Kipmuiii iiifnipiii ' 



1100 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



October 5, 1905. 



and 200 pounds of the latter to the acre. 

 All these underground foes are bard to 

 fight and at best we can but mitigate 

 the damage. As a rule they work most 

 harm on dry land during a hot, dry sea- 

 son. The carbon bisulphide will be 

 found effective inside and will not in- 

 jure the plants in the least. If it is 

 found, another season, that the compost 

 to be used on the benches is badly in- 

 fested with worms and larvae it will pay 

 to treat the whole with the same remedy 

 ere carrying it in. W. N. C. 



HOUSTON, TEX. 



Death of Vm. Kutschbach. 



Wm. Kutschbach, the well known flo- 

 rist, died very suddenly September 14. 

 Mr. Kutschbach was born in Erfurt, Ger- 

 many, December 24, 1843. He fought in 

 the German war in 1866, coming to 

 America shortly after, residing m Hous- 

 ton for many years. Marie Proetzel, a 

 daughter of one of the oldest families, 

 became his wife over thirty years ago. 



Mr, Kuschbach was a grower of cut 

 flowers, ferns, palms and especially of 

 large chrysanthemums, and had taken a 

 great number of first prizes in the south- 

 ern exhibitions. He was the first to grow 

 carnations in Houston. 



This last year he gave the largest part 

 of his business to his eldest son, August 

 E Kutschbach, who has taken great in- 

 terest in it and is still enlarging the 

 plant. Mr. Kuschbach is survived by his 

 YFife, four daughters and two sons. 



THOUSAND-LEGS. 



We mail you under separate cover a 

 box of small worms which we took from 

 the soil of a potted palm. The palm 

 showed no ill effects until removed to a 

 dwelUng; then the older leaves turned 

 brown as if it were sun-burned, but as 

 it was not in the sun at all we know it 

 was not that. The plant sat in a jardi- 

 niere and these little mites crawled out 

 and clung to the outside of the pot. We 

 have had several plants do this and 

 thought it was caused by cutting some of 

 the roots as they were repotted, but they 

 showed no ill effects until now and they 

 have been repotted a couple of months. 

 Please inform us of a remedy for this 



pest. J- H- ^• 



The worms in question are millepedes, 

 or thousand-legs, the scientific name of 

 which is julus, the eggs of which are 

 buried in the soil by the mature insect. 



and are usually hatched out in about 

 three weeks. Entomologists believe that 

 these insects live upon decaying vegetable 

 matter chiefly, and it ia not probable 

 that they have caused any injury to the 

 palms, though the millepedes sometimes 

 eat the tender young fronds of the maid- 

 enhair ferns just as the growth starts 

 from the ground. The browning of the 

 palm leaves was more likely caused by the 

 plant getting dry. A strong fumigating 

 with nicotine will kill most of these in- 

 sects, or a watering with lime water will 

 be likely to drive them from the soil. 



W. H. Taplin. 



THE GALL FLY MAGGOT. 



Will you kindly give us an article 

 on the gall fly maggot, the best way to 

 deal with them in a violet house, etc.? 

 Anything you can give us on the gall fly 

 will bo read with much interest by the 

 violet growers along the Hudson and 

 elsewhere, as this month they are at their 

 Worst. J' M. L. 



Among plants grown in greenhouses 

 the violet and rose are quite subject to 

 the attack of minute maggots, the young 

 of two-winged flies or gnats known to 

 florists generally as "gall flies." The 

 violet-feeding species is most generally 

 termed the violet gall fly. It is tech- 

 nically known as Diplosis violicola,' and 

 makes its presence manifest in f olded-up 

 leaves of the violet, which are brought 

 together in such a manner as to form 

 what is popularly termed a gall. The 

 insect which produces this effect is quite 

 small and legless, and of a whitish or 

 yellowish color. Its general appearance 

 is shown highly magnified at " d " in the 

 accompanying illustration. 



The parent gall fly, or gnat, is a slen- 

 der, delicate, two-winged fly which meas- 

 ures about one-twentieth of an inch. It 

 has slender legs and antennae or feelers, 

 as shown in the illustration at "a." 

 The principal characters of the antennte 



are shown at "b" highly magnified. 

 The origin of this species is not known, 

 but it is quite probable that it has been 

 introduced from abroad, and is perhaps 

 also, like most insects with an indoor 

 habit, of tropical origin. It is common 

 in New York state, especially along the 

 Hudson river, where violets are much 

 grown for the trade, and occurs also 

 southward to Virginia and the District 

 of Columbia. As it first attracted atten- 

 tion in 1896 with the introduction of the 

 so-styled California violet, there is some 

 suspicion that it might have been 

 brought eastward from the Pacific coast. 

 The full life history of this insect has 

 not been investigated. It has been noted, 

 however, that after the formation of the 

 "gall" wet rot is apt to set in and de- 

 stroy the violet leaves; this having the 

 ultimate effect of dwarfing the plants 

 and arresting the development of the 

 flower buds. 



The opinion has been expressed that 

 this insect develops in the soil as well as 

 upon the leaves, but the probabilities are 

 that the soil-feeder is a different form 

 of insect of similar appearance, the mag- 

 got of one of the fungus gnats. 



As to remedies, we have no record of 

 hydrocyanic acid gas having been tested 

 against this gall maggot. It should be 

 nearly as effective as when employed for 

 aphides, such as the brown or black aphis 

 of violets. Its use is therefore suggest- 

 ed. When only a few galls are found, 

 they should be picked promptly and 

 burned. When many are present, it 

 hardly seems practical to employ this 

 method. The use of air-slaked lime 

 thrown into the crowns has been advised. 

 I do not, however, know of its effective- 

 ness. The best cultural conditions pos- 

 sible should be maintained, such as good 

 ventilation and frequent stirring of the 

 soil. The free use of Buhach, or Persian 

 insect powder, at the time when the ma- 

 ture gall flies are seen flying about the 

 greenhouses, ' especially on the glass, 

 would also accomplish considerable in 

 lessening the numbers of this pest. 

 • I hope that readers of the Review 

 will report on the effectiveness of hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas or the insect powder if 

 they experiment with these or other reme- 

 dies. F. H. Chittenden. 



Send 25 cents for a copy of the Re- 

 view's Pronouncing Dictionary. 



Harrington, III. — Stott's greenhouses 

 are up and glazed and will soon be ready 

 for stock. 



The Late Wm. Kutschbach in his Greenhouses at Houston, Tex. 



