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Sbptdmbbr 17, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



GERANIUMS IN THE SOUTH. 



In the "Seasonable Suggestions" of 

 the Eeview of September 3 it was said 

 that the first week of September is suf- 

 ficiently early to start the propagation 

 of geraniums in the southern states. Of 

 course, I do not know what the writer 

 means by southern states, but I will 

 say that in Louisiana, or any other state 

 of the same latitude, it is a loss of time 

 to try to root zonal geraniums before 

 October 15. Sweet-scented geraniums 

 may be started two weeks earlier. 



The suggestion of Mr. PoUand, of 

 Eldora, la., is certainly the best adapt- 

 ed for our climate, but instead of using 

 shallow flats we start the cuttings in 

 the open ground. The way the cutting 

 is cut does not amount to much. Still, 

 it is better to cut it close under a joint. 

 Any piece of well-worked garden soil 

 will do. The more you expose them to 

 the weather after being planted, the bet- 

 ter it is. 5ven if the cuttings taken out- 

 side are a little soft, they will harden 

 at once when the weather is fresh, with- 

 out rotting, and form roots. As soon 

 as they have roots, or even a good callus, 

 they can be potted in small pots. Pot 

 firmly. Use tight ground, but well 

 open, so that the water goes out freely. 

 Little animal manure or vegetable decay, 

 if any, should be used. Bone meal is pref- 

 erable. 



In the south we grow all our geraniums 

 in coldframes all winter until the bloom- 

 ing time, when we finish them in the 

 greenhouse. Diseases or insects of any 

 kind are entirely unknown to us. 



M. M. L. 



ROOTED GERANIUM CUTTINGS. 



I have carefully read and noted what 

 William Trillow and others say in the 

 Review of September 3, page 4, in re- 

 gard to propagating geraniums, and I 

 agree with Mr. Trillow that there is 

 not enough discussion on handling this 

 widely popular and large selling plant. 

 According to Mr. Trillow, it is unusual 

 to root successfully more than fifty or 

 sixty per cent of geranium cuttings 

 taken from plants grown outdoors, and 

 the business is not especially profitable 

 at this rate. Although he expects to 

 improve on this, I think he will have to 

 follow a different suggestion than was 

 given by the other growers quoted in the 

 Review of September 3, page 4. The 

 rooting of geraniums in pots or shallow 

 flats filled with sand or soil and placed 

 either in the greenhouse or outdoors, 

 after one thorough watering and then 

 allowed to get dust-dry, would most like- 

 ly be almost a total failure, because 

 shallow flats filled with soil or sand, in 

 which are placed the cuttings, and then 

 placed outdoors in the sun and wind, 

 would not last long — one wind or rain- 

 storm would demolish all cuttings placed 

 outdoors. 



I start to take my cuttings from stock 

 in the field the last week in August and 

 generally try to finish the first week in 



September. "While some of the readers 

 of the Review think that the cuttings 

 taken from stock in the field are much 

 softer, more apt to damp off and harder 

 to root, I have found it .to be just the 

 contrary, with the exception of being 

 more difficult to root, as my cuttings 

 have always been much harder than those 

 from stock grown under glass, conse- 

 quently more difficult to root. I also 

 claim that it is harder to root seventy- 

 five per cent of geranium cuttings taJcen 

 from outdoor stock than to root ninety- 

 five per cent from stock grown under 

 glass, simply because the stock grown 

 outdoors is in a general mixed-up state, 

 as part of the cuttings you will find to 

 be soft, others medium and some quite 

 hard. You cannot take such cuttings 

 and put them on a bench in three or four 

 inches of clean, sharp sand and give all 

 the same treatment — to suit a batch of 

 cuttings all in the same condition — but 

 where the stock is grown under glass the 

 cuttings produced will all be in about 

 the same stage, namely, soft, and the 

 whole batch will do well. These cut- 

 tings should be cut off, trimmed and laid 

 on a shady bench for several hours before 

 putting into sand. From such cuttings 

 I can root from ninety-five to 100 

 per cent much easier and with more cer- 

 tainty than to root seventy-five per cent 



from stock grown outdoors. I also think 

 that the only proper way of rooting 

 geranium cuttings by the wholesale is 

 on benches filled with clean, sharp sand 

 to the depth of about three or four 

 inches. Pound with a brick and run 

 several heating pipes underneath. 



Let us hear from those who find their 

 cuttings to be softer from outdoor grown 

 stock than indoor grown, also from those 

 who are practicing the shallow-flat 

 method, filled with soil or sand and 

 placed outdoors. I hope that we will 

 come to a better understanding in re- 

 gard to successfully rooting geraniums 

 by the million. E. A. MucHOW. 



UNDER GREENHOUSE BENCHES. 



Are there any vegetables or flowers 

 which could be profitably raised under 

 greenhouse benches in a carnation house, 

 also in a rose house? One bench opens 

 to light and the other does not, but is not 

 very dark. The distance from the soil to 

 the hot water pipes suspended under the 

 bench is twenty-one inches. I thought of 

 trying rhubarb or asparagus, but am 

 afraid carnation temperature is not high 

 enough. R. E. G. 



A carnation temperature is rather too 

 low for asparagus and rhubarb. These 

 should have 60 to 65 degrees at night and 

 are better in the dark. Mushrooms would 

 do if you can sufficiently darken them 

 and not allow water to run on them. The 

 fact that pipes are right over beds is the 

 worst feature, as this would make the 

 surface constantly dry. You could place 

 many bulbous plants, such as tulips, nar- 

 cissi and hyacinths, under the benches 

 after they are well started and leave 

 them there until flower buds show. Lilium 

 longiflorum can also be grown there for 

 some time. C. W. 



CATERPILLARS ON MUMS. 



How would you prevent the striped lit- 

 tle caterpillar or cutworm from eating 

 off the tops of mumsf I pick all off that 

 I can find, but that does not save all the 

 plants, and smoke does not seem to check 

 them. A. W. 



Persistent hand picking is the only real 

 remedy for the caterpillar in question. 

 Fumigating and spraying with soap, or 

 nicotine solutions will clean out aphis and 

 thrips, but not this pest. A poisonous 

 substance must be placed on the leaves to 

 kill it. These will either discolor the 

 leaves or burn them; therefore, hand 

 picking, while slow and rather tedious, 

 is the only safe remedy. C. W. 



SEASONABLE CULTURE. 



Water and Insects. 



The buds on early varieties, and many 

 of the exhibition kinds, are now swelling 

 rapidly and a more careful use of the 

 hose is called for. So long as the buds 

 have not broken through their hard. 



husky covering they are all right, but 

 once the petals push out, overhead spray- 

 ing must be stbpped or the water will 

 lodge in the bud and rot the center. 



Insects of all kinds must be entirely 

 got rid of this month, because one cannot 

 fumigate with safety when flowers are 

 half developed. For the aphis I always 

 use tobacco dust of the kind specially 

 prepared for fumigating and know of 

 nothing safer or cheaper. It is by no 

 means unusual to see foliage badly 

 burned by tobacco, and such stock not 

 only sells poorly but is useless for exhib- 

 iting. I have never experienced any of 

 this trouble when using the dust, which 

 is why I always recommend it. 



Red spider must be wiped out before 

 the buds show color, or many flowers will 

 be utterly spoiled. If any are showing 

 on the foliage at this time, get a nozzle 

 with a fine spray and wash every leaf so 

 affected. Some growers use a spray pump 

 and a solution of X L All or Ivory soap, 

 but I have always argued that any prep- 

 aration, if made strong enough to kill 

 red spider, must injure the surface roots 

 of the plants and just at present, when 

 the buds are swelling, the plant noods 



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