ALOUST 27, 1914. 



The Florists' Review 



General View of the Trade's Display at Boston, with the Exhibit of Kroeschelf Bros. Co. in Foreground. 



gallons of water. Use a fine, misty 

 spray nozzle, and direct the spray be- 

 low rather than above the foliage. So 

 that the operation will be thoroughly 

 ■effective, choose a sunny day, when the 

 foliage is dry. Your state experimen- 

 tal station could probably give you 

 prtH'ise data regarding this beetle, but 

 tho above poison will destroy it witli- 

 •out injury to even tender foliage. 



" C. W. 



DISEASED DBACSNAS. 



I am sending under separate cover a 

 few diseased ,plants and some spotted 

 leaves o£ Dracocua tcrminalis. These 

 '<pots only appear on the oldest folia<re. 

 lu cutting bflp the lowest leaves, no 

 JiJiim is done, but the removal of one 

 of the next size always shows a little 

 <'iiipty space, deforming a plant more or 

 le>*s. Probably the trouble is due to 

 the syringing, as the edges of the side 

 hoards reach about an inch and a liali 

 ^r two inches above the soil, making it 

 KlifTieult to get underneath the lowest 

 foliage. So I thought there might be 

 some leaves that I never struck and the 

 original trouble was red spider, which 

 later caused tiiese spots. The plants 

 have been growing in benches since the 

 hegiuning of .Tune and are at present in 

 stK.ug, healthy condition. 



In addition to the plants which are 

 J*" aflfected, • there is another lot of 

 I'lants, consisting of young stock re- 

 potted from 3-inch into 4-inch pots 

 about two or three weeks ago. This lot 

 <!oiitains the diseased plants of which 

 I have sent you the samples. The green- 

 house was half shaded. I am spraying 

 ■vvifh nicotine extract occasionally. The 

 "i^ht temperature is 64 to 66 degrees. 

 C. S. 



The dracsenas in question look as 

 th'iugh they had been a little too wet 

 ^t the root, and such a condition would 

 I"' likely to cause the loss of the lower 

 ''■ ives. If I understand correctly, these 

 "••■■iea?nas are planted out in the benches, 

 ^" 1 if that be the case, it would be 

 <liiite easy to get them too wet, espe- 

 ■'•inlly while there is little or no heat 

 "ii ler the benches, as in summer. 



'he spotted leaves of Draca;na ter- 

 '^yalis are affected with a fungoid dis- 

 *'•''■ known to growers as spot. This 



trouble is also aggravated by too much 

 water, either at the root or overhead, 

 and is quite likely to appear if the 

 plants are syringed late in the day, so 

 that the foliage remains wet at night. 

 Of course it is necessary to syringe to 

 keep down red spider, but do it early 

 in the day, particularly when the davs 

 i^et shorter. W. H. T.' 



BEMOVING VIOLET RUNNERS. 



My violet plants are, many of them, 

 ten inches across the top and they have 

 many runners. Should they be cut back 

 so as to throw more strength into the 

 plants? Also tell me when to take them 

 in from the field in this Maryland cli- 

 mate. Should the frost hit them be- 

 fore they are taken in? K. L. 



If you have not removed any run- 

 ners yet from your violets, it is time 

 to do' so. The central or crown por- 

 tions of the plants are what produce 

 the finest flowers. Of course the run- 

 ners would all flower, but the stems 

 would be short and the flowers would 

 not be equal in size to those produced 

 on the crowns. Keep these runners cut 

 off close to the crowns, in order to 

 strengthen the latter. Double violets 

 in your latitude could be housed after 

 the middle of September, but probably 

 you are growing singles and these 

 should be left out much later, and until 

 they have had one or two freezings. 

 Do not, however, subject them to a 

 lower temperature than 26 or 28 de- 



grees. If you house the plants before 

 frost has checked the rank leaf growth, 

 you are likely to get a heavy crop of 

 leaves at the expense of flowers. 



C. W. 



CLUB BOOT ON VIOLETS. 



Under separate cover I am sending 

 you some violet plants which I wish you 

 would examine. I think they have root 

 gall and bud nematodes. You will see 

 that the crowns are blind and the nod- 

 ules are on the roots. Is it best to burn 

 these plants? E. R. D. 



Your violets certainly are affected 

 with .club root, and it would be well 

 to destroy all such plants. It will not 

 do to plant violets on the same ground 

 next season, as the spores of this dis- 

 ease persist in the soil. Give the land 

 a thorough liming, plow and leave rough 

 over winter. Better buy from some rep- 

 utable grower rather than plant any 

 stock the least infected. C. W, 



WILL SOME BEADEB BEPLY? 



I wonder if any of your readers 

 would know of a machine for grinding 

 horn for fertilizer. We have plenty 

 of horn in this country and could use 

 it if we were able to procure a grind- 

 ing machine. R. F. C. 



ASTERS NOT OPENING WELL. 



My Astermums do not open evenly. 

 Some buds had a brown, decayed cen- 

 ter. These I cut off, but nearly all of 

 the healthy looking buds open only 

 partly; they seem to fill out after sev- 

 eral days, however. The plants have 

 numerous side shoots. Should these be 

 trimmed off? As it is pretty dry here, 

 we have to irrigate. H. U. 



I think a lack of moisture at the 

 roots is probably responsible for your 

 Astermums not opening better. Keep 

 them well irrigated while they are 

 flowering and stir the surface soil fre- 

 quently. The side shoots should not be 

 cut off, as they will give you a good 

 successional crop of flowers. Do 'not be 

 discouraged because a few of the ter- 

 minal flowers are not perfe(*t. This is 

 not at all an exceptional experience. 



C. W. 



