1468 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



OCTOBBB 25, 1906. 



it goes for Ivory. We suspect that Mr. 

 Totty imported this pest with Nellie 

 Pockett and is a little ashamed of it. 

 It's a chinch, but not the kind of chinch 

 vre wish to acquire. Mr. Totty, if you 

 please, let us have immediate and future 

 relief. 



Sweet Peas. 



These are likely to be as profitable as 

 any crop you can grow this winter and 

 deserve the best of care. They will be 

 now more than two feet above the 

 ground and soon will be showing buds. 

 Sunlight is the great factor toward pro- 

 ducing bloom, as it is in all the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom, and next to that is fresh 

 air. The rays of Old Sol we will get in 

 daily diminishing quantities, but fresh 

 air we can have and, therefore, it is bet- 

 ter in dull weather (although not cold) 

 to keep some heat in the pipes and give 

 ventilation. Keep them tied up to the 

 strings and free of aphis or fly. 



With all due respect to the specialist 

 on sweet peas (and there is one, a Scotch- 

 man pre-eminently above the rest) fumi- 

 gation by tobacco stems or tobacco dust 

 is dangerous and I much prefer a spray- 

 ing with one of the liquid nicotines. 

 There are so many of the decoctions 

 uow-a-days one hardly knows which one 

 to choose and I am not desirous of ad- 

 vertising any particular one. Some be- 

 lieve in To-bak-ine, some in Nikotene, 

 «ome in Nicoticide, and others in Nico- 

 fume. All are good as long as the man- 

 ufacturers maintain the strength. 



As your humble servant remarked a 



few weeks ago, it has become the chief 

 end of gardeners to fight the innumer- 

 able insect and fungus pests that prey 

 on our plants. Tobacco has been the 

 great antidote but there are many situa- 

 tions where the fumes of tobacco are 

 not only objectionable but actually not 

 permissible. 



Fumigating. 



A successful florist of Buffalo said 

 to me this morning : * ' There is not 

 a green-fly in our houses. We do not 

 wait to see them, but every Monday we 

 go over the whole place (some 2,500 

 square feet of bench room) with the 

 knapsack automatic sprayer and a solu- 

 tion of nicotine. This is the simple for- 

 mula: Fill the can or cylinder with wa- 

 ter up to six inches of its capacity, then 

 add one-half of a 2-inch pot of the nico- 

 tine. Pump in air pressure and any 

 greenhorn can be trusted to apply it to 

 the plants." 



Contrary to fumigation with the fumes 

 of tobacco, which is always best done on 

 dull, rainy nights, the application of tho 

 liquid nicotine should be done in early 

 afternoon or when you are pretty strong, 

 because this weak solution will not color 

 the purest flower if it quickly evapor- 

 ates. It will leave its mark if it remains 

 all night. 



This application is of particular value, 

 but not in the case of our early lilies. 

 If you expect lilies to be in flower by 

 Thanksgiving give them 70 degrees at 

 night and keep the aphides away from 

 them. , William Scott. 



PACKING CUT BLOOMS. 



Care of Exhibition Stock. 



It is an easy matter for the labor of 

 months to be destroyed by the careless- 

 ness of the expressman. I would not 

 insinuate that he does it intentionally, 

 but all boxes look alike to him, although 

 they may be marked "this side up" or 

 "handle carefully," and the only way 

 one can be sure of his flowers is to pack 

 them so securely that they cannot be 

 injured by average handling. One sees 

 many styles of packing at a big show, 

 some of which, while they get the flowers 

 there in good shape, are too expensive 

 for general use. Such a system is the 

 method of packing the flowers by stand- 

 ing them upright in the box. It takes 

 a monster box to hold two dozen flowers, 

 and the results hardly warrant it. I 

 have had flowers travel perfectly, shipped 

 fiat, and a box about six feet long, 

 ■eighteen inches high, and two feet wide 

 is as large as should be used. Such a 

 box will hold from eighteen to thirty 

 flowers, according to the size. 



Before putting in the box the flowers 

 should be tied up in tissue paper, to 

 keep them from rubbing against each 

 other. Get the paper tied to the stem 

 under the flower, and then bring it up 

 over the flower and tie it on top. Jap- 

 anese varieties pack nicely because the 

 petals will pull up to the center and 



reduce the bulk of the flower one-half. 

 When the paper is taken oflP the petals 

 fall back naturally into place. The in- 

 curving forms pack well, because they 

 are naturally falling to the center, and, 

 in many cases like Appleton, the foliage 

 is so heavy that the flowers cannot be 

 crushed, because the foliage protects 

 them. 



The Japanese incurved are harder to 

 pack because they are more or less globu- 

 lar in form, and will not stand to be 

 tightly papered, or the side petals will 

 be bruised. After the flowers are pa- 

 pered, line the box, first with news- 

 paper, then tissue, and make a roll of 

 paper to go under the neck of the flow- 

 ers. Have the roll large enough so 

 that the bottom layer of flowers is free 

 from the box. 



In the case of long journey shipments, 

 wet paper should be laid between the 

 layers, to keep the foliage from wilt- 

 ing. After the box is full, two or more 

 slats nailed over the stems will keep 

 them from moving around. Then if a 

 rope is put round, so that the box can 

 be easily handled by the expressman, 

 no serious harm should come to the 

 flowers. 



Lots of time and lots of tissue paper 

 should be used. Then it's a matter of 

 luck to a large extent. 



Flowers, before being shipped long 

 distances, should be standing with the 

 stems in water for twentyfour hours, 



so that they will be soaked up and will 

 carry through without wilting. 



More Novelties. 



Mrs. A. T. Miller, exhibited before 

 the committee last week, is a very pure 

 white, and would seem to be very prom- 

 ising as an early white. It is a Euro- 

 pean importation. 



Buttercup is well named and needs no 

 color description. Stock, with me, is 

 limited this year, but other importers 

 have it in larger quantity. At this date, 

 October 20, it is fully developed, and 

 may be aptly classed as an early Apple- 

 ton, though not as large or having such 

 heavy foliage, and a shade deeper in 

 color. 



Eose Lawrence is an immense yellow, 

 that will be fine in the short vase class, 

 but rather necky for long stems. It is 

 easily the largest flower I have opened 

 to date. 



Mrs. Edwin Currie is a sweetly, pretty 

 thing, but small for exhibition. Ideal 

 in growth, dwarf, with large, handsome 

 leaves, it will make a splendid variety 

 for 6-inch pot work. The color is a 

 lovely pink. Mrs. Henry Barnes looks 

 as though it would be the best of the 

 Wells-Pockett set for the year. Stem 

 and foliage are great, and the flower 

 will build up into a massive bloom. 

 Later we will be able to report more 

 fully. Mrs. G. Hunt is another of the 

 Wells set that is splendid in foliage and 

 stem, but, in common with all the varie- 

 ties here, is late and only now showing 

 color. All kinds are two weeks later 

 than usual in this vicinity, and the 

 Paciflc and Polly Eose glut is only now 

 with us, when usually it is in full blast 

 by October 7. 



I noted from the E. G. Hill Co. an 

 immense variety called President Loubet 

 before the New York committee on Sat- 

 urday. It is a creamy white Japanese, 

 and doubtless we shall hear more of it 

 later from that enterprising firm. 



Charles H. Totty. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Work of the Committees. 



New York, October 20, Chrysanthe- 

 mum President Loubet, creamy white, 

 exhibited by the E. G. Hill Co., Eich- 

 mond, Ind., scored ninety points, exhibi- 

 tion scale. 



New York, October 20, Mary Godfrey, 

 yellow, Japanese incurved, exhibited by 

 C. H. Totty, Madison, N. J., scored 

 eighty-five points, commercial scale. 



New York, October 20, Mrs. A. T. 

 Miller, Japanese, pure white, exhibited 

 by C. H. Totty, Madison, N. J., scored 

 eighty-seven points, commercial scale. 



Chicago, October 13, Chrysanthemum 

 President Loubet, creamy white, exhib- 

 ited by the E. G. Hill Co., scored eighty- 

 six points, exhibition scale. 



Cincinnati, October 20, Chrysanthe- 

 mum Director Gerard, yellow, Japanese 

 reflexed, exhibited by the E. G. Hill Co., 

 Eichmond, Ind., scored eighty-seven 

 points, commercial scale. 



Cincinnati, October 20, Chrysanthe- 

 mum Fu86#, light yellow, Japanese, ex- 

 hibited by the E. G. Hill Co., Eichmond. 

 Ind., scored eighty-five points, commer- 

 cial scale. 



Cincinnati, October 20, Comoleta, 

 clear bright yellow, exhibited by Nathan 

 Smith & Son, Adrian, Mich., scored 

 eighty-eight points, commercial scale. 

 David Eraser, Sec'y. 



