.1 ' . <., ; ^'^ 



646 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



Febbuary 9, 1905. 



serted in Bpbagnum. Only the natural 

 violet foliage is used here for green. The 

 small bunch of violets tied on the left 

 side with light violet cord completes the 

 basket. The stems in this bunch are 

 their whole length and they thereby add 

 to the decoration of the handle. The 



color scheme of the dark violet of the 

 flowers, the lipht violet of the cord and 

 the grey of the birch bark basket is 

 particularly soft and pleasant. The 

 style of basket and its size make a good 

 centerpiece for a small luncheon table or 

 for gift purposes. Gertrude Buor. 



Care for the Lilies. 



There will be no excuse for any be- 

 lated Japan lilies this Easter. As we 

 had no trouble in getting the great ma- 

 jority into bloom three weeks earlier last 

 year, there should be little need of 

 strong forcing this season. I don't care 

 how many years you have been forcing 

 lilies, there is always a little anxiety 

 whether you are too early or too late. 

 And it is this anxiety that makes the 

 successful man. The weather has con- 

 siderable to do with it, also how forward 

 they are now. If eight to twelve inches 

 high now a night temperature of 55 de- 

 grees should do very well for another 

 month. 



Last year we advised our friends about 

 this time to select 300 or 400 plants 

 that were so backward that it would be 

 impossible to get them into flower by 

 Easter and put them away in a very 

 cool house and let them come along for 

 Decoration day. They did a few, but 

 not half enough. These lilies in quan- 

 tity fall pretty flat a week or two after 

 Easter, while at Decoration day there is 

 a good class of customers who will pay 

 Easter prices for a fine bunch of lilies. 



It is too early yet for these plants to 

 be much troubled with greenfly, or rather 

 fumigating with tobacco dust will keep 

 them down, but soon the time will 

 be here when the fly will be deep 

 down in the rosette of leaves, looking for 

 those small, tender buds that are not 

 yet visible and there is, I think, no 

 doubt that the twisting and splitting 

 of the petals in the mature flower are 

 caused by the puncture of the aphis when 

 the bud is very small. Nicotine extract 

 sprayed into the crown will fix them. 

 We have used this nicotine at a strength 

 of 300 of water to one of the nicotine, 

 but for the lilies would rather use it 

 weaker, say 500 of water. 



Start ♦♦Green Goods" Now. 



It is a good time now to sow seeds of 

 three most useful plants. Asparagus 

 plumosus and Sprengeri and the old, 

 every-day smilax. Don't buy the aspara- 

 gus because you see it advertised cheap. 

 Old seed is very dear as a gift and there 

 are many complaints about its not germ- 

 inating. Asparagus plumosus is in con- 

 stant demand as a decorative vine in 

 short sprays for finishing oflf a cluster 

 of flowers. For fern dishes there is 

 nothing surpasses it as a small, bushy 

 plant, either alone or mixed with ferns. 

 Of Sprengeri we never have too much. 

 "With large bunches of flowers it is indis- 

 pensable and it can be grown along the 

 edges of paths and in situations that 

 would otherwise be vacant. But you 

 Must give it an abundance of root room 



and liquid manure. It may pay you to 

 buy 100" strings of smilax when you 

 need it. but it is very awkward to be 

 without any I on your place, and for a 

 paying crop you want good strong 3-inch 

 stock to plant about July 1. 



Cinerarias. 



You may be growing some cinerarias 

 for Easter. "We think we can remember 

 it's introduction to the gardens of Eng- 

 land, a wee small flower by the side 

 of the present beautiful blossom. Free 

 growing, cold blooded plant as this is, it 

 is easily made a failure. Neglect water 

 and you will lose its best foliage. Over- 

 watered and it will go right off dead 

 like grandfather's clock, "never to go 

 again." And the greenfly is ever ready 

 to feast on it. In a commercial place 

 there is no excuse for this, as plunging 

 the pots in tobacco stems and renewing 

 them every few weeks will effectually 

 keep the greenfly away. There is at 

 present a very fine lot of cinerarias in 

 bloom at our North park and John 



Cameron, the foreman, tells me thay 

 were never fumigated. About 45 de- 

 grees at night is plenty warm enough 

 for cinerarias. Wiluam Scott. 



A BLACK FLY. 



We have a black fly in our green- 

 houses similar to the housefly but much 

 smaller. Fumigating with tobacco stems 

 or nicotine extracts seems to have no 

 effect on it. It seems to speck the lily 

 blooms badly. How can we get rid of 

 it? D. A. L. 



We know of no fly at all comparable 

 to the common housefly that infests a 

 greenhouse and if they do not trouble 

 the plants they do not belong to the 

 aphis family. It may be worth mention- 

 ing that the writer many years ago 

 brought the greenhouse fumigating pot 

 irto a kitchen, thinking to destroy the 

 lives of 10,000 houseflies. We filled the 

 old kitchen so full you could not see the 

 end of your nose, yet the flies only 

 enjoyed it. 



The hydrocyanic acid gas must destroy 

 these flies, big or little, as it does every- 

 thing that has lungs. Do noA be afraid 

 to use it. The formula has been given 

 in these pages many times, but once 

 more here it is: One pint of water, one 

 pint of sulphuric acid. Mix in a gallon 

 butter jar. Add to the above two and 

 one-half ounces of cyanide of potassium. 

 These quantities are for 2,000 cubic 

 feet of air space in the house, so the 

 number of jars you need will depend 

 on the size of the house. It should be 

 done after dark and keep the ventilators 

 closed all night. There is not the slight- 

 est danger, but do not tarry. Just drop 

 the little parcel of cyanide into the jars 

 and walk along towards the door; neither 

 will it injure any plant. W. S. 



A GOOD WHITE. 



Can you suggest a good, free-flower- 

 ing, medium sized white carnation to 

 grow? I find Norway and Queen Louise 

 too slow in blooming after the bud 

 forms. I want a kind that blossoms 

 quickly and freely, like Scott or Lord in 

 pink, one with good stem and not liable 

 to burst. C. L. W. 



There are several good varieties on 

 the market no#, especially among last 

 year's new ones. The best of the old 

 ones are, perhaps. Her Majesty and 

 Boston Market. Much better than these 

 however are Lady Bountiful^ Vesper and 

 Moonlight, all of which are as free, 

 besides being much larger. 



Begarding varieties developing slow- 

 ly or rapidly, it might be of interest to 

 relate our experience in a few tests we 

 made last fall and it was a surprise to 

 us how little difference there was in the 

 time it took some fifteen varieties to de- 

 velop their buds. On September 6 we 

 selected and labeled one bud on each 

 variety, choosing shoots that showed 

 buds in as near the same stage of de- 



velopment as possible and just as young 

 as possible. The buds were just plainly 

 visible. Here is how they developed and 

 were ready to cut: Her Majesty, Oc- 

 tober 7; Moonlight, October 9; New 

 Daybreak, October 14; Lawson, October 

 8; Beatrice, October 8; Queen Louise, 

 October 6; F. Hill, October 5; Lady 

 Bountiful, October 8: Lorna, October 

 13; Indiana Market, October 9; G. H. 

 Crane, October 13; Crusader, October 8; 

 Innocence, October 8; Enchantress, Oc- 

 tober 7; The Belle, October 6; Adonis, 

 October 14; Harlowarden, October 14; 

 Floriana, October 10. 



By this you wUl see that it took on 

 an average oi about five weeks to de- 

 velop the blooms from the time the buds 

 made their appearance. The difference 

 might be even less than is shown here if 

 it were possible to select the buds to a 

 day, but that is impossible. Nor do the 

 fullest blooms always take the longest 

 to develop, as is shown by Enchantress 

 against Adonis and Harlowarden. Of 

 course this does not show any variety's 

 capacity for producing a crop rapidly, 

 as such a test must begin much earlier, 

 but I was merely curious to know just 

 how long it does take a bud to develop 

 from the time it appears and the differ- 

 ence in time required by the different 



