14 



The Florists' Review 



OCTOBBR 31, 1912. 



TBEATMENT FOB WEAK STEMS. 



In The Eeview of October 10, in the 

 last paragraph of an article under the 

 title "Removing the Flower Stems," 

 you gave instructions about the treat- 

 ment of weak-stemmed carnations, ad- 

 vising the use of wood ashes at the 

 rate of a handful to a row in a bench 

 three feet wide. Please let me know 

 how often this is done. All my carna- 

 tions are so weak-stemmed that they 

 bend down to the ground, though I 

 have my house open day and night, ex- 

 cept when the temperature falls below 

 48 degrees, and then I have the ven- 

 tilators partly open and a little fire on. 

 It may be that I water too heavily. 

 On cool, dark days they seem to be 

 straight, but just as soon as the sUn 

 comes out they droop over. 



W. A. & C. 



Your carnations are undoubtedly too 

 soft, perhaps on account of a light soil 

 and excessive watering. There should 

 not be much danger of overwatering at 

 this time of the year, after the plants 

 become pretty well established, and so 

 I am inclined to the opinion that your 

 soil may be at fault. About two appli- 

 cations of wood ashes, four weeks 

 apart, should remedy matters. Be sure 

 you give lots of ventilation when the 

 weather will permit, and keep your 

 night temperature down close to 50 

 degrees. A. F. J. B. 



WEAK OBOWTH OF BEACONS. 



Kindly advise me what to do with a 

 bench of Beacons which suffered a bad 

 attack of what I thought was thrips. 

 I now have the insects under control, 

 but the shoots look weak and spindly. 

 I have no other reds to replace them 

 with. Is my trouble thrips or some- 

 thing elsef The pest is a tiny black 

 fly; could it be a fly from the manure? 

 Cow manure was used. What is the 

 best way to get rid of this pest? I 

 cannot see that it does much harm. 



I have thought of clearing out this 

 bench of Beacons and planting lettuce 

 instead. Could I grow lettuce and En- 

 chantress carnations in the same house 

 without bad effect on the carnations, 

 and how would a temperature of 50 

 degrees suit both? If the planting of 

 lettuce is advisable, kindly mention the 

 names of one or two good varieties. 

 I am located in northwestern Oregon. 



A. A. G. 



I hardly think that the insect you 

 describe can be thrips. You need make 

 no mistake about this,, however, be: 

 cause the presence of jthi^, pest,, i^ in- 

 variably detected by the 'jiH^jguri'ng of 

 the blooms. Red varieties^ will show 

 white spots around the edges of the 

 petals, while other colors will eihgw 

 dead brown spots. These flies Were 

 most likely brought in with the manure 

 and I imagfine they are quite harmless. 



I do not know much about your mar- 

 ket for red carnations, but it is gen- 

 erally considered that unless a red 

 carnation will give at least a fairly 

 good account of itself by the holidays, 

 it is not worth growing. There is no 

 question about the midwinter months 

 being the best for the sale of all kinds 

 of red flowers, though we sell a fair 

 quantity of red carnations here, right 

 up to the close of the season. 



Should you decide to throw out that 

 bench of Beacons, you need not hesi- 

 tate to plant it with lettuce. It will 

 thrive in the same house with En- 

 chantress and not harm the carnations 

 in the least. As to the best varieties 

 of lettuce, I can give you no advice. 

 Consult the seedsman from whom you 

 procure your seed. He will advise you 

 correctly. A. F. J. B. 



A BBANCHED HABBISII. 



I am sending herewith a photograph 

 of a lily that happened out of a batch 

 of Harrisii with us last winter. You 

 will notice that it is branched. There 

 were five branches on this plant, and 



A Branched Harrisii Lily. 



every branch bore buds, but only two 

 of them matured or developed perfect 

 flowers. There were twenty-three buds 

 in all at the time they were large 

 enough to count. At that stage of their 

 growth I was taken sick and it was left 

 in inexperienced hands, with the result 

 that the buds all bla"6ted except seven, 

 which developed to perfect blooms. It 

 is a question with me whether or not 

 I could have developed all the buds if 

 I had been able to grow it all the way 

 through, but they were all good when 

 I had to give up. 

 The following may not be of interest. 



but I give it to show the peculiar char 

 acter of this bulb. It was planted alonr 

 with the rest of the batch and was 

 brought in at the same time. At that 

 time it was about two inches abovt 

 the soil. After that it grew about aii 

 inch and then stopped and looked much 

 like a diseased lily, and it was set aside 

 to be dumped out at least three times ii. 

 as many weeks, but it seemed as though 

 fate was with it and it was not to be 

 dumped. Finally I noticed that it was 

 beginning to grow again and looked pe- 

 culiar, so I began to take care of it 

 and nurse it along. At this time the 

 rest of the batch were eight to twelve 

 inches high, and the way this one grew 

 af^r this time you can imagine when 

 at Easter it was almost as tall as any 

 of them and in bloom, too, with the 

 rest. S. F. Purllant. 



HOUSINQ DUTCH BULBS. 



September 17 we planted Paper 

 Whites in flats and placed them in a 

 coldframe, covering them with three 

 inches of soil. The weather in this 

 part of Iowa has not been cold, and 

 they are up and showing a couple of 

 inches above the covering; no glass has 

 been put on. What will be the best 

 course to follow in order to get a few 

 in flower as soon as possible? Should 

 they be left out there as long as the 

 weather is so fine? The houses have 

 a temperature of nearly 100 degrees at 

 midday without any fire heat. Would 

 that not be forcing them too hard? We 

 intend to bring them all into the shed 

 when we have steady cold weather. 



After reading an article in The 

 Eeview of September 26, page 10, on 

 Dutch bulbs, we put some flats of 

 bulbs in the dark end of the shed 

 Do these need any covering of any 

 kind? The flats are level full of soil 

 and the bulbs are almost or quite hid- 

 den, but they, too, are showing a little 

 green. P. G. 



The Paper White narcissi can be 

 taken in batches into a greenhouse 

 with a night temperature of 50 to 55 

 degrees. Do not give them a warm 

 house, or the flowers will lack sub 

 stance. House a batch every we/ek or 

 ten days, to keep up a steady supply 

 As long as the weather remains so 

 warm the plants should come along 

 almost fast enough in frames, but they 

 should not be exposed to any frost. A 

 frostproof shed or cellar is a suitable 

 place in which to store these and other 

 bulbs. 



Bulbs such as tulips, narcissi other 

 than Paper Whites, and hyacinths do 

 much better if covered with coal ashes, 

 loam or sand until they are sprouted 

 at least two inches. If left exposed 

 to the light, they are pretty sure to 

 be dwarf and lacking in stem. The 

 early batches of Dutch bulbs should, 

 after housing, be placed in a dark, 

 warm case, to draw them up somewhat. 

 This is not necessary, however, with 

 the Roman hyacinths and Paper 

 Whites. C. W. 



SPIB.SAS FOB EASTEB. 



I have some spiraeas planted out that 

 were never forced. Kindly tell how the 

 treatment should be for them. 



K. C. B. 



Leave the spiraeas outside until they 

 have had one or two good freezings. 

 Then lift and pot the clumps. If these 

 are large they can be divided so as to 



