844 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Fbbbdabz 16, 1906. 



stemmed and weak. The house has been 

 run at 58 degrees at night. 1 have tried 

 to locate the trouble but so far have 

 failed and would appreciate very much 

 if you will suggest what to do. I am of 

 the opinion that they were propagated 

 from scrubby, blind wood. 



J. H. 



Por a house of mixed roses the follow- 

 ing varieties do well, as they require 

 practically the same temperature and the 

 same care in ventilating, etc.: For red, 

 Richmond is the best; for i>ink. Brides- 

 maid and Chatenay ; for white. Bride and 

 Ivory. All these varieties do well at a 

 night temperature of 56 degrees, with a 

 day temperature ranging from 62 degrees 

 to 75 degrees, according to intensity of 

 sunshine. These temperatures should be 



maintained with ventilation on whenever 

 possible. 



There are many reasons for a crop of 

 blind wood, chief among which is want 

 of ventilation. They may also have been 

 propagated from poor, weak wood, or the 

 soil may be poor and require feeding. 

 Then, too, 58 degrees is just a trifle 

 high, especially where they show this 

 weakness. 



1 should advise trimming out a little 

 of the superfluous blind wood and apply 

 a sprinkling of bone meal to the sur- 

 face of the soil. After a week or two 

 they would be able to use an application 

 of liquid food, and as the season ad- 

 vances they could stand this dose at least 

 once a week. Above all give all the ven- 

 tilation you can with safety, both day 

 and night. Eibes. 



NOTES OF NEW CARNATIONS. 



[A paper by Edw. A. Stroud, Strafford, I'a., 

 read before the Florists' Clul) of rtiiladelpbia, 

 February 6, 190C.1 



The trade papers have so thoroughly 

 covered the carnation convention in Bos- 

 ton that there seems little to add that 

 would interest you. What you want is, 

 we suppose, our impressions of the new 

 varieties on exliibition at Boston. To 

 rightly judge a carnation on the exhibi- 

 tion table a good idea is to scale it up 

 according to your own judgment on the 

 points adopted by the (."arnation So- 

 ciety; you will be surprised how much 

 better knowledge you will get of a va- 

 riety by following this method. 



Lady Bountiful showed up promi- 

 nently, winning all prizes in the class of 

 whites; if any fault, it shows a lack 

 of substance which is against it as a 

 shipper. 



My Maryland unfortunately could not 

 be staged by Mr. Weber, as that variety 

 with his other exhibits, some 1,200 in 

 all, carried poorly owing to the warm 

 weather. The Strafford Flower Farm 

 showed 100 of this variety and was for- 

 tunate enough to secure an award. Mr. 

 Weber has made an announcement to the 

 trade through the various papers which 

 is a square deal. My Maryland, as you 

 know, has not been successfully grown 

 everywhere. As grown at StraflTord its 

 habit difl"ers entirely from its growth 

 with Mr. Weber; but we do not by any 

 means pronounce it unworthy and feel 

 confident that if certain grassy peculi- 

 arities can be eliminated this variety 

 will prove a good thing, as its keeping 

 qualities are above jiar. 



Enchantress was shown extensively and 

 nothing could compete with it in its 

 color. It occupies a held of its (>wn. 



Robert Craig is certainly a thorough- 

 bred; it looked beautiful, staged, and as 

 seen growing at Mr. Ward's. Whether 

 this fine condition can be duplicated by 

 the smaller growers and whether it can 

 be made a commercial success is a ques- 

 tion yet to be decided. 



Mr. Fisher's new red seedling, Beacon, 

 looked well, standing out prominently 

 from all others in its brightness of color. 

 Seeing it growing at his place impressed 

 me with its commercial value, being such 



a free bloomer; its stem seemed a trifle 

 weak, but not enough to injure it 



Red Lawson will do when there are 

 no other good reds about. We do not 

 like its color. The extensively adver- 

 tised Victory showed up well ; many or- 

 ders have been booked for it, Mr. Gutt- 

 nian telling us of five firms who had 

 placed orders aggregating 120,000. We 

 have seen it only on the exhibitio;! table. 

 Mr. Haines is as enthusiastic a;-; ever 

 about his red carnation named after 

 him. It did not carry well to Boston, 

 but as we saw it growing at his place 

 last March it was a grand sight. We 

 notice the reports from the west say it 

 is inclined to be somewhat sleepy during 

 the early fall months. We were further 

 convinced of its good qualities after see- 

 ing it growing at Peter Fisher's. 



The Lawson gold medal winner. Elsa 

 Struss, a seedling uf Mr. Ward's, was 

 beautiful, and seeing it growing con- 

 vinced us that it will be heard from, as 

 it resembles Enchantress in habit and 

 looks free. 



Mrs. Ward, another seedling of Cot- 

 tage Gardens, showed breeding. It is a 

 question whether it would not have given 

 a good run for the medal if 100 blooms 

 could have been shown. 



Aristocrat is certainly ideal in form, 

 calyx and stem. Personally we are 

 tiring of the Lawson shade of pink. 



Helen Goddard, while not a large 

 flower, is recommended for its commer- 

 cial value. It is slightly lighter in color 

 tlian Lawson. We did not have a chance 

 to see it growing. 



Pink Patten, a sport from Mrs. Pat- 

 ten, was not particularly interesting to 



U3. 



Evangeline, another seedling of Peter 

 Fislier's, has merit. As we saw it grow- 

 ing, it looked healthv; it is smaller than 

 Enchantress, brighter in color, has good 

 substance, and seemed freer. Mr. Fisher 

 told us he would not send it out unless 

 he could eliminate its slight tendency to 

 burst. It is a question if there is a 

 market for Evangeline, if Enchantress 

 keeps up its good name. 



Fiancee Avas not largely shown, having 

 no entry in either the hundred, fifty, or 

 twenty-five class. We imagined it was 

 impossible to get so many good flowers 

 together. 



Winsor attracted us especially, its color 

 being a very pleasing shade of pink. 

 It showed all the requirements of a first 

 class flower. We hope y«u have all read 

 Mr. Fisher 's address ; the points he made 

 appealed to us strongly. Taking it all in 

 all the show was a success. The public 

 seemed to appreciate that it was free to 

 all and we trust Toronto will be able to 

 arouse the same enthusiasm when the 

 convention meets there. 



CARNATION NOTES- VEST. 



Late Propas;atiii£. 



Cuttings put in sand now, if rooted 

 successfully, will make fine plants, and, 

 in fact, in some ways these cuttings are 

 even superior to those taken earlier, and 

 tliey are much to be preferred to cuttings 

 taken early in November. The days are 

 getting longer and the plants are taking 

 on new vigor, and all the shoots have 

 more vigor now than was the case six 

 weeks ago. They will root in a shorter 

 time and will not get so soft as is apt 

 to be the case with tne very early batches. 

 It takes more skill, however, from now 

 on to get a good strike than it did up 

 to now, and the later it gets the more 

 skill and judgment are required. 



Lately the days have been bright and 

 cold and the nights have be«in cold 

 enough to call for steady firing. This is 

 ideal weather for propagating and while 

 it keeps up there will be no trouble. The 

 weather that does the mischief is a 

 bright, mild day, when you are obliged to 

 open the ventilators and evaporation is 

 rapiil. Then it will tax your knowledge 

 to the utmost to keep your cuttings stand- 

 ing up fresh. Often one day of this kind 

 ot weather will do the mischief and ruin 

 wuat you had hoped would be a fine 

 strike. 



On days like this you will frequently 

 find that the curtain is not sufficient pro- 

 tection. The curtain will keep the sun 

 ott' them, but they will need more than 

 that, because the very air will draw the 

 moisture out of them and cause wilting. 

 You wiU find it advisable to employ some 

 closer covering than the curtain while 

 this condition exists and we find that 

 laying newspapers on the cuttings will 

 answer perfectly. Do not let the hot 

 sun beat on the newspapers, but drop 

 iiie curtain to shade them and use the 

 papers merely to hold in the moisture 

 which will rise from the sand, or is on 

 the foliage from syringing. These 

 papers should not be put on until they 

 are really needed and should be taken 

 off as soon as the ventilators are closed 

 and the air is more moisture-laden. You 

 can tell when the atmosphere feels 

 bracing and fresh. 



You will find as a rule that shading 

 tlie cuttings carefully and keeping away 

 an draught is more effective, and better 

 for the cuttings than syringing. While 

 a light spraying will help the cuttings 

 to freshen up, yet it will not stop wilt- 

 ing if a draught strikes them or if the 

 sun beats on them. 



You will also find it difficult to keeji 

 the foliage moist all day and then have 

 them dry at night. You should not have 

 the foliage wet over night, as it will 

 start fungus and rust and, in fact, any 

 of the spot diseases just the same as it 

 will on the blooming plants. You can 

 put on and remove the close covering at 

 a moment's notice, however, and you can 

 always have better control of the situ- 

 ation. We usually spray lightly early in 

 the morning of a bright day, before 

 dropping the curtain, and for some time 



