The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Jdly 2, 1008. 



they will show when they see the donor 

 will make such a strong impression 

 that it will be sure to cause this giyer 

 to send flowers oftener. 



This serves as a means to keep the 

 price up to a normal one and, being 

 a special offer and the purchaser only 

 receiving a dozen carnations for 50 

 cents, or whatever the price may be, 

 he naturally would not hem and haw 

 at the medium price, and I truly be- 

 lieve that if every brother florist would 

 work hand and hand with the above 

 system, it would be more profitable than 

 lowering a price and only disposing of 

 the choice blooms, while the greater 

 amount of the stock left on hand goes 

 to waste. 



Alpha Elberfield. 



CYCLAMEN. 



I have some exceptionally nice cycla- 

 men now in 4-inch pots. The seed was 

 sown in October. Now for the trouble: 

 They have begun to blossom, which I do 

 not want them to do before December. 

 They have plenty of root room. What 

 ean I do for them? W. C. T. 



Your experience is by no means ah 

 unusual one. Frequently some of the 



seedlings will start to throw flower buds 

 in June or July. Pick these out when 

 suflSciently large to handle, and the fact 

 that a few flowers have appeared thus 

 early will not seriously affect their bloom- 

 ing qualities in late fall. Keep your 

 plants either in an airy house, well up 

 to the light, but shaded from strong 

 sunlight, or, better still, in a coldframe 

 where they can have a continuous passage 

 of air at both the tops and bottoms of 

 the sashes. Remove the sashes altogether 

 on cloudy days and at night, unless rain 

 threatens. A light shower will prove 

 beneficial, but drenching downpours must 

 be guarded against. Keep your plants 

 in th€ frames until October, then move 

 them into one of the houses. C. W. 



DISEASED DELPHINIUMS. 



Can you tell me what to do for my 

 delphiniuinsf The leaves are covered 

 with black sgiDtS'. The disease spreads 

 pretty fast. I have been thinking of 

 cutting them off to the ground and burn- 

 ing the tops. What is your advice? 



V. C. 



We have frequently seen delphinium 

 foliage attacked by a fungoid growth, 

 such as you are being troubled with. 



Usually it affects the choice named va- 

 rieties or those propagated from cut- 

 tings or root divisions more than seed- 

 lings, which latter appear to possess 

 somewhat greater vigor. Even these, 

 however, fall a prey to the disease. 

 Spraying with Bordeaux mixture every 

 week or ten days, from the time the 

 shoots appear above ground until spikes 

 are well developed, will to a large de- 

 gree reduce the ravages of the fungus, 

 but even this will not entirely prevent it. 

 We would recommend change of soil at 

 least once in two years, and it will cer- 

 tainly be wise policy to cut down and 

 burn the affected shoots. You may not 

 have the disease again for a number of 

 years. It seems to require particular 

 weather conditions to bring it into exist- 

 ence and spread it. C. W. 



CALLAS. 



How can callas be carried over, that 

 are in solid beds, and used for cutting? 

 Have been used one season. J. H. C. 



Callas should be lifted now. Store 

 them quite thickly in boxes of earth 

 and stand outdoors. Water sparingly for 

 a short time. When foliage has died 

 down, take out and store the tubers in 

 dry sand until wanted. C. W. 



PLANTS BROKEN BY HAIL. 



Will carnation plants which are badly 

 cut up by hail be of any use for next 

 winter? Many of the plants have fine 

 stems left on them. Is there any danger 

 of stem-rot on such stock? L. A. G. 



It depends altogether on how badly 

 your carnation plants are broken up by 

 the hail, as to whether they will be fit 

 to use for next winter or not. I would 

 clean away all shoots and leaves that are 

 broken off and let the plants stand. If 

 they are well established and not broken 

 too badly they will likely start anew from 

 eyes which were dormant, and by hous- 

 ing time there may be an abundance of 

 new shoots started which will make very 

 fair plants. 



As to stem-rot attacking these plants, 

 I would say that I would not fear that 

 very much. Hail storms are usually fol- 

 lowed by cool weather, which is unfavor- 

 able to that fungus, and by the time 

 the weather gets hot again these cuts and 

 bruises will all be healed up. However, 

 if you see any signs of it, or fear it may 

 attack thorn, I would advise you to spray 

 the plants with Bordeaux mixture. Get 

 a gallon can from your supply man and 

 apply as directed on the ean. With an 

 automatic sprinkler you can go over a 



good sized batch of plants in an hour or 

 two and it may save you manv dollars. 



A. F. J. B. 



CUTWORMS ON CARNATIONS. 



We arc sending you, under separate 

 cover, an Enchantress carnation with a 

 slug of some sort on it, just as it was 

 picked from the carnation house. Will 

 you please inform us how to dispose of 

 this pest? Several buds were found 

 which had been tunneled, evidently by 

 this worm. D. S. M. 



The specimen you sent was one of the 

 common cutworm variety, which has been 

 quite troublesome to carnation growers 

 throughout the country this season. The 

 quickest way to get rid of them, if they 

 are numerous, is to poison them with a 

 bait made of bran, molasses and Paris 

 green. Take a small quantity of coarse 

 wheat bran and mix with it enough New 

 Orleans molasses to make it moist. Then 

 add enough Paris green to make it dead- 

 ly poison. Drop a little of this here and 

 there, where you know the cutworms are. 

 They are fond of this mixture and will 

 devour it in preference to the carnations, 

 and if the Paris green is of good quality 

 it will soon end your cutworm troubles. 



There is, however, on the market a lot 



of adulterated Paris green, which is no 

 more effective than dust gathered up in 

 the street. We ran across a box of that 

 kind this spring and know from experi- 

 ence that this is a fact. A pure insecti- 

 cide law is sadly needed, though of 

 course it should be worded so that it 

 would not work harm to honest goods 

 through misunderstanding. A. F. J. B. 



THE SEMI-SOLID BED. 



In a recent issue of the Review Mr. 

 Baur recommends semi-solid beds for car- 

 nations. Now, would he state how long 

 he has been using that kind and how 

 long a filling of soil lasts? L. G. G. 



I notice that you have referred in the 

 Review to semi-solid beds. Please in- 

 form me as to the best way of heating. 



H. G. 



As these two inquiries both relate to 

 the same subject, I will answer both in 

 one. We installed our first bed with cin- 

 der drainage in the summer of 1901. 

 This was a 5-foot bed, 180 feet long. 

 Across the walk was a raised bench of 

 the same size and against each side of 

 the 25-foot house was a S^^-foot bench. 

 The semi-solid bed was planted to White 

 Cloud and Elma, a light pink variety, 



