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October 8, 1008. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



)3 



were set out about May 15. August 15 

 I gave each plant about a tablespoonful 

 of pulverized bone meal. One sack 

 of 100 pounds was used for this, covering 

 the whole patch. About three weeks 

 later I dusted over the beds, around the 

 roots, one bag of 100 pounds of cotton- 

 seed meal in its dry state. The plants 

 are vigorous and about three and one- 

 half to four feet high. A great many 

 of the buds are damping off, and some 

 are at a standstill, not developing. Could 

 the trouble be remedied? Some of the 

 plants make no buds. Do you think the 

 variety is too weak to take up the above 

 quantity of fertilizers? A. M. A. 



I have never grown stock outside in 

 the locality the correspondent hails from, 

 but I cannot see that the quantity of 

 fertilizer he speaks of using could do 

 any harm to the plants. Possibly some 

 local florist could diagnose the . case bet- 

 ter than I, but I would think that the 

 buds were damping from either night 

 dews or heavy rainfall. This could be 

 helped by protecting the buds with sash 



laid on a framework, or using a canvas 

 that could be fixed to roll up and down. 

 Some of the plants making no buds may 

 be explained by the points being eaten 

 out by insects. This is by no means un- 

 common in greenhouse culture, and I 

 would think this grower would find that 

 the explanation, as no variety that I am 

 acquainted with runs to blind growth 

 naturally. I have known buds to rot 

 when the roots were not kept sufficiently 

 moist in hot weather, but I assume that 

 the plants in this case have not suffered 

 in that respect. 0. H. T. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Committees to Judge Seedlings. 



President Loveless has announced the 

 committees to examine seedlings and 

 sports on dates as follows: October 5, 

 12, 19 and 26, November 2, 9, 16, 23 and 

 30. Exhibits, to receive attention from 

 the committees, must in all cases be pre- 

 paid to destination, and the entry fee of 

 $2 should be forwarded to the secretary 



not later than Tuesday of the week pre- 

 ceding the examination, or may accom- 

 pany the blooms. Special attention is 

 called to the rule requiring that sports, 

 to receive a certificate, must pass three 

 committees. 



New York — J. G. Dailledouze, chair- 

 man; William Duckham and A. Herring- 

 ton. Ship flowers to New York ..Cut 

 Flower Co., 55 West Twenty-sixth street, 

 care of chairman; all flowers to be on 

 hand by 2 p. m'. on day of examination. 



Chicago — J. B. Deamud, chjiirman ; 

 George Asmus and Andrew McAdams. 

 Flowers should be sent care of J. B. 

 Deamud, 51 Wabash avenue, and should 

 arrive before 2 p. m. on day of exam- 

 ination. 



Philadelphia — A. B. Cartledge, chair- 

 man; John Westcott and W. K. Harris. 

 Ship flowers to chairman, 1514 Chestnut 

 street. 



Cincinnati — E. Witterstaetter, chair- 

 man; James Allan and Henry Schwartz. 

 Ship flowers to Jabez Blliott Flower Mar- 

 ket, care of jq.nitor. 



David ^easeb. Sec 'y. 



CARNATION NOTES.- VEST. 



Early Firing. 



Through this section of the country 

 the warm weather which accompanied the 

 late drought has made firing unnecessary, 

 but now that the drought has been broken 

 the temperature has undergone a great 

 change. The nights are damp and chilly 

 and a line or two of pipes in each house 

 will be necessary to keep the temperature 

 at the best growing point. 



There is, perhaps, no time of the whole 

 season when the night firing requires; 

 more skillful handling than it does dur- 

 ing this month. Especially is this true 

 if you do not employ a regular night 

 man, which is the case on a great many 

 small places. It is almost impossible to 

 tell with any certainty before midnight 

 how the thermometer will stand by morn- 

 ing, and the grower who does not employ 

 a night man is apt to find his houses 

 either up to 70 degrees, with the ven- 

 tilators closed tight and heat around, or 

 down below 40 degrees, with six inches 

 of air on and no fire. Either of these is 

 a bad condition for the plants to be in 

 and if repeated frequently will have a 

 serious effect on the winter's crop. 



We figure that where a place can pos- 

 sibly be made to afford a nightrxman, 

 such a man should be employed/ aiid I 

 might also add that a good, competent, 

 conscientious nighf man is about as val- 

 uable as any man you can have on the 



place. If you can find a man who haa 

 some knowledge oi growing yqji ofe for- 

 tunate. This knowledge viH f^ajid ^im - 

 in good stead during thi$;' variable 

 weather. Any man with averace jbitdji- • 

 gence and a willingness to heavit; .j^At o^^l 

 soon be taught to run the plartty^OTuril^: 

 steady cold weather, but you comdri't 

 possibly give him sufficient instructions 

 to handle tjie system to the best advan- 

 tage during this month. For instance: 

 To keep up steam all night and to raise 

 the ventilators away up to keep the tem- 

 perature down is a waste of fuel, yet we 

 have often found just that condition. 



We make it a rule, when the tempera- 

 ture in the house drops below 50 degrees 

 with two inches of air on, to run the 

 steam around in one pipe in each house 

 to keep the air moving and keep the 

 ventilators high enough to keep the tem- 

 perature where it belongs. Before we 

 turn on another pipe we close the venti- 

 lators and then, if one pipe will not hold 

 it high enough, we turn on a second pipe, 

 or more, as required. 



You will sometimes find during damp, 

 rainy spells that the temperature will be 

 high enough, but a pipe will be neces- 

 sary to keep the atmosphere dry, and the 

 ventilators will have to be raised perhaps 

 several inches. So you will use the 

 steam pipe to control the moisture in the 

 atmosphere as w-ell as the temperature. 



You will find it beneficial to the plants 

 to have some ventilation on the houses 

 all the time, except when one pipe will 



'rnol'keep the temperature up to the mark. 

 Do not make the mistake of trying to 

 slhVii a lot of warmth in the house in 

 the eveniq^g to keep it warm through 

 >^.the night. It will do more harm than 

 ^^;good, because, in the first place, it will 

 ^^hot last until morning, and to run the 

 plants too warm a few hours, only to 

 chill them off later on, is about as wise 

 as for a man to step from a Turkish bath 

 into a refrigerator. When there is no 

 steam up there ^ould always be ventila- 

 tion on the bouses. 



We find among growers who dp not 

 grow roses a tendency to put off firing 

 as long as it can possibly be done. Fre- 

 quently the temperature is allowed to 

 drop below 40 degrees before fii:ing is 

 commenced. While the carnation is more 

 tolerant of cold thap it is of excessive 

 heat, yet this is a mistake too often 

 made. Growers who handle roses, of 

 course, have no excuse for not having 

 heat in the carnation houses whenever 

 necessary. 



Vatering. 



With the cooler weather and the firing 

 at night, the watering will come in for 

 extra attention. The place as a whole 

 will require far less water than it did 

 two weeks ago, and yet in spots which 

 are near heating; pipes the soil will dry 

 out rapidly and will need to be' hatched 

 closely. If you put on a mulch last 

 month you will not be able to tell much 

 about the condition of the soil by the 



