Decbmbek 10, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



33 



Establishment of A. Whitcomb & Son, Pioneer Florists at Lawrence, Kan. 



and the flowers will all drop off in two 

 or three days. There are many com- 

 plaints of genistas being poor house 

 plants. If once allowed to become really 

 <Jry at the root, no after care will freshen 

 up the flowers. If kept in a room where 

 a reasonable amount of fresh air is ad- 

 mitted daily, they are not bad keepers, 

 but they should always be given as light 

 ix position as possible. 



Cuttings inserted early in the fall will 

 now be rooted and potted off. Keep 

 them pinched after the leading shoot 

 lias attained a height of six inches. If 

 cuttings have been overlooked, get a 

 batch in at once and they can be grown 

 into nice plants in 6-inch pots before 

 another winter. 



Rex Begonias. 



' A good bottom heat being now at com- 

 mand, this is a good season to increase 

 the stock of the best selling Kex begonias. 

 Colored leaved plants are, to many, more 

 attractive than flowering ones, and it is 

 always well to be ready to satisfy all 

 tastes. There is no diflBculty in rooting 

 this begonia. By cutting up the mature 

 leaves in pieces one to two inches square 

 and standing these erect in porous sand, 

 as you would any other cuttings, there 

 will be no trouble in rooting them, es- 

 pecially if you can give them a steady 

 bottom heat. If your sand is fine, add 

 some finely broken charcoal or cinders to 

 give it porosity. Rex begonias can be 

 rooted under the benches in sand or 

 moss, but to get a big batch quickly 

 the regular propagating bed is best. Pot 

 off as soon as little plants appear, and 

 keep warm until established. 



LILIUM CANDIDUM. 



Is it necessary to reset the bulbs of 

 Lilium candidum once in three years? 

 Ours give us fine stalks of blooms for 

 two years after planting, then the bulbs 

 either die or divide, and the small bulb- 

 lets give no blooms during the next two 

 or three years. J. J, L. 



As a rule, Lilium candidum does better 

 lifted and replanted once in three years. 

 Our experience has been that the flower 

 stalks dwindle in size and numbers if 

 this is not done. The work should be 

 done not later than August 1, before 

 the new roots are made. Discard the 

 smallest bulbs altogether. If you care 

 to plant them fairly thick in nursery 

 rows, quite a few will bloom the second 

 year. Before planting candidums dip 



them in a box cf sulphur. This appears 

 to assist in warding off the disease often 

 attacking this beautiful hardy lily. 



A PIONEER'S PLANT. 



One of the pioneer florists of the west 

 is A. Whitcomb, of A. Whitcomb & Son, 

 Lawrence, Kan. Mr. Whitcomb was pos- 

 sibly the first florist in Kansas, having 

 started in the business at Lawrence in 

 1869. It will therefore be forty years 

 next spring that he has spent in this 

 line at the same place. In the begin- 

 ning he shipped bedding plants all over 

 the state and there was not much doing 



in cut flowers. Ansell H. "Whitcomb is 

 now a member of the firm and, with his 

 father and mother, they do ptactieally 

 all the work on the place, hiring the 

 rough work by the day. There is about 

 3,000 feet of glass in the houses shown 

 in the accompanying illustration, and 

 the work has been much lightened since 

 natural gas was available. They make 

 a specialty of bedding plants and do 

 considerable shipping of cut flowers. 



Mr. Whitcomb was one of the charter 

 members of the S. A. F. and has been 

 a regular reader of the Review since 

 the day it issued its first number. 



mM 



SCALE ON FERNS. 



Will you kindly tell me if there is a 

 remedy for scale on Boston and Whit- 

 mani ferns? A. B. 



There is no sure remedy for scale on 

 Boston ferns, from the fact that any in- 

 secticide that is strong enough to kill all 

 the scale is almost sure to injure the 

 foliage of the ferns. If the worst fronds 

 are cut off and destroyed, and the plants 

 arc sprayed weekly with a solution of 

 tobacco extract, there will not be so much 

 trouble from the scale. 



The solution referred to is composed 

 of one part Rose Leaf Extract of tobacco 

 to fifty parts of water. W.-^H. T. 



YELLOW FRONDS ON FERNS. 



Some of the fronds of my potted ferns 

 have turned yellow. Can you give me 

 a remedy for this? I have been told that 

 soot is good for this. If so, will you 

 please tell mo how to apply it? W. B. 



plants to be watered with this solution 

 twice a week. Some ferns will stand a 

 stronger solution than the above, but it 

 is safer practice to err on the side of 

 weakness, for this is a strong fertilizer. 



W. H. T. 



AN ASPIDIUM. 



What is the name of the enclosed fern? 

 Young ferns grow on the leaf, similar 

 to an asplenium. M. E. G. 



The fern in question is Aspidium an- 

 gulare proUferum, a cool house or half- 

 hardy species, and one of the many vari- 

 ties of this fern. W, H. T, 



NAME OF FERN. 



As a fertilizer for ferns that are 

 starved, try dried blood, used in liquid 

 form. A safe proportion to use for this 

 purpose is a 2-inch pot of the dried 

 blood to throe gallons of water, the 



The enclosed fragments are all that 

 is left of a fern which we were asked 

 to replace. Can you toll us the variety 

 which we are to look for? F. & F. 



The pieces of dead fern root forwarded 

 with this query are not easily identified, 

 l;ut seem to be from ono of the da- 

 vallias, possibly Davallia Fijicnsis. But 

 without a frond, or portion of a frond, 

 one cannot bo positive as to the species 

 in question. W. 11. T. 



