12 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JANLAUY lo, 1910. 



looked lino wIkmi beiicliod mikI sent up a 

 liiK' crop of hud.s, and no 1 rouble was 

 :ip|iaroiil until .-dMiut tlic middle or latter 

 ]);nt ol' No\ cinliei'. There is no sign of 

 spill (in the plants. 



'I have grown earnations for nine years 

 and have never liad any troul)le from dis- 

 ease (if any kind until last year, when the 

 jilants showed in the late fall tliis dying 

 at the ends of the leaves, but they soemetl 

 to grow out of this and there was no 

 withering of the buds. I gave them care- 

 ful cultivation and was careful in the 

 .selection of cuttings for this year. Is 

 this year's tnvdile a continuation of last 

 year's by using cuttings from thos(> 

 l)lants, or is it s(iin(^ deliciencv in the soil? 

 My soil was made uf) in the "fall of 1908, 

 of garden hiam, nuimire (mostly cow 

 manure), ashes and lime in the usual 

 jtroportions. Will it be safe to propa- 

 gate from these plants for next vear? 



I. L. 



The sjieeinHUis forwarded were in such 

 a frozen condition that tlicy disidosed 

 nothing from wliicii one could form any 

 opinion regai'diiig your 1 rouble. From 

 your letter. ho\ve\cr. 1 \\(iiili| Judge your 

 troul)le to be fairy rin^ or a kindred dis 

 easo. Tiic di-icd ends of the jietals of 

 the blooms may be caused by thrips, but 

 they would not cause the ends of the 

 lca\'es 1(1 ihv up as you descriiie. 



i''or the ihrips I woiiM siigyc^t spray 

 ing i(':^ulaily with one ipt' tlic nicotine ex- 

 tracts iwii or tliree times each week 

 until you get the upper hand. After that, 

 once eacli week ^\ill be eiioiigii to keep 

 them ill check. 



For the other (ji^eas.', you sliouhl sjiray 



CROP COMES SLOWLY. 



Will you kindly tell me why my carua- 

 tions do not bloom.' The variety is Day- 

 break. The temjjerature i.s kept as near 

 50 to 55 degrees as possible. The soil 

 is fresh compost, composed of one-half 

 rotted manure and one-half loamy sod, 

 rotted. They are on raised benches with- 

 out much bottom heat. I have fed with 

 li()nid manure, and at last have top- 

 dressed with tine manure. The plants are 

 all healthy in looks and loaded with big 

 buds, .showing color, but that is all. They 

 seem to have stood still for about three 

 \veeks. 1 spray a little ea(di morning, 

 just to keep the soil moist. C. A. S. 



Voiir c;irnat ions' failure to com(> along 

 as rajiidly as might be desired might ])os 

 sibly l)(^ at tiiliuttMl to a natural decrejii 

 lude resultant fidin old age. It is now 

 jiisl about nineteen years since l)aybreak 

 was dissi>iuiiiate(|. and we tlioughl it had 

 ditMJ a natural death some six or eight 

 yeai's ago. It is at l(»ast tiiat long since 

 it has passed out of the wholesale mar- 

 kets, to ;ii\e way to l^iichaiitress and a 

 t'ew otiier \aiieties of tiie same color. 



I!ut to the |ioiiit. Witii your ]ilants in 

 tlic coiiditioii you ijescrilie. I can hardly 

 suggest any metliod by which you might 

 liuiry I hem along, without (janger of 

 causing s|ililt ing, etc. It fi('(|uently hap- 

 pens that a grower becomes iin|i;itient for 

 a crop to come on, especially when blooms 

 are ill big demand. At siiidi times if dm's 

 seem as though the ]ilaiits stood still, al- 

 thoiiiih they may be (|e\ cloiiiiig i|iiite nat- 

 ur;illy. < loudy weather, after ]iidlonged 

 bright Weather, will soaietimes cause slow 



Stand of G. & J. W. Ludwig, in Allegheny Market, Pittsburg. 



with r.(iide;iiix iiMxriire aiioill once e:ii-|i 

 week until the trouble dis;i|i]iear-. N'oil 



can buy this mixtuie in gallon lots ready 

 for use. from youi' supply house. It does 

 not p;iy the iueiai^e grower to bother 

 with piep.'iring his own. when he can get 

 it ^o coiixeiiieiitly. 



Vol! Heed Hot he^lt;ile to \1>C cUttillgS 



from these plaiil^ for pro|ia;4at ing. pi'o 

 \idiiiL; tlie\ do not show anv sign of the 

 .lipase. "A.F. J.B. 



I nxD the Review a cheer-up when 

 one has the blues. — George Schubekt, 

 West Iloboken, A'. J. 



de\ilo]i||le!lt until tlie plants ad.|U>t them 

 ^ehes to the we.ather coiKlit imis. If the 

 soil happens to be <iry at the bottom the 

 same trouble will result. A. F. J. B. 



LUDWIG'S STAND. 



Next lo the French iii;irket in Xcw Or 

 leans. Allegheny market, at I'ittsbur;^. 

 I'a., is iiidbably tlie most famous insti 

 tut ion of its kind in the country. It is 

 here that Gust:i\(; A: .1. W. i^uduig do 

 busiiies.s in retailing cut llowers. The 

 accompanying illusiration shows their 

 -tanij. photiiorajiheil about <'liri>tiiia^ 



time. They do an extremely large busi- 

 ness at all seasons, but at the holidays 

 this vear it was the heaviest on record. 



SUPERPHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



Kindly let me know the everyday name 

 for superphosphate of lime and where 1 

 can purchase it. I understaiul it is good 

 for sw(>et peas. R. G. 



I do not know of any other name for 

 superphosphate of lime, although it may 

 have some local appellation. 



This is the formula for its nmnufac 

 lure: Oiu> ])ound of bone dust, twelve 

 ounces of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol") 

 and twelve ounces of water, if mixed and 

 left to act upon each other for twenty- 

 four hours, form suiterphosphate of lime, 

 A])j)lied as a top-dressing, mixed witli 

 half its weight of charcoal dust, it is 

 (|uite beneficial to sweet peas. It should 

 be applied at the rate of six pounds to 

 the s(iuare rod. Snperiihosphate of lime 

 should be ju'ocurable from dealers in agri 

 cultural and hort icnlt unU t'ertilizera. 



Ribes. 



BAD EFFECTS OF TAR FUMES. 



We are ha\iyg some serious trouble in 

 a e||.,'iili(inse which we built last summer. 

 The house is Vlixl in. One side wall is 

 se\en feet high, with four feet of glass; 

 the other is four feet high, with sixteen 

 inches of glass. The house is benched 

 and we used consider;iiile coal t;ir on the 

 boards, to jirevent rotting. These boards 

 were (|uite well dried before the house 

 \\as (dosed in. The trouble is that the 

 blooms fade on the plants as siuui as they 

 begin to open. The pl.ants grown here 

 are cyidamens, J'rimula obconica and 

 <'hinese primroses. Of these the worst 

 a fleeted are the obconicas, and next the 

 • hinese primroses, while the cyclamens 

 stand it best and a considerable percent- 

 age of them are unalfeded. liecently 

 we shifted a nice batch of geraniums into 

 this house from a slightly higher tern- 

 ])erature, and all the tine blooms faded 

 at once. 



Cotdd you tell us the reason.' We blame 

 the fumes from the tar and are proceed- 

 ing to give all the exposed tar a coat of 

 whitewash, made of fresh liint-. Do you 

 think this advisable or could you suggest 

 something else? We shall be grateful for 

 ;iny help in the matter. J. S. & S. 



From the fact that coal tar was used 

 upon the bench lundier, it is practically 

 certain that this is the cause of all the 

 trouble, especially as the behavior of the 

 I'lants is similar to what has been ob- 

 served in many hou-es where tar has been 

 used. 



I have never sien a house in which cnal 

 tar has been used tn any extent, either 

 upon the he.'itiug pipes or benches, in 

 which it was possible to grow plants suc- 

 cessfully, uiiatever pains might be taken 

 to correct the difliculty. Scr;i[iing, paint 

 ing .-iiid coatiiiL,' \vitli cenienl and other 

 materials se<'m to have little or no elfeci 

 in getting rid of the trouble, and ever: 

 when the effort has been kept up for 

 years it has not been possible to grow 

 plants that would be creditable. 



The best thing to do is to take out 

 everything about the house that has coal 

 tar upon it. Whih; tar can be burned off 

 from iron, this renuMly would not give 

 -at i--:! act ion when upon wood. 



Sr(i\i:ii\M. Ma.ss. — .lames II. i,)ela> 

 ha- lileil a petition in bankruptcy. Hi-' 



lia liilil ie- are .■!-:i,."i',(n ; hsmcI^. uncerlaiti 



