Mat 7, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Establishment of the Fifth Avenue Floral G)^ G>Iumbus» Ohio* 



ous, both to plants and men, when in 

 the hands of inexperienced operators. 

 After repeated experiments the follow- 

 ing formula is now generally used: 

 "Water, one pint; sulphuric acid, one 

 pint; cyanide of potash, two and one- 

 half ounces, ninety-eight per cent pure. 

 This quantity is for each 1,500 cubic 



feet of air space in the greenhouse, 

 keeping doors and ventilators closed all 

 night. A number of factors, such as 

 the tightness of the house, state of the 

 weather, etc., will influence the result, 

 but nothing will affect the result to 

 a man if he breathes the gas; it is sure 

 death. K. A. 



SOIL FOR CARNATIONS. 



Would sod turned over last fall be all 

 right to plant carnations in this spring? 

 It does not appear to be much rotted. 



A. E. K. 



With proper handling you can get 

 your soil into good condition for your 

 carnations by late July or early Au- 

 gust, but it will require considerable work. 

 If you want to let it lie on the field 

 until you want to use it, I would sug- 

 gest that you put on what manure is 

 needed and, as soon as the ground is 

 dry enough to crumble well, put on 

 a disk harrow to cut up all the sod. 

 Let it lie a month, or less; then plow 

 it over again, and use the disk harrow 

 again. Do this as often as the ground 

 settles enough to plow well. Another 

 yay would be to rick it up and turn 

 it over several times, each time chopping 

 the sod and breaking up the lumps. I 

 think, however, the first method would 

 prove the more economical in your case. 



Carnations like a well decomposed soil, 

 and at planting time you want very 

 little sod in the soil. In this respect car- 

 nations differ from roses and many 

 other plants. A. F. J. B. 



THRIPS AND RED SPIDER. 



I am sending you a little box of car- 

 nation buds which have small insects 

 on them. These seem to suck the bud 

 or calyx until it turns yellow and tho 

 bud then rots, and if it opens it looks 

 like a sunburn. Please tell me what 

 the insects are and how to clean them 

 out. The plants are fine, large ones. 

 They have given a full crop all winter 

 and promise to continue to do so for a 

 while. I spray with To-bak-ine and 

 use tobacco dust occasionally. It has 

 been only about two weeks since the 

 pests put in their appearance. 



W. H. F. 



The specimens forwarded showed 

 plainly the ravages of two of our most 

 dreaded enemies in growing carnations. 

 The discolorations and what you thought 



were sunburn are the spots caused by 

 thrips. It is not a burn, but a drying 

 up of the tissue after the insects have 

 sucked the sap from the cells supporting 

 the tissue. When the sun is weak dur- 

 ing the winter, these spots turn white, 

 but when the sun gains more strength 

 they take on a darker hue, until in hot 

 weather they turn quite brown in color. 

 Perhaps you have noticed this. 



The buds you sent were quite badly 

 infested and, if the whole crop is as bad, 

 you need expect few more perfect blooms 

 this season. During warm weather they 

 multiply so rapidly that, with a good 

 start, as these seem to have, it would 

 take a long time to get rid of them. Cool 

 weather is the time to fight this insect. 

 By keeping up the preventives religiously 

 during the winter and doubling them 

 when warm weather sets in, you can 

 usually hold them down pretty well; 

 but if you once let them get a foothold 

 in warm weather, you will have a big 

 job on your hands. 



Tobacco in any form will kill them, 

 if you reach them. Their mode of 

 operation is such, however, that they are 

 extremely difficult to reach. They get 

 between the folds of the very young 

 foliage and inside of the young buds, 

 and it is just about impossible to reach 

 them there. About the only chance is 

 when the buds develop and they must 

 migrate to another and are thereby ex- 

 posed. That would indicate that fre- 

 quent doses should be applied and, if 

 possible, the conditions in the house 

 should be constantly kept in such a 

 state that they cannot exist when ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere. This is, perr 

 haps, the most destructive pest we have 

 to deal with these days and we do not 

 know enough about him. The scientist 

 who discovers a sure and quick method 

 of destroying him will earn fame, if not 

 a fortune. 



The other pest is red spider, and thesp 



