Mabch 12, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' lUview. 



9 



The temperature at night has gone as 

 low as 45 degrees, but the average has 

 been 50 to 54 degrees. Day temperature 

 has been from 54 to 60 degrees, and 70 

 degrees on bright days, with plenty of 

 air. At present we have a tremendous 

 crop of buds and the plants themselves 

 look fine. Do you think the secret of 

 the trouble we wish to avoid lies in our 

 plants being too close together and the 

 bed not drying out readily, or is it the 

 solid bed or some other cause? Last 

 year our plants were not nearly so large, 

 but were planted the same distance apart 

 and color was good nearly the whole 

 season. A. E. B. 



I hardly think you have touched on the 

 cause of your trouble. I am sure it is 

 not the solid bed, if this bed is con- 

 structed in such a manner that the drain- 

 age is efficient. We grow Enchantress 

 on our solid beds (that is, four inches 

 of soil underlaid with a foot of cinders) 

 and as for color they could hardly be 

 improved upon. You will find in nearly 

 every case these delicate colors are 

 heightened when the soil is run slightly 

 on the wet side, while allowing the soil 

 to dry out frequently causes the color to 

 pale. You can notice this especially on 

 white varieties, which often are slightly 

 mottled with pink, like Lady Bountiful. 

 So unless yop have been running your 

 bed excessively wet I cannot see how the 

 solid bed caused the trouble. It may 

 possibly be in the soil, but if your soU 

 is on the clay order it ought to make 

 the color deeper than if the soil were 

 lighter. 



You will find that everywhere the color 

 of Enchantress is more or less variable, 

 and unless you select your cuttings care- 

 fully each season you will have these 

 off-colored blooms mixed with your 

 stock. I have noticed, whenever I have 

 seen such cases, the off -colored blooms 

 were mostly on plants which showed less 

 vigor than the balance, and it may be 

 attributed to some extent to that. The 

 same may be said of the splits. Unless 

 you push your plants too hard by feed- 

 ing, etc., you will find the splits mostly 

 on plants which are deteriorating some- 

 what. 



One of the best things to put color 

 into both foliage and flower is soft coal 

 soot. You can apply it either in liquid 

 or dry form. To use it as a liquid, put 

 a bag with a half-bushel of soot in a 

 barrel of water. It will take some time 

 before it will mix with the water, but 

 when it does mix you will have a good 

 tonic for your plants. A good plan for 

 using it in dry form is to sprinkle the 

 soil well with it and then cover it with 

 a half inch of fine manure. That will 

 prevent it from being blown around when 

 watering with the hose. 



You planted too close, and that would 

 not help matters any. Enchantress 

 should never be planted closer than 

 10x12, and 12x12 is better. 



You do not say what date you applied 

 the wood ashes, but as a general thing 

 we would consider 200 pounds of wood 

 ashes too much for 600 square feet of 

 bench space. Half that quantity would 

 be plenty for one application. You will 

 usually find that when your plants are 

 of medium size and they carry a fair 

 average number of blooming shoots, or 

 if they have been handled so that they 

 will not bloom in crops, there vfill be 

 less cull and off-colored blooms than 

 there will be if you grow extra large 

 plants and bloom them in crops. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



Primula Kewensis. 



NEW CARNATIONS IN ENGLAND. 



An English grower of American car- 

 nations makes the following comment on 

 the behavior of our newer sorts on that 

 side of the Atlantic: 



"Aristocrat is described as bright 

 cerise, a shade brighter than Mrs. Law- 

 son. In its form, stem, habit and size 

 one grower says it is nearer perfection 

 than any carnation of today. If - this 

 is so, it must differ with him from what 

 it has done with me. It is possible that 

 when we have propagated our own stock 

 and grown it another season it may have 

 the good qualities attributed to it. Under 

 artificial light it is most effective. Winsor 

 is a variety which promises well. It is 

 silvery-pink, and the color improves 

 after the blooms are fully open. It has 

 a good full flower, calyx and stem good, 

 and apparently it is a good g^rower. The 

 color is a useful shade for winter; this 

 variety and Beacon are the most prom- 

 ising of those we have on trial this sea- 

 son. 



"Melody is a pale pink sport from 

 Mrs. Lawson, and has the same shaped 

 bloom as the parent, and similar habit; 

 this may improve another season, but 

 so far it is a trifle disappointing. 



"Helen Gould, a sport from En- 

 chantress, with fine pencilings of car- 

 mine on silvery pink, has been simply 

 Enchantress in bloom and growth with 

 me, but I saw some good blooms of this 

 variety at Chelsea recently, fully bear- 

 ing out the catalogue description; like 

 most sports, this will probably vary at 

 times, and therefore must not be judged 

 too quickly. 



"Pink Imperial is said to be a pink 

 sport from Imperial, but its color I 

 should describe as rosy-magenta, and not 

 at tdl pleasing. I may be color blind, 

 butit requires a great stretch of imagi- 

 nation on my part to describe this va- 

 riety as pink ; indeed, it . is misleading 

 to send out varieties of this shade and 

 call them pink. 



"The unsatisfactory varieties of this 

 season^ may improve after becoming ac- 

 climatized, but in my opinion this batch 

 is not much improvement on previous in- 

 troductions. Have our American friends 



reached perfection in their tree carna- 

 tions t 



' ' I think that vnth the material now 

 at the command of English growers they 

 may raise varieties more suitable for 

 our winter cultivation under glass than 

 some of the American varieties have 

 proved to be." 



PRIMULA KEWENSIS. 



The beautiful acquisition to green- 

 house primroses. Primula Kewensis, orig* 

 inated at the Eoyal Gardens, Kew, Eng- 

 land, and is supposed to be an accidental 

 cross between the tiny, bright flowered 

 P. floribunda, of the Himalayas, and the 

 fragrant P. verticillata, a native of 

 Arabia. The plant is of vigorous habit, 

 with bright green leaves, and carries 

 numerous erect flower scapes, which at- 

 tain a height of twelve to twenty-four 

 inches. These carry from four to six 

 whorls of flowers, which are arranged 

 at intervals the whole length of the 

 scapes. The flowers, which are bright 

 golden yellow in color and scented like 

 those of the English cowslip, P. veris, 

 have a slender tube and spreading limb 

 and are about an inch in diameter. 



This primula blooms with remarkable 

 freedom in a very small state. It is 

 useful for house decoration, the plants 

 for this purpose lasting fully as well as 

 those of P. obconica. It is also well 

 adapted for cutting and the flowers are 

 well adapted for table decoration. The 

 plants last several months in flower and, 

 as decorative plants, must be classed 

 as among the greatest acquisitions of 

 late years. When exhibited in London it 

 was honored with a first-class certificate. 

 It is popular in Europe and those who 

 are growing it in America are favorably 

 impressed with it. As a commercial plant 

 it should find a ready sale. While it is 

 in flower at Christmas, it is in better 

 condition during January and February. 

 The illustration is of a plant in a 6-inch 

 pot, photographed January 1. W. N. C. 



An English firm now has an excellent 

 strain of cyclamen in which the flowers 

 are a bright reddish salmon, with deeper 

 shading at the base. 



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