittle. In a iMp^'per cent of the 

 cases this affected plac? is covered with 

 a short, thin, white, fuzzy mold. If cut 

 between the diseased spot and flower, 

 it will keep all right, but cut below that 

 spot and the flower, it fades before 

 twelve hours. The affected stem ap- 

 pears to draw sap from the plant, but 

 will not draw water. ' ' 



Having never seen such a thing my- 

 self, or had any experience with any- 

 thing similar, I have looked over other 

 places, and while it does not seem to be 

 a prevailing trouble, it is not confined 

 to the one grower in question. 



I might give a lengthy article on the 

 result of various experiments and theories 

 •of probable causes, etc., but readers of 

 the Review want the facts from the first. 

 None of us know it all, but I hope some 

 ■one knows something definite about this 

 trouble. Geo. S. Osborn. 



■I >i •. 



' CARNATION NOTES.-WEST. 



Entf«i t^a t« in Propagatins. 



During the next eight weeks you will 

 have the best weather of the year for pro- 

 pagating carnations. Steady firing will 

 enable you to keep a little bottom heat, 

 while at the same time you will be able 

 to keep the top cool. After getting your 

 cuttings into the sand and watered in 

 well your main attention will be directed 

 toward keeping the cuttings in a fresh 

 state until the roots start. This requires 

 ^ood judgment and constant watching, es- 

 pecially if the days are warm and bright. 



Shading and spraying are the two 

 things resorted to to counteract the effects 

 of the sun, and if they are done judi- 

 ciously there need be no loss from that 

 source. No iron-clad rule can be laid 

 4own as to the amount of either of these 

 should be done, but a safe rule to go 

 by is to keep the cuttings fresh and 

 crisp, with just aa little shading or 

 spraying as you can. Too much is but 

 little less harmful than not enough. Al- 



ways bear in mind that if you can keep 

 the cuttings fresh for three or four weeks 

 you will have success. A badly wilted 

 carnation cutting might just as well be 

 thrown out right away. 



You wUl find a great difference in va- 

 rieties; some will remain crisp and take 

 root in three weeks while others will look 

 wilty in spite of all you can do and 

 will drag along for six weeks before 

 striking roots. These latter kinds are the 

 ones you will have the most trouble with. 

 They are usually of a very soft growth 

 and will damp off if you spray them too 

 much or become covered with rust, which 

 makes them unfit to grow. These will 

 want close shading and not much spray- 

 ing. Adonis and Mrs. Nelson belong to this 

 class. Then you will find such varieties 

 as Lawson, Crane and Enchantress will 

 wilt slightly only a few days and if they 

 receive one or two light sprayings each 

 day, according to the weather, they will 

 straighten up in about a week and go 

 right ahead rooting. E. Crocker, Queen 

 Louise, Harlowarden, Moonlight and such 

 narrow-grassed varieties, are the easiest 

 to root. 'They will need but little spray- 

 ing outside of ftie watfting to do them 

 nicely. 



Do most of your spraying before noon 

 so the cuttings can dry off before night, 

 else you will bring on rust and perhaps 

 damping off. Put on your shade in the 

 morning before the sun strikes the cut- 

 tings fairly so there is no danger of 

 wilting but in the evening remove the 

 shade and let them have the weak sun- 

 shine for a half hour or an hour to help 

 dry them off. Then if there does happen 

 to be a little wilting they will have all 

 night to freshen up again. These little 

 spells of sunshine do the cuttings a world 

 of good. It is a great mistake to use a 

 bench that the sun never strikes until 

 spring. As the cuttings root you can 

 increase the amount of sunshine and by 

 the time they are ready to come out you 

 can let them have all the sun there is for 

 a few days and there will be much less 

 wilting after potting and a quicker start 

 into a strong growth. Draughts of air 

 should always be avoided as they will 

 cause wilting as much as too much sun. 



Watch the sand closely and water be- 

 fore the cuttings suffer. Notice every 

 evening, as the sand will show dryness 

 better then than in the morning. It 

 should not be soggy, but just thoroughly 

 moist. On bright days dampen the 

 boards and the walks to help keep the 

 atmosphere moist. Do not put any per- 

 manent shading over the cuttings or on 

 the glass, because on cloudy days they 

 will want all the light there is, and to 

 darken them will make them soft. "With 

 good judgment you ought to root 100 per 

 cent of your cuttings. 



A. P. J. Baur. 



VARIEGATED LAWSON. 



W. B. Arnold, of the Rockland 

 Greenhouses, Rockland, Mass., whose 

 Variegated Lawson was illustrated in 

 these columns a couple of weeks ago, 

 has contracted to give his entire output 

 of cuttings of that variety to the P. B. 



Pierson Co., Tarrytown, N. Y., who are 

 introducing a White Lawson this sea- 

 son. The deal was consummated upon 

 the day of a recent visit by Prank R. 

 Pierson to the Rockland Greenhouses. 



GIBSON BEAUTY DROPPED. 



The Review is in receipt of the sub- 

 joined letter over the signature of the 

 J. D. Thompson Carnation Co., and the 

 Swan Peterson Floral Co. 



We wish to announce to the trade that Gib- 

 son Beauty, the new carnation that we have 

 sold 80 extensively, has not come up this 

 season to Its past record or our expectations, 

 being a late bloomer and giving but few blooms 

 before Christmas. We have decided not to 

 disseminate same and have canceled all orders 

 that ha^e been placed. 



While the failure of this promising var- 

 iety is a disappointment to all concerned, 

 it is greatly to the credit of the intro- 

 ducers that they should decide to with- 

 draw it, not alone because they voluntar- 

 ily cancel a large number of orders, but 

 because each of the firms had devoted a 

 large amount of valuable space to plants 

 for stock and many thousand of cuttings 

 were already rooted or in the sand. 



McKINLEY DAY. 



Don't forget about McEanley day, 

 January 29, the day when every one 

 wears a carnation. There promises to 

 be an abundant supply of stock this year, 

 and we should make the fullest use of the 

 opportunity. But don't raise prices; the 

 time for that may come when the ob- 

 servance of the day is a little more 

 firmly established. 



Call the attention of your local news- 

 paper men to the approach of the day 

 and the custom of observing it by wear- 

 ing a carnation. Put an advertisement 

 in the paper, or at least a si^ in your 

 window. Early in the morning of the 

 day, if you can spare the stock, go to 

 the street car barns and see that every 

 crew is decorated as it starts out. The 

 force of example is strong. 



FAIRY RING. 



I am sending a few carnation buds in 

 order that you may tell me what is the 

 trouble. Some of the plants are all right 

 while on others the buds turn yellow and 

 dry up. The tips of the leaves are dried 

 on some of the plants. P. J. P. 



Your carnations are affected with 

 fairy-ring. As this is a fungous disease. 

 Hrst of all pick off all the buds and 

 leaves that are spotted and bum them. 

 Then spray them with formaline diluted 

 to 500 to one. This is one of the beet 

 fungicides or germicides known and will 

 do the work if anything will. Spray them 

 thoroughly two or three times a week 

 for two or three weeks; then decrease to 

 one spraying each week until you see the 

 plants are entirely clean. Do the spray- 

 ing in the morning of a bright day, so 

 the plants can dry off before night. If 

 any more spots appear, keep them picked 

 off, as the disease will spread if left on 

 the plants. You might also paint one of 

 the steam pipes with a paste made of 

 half sulphur and half lime, mixed with 

 water, to help keep the atmosphere pure. 



A. P. J. Baxtr. 



We like the Review and think it in- 

 dispensable to the florist who wishes to 

 advance in his profession. — W. H. CtTLP 

 & Co., Wichita, Kan. 



