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10 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



August 15, 1907. 



CAHNATION NOTES.- WEST. 



Care of New Planted Stock. 



After setting the plants in the bed, 

 and vratering each plant well, you will 

 have to watch them carefully for a week 

 or more. On your success in keeping the 

 plants in a fresh condition will depend 

 the quality of your early crops, and to 

 some extent, in fact, the whole winter. 

 Plants which are reSstablished without 

 much suffering will go right into a 

 strong growth and the next six weeks 

 are when the plants usually make their 

 largest gains. If, on the other hand, the 

 plants are allowed to wilt badly, so that 

 they will hang in the balance for some 

 weeks, and many are lost and much 

 foliage is lost on those that do take 

 hold, it will take them all this time to 

 get to growing, and no early blooms of 

 any consequence need be expected. 



Keep the house as cool as you can and 

 keep the atmosphere charged with mois- 

 ture during the warm part of the day. 

 Be careful not to get too much water 

 on the soil, however, lest it become soggy 

 and sour. Boot action is always more 

 rapid in soil which is only fairly moist, 

 and that is what you are after at this 

 time. As soon as the roots get a good 

 hold your plants are established. There 

 must be enough moisture, however, to 

 keep the soil in good growing condition, 

 so do not err on the other side, either. 



Syringe six or eight times a day if the 

 weather is warm. Spray high over the 

 plants and let it come down like a mist. 

 This can be done best with the water 

 turned only partly on, so the volume will 

 not be too great. Keep' the walks thor- 

 oughly dampened during the day. 



The most critical time usually is dur- 

 ing the first four days after benching, 

 and if these are very warm it vdll take 

 a day or two longer. If, on the fourth 

 day, the plants are crisp in the morning 

 and they stiffen up nicely as soon as the 

 sun begins to lower again in the west, 

 you may feel sure that root action has 

 begun and you may begin to lessen the 

 syringing, but keep the walks dampened 

 during the middle of the day as long as 

 the days are warm. First let up on the 

 syringing in the afternoon and reduce to 

 one spraying about 9 o'clock and another 

 right after dinner, as soon as you dare. 

 Too much moisture on the foliage brings 

 on the spot diseases and rust and it 

 takes fine judgment to know where 

 enough stops and too much begins. Stem- 

 rot, too, delights in a humid atmosphere, 

 and that is why it so often takes so 

 many plants soon after housing, when 

 but little was seen in the field. 



A. F. J. Baub. 



SPRAYING FOR THRIPS. 



We now employ the method of damp- 

 ened tobacco stems in a pipe, as a means 

 of destroying green and black aphis, but 

 desire to change from this to some more 

 up-to-date and less laborious way. Would 



you kindly tell us of an effective and 

 more economical wayf A. E. E. 



I have for several years, and on 

 numerous occasions, advocated the use 

 of tobacco extracts in liquid form for 

 destroying all such insects as tobacco 

 fumes will destroy. While they are, per- 

 haps, not any more economical in cost 

 than the tobacco stems needed for fumi- 

 gating, yet when taking into considera- 

 tion their effectiveness, the saving on 

 blooms, convenience, etc., the spraying 

 method will be fouhd to pay for itself 

 over and over again. 



Get one of the compressed air spray- 

 ers and a gallon of one of the extracts 

 which are advertised in the Eeview, and 

 if you have not over 10,000 square feet 

 of glass, and if you will spray intelli- 

 gently and systematically, you will be 

 fixed for nearly the whole season. 



Begin as soon as your plants are es- 

 tablished, which should be a few weeks 

 after benching, and spray once each 

 week at the s&ength recommended. We 

 find that with the sprayer two gallons 

 of the solution vrill be sufficient for a 

 bed 5x250 sprayed from both sides. If 

 found necessary, you can spray of tener, 

 but usually once each week wUl be suf- 

 ficient. Do not syringe too soon after 

 the spraying. Leave it on at least a 

 day and night, and longer will be still 

 better. • You can pick your blooms any 

 time, just as though you had sprayed 

 with clear water. A. F. J. B. 



LEAF-SPOT. 



Enclosed you will find a few leaves 

 from my Boston Market and Enchant- 

 ress carnation plants which are growing 

 in the field. Up to about ten days ago 

 the Boston Market were the strongest 

 and best looking plants in the field. The 

 disease has spread rapidly over the patch 

 of Boston Markets and many plants are 

 brown and every* leaf covered with spots 

 like those on the sample. Some of the 

 Enchantress also are affected. I wiU not 

 house the Boston Markets, but what can 

 I do to prevent th^ disease from spread- 

 ing to other varieties t C. A. M. 



The leaves you send are affected vrith 

 one of the common leaf-spots. This is 

 a fungous disease and usually starts in 

 a humid atmosphere. Excessive rains 

 followed by hot • weather frequently 

 bring it on and, if such weather keeps 

 up, it spreads very rapidly. 



If you do not expect to use the Bos- 

 ton Markets I would advise you to pull 

 them up and burn them at once, also 

 any other plants that are too far gone 

 to recover properly. Then spray the oth- 

 ers vrith the Bordeaux mixture or with 

 formaline, the latter at the rate of 400 

 parts of water to one part of formaline. 

 Then, if possible, go over the plants and 

 pick off the affected leaves and bum 

 them. If you use formaline, spray every 

 third day. The Bordeaux use once each 

 week, unless it is washed off by rain. 

 To dust the whole patch with slaked lime 

 will help. Do not house these plants 



until they have entirely outgrown the 

 disease, else you will have more trouble 

 on account of the hum^d' atmosphere 

 which must be maintained for a few 

 days after housing and which suits the 

 disease exactly. This same disease 

 played havoc with the Lawson tribe in 

 some localities last season, many grow- 

 ers losing practically all they had of 

 those varieties. Cultivate frequently to 

 help keep the plants growing as strongly 

 as possible. They will then be able to 

 throw off the disease better. 



A. F. J. B. 



VARIETIES FOR TEXAS. 



Please give me the names of a few 

 carnations that will stand the highest 

 temperature in the climate of Texas. We 

 have most trouble figbting against heat 

 and dry winds. Crane was the only one 

 that gave me any results this year and 

 I hope to be able to increase the list, as 

 I shall endeavor to make the conditions 

 more favorable another season. H. B. B. 



It comes as a surprise to me to hear 

 that G. H. Crane has stood the heat of 

 your climate better than other varieties 

 you have tried. In our climate it is one 

 of the poorest warm weather carnations 

 we have. The blooms do not keep and 

 the plants begin to die off as soon as 

 hot weather sets in, so that for a num- 

 ber of years we have used it for fall and 

 midwinter blooming entirely. So in view 

 of this fact I would hesitate to recom- 

 mend any varieties as being especially 

 adapted to your climate. Varieties which 

 seem to stand warm weather best here 

 are: The Queen, The Belle, Flora Hill, 

 Indiana Market, Can dace, Wm, Scott, 

 Ethel Crocker, Flambeau, Victory, H. 

 Fenn, Fair Maid and Beatrice. En- 

 chantress and its sports hold up well in 

 growing and blooming, but the blooms 

 keep only fairly well in hot weather as 

 compared with the others mentioned. I 

 would advise you to try as many varie- 

 ties as you can get hold of, in limited 

 quantities, as it is quite evident that 

 their behavior up here is no criterion of 

 what they will do in your climate. 



A. P. J. B. 



CYCXAMENS. 



I have a number of small cyclamen 

 plants from seed sown last fall. Many 

 of them have just the small corm or bulb 

 protruding from the ground. They are 

 in 2-inch pots. Will you kindly inform 

 me if these corms will eventually grow 

 into plants? W. F. B. 



If your cyclamens were sown last fall 

 and are now only in 2-inch pots they vrill 

 not, I am afraid, give satisfactory re- 

 turns the coming winter. Such plants, 

 had they been well cared for and potted 

 along as needed, should now be in 5-iuch 

 or 6-inch pots. We are afraid the little 

 plants must have been badly starved and 

 potbound. To give them a chance, shift 

 into 4-inch pots without delay. If the 

 balls are badly matted with roots, 

 scratch and loosen the roots somewhat 

 with a pointed stick. For compost, turfy 

 loam, leaf -mold and dry cow manure will 

 be found suitable. Use a good dash of 

 sand in the soil, to keep it porous. After 

 potting, place in a coldframe and cover 

 with shaded sash. Water moderately un- 

 til the plants root freely around the sides 

 of the pots, then more liberally. Keep 

 air on night and day and throw off the 

 sashes altogether on cloudy days. Leave 



