M' 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 21, 1908. 



flower which, when fresh and sweet, is 

 always marketable. 



There is one peculiarity about the vio- 

 let that will always make it more or 

 less in demand, and that is, the season 

 for it is circumscribed within certain 

 definite months. The carnation and the 

 rose have long seasons; the chrysanthe- 

 mum a short one, and the violet some- 

 what longer but still short when com- 

 pared to the first two crops. By the mid- 

 dle of April or the first part of May the 

 season for violets is over and then they 

 disappear until the following October, 

 so that there is a freshness and keenness 

 regarding the demand for them each re- 

 curring autumn. 



The Style of House. 



Having now pointed out some of the 

 essentials and fundamentals connected 

 with the business, it is desirable that we 

 shall consider the important factors 

 which have to do with the success or fail- 

 ure of the work when it is conducted on 

 a commercial basis. It is, of course, im- 

 portant that there shall be some kind of 

 a house in which to grow violets. In the * 

 earlier days the violet was produced al- 

 most exclusively under sashes and in 

 coldframes. As the demand for the flow- 

 ers increased, however, it was found 

 impracticable, especially in our northern 

 climates, to grow the crop in this way. 

 Gradually there was evolved from the 

 coldframe the common dugout, a modifi- 

 cation of the coldframe to the end of 

 sinking a path in the center of the frame 



so as to give sufficient headroom for the 

 worker to handle his plants and gather 

 the flowers without being exposed to the 

 weather. It was considered necessary to 

 keep the plants close to the glass; hence 

 the evolution of the violet was slow. 

 Gradually, however, the sashes were raised 

 and the houses were made higher on the 

 sides. Coincident with this development 

 came the change from the growing of 

 the plants out of doors during the sum- 

 mer to planting under glass and growing 

 them there the season through. I think 

 probably the spot disease had more to 

 do with indoor growing than any other 

 one thing. 



There are, of course, all kinds of 

 houses, which only emphasize the state- 

 ment already made as to the varying 

 kinds of men and the varying kinds of 

 conditions under which the violet has 

 been forced to make its way into com- 

 mercial work. In contrast to the houses 

 in which there has seemingly been little 

 regard for light, heat, or any of the 

 modern requirements, in some compara- 

 tively recent establishments these things 

 have had due consideration. 



The Modern House. 



The violet does not need a great 

 amount of light during the hot months, 

 and even in winter, where the sun is 

 bright, it is often essential to have some 

 shade; hence the grower, if he is in the 

 violet business alone, does not need to 

 give so much heed to the question of 



(Continued on page 38) 



^j-**-'*.; ,*-**■ 



CATTLEYAS. 



[A synopsis of a paper by Georfte E. McClure. 

 rend l>efore the Buffalo Florists' Club, continued 

 from The Review of May 14.] 



Fertilizers. 



Manurial fertilizers for cattleyas 

 should be studiously avoided, especially 

 when sphagnum moss has been used with 

 the potting material, as it causes too 

 rapid decomposition, with consequent de- 

 cay of the roots. However, with the sys- 

 tem here advocated it is well to use 

 what is known as the Cookson formula, 

 which is as follows: Three ounces potas- 

 sium nitrate; two ounces ammonium 

 phosphate, dissolved in three gallons of 

 water. Use one liquid ounce of this 

 solution to every gallon of water ap- 

 plied. If this fertilizer is used once 

 each week during the growing season 

 the plants will be much benefited. 



Enemies. 



The chief enemies of cattleyas are in- 

 sects. The cattleya fly is unquestionably 

 the most injurious of these enemies. It 

 is a small insect and deposits its eggs 

 iu the young growths of the plant. As 

 the- growths develop the eggs hatch out 

 and the larvae feed on the developing 

 growth, which is soon arrested and 



stunted. The fly then emerges and pro- 

 ceeds to deposit eggs in other growths. 

 An abnormal swelling of the young 

 growth is the first indication of the 

 larval presence, and the atfected growths 

 must be sacrificed. Latent eyes or buds 

 will start, but will not be as strong as 

 the first growths. The judicious use of 

 hydrocyanic acid gas should control this 

 pest. 



Next to the cattleya fly, the cftckroach 

 is the most injurious insect enemy. It 

 destroys the flower buds and tender root 

 tips. The roaches may be destroyed by 

 a mixture of cornmeal and Paris green 

 placed on the benches or between the 

 pots. They may also be trapped in wide 

 mouthed bottles containing a little 

 sweet oil. 



Thrips are also injurious to the young 

 growths of cattleyas. Their presence is 

 made known by the brownish appear- 

 ance of the young growths. The trained 

 eye may detect their presence before 

 much damage has been done. The dis- 

 coloration is the after effect of the in- 

 jury done. To eradicate thrips, spray 

 with Nicoticide or some other tobacco 

 extract. A good plan is to spray the 



(Continued on page 40) 



THE DEATH ROLL. 



' . William Scott. 



William Scott is dead. 



The newa will be received in sadness 

 by many ftibusands in the trade, for 

 there was no man in our profession who 

 was so widely known for his writings, 

 nor has the literature of floriculture in 

 America produced any other writer of 

 equal power to make his readers feel the 

 warm, personal qualities of the man who 

 wielded the pen. During the nine years 

 that Mr. Scott's notes were a weekly 

 feature of the Review', from the date of 

 its first issue until that later day when 

 failing health made it no longer possible 

 for him to contribute to the sum of 

 human happiness and knowledge from 

 out his great store of information, he 

 was the most widely read writer for 

 the trade press and the human qualities 

 of his work appealed to his readers to 

 such a degree that thousands who never 

 had met the man will feel his loss to be 

 a personal one, as of an old and intimate 

 friend. Mr. Scott's versatility was a 

 constant source of amazement to the 

 editor of this paper, who early noted his 

 ability and encouraged him to write more 

 and more freely for the trade press. No 

 question referred to him seemed to have 

 been too complicated for him to answer, 

 and many times matters outside of a 

 strictly trade character were treated as 

 ably as they would have been by a spe- 

 cialist, and in a far more practical and 

 entertaining manner. 



But Mr. Scott's crowning work was 

 the Florists' Manual, published by the 

 publishers of the Review^, in 1899, which 

 was promptly recognized as the standard 

 treatise on the commercial side of the 

 florists ' business in America, covering 

 practically every phase of the subject. 

 So large and steady was the sale of 

 tlie book that a new edition was found 

 necessary in 1906. The revision for this 

 was almost the last work for which Mr. 

 Scott had strength, for shortly after its 

 completion he suffered a stroke of pa- 

 ralysis from which he never recovered; 

 while it did not dim his bright mind, 

 it took from him the power for effort. 

 He grew steadily weaker until the pres- 

 ent month, when he was again attacked 

 by paralysis, to which he succumbed 

 at 7:20 a. m., Tuesday, May 19. 



William Scott was born July 31, 1844, 

 at Leigh Park, Hampshire, England, 

 the country home of Sir George Thomas 

 Staunton, one of the finest gardens in 

 Europe, where his father was head gar- 

 dener for twenty-seven years. He attend- 

 ed a private school in the neighboring 

 town of Havant till he was 13 years of 

 age, at which time the schoolmaster be- 

 came insane, but as Mr, Scott, who de- 

 lighted to tell the story, said after a 

 pause, this was not his fault. He began 

 work in the garden shortly after this and 

 the first job he could remember doing for 

 wages was weeding chrysanthemums that 

 had been cut down after flowering and 

 were standing in pots under the shelter 

 of a hedge. At 15 years of age he had 

 the care of a conservatory ,that had to be 

 so scrupulously clean and neat that the 

 petal of a camellia must not be seen on 

 the snow-white paths or the trimly kept 

 border. Among the plants in this old- 

 fashioned house was a Phornium tenax 

 some six feet across, oranges of various 

 species or varieties that yielded bushels 

 of fruit, an Acacia pubescens that went 

 to the roof, and a grand specimen of 

 Araucaria excelsa ten feet high and per- 



