Al'BlL 12, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



J50J 



Store of Samuel Murray, Kansas City, at Easter, 1905. 



NO SHOW AT KANSAS CITY. 



The directors of Convention Hall, 

 Kansas City, Mo., untler whose auspices 

 all the recent flower shows in Kansas 

 <'ity have been held, liave decided not 

 to conduct a show this year. The show 

 last November Avas accounted a brilliant 

 success from the standpoint of a beauti- 

 ful exhibition, and was also satisfactory 

 financially, but the majority of the flo- 

 rists of Kansas City feel that it is not 

 wi.se to attempt to give a show oftener 

 than every other year, and hence there 

 will not be any show at Convention Hall 

 until November, 1907. 



Louis W. Shouse, Sec'y. 



vantage of the business opportunities 

 afforded by the growth in wealth and 

 the advance of refinement in his com- 

 munity. 



RUST ON VERBENAa 



Will you please give us a remedy for 

 rust on verbenas? Ours are troubled 

 verv badiv with it. W. & S. 



AN EASTER SHOW. 



At the Easter season it is the practice 

 of practically all florists who meet the 

 public to put their best foot forward, 

 or, as Wm. Scott puts it, ' ' Wash all you 

 got and hang out all you wash." If 

 there is any season at which it pays a 

 retailer to make an elaborate display it 

 is at Easter. It is a season, too, when 

 retail stores always appear at their best 

 because of the profusion of flowering 

 plants. 



To show what Samuel Murray, Kansas 

 ' ity, does in tnis direction, the accom- 

 panying illustrations are reproduced 

 from photographs taken just before Eas- 

 ter last year. One of the pictures shows 

 liis store as one views it from the en- 

 trance. The other shows the conserva- 

 tory as it appeared from the rear door 

 of the store. An inspection of the pic- 

 tures will also give an idea of the extent 

 and character of Mr. Murray's facilities 

 i»nd business. Kansas City is a flower 

 town and Mr. ^Murray is a florist than 

 whom none is more readv to take ad- 



I f I were to bluntly say throw away 

 every verbena plant that is infested with 

 rust, it would be answering your query 

 iionestly and be the best of advice. 



Rusts are fungous, and spraying to 

 destroy the spores is the only known 

 remedy. What we see of the rust on the 

 surface of the leaf is the fruit of the 

 fungi. The mycelium of the fungus us 

 always working in the tissue of the 

 leaves or stems. In the case of the rust 

 on the carnation, the fruit of the fungus 

 comes out in large spots and scatters its 

 spores far and wide, especially by syring- 

 ing, and you will remember the scare it 

 created. A great numl)er of remedies were 

 advocated and much time and labor was 

 wasted in futile attempts to exterminate 

 it. The great remedy for rusts is to 

 grow varieties that are resistant. 



Sulphate of copj)pr is the ba.se of all 

 liquid sprays for destroying rusts, and 

 in tlie case of carnations and hollyhocks 

 that seems of little use, becaiise you can 

 not rejf<-h the mycelium in the tissues of 

 the host plant. 



When Peter Henderson published his 

 l)right little volume, Practical Floricul- 

 ture, some forty years ago, the verbena 

 was a very important summer-flowering 

 plant. The writer can remember flower 

 show- premium lists that contained a 

 prize for six or twelve pots of verbena.s 

 trained on wire frames. Mr. Henderson 



says the rust is caused by a minute in- 

 sect which, when subjected to tobacce 

 s noke, has the faculty of imbedding 

 itself in the tissue of the leaf. This is 

 contrary to what is generally believed. 

 Kusts are the effects of fungus, but 

 whether or not, it does not pay to be 

 doctoring them in this twentieth cen- 

 tury. An eminent writer thinks the 

 rather sudden and great drop in popular- 

 ity of the verljena was mostly caused by 

 the great improvement of the zonal 

 geranium and its superior attraction as 

 a bedding j)lant. We think rather it 

 was because of the difficulty of winter- 

 ing the verbena. 



Buy a fresh, clean stock for this 

 spring, if you must have them, and next 

 February sow seed from the best source 

 you can obtain it, an<i you will have 

 healthy, vigorous plants and as good 

 colors as na ned varieties. W. S. 



CANDYTUFT. 



Can candytuft be grown in a mixed 

 house for winter blooming? What vari- 

 ety is bestf When should seed be sown 

 for winter blooming? What tempera- 

 ture is best, and please give me points 

 on cultivation of same? M. T. (i. 



Tlie ran<lytuft has no less than thirty 

 species, including annuals, biennials and 

 shrubby perennials. The annuals are 

 best known and ne suppose tiiesc are 

 what"*s meant. 



Candytuft can be sown in the open 

 just as soon as the ground is dry. and 

 will be in full bloom in six or seven 

 weeks. Hut under tiie clo\ids of winter 

 it nmy take ten weeks to flower. 



To flower in winter is very indefinite, 

 as our seasons have been humorously de- 

 scriVjed as seven months winter and five 



