w^ 



jANUAuy 25, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



633 



ing about three inches. The stem car- 

 ries the flower very gracefully, as the 

 picture shows. The variety is said to be 

 very productive. 



IN CALIFORNIA. 



What is the trouble with my violets, 

 tiiid the cure? I live in one of the in- 

 terior valleys where the summers are hot 

 and dry. I set my plants out last April 

 in a lath house. Along in June or July 

 I noticed the leaves turning yellow and 

 the plants gradually dying. I sprayed 

 once with Bordeaux, but it seemed to 

 have no effect, for they are still dying. 

 Out of 2,000 plants I have 200, perhaps, 

 left. They are Princess of Wales vari- 

 ety. They have had plenty of water 

 and good care, with light and sandy 

 loam. A. L. H. 



This correspondent has our sympathy 

 in losing such a large part of his stock. 

 At this distance, judging from his de- 

 scription, I should say that it was too 

 dry and hot to make a success of vio- 

 lets; however, he does not say if the 

 lath house screened them suflBciently 

 from the hot sun, or was too dark and 

 close, or if he watered lightly and often, 

 or at longer intervals and heavily, etc. 

 This is a strong growing variety and 

 ought to do well. We would be pleased 

 to hear from some of the successful Cal- 

 ifornia violet growers as to their meth- 

 ods of culture, varieties grown, etc. 



R. E. S. 



VIOLETS IN OREGON. 



I have a bed of violets, 6x40 feet, and 

 have it covered with eleven-ounce duck 

 canvas. They are blooming finely, but 

 the lower leaves, near the ground, are 

 turning yellow and rotting. Is there 

 anything to prevent this? Would it help 

 them if I kept the canvas off on cold, 

 cloudy, damp days? I have kept them 

 covered except when the sun was out. I 

 uncovered them during the forenoon. The 

 slugs are beginning to bother them. 

 What can I do to get rid of them? 



C. L. E. 



I am not familiar with the conditions 

 in Oregon, but from the tenor of his 

 inquiry should take it that he was only 

 having the natural death of the old 

 leaves, which he should pick off and re- 

 move. My impression is that he does 

 not need the canvas at all, if he has been 

 having it off on sunny days, unless he 

 had it to protect them from too heavy 

 rains. Violets certainly want all the air 

 that it is possible to give them. As for 

 the slugs, as we have frequently recom- 

 mended, granulated sugar mixed with 

 Paris green is as good as anything we 

 have ever tried, scattering it in little 

 piles wherever the slugs are in evidence. 



E. E. S. 



Waukegan, III. — L. Potter is having 

 excellent results with Prosperity carna- 

 tion. 



Carnation Candace. 



MAGGOTS ON VIOLETS. 



I would like to ask you if you have 

 heard of any remedy for maggots? They 

 are white and have two horns, six legs 

 and a tail. The entire maggot is about 

 a quarter of an inch long and not much 

 thicker than a hair. They go very fast, 

 back into the ground, and about a dozen 

 on each violet. They eat the flower en- 

 tirely. I used lime and tobacco dust 

 but it did not help, and fumigating does 

 not help. If you have heard of anything 

 that is good for it please let me know. 



G. B. 



We do not recognize G. B. 's visitors 

 as being anything that has troubled us, 

 but I think that I should try Paris 

 green and granulated sugar as before 

 recommended for other insect pests, and 

 if this does not eradicate them, I should 

 fumigate with hydrocyanic acid gas. 

 • E. E. S. 



STARTING CANNAS. 



I would like to know the best time for 

 buying and starting canna roots to use 

 for bedding next spring. How should I 

 start them, also what care do they need 

 and what varieties are best for bedding? 

 I want both dwarf and the taller ones. 



E. A. M. 



First as to buying canna roots, al- 

 though extensively advertised in the 



early spring months, it is not always 

 easy to procure good sound roots. ^lany 

 are lost during the winter, so put your 

 order in at once to some good house and 

 order them delivered to you the end of 

 February or very early in March. 



And here I may as well give you a 

 brief list of desirable varieties of the 

 taller-growing sorts: Kate Gray, Penn- 

 sylvania, President Cleveland, Charles 

 Henderson, Florence Vaughan, Alphonse 

 Bouvier and Mile. Berat are among the 

 finest, but the list does not include any 

 of the very newest. 



Cannas that will grow about three 

 feet are of more general use and there 

 are many fine varieties. Among those 

 we have grown and that proved par- 

 ticularly fine are Buttercup, pure yellow; 

 Tarrytown, the very best red; President 

 McKinley, fine in flower and foliage but 

 not as free as Tarrytown; Souvenir 

 d' Antoine Crozy, the best of its class, 

 orange and scarlet; Dwarf Florence 

 Vaughan, as fine a flower as the Florence 

 Vaughan but only three feet; David 

 Harum, scarcely a dwarf but a most 

 beautiful variety; and then there is a 

 very dwarf scarlet sort called Express 

 that seems little known yet. For a bed 

 or for the center of a vase or for a 

 veranda box, it is one of the finest. This 

 list could be much lengthened, but, as 

 with many of our florists' flowers, it is 

 sound advice to grow few varieties, grow 

 those in quantity and grow them well. 



