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Mabch 2, lOOB. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



8j9 



Begonia Rubra. 



troubled with the fungus of the car- 

 natjion cutting • bed, because we have 

 leatned to root them in a cool house, 

 bull in the beds where we root coleus 

 aBi4 other bedding plants we have met 

 many losses just because the house was 

 warm and close. The spores of this 

 minute fungus may not be ever-pres- 

 ent, but I think the chances are it is 

 like the spores of the common mildew 

 and when conditions are favorable it 

 puts in an ' appearance. It is so mi- 

 nute that looking down on the sand you 

 cannot discern it, but stoop down and 

 glance over the surface of the bed and 

 you can see a greenish appearance on 

 the! sand. You may remove the sand 

 an4 renew it after scrubbing the edge 

 boards, but this is only a temporary 

 relief. In a few day^ the fungus is 

 again creeping ovef the surface of the 

 new bed, and it will be there just as 

 long as the warm close atmosphere is 

 kept up. In my opinion, and on good 

 evidence, the fungus is confined entire- 

 ly to the surface of the sand. It just 

 rots or rvjptures the tissue of the cut- 

 tings at the surface. 



'"^here we could not find a cooler 

 bench, or perhaps the fungus made its 

 appearance when the bed was full of 

 cuttings,"* we have held this fungus in 

 ch^ck by the use of a copper solution. 

 I don 't know wherrf. we picked up this 

 formula, but I do Imow it answers the 

 purpose and with cuttings that root 

 quickly you can keep the fungus down 

 long enough. Dissolve one pound of 

 sulphide of copper in two quarts of 

 liquid ammonia and when dissolved put 

 in an earthenware jar and cork. One 

 quarter pint of this in twenty-five gal- 

 lons of water will hurt no cuttings if 

 watered in the sand, but- if for water- 

 ing the sand between cropB of cuttings, 

 or just before you put in a crop, then 

 one-half pint in twenty-five gallons will 

 not be top strong. This will keep the 

 fungus away at least two or Tljree 

 weeks. 



In these remarks about the cutting 

 bed none of it is meant to, allude to 

 the carnation for, with a cool house, 

 shade from direct sun and ventilation 

 whenever called for, there is nt) excuse 

 for fungus on them and their propaga- 

 tion is largely over before the fungus 

 should be troublesome. > ^<-' 



Shade for the Cuttia£fs. 



It is only specialists who use a whole 

 house for propagation. The great army 



of florists simply use a. side bench in 

 one of their plant houses. Now if it 

 is the south bench of a house running 

 east and west you can tack up cheese- 

 cloth from the plate to four or five 

 feet up the glass. This will effectual- 

 ly shade every cutting. If the bed ia 

 on the north side of the house, then use 

 a curtain dropping from the roof to 

 the edge of the path. This will shade 

 all the cuttings and is very easily fold- 

 ed up on dull days. As the sun gets 

 higher and stronger add the cheese-cloth 

 to the roof over the beds. If the house 

 runs north and south, the same arrange- 

 ment of cloth can be used, tacked up 

 to" the roof and the curtains dropping. 



Many of our soft-wooded plants root 

 so quickly that there is little time for 

 any drawing up, yet, broadly, it is 

 well known that the more daylight with- 

 out direct sun that the cuttings re- 

 ceive, the stronger and more vigorous 

 they will be. Forty years ago the com- 

 monest cuttings, such as verbenas, were 

 protected from evaporation and wilting 

 by bell glasses. Water was given spar- 

 ingly, because it would have bathed 

 the plants in excessive moisture. Now- 

 adays we prevent wilting by keeping 

 the sand saturated and the atmosphere 

 as cool as we can. We used to fail on 

 chrysanthemums in June and July and 

 thought a hotbed was necessary. The 

 failure was nothing but too little water 

 on the cuttings. 



Faithful attention to shading, water- 

 ing and ventilation is a far greater fac- 

 tor toward success than any ideal 

 houses or quality of sand. For the 

 coming months the propagating bench 

 or house needs brains and attention. 

 William Scott. 



St. Paul, Minn. — In a runaway Feb- 

 ruary 23 E. F. Lemke 's wagon was 

 upset and a large lot of stock scattered 

 along the street. 



Begonia Feastii. 



