8 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



.ll I.V S, I'.lltO. 



SPIDER ON VIOLETS. 



1 |il;iiitcil my I'liiiccss ol' W'nlrs in the 

 ii|icii nlioul .Mi;y 1."). in ;i ratlicr Ir'Unv 

 |iit'<(' of liiiiil, with ;i ymicl mut of liorsr 

 ;iii<l cow iiiamiit' jihtwi'd in. I diviilcd 

 till' olil cluiiqts ;il)(Mit 1 hr I'lid (it' Mnrrli 

 ami plaiitiMl thr inoti'il iiimicrs in a rolil- 

 t'raino, wliovi' tlu'v iiiaih' yoml. Irosh 

 roots ami iiii-i', yirrii fnlia^r. Now tiioy 

 arc all tmnin;; yellow with the rnd 

 spidor. i woiiM !»' ylad if you i-oukl 

 advise mr of ;i siiiayiii^^ solution lo ox- 

 teriiiinati' tiiat \>vs\. 1 ha\e tried uieo- 

 line, till' same sti'i'iiyth as for ^rceii and 

 blai'k l!y, hut it docs not sreni to ilo any 

 <rood. ,My wati'i- tank is only iifteen 

 feet from the <rroiuid. I ouess 1 would 

 not j^et I'nounh pressure to dislodge the 

 s]iiiler. 1 lia\'e hrard ot' a solution of a 

 ■ •ei'tain amonnl of salt in wati'r, foj' 

 killin;: <pidrr. How stroiiu shoidd it be 

 used? C. M. 



it is a diliiiult. if not imjiossilili', task 

 to idean out red spider on violets and 

 carnations grown in the open. I'nder 

 oImss some carnation j^rowers spray their 

 ))lants once a week with salt and water, 

 two talilespoonfuls of salt to three <i'al 

 ions of water. The same has been tried 

 on \iolets, with i;ood results. Jt is neces- 

 sary to wet the under side of the leaves, 

 which is no easy task in the case of 

 violets, .\iiother remedy rei-eiitly recom- 

 mended for red spidiM' is a solution of 

 snlpho-naphthol, at the rate of a \vine- 

 t;lassful to three ;^alloiis of water. There 

 woidd be iiii liarm in tryino- both reme- 

 dies. Xeitliri will injure your plants 

 and each may proxc helpful. While the 

 appear.ince of your plants may now l)e 

 discouraging;, \our case is by no means 

 an e.Nceprional one. and tliei'e is ample 

 tinn' I'oi' them to yrow into yood iluinps 

 before liousinu time. The re-d growth 

 oi' \iolctv i^ iiiii uKide until the cool fall 

 jiiylit-- loiuc alone. I . W. 



PECKY CYPRESS. 



I'liili|i .1. I'oley writes the b'i;\ii-,w 

 as follow <: 



■•It \\:i^ been c;dled lo t he W |-ilc|- '- 

 atti'lilioi, lli.-il tiiere is bein;; idVereil toi- 

 ^ale jH'cky i-ypie-s which comes from 

 the middle states, aiid which has not the 

 lastin;^ i|ualitie^ ot' the 1 .oui'^iana red or 

 'gu]f pecisy i\|Ocs-. 



''As to the he^till;; i|ualith'S ot the 

 Louisiana led oi' ;;idf pecky cvpii-^s there 

 is no i|ui'stioii. SiH'h concern'- .-is Itussett 

 & AVa^hlMiin, llin>d.ile. III.; I'oelilmann 

 13ros. < o.. Moiton drove. III.; Ijnil 

 Bnettmi. I'.irk b'id^e. III.: I'dcr K'ein 

 ber-. < liic;m,,. III.; .1. 1-'. Wilcox, Conn 

 cil I'dul'f-. he; A. Cratiam ^ Sons. 

 CleM'laiid. t I. ; .1. I ireit mevei' 's Sons, Mt. 

 Clemen-, Mich.: Win. 1., I'.'ock Floral Co,, 

 Kansas <'it\, .Mo,: (iriswold (ireenhousi 

 i'o,. Ashtabula, (I,; (leo, 1", llartnnj;, 

 Sandusky, (J,, and hundreds of olhers too 

 mitnerons to mention. ),;i\c usi^d Louis 

 iana VP'\ iieck\ .xpre-^ I'nr \e,'ir-. ;ind 



can attest to its lastiug qualities. Some 

 of the above named have used it ten 

 years or more. . '' 



"(leo. F, Hartung, Sandusky, 0., made 

 a statement at the jjardeners' convention 

 in Cleveland last year that, after having 

 lieen in use in his benehes five years^ he 

 turned over liOuisiana rod pecky cypress 

 and found that it <li*.l not start to rot 

 anywhere, c\en at the cross supports. 



■'Within the last' Meek florists have 

 advised us that uhen thoy departed from 

 using i.oinsiana red j^eck, and bought 

 that which was offered at a litflc Jess 

 money. ;ind in some cases not at a less 

 price, they got a very inferior article, 

 which did not last. It would be a. great 

 injustice to any florist to induce him to 

 invest his money in lumber for benches, 

 only lo lind that instead of lasting, ten 

 or fiftiMMi years, it would only last two 

 or three. K.xpericnce 'has taught that 

 Louisiana red jieck is the stock that 

 lasts. (Jan you beat it? If so, we want 

 to know what is better, as the best is 

 none too go(»d to offer to our fi'iends. 

 We lielie\e that florists in buying j)ecky 

 cy|iri'ss should insist on getting a guar- 



antee that it is the genuine Louisiana 

 gu|f red cypress, or refu^ to buy it. 

 There is nothing cheaper on the market 

 today, considering the lasting' quality of 

 the wood, than Louisiana red pecky 

 cypress, so why use a cheap substitute 

 that will not last half as long? No mat- 

 ter whom you buy it frtuu, insist on hav- 

 ing Ijouisiana red gulf stock. There are 

 plenty of people to buy it from, and 

 gulf red stock is practically free of sap. 

 Sap will rot out in a very few years, 

 while H<;jtrt red lasts many years. 



"We would like this letter published 

 if it meets with your approval, as we are 

 .writing you at the request of people who 

 are interested not only in the welfare of 

 themselves, but of the other florists as 

 well." 



TiiK Skview would add that lumber 

 dealers not familiar with florists ' needs 

 sometimes deliver what the lumber trade 

 knows as random Avidths; that is, boards 

 of uneven width. Such lumber would 

 be costly if the price were only half 

 that of the uniform 6-inch boards sup- 

 plied by the tirms that make a specialty 

 of florists' trade. 



SHOULD PARKS 



GROW STOCK? 



PLANTS FOR BEDDING. 



Park Men E>iscuss Cost. 



At the last meeting of the American 

 .\ss()ciation of Park Superintendents 

 -oineone raised this question: 



■'Is it nmre advisable for a park in a 

 small city to own its own grccidiousc 

 than to i»urchase its tender ])lants from 

 local llorists.'"' 



The discussion ^vas of much interest 



to the )iark men and their views will nat- 



I urally be good reading for the florists 



I who glow liedding stock. 



I ■' ' I think it is adxisable for any park 



t haxiiig a lloial displiiy to have its own 



I greenhouse.'' s;iii| Theodore Wirth, of' 



j .Miniiea]iolis, ■'and I think every such 



[laik ought to ha\e one. In sitiall ]iark 



I systems they ought to lia\e ;i superin 



tendent who is ;i goml g.ardener and who 



1 kno\\s liiiw to make use of tlu^ plants. 



lb' can grow what he w.ants and keeji up 



with the times: he does not ucimI to wait 



until the lociil ilorist wakes up. The local 



florist will only eiuw what he is sure fo 



I "-('ll, and tile progressive ])ark man will 



I grow what is jileasing to the publii — 



something new. They don't want to 



phint coleu- and L;eraiiiinns every year. 



and the only way to ^et out of that is to 



ha\ e ;i greenhouse. 



; ■'"edar Ifapids," said 11. S. KefVer. 

 ot' ( eilar li'apiiN. la., ■' bought its plants 

 and lIoAM'is and the last year jiaid ^f)7l). 

 The commissioners built a greenhouse 

 ls\Mi [■,.,'( and raised $1,100 to ^U-IOO 

 \Mirili oi' plants. I beliexe it i- a p;iying 

 pro|iositioii for any city to ha\e its own 

 l; rccnhni'<e j'or its |ia i ks. 



A Decided Difference of Opinion. 



'■.Mr. W'ii'th and I have never agreed 

 oil that (|tie-^i i(.ii. ■ " said < '. V.. i'Ceifh. of 



l!ridee|iort . <onii. •' I be|ie\e it i- better 



for a small city or a small department to 

 go out and Ijuy its flowers. In our little 

 town we have all the flowers we want ; 

 we have so many that we arc the envy of 

 those little suburban towns about us, 

 like Hartford and New Haven. We se- 

 lect the flowers we have and the cost does 

 not exceed $300, and it stands to reason 

 you can't hire a man to grow your flow- 

 ers for the department for $300, You 

 go to big florists that grow them in large 

 quantities and you can buy them cheaper 

 than you can grow them, and for that 

 reason I have never agreed with Brother 

 Wirth. Brother Wirth has put out as 

 pretty formal work as can be found in 

 the New England states and spent more 

 money than small departments can afford 

 to a))propriate, ' ' 



"It seems to be a settled fact,'" the 

 president remarked, "that if the amount 

 exceeds $300 it -pays better for a park 

 system to have its own greenhouse,'' 



Superintendent Should be Florist. 



"1 beliexe I would take issue with 

 Mr, Keith on that subject," said .T, W, 

 Rodgers, of Cincinntifi, "The ])ropcr 

 thing for a small i>ark de)iartment to do 

 is to employ as head of the department 

 a thorough florist, and he can bring out 

 more beautiful features in the way of 

 bedding and planting flowiM's and more 

 or less form;i] gardening, ami if he is a 

 competent gardener and Ilorist he can 

 certainly grow the flowers cheaper than 

 they can be purchased. 1 intve had con- 

 siderable experience, and 1 know you 

 have to depend on 100 piM' cent profit to 

 make a success of the florists' business. 

 The city ciudd save money if the super- 

 intendent was also a florist." 



"Springfield spends several hundred 

 dollars in buying flowers," said Arthur 

 Hay, of Springfielil, 111, "Wo are now 

 going to erect a greenhouse, for which 



