.^' • Y-.^ 



NovBiiBEB 28, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



in length. The plants themselves are 

 healthy; in fact, it seems to happen on 

 the plants that look to be in the best con- 

 dition. We have been forcing Harrisii 

 lilies for several years and have never 

 experienced anything like this. They are 

 being forced in a temperature of 65 to 

 70 degrees and we would like you to 

 tell us, to the best of your ability, the 

 cause of this rotting of the buds. 



• T. N. Y. 



This trouble is not uncommon and may 

 be caused in several ways. Removing the 



plants when buds are small, and when 

 plants have been subjected to Strong heat, 

 to a cold house will often cause a heavy 

 loss in buds. Heavy feeding with chem- 

 icals before the flower buds show at all 

 will also have a tendency to destroy 

 them. If the bulbs have been properly 

 ripened before being received, and the 

 plants have had careful attention in re- 

 gard to ventilation and watering, much 

 of the trouble should disappear. The dis- 

 ease, if disease it is, is serious, but may 

 be due more to indiscriminate watering 

 and feeding than anything else. C. W. 



CARNATION NOTES -EAST. 



Preparations for Propagation. 



It is highly important that prepara- 

 tions for propagation be made before 

 the weather prevents the work being car- 

 ried out in all its details. Make sure to 

 secure a generous quantity of soil for 

 the express purpose of potting cuttings 

 as they come from the cutting bench, and 

 do not make the mistake of thinking 

 any old soil you may have at hand will 

 do. 



Cuttings when first potted should re- 

 ceive the simplest diet possible, the ob- 

 ject being tp encourage a slow, sturdy 

 growth. The ideal soil for this purpose 

 is composed of well-rotted sod from 

 good pasture or grass land, free from 

 any animal or chemical fertilizer what- 

 ever. The addition, however, of a small 

 quantity of air-slaked lime is benefi- 

 cial. 



Storing the SoiL 



Choose a location outside where the 

 pile can be easily reached with the hose 

 ^in case the soil needs wetting. An un- 

 heated soil shed is a most convenient 

 place in which to store soil, but if not 

 fortunate enough to have one, cover with 

 coarse hay, straw or cornstalks as soon as 

 the frost penetrates the surface about an 

 inch, forming a crust thereon. This is 

 to prevent further freezing. Later add 

 more covering, finishing with old boards, 

 tar paper or other material, to exclude 

 rain or melting snow. 



With a supply thus at hand, one can 

 arrange to bying into the potting shed 

 the quantity needed for any particular 

 occasion, and in season to become 

 warmed to the temperature inside, as 

 should invariably be done. 



The Bench and the Sand. 



A fresh lot of sand for use in the 

 propagating bench should be procured 

 and screened to remove all objectionable 

 matter, but do not put it in the bench 



^ 11 u *^'"°' ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ and bench 

 will be better apart until nearer the 

 propagating season. Left outside, ex- 

 posed to frost, the sand offers no en- 

 couragement to fungous diseases. Thor- 

 oughly cleaned, coated with whitewash 

 containing sulphur and allowed to dry 



S^'frtln'Ts!' " ^^"'^^ *° °^" '"^ P«^^ 

 Any repairs or changes needed in the 



propagating house or bench should be 

 attended to at once, and perhaps it may 

 be allowable for me at this time to make 

 my annual recommendation of 'the brick- 

 bottomed bench for propagating. 



Make note of individual plants which 

 show vigor, the continuous blooming 

 trait, habit of growth or other quality 

 in any degree superior to the general run 

 of stock, and be particular to take cuttings 

 from these if at propagating time they 

 maintain their good behavior. 



First snow squall today, November 14. 

 George S. Osboen. 



EGGS IN BUDS. 



I am sending you some carnation flow- 

 ers and buds, rotten in the center, and 

 on examination you will find a white, 

 round substance resembling eggs. Can 

 you tell me what it is, the cause and 

 remedy? F. R. H. 



I have often seen these eggs deposited 

 inside the calyxes of carnation blooms, 

 and while I am not certain, yet I have 

 always thought they must be the eggs of 

 thrips. If I am right, the same remedies as 

 for thrips will do to keep the place clear 

 of these eggs. I would advise sending 

 some of them to the Department of Agri- 

 culture, W^ashington, D. C, for identifi- 

 cation. A. F. J. B. 



STEM-ROT AND RUST. 



I want to ask what to do for stem-rot. 

 I am troubled with it in Enchantress and 

 Joost, and rust on Victory. I know these 

 subjects have been treated time and again, 

 but I am using these means in the hope 

 that some one has perhaps discovered 

 something I haven't heard of and tried. 

 I keep them a little on the dry side and 

 give lots of air. V. L. S. 



The old saying that there is nothing 

 new under the sun is quite appropriate 

 here. This disease is well known and it 

 is not a question of finding something to 

 combat it with, but rather of using 

 known remedies successfully. Keeping 

 the water away from the plants and dust- 

 ing with slaked lime and keeping the at- 

 mosphere slightly charged with sulphur 

 fumes will usually be found successful in 

 both cases. I would suggest that the soil 

 be not kept too much on the dry side. 

 The plants are now well established and 

 need plenty of water to make a strong 

 growth. You can water the soil liberally 



and at the same time keep the plants dry, 

 and by watering only on bright days the 

 surface will dry oflf fairly well again by 

 night. If deemed advisable, you can 

 scrape enough soil from between each 

 row of plants to make a trough to water 

 in to keep the stems of the plants dry. 

 Keeping the plants growing strongly will 

 help them to fight off the disease to some 

 extent. • A. F. J. B. 



TO STIFFEN STEMS. 



Please advise me if there is any chem- 

 ical I can use in the place of unleached 

 wood ashes, to stiffen the flower stems of 

 carnations, where the ashes are difficult to 

 obtain, and in what proportion! M. 



If you can not get unleached wood 

 ashes you can secure practically the same 

 results by the use of air-slaked lime. Use 

 about a 2 V^ -inch pot of lime to each row 

 of plants across a 5-foot bench. Stir 

 into the soil lightly and water in with 

 clear water. This may be repeated safely 

 every two weeks. 



A cool temperature and abundance of 

 air will help your stems as much as any- 

 thing and this is really the most desira- 

 ble method of obtaining the results you 

 are seeking. Little else will be needed 

 on most varieties of carnations, if these 

 elements are not withheld. A. F. J. B. 



STIGMONOSE. 



Some of my Boston Market carnation 

 plants are full of spots, as you will find 

 on the enclosed leaves. Would you please 

 tell me what the disease is, with its 

 cause, and how I can get rid of those 

 spots f J. A. 8. 



Can your expert name the disease, with 

 the probable cause, from the enclosed 

 cutting of Fair Maidt The plants showed 

 the disease last season and a little *more 

 this season. The treatment was the same 

 in both seasons. A. H. Y. 



The trouble in both of these cases is 

 the disease called stigmonose, formerly 

 called bacteriosis. This disease seems to 

 be the final undoing of more varieties 

 than any other disease or cause, and that 

 in spite of the fact that we know to a 

 certainty how it is introduced into the 

 plants' system and that it could be pre- 

 vented. It must be admitted that it is 

 directly caused through carelessness on 

 the part of the grower in keeping down 

 insects. While it is almost impossible to 

 keep the plants absolutely free from 

 thrips, red spider and aphis, yet the care- 

 ful grower will allow so few of these 

 pests to live that there will not be enough 

 punctures to injure the plants percept- 

 ibly. A plant will bear a moderate 

 amount of these punctures without show- 

 ing any deterioration, but if they are 

 too numerous the drain on its vitality is 

 too severe, and a breakdown of the cell 

 structures is sure to follow. This is es- 

 pecially true of new varieties. 



A plant which is started from seed is 

 entirely free from this disease until it is 

 inoculated through insect punctures. This 

 may happen any time after germination. 

 A plant which is raised from a cutting 

 may have been infected when the cutting 

 was taken from the old plant. In fact, 

 it is almost sure to have some of the poi- 

 son in it, if the old plant showed any 

 signs of it. The more of these light spots 

 that show, the more is the disease getting 

 the upper hand. So, after a plant is 

 once infected, it is entirely a question of 



