14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



July C, 1911. 



POOS GROWTH IN THE FIELD. 



My carnation plants in the field have 

 not done at all well, owing to the dry 

 weather. Would it be a good plan to 

 take the plants ^ip, put them in the 

 houses and keep topping them till Au- 

 gust 15? Would that make them good 

 plants for winter? E. H. M. 



One would have to see your plants to 

 know whether they would make good 

 plants by winter if benched at this 

 time. If they are merely a trifle under- 

 sized, and not making much growth 

 now, they would likely pick up by fall 

 if planted inside and encouraged along. 



If, however, they have suffered from 

 drought ever since they were planted 

 out and have made no growth at all, 

 then I would not advise you to plant 

 them in. My experience has been that 

 it does not pay to house plants which 

 are much undersized, for blooming. By 

 the time the plants pick up enough 

 strength to produce high-grade blooms 

 the season is half gone and your profit 

 on the season's crop is gone. It would 

 be better to buy plants from some reli- 

 able source to plant your beds; they 

 will make you more than their cost and 

 give you much more satisfaction to 

 grow. A. F. J. B. 



CHICKEN MANUBE IN BENCHES. 



I have about twelve loads of old 

 chicken manure. Would it be suitable 

 for use in carnation beds? If so, in 

 what quantity? The soil is light and 

 sandy. " C. W. E. 



Instead of mixing the chicken manure 

 with the soil, I would advise you to 

 save it for top-dressing your carnations 

 this winter. Mix it with about twice 

 its bulk of soil and let it lie until you 

 want to use it, but see that it does not 

 heat. Turning the pile occasionally will 

 prevent heating. When applying it, put 

 on a good, big handful to each row, 

 halfway across a o-foot bench. 



A. F. J. B. 



PLANTS DROWNED OUT. 



I should like to get as much informa- 

 tion as possible in regard to holding old 

 carnation plants over, as mine were 

 drowned out. My old stock is not first- 

 class, but I shall be obliged to keep a 

 considerable number of them. Can the 

 old stock be taken up and transplanted? 



W, S. 



I fear that in trying to carry over 

 your old carnation plants, with no 

 preparation before this date, you will 

 only invite disaster and disappoint- 

 ment. To carry over plants the second 

 season, they should be cut back for a 

 new start while the weather is yet 

 comparatively cool. To cut them back 

 hard now would kill most of the plants, 

 and to replant them without being cut 

 back would have about the same effect. 

 You could let them stand where they 



are, merely mulching and watering 

 them through the summer, but you 

 would find by fall that you would have 

 a tangled mass of growth which would 

 be hard to handle. The blooms would 

 be infer-'or and few. 



My advice to you would be to buy 

 what plants you need to fill your beds. 

 They will more than repay you the cost 

 before half the season is gone. 



A. F. J. B. 



SOIL DEFICIENT IN PHOSPHATE. 



I have a rich, black loam soil here 

 and am preparing it for carnations. 

 There is not much sand in it and it is 

 lacking in phosphate. I am planning 

 that when I fill the bed I will apply a 

 half inch of sand and a light coat of 

 ground rock phosphate; also a peck of 

 lime to a bed 7x80. Do you think that 

 would be about right! E. P. M. 



If you know that your soil is deficient 

 in phosphate, then your idea of adding 

 ground rock phosphate is correct, but 

 I doubt the wisdom of adding it at the 



time of planting. I would suggest that 

 you turn over the compost heap, and 

 add the ground rock while you are 

 turning it. The sand could also be 

 added better at that time. The idea is 

 to get these materials thoroughly in- 

 corporated with the soil, else little 

 good will result therefrom. 



Leave the lime out until your plants 

 are growing. Then you can tell by the 

 growth and strength of the stems 

 whether the soil is deficient in lime. 



A. F. J. B. 



CARNATION POT PLANTS. 



Years ago Uncle John Thorpe used 

 to argue that a splendid future as a 

 pot plant lay before the carnation. Not 

 many florists have worked along this 

 line, but Henry Eichholz, of Waynes- 

 boro, Pa., thinks there are few flower- 

 ing plants growing in pots that have 

 the many merits of his carnation Christ- 

 mas Cheer. It certainly has the popu- 

 lar Christmas color and as exhibited at 

 several S. A. F. conventions and nu- 

 merous flower shows it always has dem- 

 onstrated a freedom of bloom that left 

 little to be desired. Mr. Eichholz has 

 sent The Review two plants of Christ- 

 mas Cheer, as he says, "to show its 

 usefulness as a summer pot plant. ' ' 

 The plants are in 5-inch pots and well 

 filled with bloom, some fifteen or twen- 

 ty flowers and many buds on each 

 plant. The growth stands two feet 

 above the pot. 



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Actaimenes. 



Achimenes are invaluable summer 

 flowering plants, not so much known 

 as their merits would seem to deserve, 

 but to anyone who has a call for bloom- 

 ing plants in the hot months they are 

 extremely useful. Whether grown in 

 pots or pans, they should have a light, 

 neat stake to each stem before the 

 growths become twisted. If these 

 stakes are painted green, they will 

 never be noticed and they need not 

 be as high as the flowering stems. Keep 

 the plants in a house where they will 

 not get any direct sunshine, or the 

 foliage will soon be disfigured. Also 

 avoid spraying them overhead, except 

 it be with an occasional nicotine so- 

 lution to keep thrips in check. As the 

 pots get filled with roots, feed them 

 twice a week with weak cow manure 

 water. Never allow the plants to be- 

 come dry, or you will ruin them for 

 the season. 



Tuberous Begonias. 



Probably none of the greenhouse 

 bulbous plants blooming in summer is 

 as showy and lasting as the tuberous- 

 rooted begonia. Immense advances 

 have been made in the strains of these 

 of late years, so that new flowers five 

 to six inches across excite no comment 

 at all. To grow these well the plants 

 want a light, airy house, not heavily 

 shaded. If the glass is too thickly ob- 



scured with whitewash, the growths will 

 become drawn and the plants will lack 

 the stocky habit which should be char- 

 acteristic of them. Spring seedlings 

 should now be in 4-inch or 5-inch pots 

 and, in order to get them strong, it 

 is as well to pinch off the flowers for 

 a while and shift them into 6-inch and 

 7-inch pots before flowering them. Old- 

 er tubers succeed best in 8-inch pots. 

 In smaller sizes they do fairly well, 

 but the best we have are always in the 

 larger sizes, and some short but mod- 

 erately stout stakes should be placed 

 to support the easily broken flowering 

 stems. 



Thrips are the bane of begonias and 

 all other summer flowering bulbous 

 plants of this character and either fu- 

 migation or spraying must be strictly 

 attended to, or they will be ruined. If 

 a greenhouse is not at command, splen- 

 did plants can be grown in cold- 

 frames, the sashes being shaded to 

 break the sun 's direct rays. Begonias 

 like a rich but porous soil and should 

 not be potted too firmly. They enjoy 

 fairly strong liquid manure twice a 

 week when flowering. 



Mignonette. 



It is yet too early to make a sow- 

 ing of mignonette under glass, but the 

 benches can be filled with soil when 

 opportunity occurs and it will do no 

 harm to let a crop of the inevitable 



