J7J8 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



November 15, 1006. 



j*"' ' 



one will not do. Pull the petals apart 

 and look sharp for a small insect a six- 

 teenth of an inch long, as thick as a 

 thread, and of a cream or brown color. 

 They are quite lively and you must look 

 sharp. 



Perhaps you will notice white spots 

 on the petals of some of the blooms that 

 do develop. If you do, tnen you may be 

 sure your trouble is caused by thrips, 

 and you must get after it vigorously as 

 it is a hard customer to get rid of. Get 

 in a supply of one of the tobacco ex- 

 tracts and spray your plants regularly 

 until you are rid of them. Use accor«i- 

 ing to directions in regard to strength 

 and for several weeks apply it every 

 second morning. "When you see that the 

 plants are getting clean you can reduce 

 to two or even one application each 

 week. Be sure you keep it up regu- 

 larly, once each week, even after you 

 have the plants clean, in order to keep 

 them clean not only of thrips but of 

 aphis as well. During the winter is the 

 best time to eradicate them, as they do 

 not breed so rapidly as in warm weather. 

 If by spring many of them are on your 

 plants you will have trouble ahead. So 

 do not let up until you get them all; 

 persistency is the word. A. F. J. B. 



LIME FOR BENCHES. 



I have given my carnation beds a light 

 sprinkling of air-slaked lime a few times 

 during each season for the la.st few 

 years, but now air-slaked lime is hard to 

 get in my locality. I can buy a pre- 

 pared lime, White Rock Finish, which is 

 used for putting on the hard finish in 

 houses, for about the same price as air- 

 slaked lime or good lime, and to buy the 

 latter would require considerable time 

 to slake. Now I don't know whether 

 this prepared lime contains something 

 which may be injurious to the plants, 

 although the dealer .says it is good for 

 all growing crops. Have any of your 

 readers used it? H. B. 



I do not know what is used in the 

 manufacture of the prepared lime which 

 you speak of and would hesitate to use 

 it extensively until I had an analysis of 

 it. You could use a small quantity and 

 note the effe<'ts and in that way find 

 out how it will affect the plants. 



All this is unnecessary if you can buy 

 ordinary lime. We do not consider that 

 it pays to buy air-slaked lime, even 

 though you get it for a few cents less 

 on the bushel. A bushel of fresh lime 

 will almost double itself in bulk in slak- 



ing and you get more for your money 

 when buying it in that shape. You uo 

 not need to wait for it to become air- 

 slaked; that will take some little time, 

 especially if the weather is dry. What 

 really causes it to slake is the moisture 

 that is gathered from the air, and so you 

 can hasten the process by sprinkling as 

 much water on it as will cause it to 

 crumble, but not become moist. In this 

 way you can slake it in a day and it 

 will be practically the same as if it had 

 air-slaked. We have done this fre- 

 quently. A. F. J. B. 



THE MIDLOTHIAN PER'GOLA. 



Neer this is a pergola, or stand, built to view 

 the sports. — Evelyn, Diary, 1654. ' 



However much the purposes of per- 

 golas may have changed in the land- 

 scaping of modern days, the one erected 

 at the Midlothian Country Club, just 

 outside of Chicago, seems to fit the lines 

 of Evelyn, for it overlooks the tennis 

 courts. 



Be this as it may, the idea of the 

 laudscapist was to make a fitting place 

 for the eye to stop after traveling the 

 length of lawn, framed on either side 

 by trees and shrubbery — and to cut off 

 the view of the vegetable garden. 



The plans and planting at Midlothian 

 were by B. E. Gage, of the Peterson 

 Nursery, and the pergola, which added 

 some $600 to the sum of the contract, 

 was one of the best features. Winding 

 walks through the plantations surround- 

 ing the lawn pass through the pergola, 

 which is seventy-two feet long and 

 twelve feet high, made of clear cypress, 

 the lattice roof raised on 10-inch col- 

 umns. The photograph was made four 

 wpek.s after planting. At the back quick- 

 growing shrubs and trees are planted 

 to afford assistance to the vines, which 

 are to cover the chicken wire back of 

 pergola. At the front of the columns 

 are ornamental light wire trellises, at 

 the foot of which are planted more 

 vines, clematises, honeysuckles, and 

 some climbing roses. Before the plants 

 had made scarcely any growth the per- 

 gola was one of the favorite resorts of 

 the club members. 



Although in eastern landscape work 

 the use of pergolas is common enough, 

 this is thought to be the most preten- 

 tious one in the middle west. 



Montgomery, Ala. — By the collapse 

 of a partially finished excavation and the 

 bursting of a water-main in front of W. 

 B. Patterson's office, November 1, three 

 men were killed. 



A QUESTION ON BULBS. 



Please tell us how long Dutch hya- 

 cinths and French Romans for forcing 

 should be buried before bringing into 

 light. , S. S. C. 



There is a great difference between 

 what is known as the Dutch hyacinth 

 and the Roman hyacinth, and a little ex- 

 planation of that difference may not be 

 out of place before I answer the spe- 

 cific questions. 



The Roman hyacinth and the Paper ' 

 White narcissus, both important bulbs 

 to the American florist, are grown in the 

 south of France or in Italy, where they 

 can be planted early, where the climate 

 is warm, and the summers are hot and 

 dry, and so these bulbs mature early, 

 and after two or three months' rest it is 

 not difficult to induce them by artificial 

 means to flower again. With the Hol- 

 land grown bulbs it is entirely differ- 

 ent. It is a climate perhaps similar to 

 that of New York state, but not so vari- 

 able. We know by the pictures of skat- 

 ers on the canals that it is a steady cold 

 winter. The flat land is intensely rich, 

 and kept so by quantities of animal 

 manure that would be inconceivable to 

 an American farmer, and so the Hol- 

 lander produces a splendid bulb pf hya- 

 cinth and tulip and the hardy class of 

 narcissus, but bis fields of bulbs are 

 green and growing many weeks after 

 the bulbs of southern France are ma- 

 tured and resting. All bulbs, roots or 

 shrubs need some reasonable period of 

 rest. If it is not given an attempt to 

 force them into active growth will be 

 abortive. The difference in time of rip- 

 ening of the bulbs of sunny France and 

 that of cooler and later Holland will be 

 about the same as the difference in flow- 

 ering in our greenhouses. 



And now for the question: Roman 

 hyacinths are received at the end of 

 July and early August, and if put into 

 flats or pots at once should not be 

 brought into the greenhouse in less than 

 eight weeks. Then they can be forced 

 into flower by the middle of November. 

 The Dutch hyacinths should be potted by 

 the middle of October, buried or in the 

 dark until the middle of January. 



If you want an answer to your ques- 

 tions so you can. instruct your custom- 

 ers, say Roman hyacinths should be 

 buried eight weeks in early fall, less as 

 we approach their natural flowering time, 

 and Dutch hyacinths twelve weeks. If 

 you are seeking advice for your own 

 cultivation, then a better rule than any 

 given number of days or weeks is to 



Pergola at the Midlothian Country Club, Near Chicago. 



