'.-vTv^r- ■'■s'' "^'Tj^-Vi ^rfy 



130 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



June 8, 190S. 



flowering and cheap enough to be within 

 the reach of anyone who' handles orchids 

 ftt all. For florists' use it is one of the 

 ▼ery best. Although in cultivation some 

 ■eventy years, it remains ,one of our 

 standard orchids and nons of the ever- 

 increasing number of cattleya and 

 belio-cattleya , hybrids which we have 

 seen, no matter how rare they njay be, 

 nor how costly, can surpass or even equal 

 in magnificence a good type of C. 

 Mossiffi. . 



There are quite a host of named forms 

 of this showy cattleya. Some are quite 

 valuable and all are beautiful. Of the 

 white Tarietiss C. Mossise Wagneri, 

 Amesiffi and bellissima in our collection 

 are quite unique, the first named being 

 probably the purest. Amesise is nearly 

 pure white, while bellissima has a little 

 blush pink coloring in ths lip. The va- 

 riety Beineckiana, of which there are 

 steveral sub varieties, is a scarce and 

 unique form. Sepals and petals are pare 

 «iiite, while there ar3 rays of violet or 

 slate-colored dots and lines around the 

 base of the lip. The flowers average 

 six inches across, although many will 

 run considerably larger than this. 



This cattleya succeeds well in pots, .*i * 



pans or baskets at the coolest end of 

 the cattleya house. We have seen some 

 fine examples of it in an ordinary green- 

 hou83 where a winter minimum tempera- 

 ture of 50 degrees was maintained. 

 Plants should be kept well up to the 

 light, with a little shade from March to 

 early November. A compost of pure 

 osmunda fern fibre suits it w«ll. No 

 ^eed to use any moss for surfacing; the 

 plants are better without it. 



The sheaths carry from two to six 

 flowers each, four being quite a common 

 number. One of our Beineckianas car- 

 ries five flowers to a sheath this season. 

 The flowering season extends from early 

 April to the end of June and any com- 

 mercial growers who can use orchids 

 during this period cannot go far astray 

 in handling a few of these. 



The accompanying illustration shows a 

 plant carrying seventeen sheaths and 

 fifty flowers, grown by William Swan, 

 gardener to Mrs. E. C. Hooper, Man- 

 chsster, Mass. This was a plant includ- 

 ed in a case of newly imported stock re- 

 ceived from Lager & Hurrell on March 

 15, 1904. We need hardly say that such 

 a plant far more than pays its initial 

 coat from its first crop of bloom. 

 * . W. N. Craig, 



CARNATION NOTES.-EAST. 



Dry Weather Treatment. 



In this section continued fair weather 

 has rendered the surface soil very dry 

 and to all outward appearance no mois- 

 ture is at hand to support plant growth, 

 but an examination will reveal an abun- 

 dant supply just beneath the surface. This 

 is especially true on land that has been 

 kept cultivated, showing the advantage 

 to be gained by frequent stirring of the 

 soil. Besides, multitudes of sprouting 

 weed seeds are prevented from further 

 development. 



It is not necessary to cultivate deeply; 

 in fact, it is inadvisable to do so, at 

 least close to the plants. All wholesale 

 breaking up of the ground should have 

 been done at time of plowing. Some 

 growers plant in rows far enough apart 

 to admit the use of a horse cultivator, but 

 not all of us have sufficient land to allow 

 of this, and in any event it is doubtful 

 if it is economy to use twice the land 

 needed. Certain it is that first-class 

 plants can be grown in rows eighteen 

 inches apart and set eight to ten inches 

 apart in the row, using a hand cultivator 

 to do the bulk of the work, a common 

 hand hoe being needed to put on the 

 finishing touches. 



These hand cultivators are made with 

 varii us Hil.iustalilc tool?, also to run be- 

 tween or astride the row, and it is sur- 

 prising what an amount of clean, satis- 

 factory work can be done in a day._ 



Whatever method is followed, it is im- 

 portant that the work be continuous. 

 Even during extremely dry spells, nightly 

 dews followed by the hot sun during the 

 day soon form a crust over the surface. 

 If any of the help inquire, ' * What shall 

 I do next t ' ' your answer can be promptly 



given: "Cultivate the carnation patch." 



The carnation has been given the 

 credit of being a natural surface feeder 

 but this is largely due to local conditions 

 and surroundings. A light shower, or the 

 amount of water applied in ordinary use 

 of the hose, penetrates the ground but 

 a short distance, serving only to attract 

 the roots to the surface. To be sure, 

 we cannot prevent small rains, but we 

 can cultivate immediately after, not only 

 keeping the soil open but discouraging 

 entrance of roots therein. Then we must 

 not resort to artificial watering except 

 in extreme cases and it is difficult to 

 imagine a case bad enough to warrant 

 the practice. 



About the only watering that can be 

 done in the field with profit is in the case 

 of late propagated stock, a small quan- 

 tity being given directly around the 

 plants when setting, covering the moist 

 soil with loose earth as soon as the water 

 disappears. 



Of course summer-blooming stock out- 

 side needs regular supplies of water to 

 maintain vigorous growth and to keep up 

 the size of bloom. 



During dry spells the ever present cut 

 worm is unusually active. As soon as 

 evidence of their work is noticed no time 

 should be lost in digging them out, as 

 even one of these pests will do several 

 dollars' worth of damage in as many 

 hours. Geo. S. Osbokn. 



ROT IN THE FIELD. 



We have been having bad luck with 

 our carnations. We have quite a num- 

 ber in the field, rooted cuttings planted 

 from 2%-inch pots. They seem to rot at 

 the roots. Can you tell us what is the 

 trouble and what will overcome it? 



J. A. W. 



No, I cannot tell you what is causing 



your young carnations to rot at the roots 

 in the field, because I do not know any. 

 thing about theafioil or the plants. Do 

 the roots rot or Ifoes the stem rotf This 

 would make all the difference in the 

 world. If it is stem-rot you may lose 

 only a few plants and they may have 

 been affected before planting out. PuU 

 up all that show the disease and bum 

 them and throw a handful of slaked 

 lime where the plants had been. A lib- 

 eral dressing of slaked lime would like- 

 ly -help materially in keeping the fungus 

 in check. If it is the roots that are rot- 

 ting, then I would take up the young 

 plants, dip the roots into lime water and 

 plant into another piece of land. To 

 make this lime water put a peck of fresh 

 lime into fifty gallons of water and when 

 cooled and settled use the clear water. 

 If the rotting continues I would advise 

 you not to house the plants that remain 

 because you will have trouble all next 

 winter with them. A. F. J. Baub. 



CARRYING TWO YEARS. 



I have a bench of Mrs. Joost carnation 

 planted late last season which I would 

 like, to run another year. In fact they 

 were planted so late that they did not 

 come into crop until the last part of 

 February. The plants seem healthy and 

 free from disease. Would you advise me 

 to plant them out for a couple of months 

 and prune them back or put a mulch on 

 them and let them stay in the bench? 



H. S. A. 



Our experience with carrying over car- 

 nation plants the second season leads us 

 to prefer good, strong, young plants as a 

 rule. You will find that by fall the old 

 plants will become very tall and un- 

 wieldy and will be hard to keep sup- 

 ported properly. They will grow in size 

 until there is no air space between them 

 and it is hard to keep red spider off of 

 them without keping them too wet 

 around the lower part of the plants. 

 You cannot very well cut Mrs. Joost 

 back on account of its habit of growth 

 without cutting away the best part of 

 the plant. Anyway it is too late to do 

 that now and to plant them out just as 

 they are would hardly do, as they would 

 soon be lying all over the ground. My 

 advice to you would be to plant good, 

 strong, young plants early in August or 

 late in July and you will have less 

 trouble and a better crop next season. 



A. T. J. Baur. 



A SASH HOUSE. 



I have forty hotbed sash, 3x6 feet, 

 which I wish to use if possible in con- 

 structing a greenhouse, 15x60. Can 1 

 use these sash as part of the glass and 

 put the ventilators fastened to the ridge t 

 How long must each ventilator be H 

 the house is used for carnations? Hotf 

 high should the side walls be? 



J. N. H. 



While it is possible to build a house 

 out of your hotbed sash, it will not be 

 an up-to-date house, to say the least. 

 Such a house will answer very well for 

 growing bedding stuff, or for wintering 

 cool-blooded plants, but to grow first- 

 class carnations it is not to be recom- 

 mended. I would advise you to take the 

 glass out of the sash and build a house 

 with sash bars, as it should be built. The 

 cost of the lumber will be very little 

 more than what you would have to buf 

 for the framework for a well-built sash 

 house, and the value of the house ia 



