w 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



August 6, 1008. 



in a temperature of from 50 to 55 de- 

 grees at night, sometimes 60 degrees. 



A Caution as to Watering. 



I also wisli to emphasize the fact that 

 a great many lilies are killed by over- 

 watering, for even the strongest and 

 healthiest plants can be killed that way. 

 The roots get soaked until they are 

 brown, and the plant dies. During cold 

 weather the water should be warmed up, 

 to avoid chilling the plants. 



Tor the benefit of the Philadelphia 

 florists, I wish to say that E. Lieker, at 

 Lansdo^trne, Pa., gave the Formosa a 

 thorough trial of 1,500 bulbs. He was 

 exceptionally well pleased with the re- 

 sults last Easter. I also saw a fine lot of 

 Formosas at A. Graham & Son's, Cleve- 

 land, O., A. N. Pierspn's, Cromwell, 

 Conn., and several other places. An 



The soil is a clay subsoil. Other beds 

 planted to other kinds of plants under 

 the same conditions have not been both- 

 ered to any great extent. Has the wet 

 season anything to do with itf Late in 

 May the ground was rather wet when 

 spaded. . , H. D. C. 



The damage spoken of has probably 

 been caused by the larvae of the May 

 beetle or June bug. The beetle deposits 

 its eggs usually in patches of cow ma- 

 nure, and these hatch out the white 

 grubs which in some seasons work wide- 

 spread destruction to grass land and 

 many garden crops, including those 

 grown under glass. The only remedy we 

 can recommend to quickly kill oflf the 

 grubs without injuring your plants is to 

 procure a bottle of carbon bisulphide. 

 Pour a few drops of this in holes eight- 



Wm* F. Kasting and "W^m. Kasting, Jr^ Act as Umpires. 



these parties have placed increased orders 

 for 1908 delivery. 



I am also informed that Bassett & 

 Washburn, of Chicago, had especially 

 good results with Formosas last Easter. 

 This firm grows a large quantity. 



GRUBS IN GERANIUM BEDS. 



We have several geranium beds in- 

 fested with white grubs at the roots. 

 The roots are eaten oflf and, on examina- 

 tion, we find a white grub boring in the 

 lower part of the stock. These beds 

 were planted to bulbs last fall and were 

 covered, when the ground froze, with 

 perhaps two inches of half rotted stable 

 manure, which was spaded in this spring. 



een inches apart each way, immediately 

 covering these after pouring in the 

 liquid. The fumes strike downward and 

 will suffocate the grubs. Do not use any 

 lights while using the carbon, as it is of 

 an explosive nature. It would be well 

 this fall to lime the ground well where 

 these pests have appeared and, if you 

 are not going to plant with bulbs, dig 

 the ground over and leave it rough over 

 winter. Even if you used new soil, while 

 it might be better -for the plants, it 

 would be ju^t as likely to be full of 

 the destructive larvae which are attack- 

 ing the roots of your geraniums. The 

 spring rains are not responsible; with 

 most of us, drought followed. 



C. W.- 



ASPARAGUS SPRENGERL 



Have you ever figured out what it 

 costs for cut Sprengeri during the win- 

 ter months? Or, have you ever been 

 caught when it was as scarce in the mar- 

 ket as red carnations a week before 

 Christmas? Strange, and yet the case 

 is the same as with Boston ferns; the 

 more new and more curly members of the 

 nephrolepis family are introduced to take 

 the place of the Bostons, the more Bos- 

 tons are sold. There are two things the 

 retail grower, has hardly ever enough of, 

 and these are Bostons and Asparagus 

 Sprengeri. Leave the growing of plu- 

 mosus strings to the specialist and buy 

 the strings whenever in need of them, 

 but grow the other kind yourself, even if 

 only able to maintain a carnation house 

 temperature in winter. Do this not alone 

 for what this indispensable green costs 

 in midwinter, but for the convenience of 

 having it when wanted. 



Do not try to crowd the fleshy roots 

 into small Dots or into a bench of four 

 or five inches of soil and expect good 

 results, it cannot be done, and why 

 occupy valuable bench room when they 

 can be grown to perfection in wire bas- 

 kets? 



Bight now is as good a time as any to 

 start for next winter's supply. Use 

 three strong 3-inch pot plants for a 12- 

 inch, or, what is better^ a 14-inch basket. 

 You can make the baskets out of chicken 

 wire, but the cost of the ready-made ar- 

 ticle is so little, not to mention the~un- 

 sightliness of the home-made affair, that 

 it does not pay to bother. Use sphag- 

 num moss for lining and a good, rich, 

 but porous soil for planting. Do not 

 hang the baskets now; they are better 

 off stood on a bench until they begin to 

 crowd each other for room. In every 

 greenhouse plant there are a lot of places 

 to hang the baskets, and there is nothing 

 hung up which will bring better returns 

 with less expense and trouble. 



When the roots begin to shove through 

 the bottom and sides of the baskets, it 

 means a light dose of liquid cow manure 

 is wanted, say, once every two weeks. 

 And, like Boston ferns, they want plenty 

 of water, but cannot stand sour soil. 



In filling the baskets now, do not 

 start wrong by using a lot of stunted or 

 small stock. If you have no good stock 

 of your own, a glance through the classi- 

 fied advertisements will get you in touch 

 with a dozen or more who have the stock, 

 and some of them not far from home. 



F.B. 



BUFFALO. 



Qub Picnic 



The annual picnic of the Florists ' Club 

 was held at the Bedell House, on Grand 

 Island, Wednesday, July 29, and the 130 

 persons who attended pronounced it the 

 most successful outing ever held by the 

 club. 



We regret that a few of our members, 

 notably Miss Eebstodk, Mr. Palmer and 

 C. F. Christensen, were unable to be 

 with us. 



The ball game was, of course, the 

 largest and most talked of event of the 

 day and, while it was a rather one-sided 

 affair,' the west side team winning over 

 the east side by a score of 10 to 4, it 

 served to show us who could and who 

 could not play ball, something we need to 

 know in choosing a team at the S. A. F. 

 convention. W. F. Kasting umpired. 



The tug of war, between teams cap- 

 tained by W. F. Kasting and William 



