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JUNE 10, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



CAHNATION NOTES.— EAST. 



Toppinsf in the Field. 



Early propagated plants, which, of 

 necessity, were topped some time before 

 being planted out, will be making rapid 

 growth in several shoots. These will, in 

 all probability, be the first to be housed, 

 and during the next three or four weeks 

 the most must be made of the time to 

 build a strong, bushy plant. 



Size is of secondary importance when 

 housing in July; that is, the relatirely 

 small plant is to be preferred, while too 

 much attention cannot be paid to condi- 

 tions of health, habit and firmness in 

 growth. 



Frequent trips over the field, cutting 

 back a shoot or two on such plants as 

 require it, are more conducive to that 

 desirable quality, continuous blooming, 

 than the practice of appointing one day 

 each week, or waiting until the plants are 

 a mass of buds and then calling all hands 

 for a general massacre. The removal at 

 one time of a large quantity of foliage 

 not only promotes croppiness, but the 

 plant undergoes a severe check, from 

 which it never fully recovers. 



The oft repeated advice, to use a sharp 

 knife in topping, still holds good, and 

 allow me to add the injunction not to 

 leave the severed tops in the field; re- 

 move and destroy them with the same 

 care as would be exercised in the case of 

 diseased plants. 



Should rust appear on some varieties, 

 encourage them by extra cultivation to 

 outgrow the trouble. "We have seen 

 plants which, though badly affected when 

 planted out, were by this means brought 

 in without a sign of rust. 



Geo. S. Osborn. 



MULCHING FIELD CARNATIONS. 



I have my carnations planted out on a 

 piece of ground that dries out very 

 quickly, and wish to mulch them. What 

 should I use? I have seen a great deal 

 about frequent cultivation of the young 

 plants. Should I rake off the mulch to 

 cultivate them, or how shall I do? I am 

 located in North Carolina. R. E. G. 



If you mulch your young carnation 

 plants in the field, it will eliminate the 

 necessity of cultivating. The cultivating 

 is intended largely to produce a kind of 

 soil mulch by loosening up the surface 

 soil, and this performs the same func- 

 tions as a manure mulch. All you vrill 

 need to do after applying this mulch will 

 be to keep the weeds down with the hoe. 

 Under certain conditions, a manure mulch 

 should be far superior to cultivating, be- 

 cause it saves much labor, which in some 

 cases does little other good than to pre- 

 serve the moisture in the soil. 



In this locality we would not care to 

 mulch our carnations in the field, on ac- 

 count of the danger of producing rank, 

 soft growth at a time when it is not de- 

 sired. While we do want a strong growth 

 at this time and up to the middle of July, 



from that time on there should be a grad- 

 ual hardening off of the plants until 

 housing time. With a heavy mulch on, 

 this would in many cases be impossible, 

 as, instead of being on the dry side, the 

 soil would be kept moist by the manure 

 and the growth would continue soft 

 throughout the summer. If your climatic 

 conditions are such that a manure mulch 

 will not prevent this hardening of the 

 plants, then you will do well to put it on. 

 Otherwise, you will do better to depend 

 on frequent cultivating to hold the mois- 

 ture in the soil. A. F. J. B. 



CHRISTMAS PEPPERS. 



What is the best way to raise Peruvian 

 peppers? I have some small seedlings, 

 and would like to have some cultural in- 

 structions. G. H. P. 



By Peruvian peppers I presume you 

 mean what are commonly known as 

 Christmas peppers. These can either be 

 grown in pots all the time or planted in 

 the open ground in rich soil and lifted 

 about the end of August. This latter 

 plan entails the least labor, and will give 

 you finer plants than continuous pot cul- 

 ture. Plant out in rows eighteen inches 

 between the plants and thirty inches be- 

 tween the rows, to allow of cultivation. 

 In lifting them select, if possible, a time 



when tbe ground is fairly moist, and en- 

 deavor to keep as many roots intact aa 

 possible. It is immaterial whether you 

 get a ball of earth, so long as you have 

 plenty of roots. Pot firmly, soak thor- 

 oughly, place for a few days where they 

 can have shade, and spray frequently. 

 They will soon stiffen up. Keep outdoors 

 until danger from frost necessitates their 

 removal to a cool, airy and sunny house. 

 C. W. 



BEGONIA GILSONI. 



I should be pleased to receive a few 

 hints on the culture of the Gilsoni 

 begonia. I have treated it the same as 

 I have Otto Hacker. The cuttings root 

 fairly well, but the stock plants nearly 

 die every time. Please give the names, 

 also, of some other good begonias. 



C. W. A. W. 



To keep this double flowering, fibrous 

 rooted begonia in good shape, it is much 

 better to root fresh stock each season 

 and discard the old plants, which become 

 too large and coarse to be of much value. 

 Use for compost one-half fibrous loam, 

 and one-fourth each of leaf-mold and 

 decayed manure, with a good addition of 

 sand, and the plants will thrive in it. 

 Keep your plants outdoors from June to 

 the end of September, rather than in- 

 doors. 



A few other desirable fibrous rooted 

 begonias are: B. nitida rosea, nitida 

 alba, gigantea rosea, incarnata, Scharf- 

 fiana, Haageana, metallica, argenteo- 

 guttata, Dregei, Verschaffeltiana, Car- 

 rierei, Thurstoni, Gloire de Sceaux, 

 President Carnot, Ingrami, Weltoniensis, 

 semperflorens, Schmidtiana and Duchar- 

 trei. About all are of easy culture. 



C. W. 



MUMS IN AUSTRALIA. 



The following notes on an exhibition 

 held in Melbourne, Australia, April 22, 

 show us that T. W. Pockett is still in the 

 van with his seedling mums. The reader 

 will, of course, remember that the fall 

 in Australia corresponds with our spring, 

 and the end of April corresponds with 

 the end of October with us, so far as cli- 

 matic conditions go. 



The yellow, R. F. Felton, spoken of 

 so highly, I had under trial last year in 

 limited quantity, and everyone who saw 

 it was delighted with it. The color is the 

 splendid shimmering yellow of Golden 

 Wedding, combined with an ideal habit, 

 and, if it holds up, this will be the king 

 pin in yellows for 1910. Most of the 

 other kinds mentioned are under trial 

 now, with other seedlings not named, and 

 I have no doubt will be up to the usual 

 high standard of this remarkable hybrid- 

 ist. Charles H. Totty. 



"As the leading raiser of seedling 

 chrysanthemums, it was appropriate that 

 the most conspicuous exhibit in the show 

 should be a collection of cut blooms from 

 the private garden of Thomas Pockett. 

 There were about three dozen unnamed 

 varieties, ranging in color from pure 



white through all shades of bronze, gold, 

 pink and crimson. In the center of this 

 beautiful mass, in which old gold seemed 

 to be the dominant color, there was a 

 bunch of R. F. Felton blooms. This 

 variety is one of Mr, Pockett 's seedlings, 

 and was named after the king 's florist by 

 Mr. Wells, the English nurseryman, who 

 handles the Malvern grower's chrysan- 

 themums. It is a pure yellow, of the 

 decorative type, and it will be about 

 three years before enough stock is ob- 

 tained to supply the demands of the Eu- 

 ropean and American growers. The gold 

 medal offered by Messrs. W. Wells & Co., 

 of Surrey, England, was won by Mr. 

 Pockett 's son, W. T. Pockett, with three 

 blooms of a new seedling which has been 

 named after Mrs. David Syme. It is a 

 pure white, and promises to become a 

 leading exhibition variety. Another new 

 seedling, Alice Lemon, a pale pink 

 chrysanthemum, won the award for the 

 best bloom in the show." 



Three features of the show impressed 

 visitors at once — the magnificent new 

 chrysanthemums, in the hybridizing of 

 which Thomas Pockett stands in the 

 front rank of the great growers of the 

 world ; the artistic dinner tables ; the rich 

 colors and fine size of the autumn apples. 



