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16 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Max 20, 1^909. 



^m 



no further dressings will be required. A 

 little addition occasionally of one-half 

 ounce per gallon of dried blood will im- 

 prove the effectiveness. The quantities 

 of the materials can be altered, but that 

 is a matter for the grower's own experi- 

 ments. 



PHLOX DRUMMONDL 



What is the best way for growing 

 Phlox Drummondi in pots for spring 

 trade? Should it be stopped? If so, 

 how long before wanted in bloom? 



D. W. E. 



A WILTED BOSTON FERN. 



I have a large Boston fern that has 

 been repotted by another florist. He 

 washed the soil all off the roots with a 

 hose. The old leaves have all died. New 

 ones are starting, but are not making 

 the growth they should. What can I do 

 for it? What kind of soil is best and 

 what would be a good sort of fertilizer? 



C. D. M. 



The best way to get the fern in ques- 

 tion into growth again would be to put 

 it in a partly shaded place in the green- 

 house and be careful in watering. Keep 

 the soil just moist until the plant has a 

 chance to make some new roots, after 

 which it will be able to take up more 

 water. A plant in the condition you de- 

 scribe may easily be killed by overwater- 

 ing. 



Such soil as that used for carnations 

 or chrysanthemums will answer well for 

 Boston ferns, and well rotted old stable 

 manure is the safest fertilizer to use. 



W. H. T. 



MILLEPEDS. 



Please give us the name of the in- 

 closed insects. These are quite numer- 

 ous in our lath houses under jxtts and 

 flats. Are they harmful and in what 

 way? If so, how can we exerminate 

 the'm? Our Sprengeri ferns, tomato 

 plants, smilax and a few other plants 

 are eaten by these insects or by cut- 

 worms, and we must clieck them soon. 



A. N. 



The insects in question are niillepeds 

 or thousand-legs, and are freciueutiy 

 found under pots and about the edges 

 of the benches. They seldom do hiirm 

 to growing plants, the food of these in- 

 sects being usually confined to decayed 

 vegetable matter.' When they become 

 unusually nunuMous in a fern house I 

 have found tlieiii feeding on the unex- 

 panded fern fronds, but this is not com- 

 mon. A spraying witli nicotine solution 

 would disi)ose of numy rf these insects, 

 or a strong fumigation \vith one of the 

 nicotine preparations will answer the 

 purpose in the greenhouse, but the lat- 

 ter course could not readily be followed 

 with a lath structure. W. H. T. 



BLUING HYDRANGEAS. 



An English grower of market plants 

 recently has been conducting experiments 

 for the purpose of producing blue flowers 

 on hydrangeas and reports that he has 

 found that alum ammoniac would have a 

 bluing action in some soils; again, under 

 other conditions, iron sulphate, finely 

 ground and applied in solution, also had 

 the same effect, the proportion used in 

 each case being from one-half to one 

 ounce per gallon, at intervals of a fort- 

 night, increasing the frequency of feed- 

 ing to once a week, but not the quantity. 

 Another trial was made of above com- 



pounds, mixing them together, as one- 

 fourth to one-half ounce of the alum 

 ammoniac and an equal amount of the 

 iron sulphate, this quantity to one gallon 

 of water. While this proved even more 

 satisfactory than the use of either ingre- 

 dient singly, by far the best results were 

 gained by the use of a mixture of nitrate 

 of potash two parts, iron sulphate one 

 part, alum ammoniac one part. It could 

 be worked out as follows: A heaped-up 

 teaspoon weighs roughly one-half ounce; 

 then use one full spoonful of nitrate of 

 potash, or nitrate of lime would be 

 equally good, • to half-spoonful each of 

 the other ingredients per gallon of water. 



Experiment has shown one gallon of 

 the above formula to be sufficient for one 

 application on nine 7%-inch pot plants, 

 eight 8V)-inch plants or seven pi^-iiK'li 

 plants. 



The above recipes are given to the 

 trade through the Horticultural Adver- 

 tiser simply for trial, and it must be 

 understood that feeding should take place 

 at least two months before bloom ap- 

 pears; and, moreover, the frequency of 

 the dose should be increased when buds 

 are formed. When liloom is fully open, 



Phlox Drummondi, for selling in late 

 May or early June, need not be sown 

 before the end of March. Pot off into 

 2Vi.*-inch or 3-inch pots of light, rich soil 

 when of sufficient size to handle. Use 

 some spent hotbed manure in the com- 

 post, if you have it, the kind which has 

 been in a couple of years and will crum- 

 ble up in your fingers. If the plants are 

 given a light bench in a house kept about 

 50 dt^Wts at night, they should be in 

 nice shape for Memorial day. The plants 

 should not require any stopping at all. 

 C. W. 



NAMHS OF PLANTS. 



We would be pleased to have you in- 

 form us whether the enclosed plants are 

 named properly or not, as per slips at- 

 tached thereto. A. X. 



Neither of the leaf samples is of the 

 Boston ivy, Ampelopsis Veitchii. Each 

 is a variety of A. hederacea (A. quin- 

 quefolia), as the Virginia creeper is com- 

 monly called. The Boston ivy has three- 

 lobed leaves, which are remotely toothe<l. 

 The foliage is very shiny on both sides. 



BEAUTIES AT NEV ORLEANS. 



Keference frequently has been made 

 in the Review to the success which has 

 attended the Metairie Kidge Nursery Co., 

 New Orleans, in its pioneer efforts at 

 growing roses under glass in the south. 

 In this connection the accompanying il- 

 lustration and the following letter from 

 the company will be of interest: 



"We are mailing you under separate 

 cover an original photograph of our 

 American Beauties with stems nine to 

 twelve feet long, grown by us in solid 

 beds. These plants are three years old 

 and were planted on benches the first 

 year and transplanted to solid beds two 

 years ago. 



"We find, after several years' trial 

 of roses on benches, that the solid beds 

 are the best for our climate, -and so we 



are now planting all our roses in solid 

 beds for next year. 



"We simply wish to show that long 

 stem roses, especially American Beauties, 

 can be grown here as well as elsewhere. 

 Years ago it Avas always contended that 

 roses, especially Beauties, could not be 

 grown under glass in this climate. ' ' 



CARDINAL. 



Not many growers have taken up the 

 Cardinal rose, but it nevertheless is a 

 splendid thing, and if some day a cul- 

 tural treatment is devised which will 

 keep it going through the winter, it will 

 become one of the most popular varieties. 

 In the spring those who are growing it 

 get a fine crop, but one point seems to 

 be misunderstood. That is, growers seem 

 in many cases to fail to appreciate that 

 it does not open, as will Killarney, for 

 example, and that it must be permitted 

 to develop quite fully before cutting. 

 On the other hand, where growers have 

 found out the necessity for letting the 



