12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



June 20, 1007. 



one Avoulil try to dig his cave in or 

 near tlie park and thus convert a land 

 of Nod into a real Paradise. 



Now, I would present to all intelligent 

 florists this one appeal: If the savage 

 can, to a great extent, be led by a sin- 

 gle person to partial civilization, how 

 much more can we, the intelligent flo- 

 rists of America, the refinement of which 

 ■we read so much about in our papers and 

 magazines — how much more can we, each 

 one in his respective town, be the leaders 

 of refinement and good taste! We live 

 in an age when people are no longer sat- 

 isfied to feed their bodily frame through 

 the stomach, as do all lower animals. 

 No, that time is past; they require stim- 

 ulants for the separate senses— flowers 



for the eyes, music for the ears, good 

 books for the brain, perfumes for the 

 nostrils, besides other qualities that act 

 in conjunction and have the same stimu- 

 lating effect on all our senses alike. 



I do not ask my brother florists to put 

 on wings or transform themselves into 

 saints, but I would ask them to cease 

 the false idea of quantities independent 

 of quality. Let us rise to that standard 

 of floriculture that will give to our pro- 

 fession the reputation that it deserves 

 and place us in a position in which, be- 

 fore another generation has passed, we 

 may be looked upon as the real pioneers 

 of refinement. Such, in my opinion, is 

 the true mission of all intelligent flo- 

 rists. Emil Fredrick. 



LONG-STEMMED BLOOMS. 



The grower who is not now getting 

 good, long stems on his carnations, never 

 can hope to unless he changes his cul- 

 tural methods, but W. C. Scovell, at 

 Malta, O., thinks his Queen Louise, as 

 Bhown in the accompanying illustration, 

 will 'be hard to beat. He says: "They 

 were cut May 20. Take notice of the 

 stiffness of the stems, and length. The 

 one standing by the yard-stick is fastened 

 to it at the bottom to hold it against the 

 figures. It is inserted in the stick one 

 inch. That makes it thirty-four inches 

 high. The shortest stem was twenty- 

 eight inches at the date mentioned. My 

 plants were green to the ground; not 

 fifteen per cent of them otherwise. My 

 method of culture and supporting the 

 stems means fine flowers on long, stiff 

 stems. This has been the best season for 

 me in my business. All winter long my 

 carnations have been unusually fine. We 

 cut 3-inch Lawson and Lady Bountiful 

 on 30-inch stems for Memorial day, and 

 Enchantress that were three inches and 

 over, on stems thirty to thirty-six inches 

 long, almost as straight as those in the 

 picture." 



THRIPS ON CARNATIONS. 



I am sending you some carnation blos- 

 soms, taken from a bed of Glacier. We 

 get few good, salable blooms from them. 

 In the same house there are two narrow 

 benches of other varieties that are all 

 right. We did not get the Glacier staked 

 up in good shape, so they do not stand 

 up well. I thought perhaps that might 

 cause the trouble. I am also sending 

 you a sample of the soil they are in. Is 

 it all right? Is it characteristic of 

 this variety to produce such blooms? It 

 did not do so earlier in the season. 



B. M. 



The carnation blooms showed plainly 

 the effects of thrips in the brown spots 

 around the edge of the petals. I could 

 not find any of the insects, because the 

 soil had shaken all through the blooms, 

 which made it impossible to distinguish 

 a small insect. However, the signs were 

 unmistakable. If warm weather has set 

 in, it is almost impossible to successfully 



combat this pest, it breeds so fast. The 

 time for that is in cool weather, and 

 tobacco in any form is the best de- 

 stroyer. Of course it is more difficult to 

 fight them on plants that are not sup- 

 ported properly, but that alone will not 

 start them. The soil seems fairly good 

 and of course is not at fault. 



A. F. J. B. 



ROSE BEETLES ON CARNATIONS. 



Having read in the Review how to 

 kill different bugs, I should like to know 

 the name of the bug which I enclose 

 herewith. Bugs of this sort have been 

 eating the carnations. They eat all 

 around the bottom of the plant. They 

 collect in groups all over the benches, 

 and the young look like little grub- 



worms. In the ground they feed on the 

 roots. They have overrun the two houses 

 of carnations and I have tried almost 

 everything to kill them, but failed. They 

 started last fall to eat the leaves, then 

 quit until this spring, and now are eat- 

 ing the stems. E. F. 



The specimen you sent belongs to the 

 rose beetle family and has done serious 

 damage in certain sections to various 

 kinds of plants, and to carnations among 

 them. The larva eats the roots while 

 the beetle eats the growth above the 

 soil, and between them they use up the 

 plants quite badly. They are rather 

 difficult to reach with a view to destroy- 

 ing them, and in fact they are not easily 

 destroyed. You can get rid of many 

 of them by digging for the larvae when- 

 ever you see a plant is being attacked, 

 the same as you do for the grub-worm 

 in your rose beds. These may also be 

 destroyed by the use of bisulphid of 

 carbon, applied to the soil about the 

 roots of the plants. The surest way of 

 destroying the beetles is hand picking. 

 Wliile this seems like a herculean task, 

 yet when you consider that tney cannot 

 fly it becomes more simple. Dusting to- 

 bacco dust around on the plants and the 

 soil may also be helpful. It may not 

 destroy them, but it may be so distaste- 

 ful to them as to cause them to leave. 



A. F. J. B. 



Write the Keview a letter about your 

 way of doing this thing or that, which 

 you consider better than the way it is 

 usually done. 



Springville, N. Y.— E. W. Hampton, 

 junior member of the firm of M. L. 

 Hampton & Co., and Miss Lottie 

 Churchill were married June 15 at the 

 home of the bride's parents in Spring- 

 ville. They left on the afternoon train 

 for a few days ' stay • in Buffalo, after 

 which they >vill be at home in Spring- 

 ville. 



W. C. Scovell't Queea Louiic Caraatioos. 



