JO 



The Weekly Florists^ Review; 



Jancabt 7, 1009. 



of purple. Sepals and petals are broad 

 and the flowers, which are produced on 

 stout scapes, stand out boldly. Usually 

 five to six flowers are carried on a scape, 

 but strong bulbs, will give eight to ten. 

 The pseudo-bulbs are distinct, a foot or 

 more in length, of a reddish brown hue 

 and much furrowed. 



C. Lawrenceana succeeds well with us 

 at the warmest end of the cattleya house, 

 where a minimum temperature of 60 to 

 62 degrees is maintained, and grows bet- 

 ter in pans than in baskets, hung well 

 up to the light, with a little shade, ex- 

 cept in midwinter, when the glass is 

 clear. There is no better rooting medium 

 than osmnnda fiber. Like all cattleyas, 

 it wants an abundant water supply dur- 

 ing the growing season. 



C. Lawrenceana, coming in season when 

 C. Triame is gone and before C. Mossise 

 or Mendellii are in flower, is a decided 

 acquisition to commercial orchid growers. 

 Its only competitor would be C. Schroe- 

 deriana, but nine customers out of ten 

 would pick C. Lawrenceana in preference 

 / to that variety on account of its more 



pleasing color. The accompanying illus- 

 tration shows a few freshly imported 

 plants. W. N. Cbaiq. 



BENCHES VERSUS SOLID BEDS. 



I grow roses, carnations, lilies, etc., on 

 benches. All my houses are connected, 

 facing south. My benches are four feet 

 high, thus leaving head space of only 

 eight feet frpm bench to ridge. All the 

 houses are partitioned by boards under- 

 neath the gutter. The bench next to the 

 gutter facmg south scarcely gets any 

 sunshine at all until late in the day. 

 What I want to know is, would it be 

 better to remove the partitions and 

 benches and grow my stock on the solid 

 ground? J. J. C. 



The best angle for houses .is one run- 

 ning due east and west, but goad stock 

 can be grown in those built as yours are. 

 As you are probably running diflFerent 

 temperatures in your houses, it would 

 be inadvisable to remove the board par- 

 titions, unless it were between such as 



are kept at approximately the same tem- 

 perature. As a general rule, benches are 

 decidedly preferable to so^d beds for 

 winter flowering of roses and carnations. 

 In spring and summer the solid beds 

 seem to yield better results than benches. 

 I do not think it would pay you to 

 change to solid beds, but would advise 

 removing the partitions where tempera- 

 tures vdB allow. C. W. 



DELPHINIUM FORMOSUM. - 



Will Delphinium formosum planted 

 now bloom next summer? . E. W. S. 



This and other varieties of the hardy 

 delphiniums, or larkspurs, will bloom 

 next summer if sown now. The spikes 

 will not, of course, attain the size of 

 older plants. A better plan for you an- 

 other year will be to sow about the 

 middle of July. Even sown this late, a 

 few will flower, and the following season 

 they will yield excellent spikes. 



C. W. 



/ 



CARNATION NOTES.-EAST. 



Propagation of New Varieties. 



Those who invested in any of the 

 new varieties of last season's introduc- 

 tion and now have the mature plants on 

 the benches -will- doubtless have, formed, 

 some opinion as to their merit. If this 

 opinion is decidedly favorable to their 

 continuance, it is natural that every cut- 

 ting should be regarded with covetous 

 eyes. 



As a rule, the stock of recent intro- 

 ductions is not large with the average 

 grower, and while it is in the spirit of 

 the progressive grower to desire ma- 

 terial increase in the plantings of such 

 as give prpmise of merit, it is advis- 

 able to ' * make haste slowly, ' ' for with- 

 out doubt much of the unsatisfcustory ex- 

 perience with new sorts is due to the 

 mad rush in endeavoring to propagate 

 in unreasonable quantities. 



Avoid the Yearly Massacre* 



If the best plants could be selected 

 and grown in. a separate house, exclu- 

 sively for the production of cuttings, 

 and handled accordingly, that would" be 

 one thing, but this is out of the ques- 

 tion with a majority of growers. Con- 

 sequently I am not in accord with the 

 practice of cutting back the plants severe- 

 ly; in fact, it is best to cut but little 

 more than if grown for flowers alone. 



This chopping, wholesale massacre, and 

 skinning to bare poles, is altogether too 



debilitating. Furthermore, it is prob- 

 able that the plants from which the pres- 

 ent ones were propagated underwent 

 similar treatment and their offspring 

 needs to be allowed more of Dame 

 Nature's own sweet ways this year. 



The Ideal and the Practical. 



In giving my views December 24 re- 

 garding selection of stock from whicl) to 

 propagate, it was not my intention to eon- 

 fine operation? to ideal plants alone. 

 Owing to the commercial features, which 

 must enter into our calculations, such 

 a course, in many cases, would be im- 

 practical. When we have a compara- 

 tively small stock, there must necessarily 

 be a second choice of plants, but in any 

 event there must be no sacrifice of vigor. 



The side shoots from the flower stem, 

 which make desirable cuttings, are usu- 

 ally in prime condition to root during 

 the interval between the bud's showing 

 color and the proper time to cut the ex- 

 panded bloom. Should they be in con- 

 dition and it is desired to remove . them 

 some time in advance of cutting the 

 bloom, it is important that at least one 

 strong shoot should be left at a point 

 just below where the stem of the de- 

 veloped bloom will be cut. This is done 

 not only with a view to a succession of 

 bloom and later cuttings, but it does 

 away with the necessity of depending 

 for future operations upop dormant eyes, 

 which are of uncertain behavior and 

 quality. 



If it is not the intention to make 



use of bloom except for the purpose of 

 inspection, a portion of the partially de- 

 veloped buds may be removed by cutting 

 above the uppermost suitable shoot and 

 again, when all are taken, observing the 

 precaution to leave one, as written luwve. 

 Just as it is unwise to cyt a large 

 number of blooms from a pl^t at one 

 time, even so it is injurious to strip 

 a plant of every shoot at one operation. 



Retarding Cuttings. 



Sometimes very desirable cuttings are 

 available somewhat too early and one is 

 much averse to throwing them away. 

 These may be retarded in rooting a 

 week or more by inserting them in a flat 

 of sand, placing them in a cold house 

 and later moving them to the propagat- 

 ing bench. 



The fact that plants are affected with 

 rust does not debar them from use in 

 propagating. We have come to regard 

 the existence of it in a variety as evi- 

 dence of its being well bred. If care is 

 taken to select cuttings showing no signs 

 of the trouble, and if the stock is kept 

 growing vigorously without check, there 

 will be little seen of rust the following 

 year. About the worst combination to 

 be up against is that of rust and red 

 spider together. Geo. S. Osborn. 



SPLIT CALYXES. 



I would like to know what causes our 

 carnations to split so. T?h(B ni'ght tem- 

 perature is 52 degrees at one end and 



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