Dbcembdb 3, 1908.' 



TTicWeekly Florists* Reviesir. 



House of Violets on Tile Benches. 



STOCKS FOR BENCH CULTURE. 



I have about 200 stocks in 5-inch pots, 

 which are now in a frame outside. The 

 plants are fine. I bought the seed last 

 fall and the firm I bought it of must 

 have made a mistake in the seed, for I 

 sent for ten weeks' stock and they sent 

 me the wrong kind. It has not yet 

 bloomed or shown any signs of buds. 

 It looks to me like the wallflower type. 

 Now, I would like to ask if the plants 

 would bloom if benched in a cool house, 

 and if it would pay. E. M. 



Undoubtedly you have received the 

 wrong variety of stock, but if you have 

 a cool house bench and plant them in, 

 they will flower at a time when the 

 flowers will prove serviceable and they 

 will pay you well, unless the strain is 

 unusually poor and the majority tutu 

 out to be singles. C. W. 



STOCKS DAMPING OFF. 



Will you please give me some informa- 

 tion as to the cause of the damping 

 off of my stocks? I have a small bed, 

 4x20 feet, into which I transplanted the 

 stocks from the seed pans. I used fresh 

 soil in the bed and they were fine and 

 stocky until about half grown, when they 

 began to show yellow leaves at the bot- 

 tom, and to damp off. S. W. B. 



You do not state how thickly you set 

 out your plants ; probably you have plant- 

 ed too closely. The best way to grow 

 stocks is to pot off singly from the seed 

 boxes and, when nicely established in 

 these, plant into the benches. The plants 

 of the ten weeks' stocks require a foot 

 apart each way; early varieties, such as 

 White Column, can go clbser. Stocks 

 are impatient of a high temperature; 50 

 degrees at night should not be exceeded, 

 and plenty of fresh air is needed on all 

 possible occasions. Scratch the surface 

 over occasionally, to prevent its becom- 

 ing baked. 



Too much nitrogenous manure would 

 cause damping off, especially if the ma- 

 nure was rather new. Soil of a sour 

 nature would also cause the same trouble. 

 Without knowing more of the exact con- 

 ditions, we cannot tell the reason of your 

 plants going off, but it has very likely 



been due to too close planting, keeping 

 the plants and soil too moist and not giv- 

 ing the required fresh air. C. W. 



SOUTHERN GREENS. 



"There is a fine big crop of holly in 

 this section this season, which is well 

 berried and of luxuriant, glossy foliage," 

 says E. A. Beaven, of Evergreen, Ala. 

 "We expect to double our output of 

 southern decoratives this season. The 

 express movement of wild smilax is on 

 now. Consignments are going to all parts 

 of the north. The heavy carlot move- 

 ment of holly, galax leaves, palm leaves, 

 crowns, needle pines and magnolia fo- 

 liage began in earnest about Novem- 

 ber 20 and will continue for about 

 twenty days. While our express ship- 

 ments are extensive, we make a specialty 

 of packing and shipping in carlots, which 

 has grown wonderfully during the last 

 nine years which we have been in it." 



The E. A. Beaven concern operates 

 from several shipping stations between 



Montgomery and Mobile, Ala. It oper- 

 ates its own saw mill and box factory. 

 The plant is now running full hand, 

 turning out packages for this season's 

 trade. 



KEEPING DAHLIA TUBERS. 



Please let me know how to keep dahlia 

 roots over, as I h^ve trouble every year. 

 D. J. W. 



When lifting dahlia tubers you should 

 leave them, out long enough to get a 

 thorough drying in the sun. A root or 

 vegetable cellar answers well as a winter 

 storing place. A good plan is to keep 

 them in boxes or barrels. First lay in a 

 little, dry sand, sawdust or bran, then a 

 layer of the dahlia tubers, and then cover 

 them with sand or sawdust. Keep add- 

 ing plants and covering them until the 

 boxes or barrels are full. In a dry cellar 

 this packing of the roots will prevent 

 shriveling. In a cellar such as will ke6p 

 potatoes, they can be stacked on shelves 

 quite thickly together, and will keep well 

 if the thermometer does not go below 

 freezing. C. W. 



BUGS ** BOILING" OUT. 



Can you tell me the name of the bugs 

 sent under separate cover? They just 

 boil out of the ground in one of my 

 greenhouses. B. B. C. 



We do not know what the insects are 

 which you sent. On being received here 

 over a week after leaving Kansas they 

 were a squirming mass of life, and we 

 can well imagine that if they simply boil 

 from the earth of your greenhouse they 

 will be disagreeable, even if not harm- 

 ful. It will be possible to apply some- 

 thing to the floor of the house to extermi- 

 nate them, but we would suggest that you 

 write to the state entomologist of your 

 state, or send samples to the Kansas Ag- 

 ricultural College, Entomological depart- 

 ment. They will inform you what the 

 insects are and how to clear them out 

 if they are of an injurious class. 



CRAVvrFOBDSViLLE, Ind. — ^McDonald & 

 Steele recently gave a special exhibit of 

 chrysanthemums and other stock in their 

 downtown store in the Y. M. C. A. build- 

 ing. 



M5 



House of Violets Bendied in the Ordinary '^ay. 



