28 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



May 18, 1911. 



A BAD CASE OF THRIPS. 



I am sending you some samples of 

 carnations. Plase tell me what is the 

 matter with them. Last year the 

 trouble developed about the middle of 

 May and ruined the crop. It first ap- 

 peared when the buds began to show 

 eolor. The stoek now is in fine shape. 

 There is a heavy erop of buds, with 

 nice, stiff, lonjf steins, but those spots 

 are beginning to show on the petals. 

 The carnations are planted in a house 

 .'50x90, with side and ridge ventila- 

 tion, and the air is fully turned on in 

 fair weather. They are planted in 

 about five inches of soil. When I 

 benched them I used well rotted sheep 

 manure and bone meal; I have used 

 no fertilizer since then. 1 water when 

 the soil becomes dry — about every third 

 day. ><'ow, what causes the petals to 

 decay or turn brown and how can I 

 prevent it.' J. K. J. 



The cause of your troul>](' is one 

 of the most common ones that con- 

 front the carnation grower; indeed, it 

 probably gives us more concern than 

 any other. There is jierhaps no ]>est or 

 disease whieli we ha\e to combat so 

 continually and persistently as we do 

 these thrJi)s. Tliey .are undoubtedly at 

 the bottom of your trouble; the brown 

 edges of the j)etals show that most con- 

 (dusively. 



This late in the season, with warm 

 weather right upon you, you will find 

 it an uphill job to get the pest under 

 <-ontrol. With a g(Jod foothold in a 

 carnation house, they multiply l>y the 

 millions after w.arm weather sets in, 

 :ind it takes heroic measures to get rid 

 of them. P>y s[>raying or fumigating 

 throughout the winter we keep them 

 down, and afterward, with a little in- 

 crease in the doses applied, we are able 

 usually to keep the plants fairly free 

 from "them. Persistence is certainly 

 the key to success in coml^ating thrips. 

 Get a supply of one of the standard 

 nicotine solutions and use it both as 

 a spray and as a fiimigant; alternate 

 l)etween the two and ski]) one day 

 between npi)lications. ]\eep this uj) 

 until you <;in see that you are getting 

 the upper hand: then gradually diiiiin 

 ish until you are making two applica 

 tions each week. 



Bear in mind that the spots will 

 not disappear as soon as you have de- 

 stroyed the insects. They jiuncfure 

 the "petals when these are young and 

 tender, and perhajis two weeks or more 

 jiass before the damage is really ap- 

 jiarcnt. You should, however. l)egin to 

 see an improvement in about three 



weeks if your efforts are successful. 

 Tear open a bud o<-casionally and look 

 for a tiny insect, about one-si.xteenth of 

 an inch long and of a yellowish brown 

 color. I found plenty of them in the 

 sjiecimens you forwarded. These punc- 

 ture the petals, destroying the tissue, 

 wliicli turns brown or a dead color 

 when exposed to the sun. When you 

 can find no more of these insects, your 

 trouble will disappear. A.F. J. B. 



THE BRITISH CARNATION SHOW. 



The annua] spring show of the Per- 

 petual Flowering Carnation Society was 

 lield in the Koyal Botanic Gardens, Lon- 

 don, May 12 and .'5. The display of 

 blooms was fully up to the average and 

 in several classes the quality has never 

 been surj)assed. Pichness in color and 

 size of blooms were especially com- 

 mented upon. Gold medals were award- 

 ed to artistic arrangements of choice 

 collections from Young & Co., Chelten- 

 ham; <J. Kngtdmann, Saffron W^alden, 

 and H. Burnett, Guernsey. There was 

 only one new variety before the floral 

 committee. Kdith W\aters. bright cerise. 

 from C. P. Waters, Balcombe, and it 

 received an award of merit. 



The American challenge cup for thre(> 

 vases of American varieties distributed 

 since .Tanuary ], 1909, was won by B. 

 Bell, Guernsey, with J. Whitcomb Riley, 

 Bay State ami Gov. Deneen. It was 

 acduiowledgcil that all three were 

 shown better than ever previously seen 

 in Pngland. W. K. Wallace, Eaton 

 Bray, was second with Scarlet Glow, 

 May Day and Delight. The Brunton 

 challenge cu|i for tlirec vases of Brit- 

 ish raised varieties was won by C. 

 h'.iigelmann, with Rex, Regina " and 

 <,'arola. 1'he ('ovent Garden challenge 

 bowl for two varieties, sixty Idooms of 

 each, went to \V. p. Wallace with 

 White l^iii-liantress and Rose-]iink Kn- 

 rliantress. A silver gilt medal for the 

 best \ase in tlie show w;is carried off 

 bv It. I'.ell with magnificent bloouK of 

 Mrs. C. W. Ward. 



In the color classes the competition 

 between j)rofessional growers was keen, 

 nidst of the v.'irieties winning being of 

 .\nierican origin. Jn the classes for 

 amateur growers there was s[)iritcd 

 (■(impetition, and eight dinner table 

 decorations were a splendid feature of 

 the show. 



At the dinner, the chairman, J. S. 

 Brunton, in proposing the toast of the 

 king and (pieen, alluded to the great 

 satisfaction that existed in the minds 

 of .all carnation growers at tlie choice 

 of her ma.jesfy in selecting the carna- I 



tion for the coronation banquet. No 

 doubt it would prove a boon to grow- 

 ers, as if would go a long way towards 

 still further raising the popularity of 

 the flower. Messrs Brunton, Engel- 

 mann and Wallace reported on their 

 visit to the National Show at Boston, 

 Mass., and to the annual meeting of the 

 American Carnation Societ.^■. The re- 

 l)orts were listened to with much inter- 

 est. The societv's winter show will be 

 held December '> and (i. Bee. 



CULTURAL NOTES. 



I V i):i|it'i' li.v I'l'i-diiumd Kollic. <if Nm-lli Dcticiit. 

 ii'.-i I licldiv the Ilctioit riorists' Club, contimieil 

 I nun 'I'lic Kcvii'U ui May 11.) 



All-the-year Indoor Culture. 



Por the method of growing carna- 

 tions in pots all summer, or for the all- 

 season indoor culture, I have no use, as 

 I think both methods arc too expensive. 

 In the first method the plants do not 

 get branched enough to make it pay at 

 the prices we are realizing for them. 

 The watering with the hose all summer 

 and shifting from one size of pot to 

 another arc also big items against this 

 plan. The indoor culture tends to 

 weaken the constitution of our stock. 

 I think that if this method were kept 

 up every year with the same stock, our 

 favorites would run out in a few years 

 and there would be a good deal more 

 opportunity for the seedling raiser. Is 

 it any wonder that poor Lawson went 

 to the bad. considering the treatment 

 to which it was subjected? It seems 

 to me my Lawson family is today in as 

 good health and vigor as ever. An- 

 other variety that would not stand 

 much abuse is Beacon. The propagator 

 can not be too cautious in the selection 

 of stock, as it is. Many of you prob- 

 ably have noticed how somo plants 

 have more split flowers than others. It 

 can be detected by examining the 

 plants closely, when you will easily no- 

 tice the weak constitution of some of 

 thein. As far as I can judge, the na- 

 ture of the carnation, unlike that of 

 the rose, has not yet been sufficiently 

 transformed to adapt it to all-year in 

 door culture. 



Preparations for Housing. 



Now as to housing the stock. In the 

 first place, J should not have neglected, 

 of course, to prepare my soil. I think 

 the easiest way is to plow a piece of 

 sod land in fall, with a liberal coat of 

 manure on it. The frost does the chop- 

 jiing during the winter. In the spring 

 repeat the operation several times. In 

 this way we can save a man's wages 

 for several weeks. If it can not be 



