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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



OCTOBKB 24, 1907. 



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TEMPERATURE FOR KILLARNEY. 



What temperature suits Killarney, and 

 is it a strong feeder? I have some nice 

 looking plants, but cannot get over four- 

 teen inches of stem. We try to keep 

 a temperature of about 60 degrees ht 

 night. J. G. T. 



The best temperature for Killarney 

 is 58 to 60 degrees, and at this tem- 

 perature it will stand high feeding. Kil- 

 larney is not noted for its long stems 

 and at this season fourteen to sixteen 

 inches is considered a good marketable 

 length. As the season advances the 

 stems will lengthen, but it is a rose re- 

 quiring at all times plenty of air; other- 

 ytiae it is inclined to shed its leaves. 



BiBES. 



MILDEW AND RUST. 



Please give me the formulas for the 

 following remedies: Sulphur solution 

 to spray for mildew; kerosene emulsion; 

 blue vitriol solution to spray for mil- 

 dew and rust. 



Would you advise feeding roses that 

 are badly mildewed? 



Is the wet soil under the rose beds 

 partially responsible for the mildew on 

 the roses? E. G. S. 



I do not know of any way of pre- 

 paring sulphur to be used as a spray 

 which would be effective against mildew. 

 The most effective way to use this is to 

 use it either in the powder form by 

 blowing it over the foliage with a pow- 

 der blower, or to make it into a paint, 

 in the proportions of two parts sulphur 



and one part air-slaked lime, and apply 

 it to the pipes. By closing the venti- 

 lators for a couple of hours during the 

 coldest part of the night and repeating 

 this once a week, mildew cannot exist 

 in a house. 



Kerosene emulsion is prepared and ad- 

 ministered as follows: Soap, finely 

 sliced and dissolved in warm water, two 

 ounces; kerosene, one pint; water, ten 

 quarts. When the soap is liquefied, re- 

 move from near the fire and add the 

 kerosene. Agitate with a force pump for 

 five or ten minutes, until it becomes a 

 homogeneous mass, from which the 

 kerosene will not separate on standing. 

 Dilute with water in proportion of six- 

 teen to one for roses and most other 

 greenhouse stock. Apply with a 

 syringe. 



Blue vitriol chemically is designated 

 in the U. S. pharmacopoeia as Cupri sul- 

 phas and in the British work as sulphate 

 oi copper, and may be obtained by heat- 

 ing sulphuric acid and copper together 

 and dissolving the soluble product in 

 water, then evaporating the solution un- 

 til crystallization takes place on cool- 

 ing. 



Ammoniacal copper carbonate, which 

 is the ordinary remedy for rust, is pre- 

 pared as follows: Copper carbonate, 

 one ounce; ammonia, enough to dissolve 

 the copper; water, twelve gallons. Dis- 

 solve the copper carbonate in the am- 

 monia and dilute before using. 



Copper carbonate is rather costly, but 

 can be prepared in the following man- 

 ner: Copper sulphate, two pounds; soda 

 carbonate, two pounds and a half. Dis- 

 solve these separately in about two gal- 

 lons of water, pour together and stir 

 thoroughly. A precipitate of copper 

 carbonate will form and sulphate of 

 soda will remain in solution. 



Roses should never be subjected to 



heavy feeding when they are suffering 

 from any trouble or are in a weak con- 

 dition, as this only aggravates the 

 trouble. 



Muddy bottoms of benches, caused by 

 defective drainage, are a fruitful source 

 of disease, as they create weakness by 

 root inaction, and where weakness oc- 

 curs disease is certain to get a hold. 



RiBES. 



PARKER'S ASTERS. 



With some of the aster growers the 

 season of 1907 has been an exception- 

 ally successful one in spite of the fact 

 that weather conditions were not at all 

 favorable. One of the growers who 

 have profited by the result of years of 

 care was A. S. Parker, of Stoneham, 

 Mass., whose field of asters, photo- 

 graphed in September, is shown in one 

 of the accompanying illustrations. The 

 picture shows only a part of the field, 

 there having been over 40,000 plants 

 altogether. The smaller view is from 

 a photograph taken of one day's pick- 

 ing and shows 5,500 blooms ready for 

 bunching for the market. 



The variety is one of the branching 

 asters, a strain worked up by Mr. Parker 

 through a number of years of painstak- 

 ing care. He has made it a point to save 

 seeds only from plants of the best health 

 and habit. No seeds have been saved 

 from other than perfect flowers and the 

 result was that in his immense crop this 

 year practically every bloom was sal- 

 able at a remunerative price. 



ACCELERATING PLANT GROVTH. 



Experiments are being conducted by 

 B. H. Thwaites in the gardens of the 

 Koyal Botanic Society, Eegent's Park, 

 London, in respect to the culture of 

 plants by the aid of the electric light. 

 The plants receive the benefit of the 

 ordinary sunlight " during the daytime, 

 and at night a powerful electric light en- 

 ables tlie plants to carry on the work 

 of carbon assimilation.. The light is ob- 

 tained from a powerful lamp which 

 travels slowly from one end of the house 

 to the other, and returns again by an 

 automatic process. A small engine gen- 

 erates the electricity, and the surplus 

 heat from the engine is utilized for the 

 heating of the house in which the ex- 

 periments are conducted. The cost of 

 the gas, which serves the double pur- 

 pose of heating the structure and driv- 

 ing the generating plant, is lower than 

 that of the fuel consumed in an ordinary 



Oflc Day't Piddog of Astcra by A* S. Parker, Stoaeham, Mass. 



