8 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Junk 23, 1910. 



SNAILS. 



Do you know of any practical way 

 of getting rid of snails, either in glass 

 houses or in the garden? I have tried 

 practically every insecticide, but with- 

 out results. Besides, I mixed the strong- 

 est poisons, like arsenic and Paris 

 green, with bran, cornmeal and brown 

 sugar, and all of no avail. I should be 

 greatly obliged for knowing a mixture 

 that would exterminate them. I also 

 tried Aphine, Spramulsion, Slugshot and 

 Nicoticide. E. N. 



None of the remedies you have tried 

 are of much avail against snails. They 

 seem proof against all .poisons and 

 fumigations; even hydrocyanic acid gas 

 seems to cause them little concern. In 

 greenhouses they are specially de- 

 structive among adiantums. They can 

 be trapped in large numbers by laying 

 leaves of cabbage and lettuce, or slices 



of carrot and turnip, and examining 

 these, especially at night; the snails 

 can be plunged in hot water and de- 

 stroyed. If your benches are badly in- 

 fested, remove, all the plants and either 

 pour on boiling water, or give a dust- 

 ing with air-slaked lime. A touch of 

 the latter will kill the snails. Salt can 

 be similarly used and it will pay to 

 scatter either salt or lime, both on and 

 below your benches. Snails cannot live 

 long after coming in contact with 

 either. 



Outdoors, scatter lime or soot from 

 soft coal freely around the haunts, of 

 the snails. They cannot travel over a 

 line of either, and neither will harm 

 any of your plants, the soot being spe- 

 cially beneficial. Salt can be similarly 

 used, but is more likely to damage the 

 plants. Scattered on walks or about 

 any of their haunts, it will kill large 

 quantities. A line of sawdust while it 

 remains dry will act as a barrier to 



snails. I have frequently seen bands 

 of this used outdoors to guard plants 

 from the attacks of snails, with perteet 

 success. C. A\'. 



GEBMINATING KENTIA SEEDS. 



Please tell us how much heat kontia 

 seeds can stand without being spoiled. 

 Tell us, also, what degree of heat is 

 most suitable for them. E. ^. 



Kentia seeds would stand a tempna- 

 ture of 100 degrees for a few days 

 without serious injury, provided tlipv 

 were kept moist, but such a tempera- 

 ture is not necessary for the gernilna 

 tion of these seeds. A temperature of 

 75 to 80 degrees is sufficient for the -sat- 

 isfactory germination of kentias, and 

 this process may be accomplished in 

 cither light soil or a bed of spha^jjiuim 

 moss, as may be most convenient, llie 

 seeds being kept continually moist, liut 

 not sodden. W. H. T. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN SPRING. 



The chroniclers of horticultural news 

 in different parts of the country have 

 been recording the fact of the chrysan- 

 themum being on sale at different mar- 

 kets during the spring, and referring 

 to it as something new, whereas, as a 

 matter of fact, it is really as old as 

 chrysanthemum culture. Every year 

 for a long time, Charles Thorley, of 

 New York, has had on sale flowers of 

 a white variety, which I believe is the 

 old variety Niveus, during the months 

 of April and May, and some twelve 

 years ago I recall growing a large batch 

 of the old variety, J. H. Troy, for 

 spring work. 



Presen.t-day growers are running more 

 to Golden Glow, by the reports in The 

 Review. It is a perfectly simple mat- 

 ter to get almost any variety in flower 

 in the spring, if they are grown for 

 that purpose, but the question is: Is 

 it a good policy? I have always ar- 

 gued that one reason for the great pop- 

 ularity of the mum in the early fall 

 was its reappearance after a good long 

 spell of absence, and the average flower 

 lover greets it like a long lost brother. 



If we are going to have the chrysan- 

 themum on sale all through the sum- 

 mer, we are going to kill the novelty 

 and one of the mum's best assets for 

 popularity will be crushed out. The 

 writer, in conversation with a promi- 

 nent grower a few days ago, was told 

 that Golden Glow was going to kill the 

 chrysanthemum business. Personally, I 

 do not believe it is going to do any 

 such thing, but that it will have some 

 effect on the market until the craze 

 for growing it has subsided, no one can 

 for a moment doubt. 



Golden Glow, even though it will 

 flower at almost any season, produces 

 the best flowers about the end of Sep- 



tember or early in October. Much of 

 the Golden Glow seen on the market 

 at odd seasons is wretchedly poor, and 

 about the only reason for the existence 

 of a good deal of this stock is that the 

 grower allowed the wood to get hard 

 and could not prevent his plants from 

 flowering. 



If young plants of this varietj' are 

 set out now, and left growing along 

 until the middle or end of July before 

 a bud appears, they will produce al- 

 most 100 per cent of beautiful flowers, 

 and will be a standing refutation of the 

 arguments of some growers that it can- 

 not be made to produce a good, clean 

 stem. Chas. H. Tottv. 



A GLIMPSE AHEAD. 



The accompanying portrait of Thomas 

 W. Pockett, of Melbourne, Australia, 

 will give to many growers for the first 

 time some idea of the man who has 

 done possibly more than any other to 

 bring the chrysanthemum to its present 

 high standard, and a report just to 

 hand of the annual autumn show held 

 April 23 at Malvern, a suburb of Mel- 

 bourne, gives a glimpse, six months 

 ahead, of the things we shall hear more 

 about when our own autumn arrives. 



At the Malvern show, which was a 

 notable one, "all the leading awards 

 were won by W. T. Pockett, a son of 

 T. W. Pockett, to whom the credit is 

 due for establishing new seedlings. The 

 well known curator of the Malvern pub- 

 lic gardens has attained a stage which 

 makes the cross-fertilization of chrys- 

 anthemums a work that will give imme- 

 diate and certain results, as against 

 the process of a few years ago, when 

 the parents of the seedlings were not 

 known. 'I know the fathers, the grand- 

 fathers and the great-grandfathers of 



the stocks on which I am working now, ^ 

 Mr. Pockett said to the writer, wiien 

 questioned regarding his advancement 

 with hybridization. He has attained 

 an even higher level than that of ])iist 

 successes with a new seedling, which 

 has been named White Australia. Sev- 

 eral blooms, pure white, with long 

 drooping petals, were shown, and there 

 is every sign, of Mr. Pockett having 

 produced a variety which will beat any- 

 thing that has gone before it. There 

 were large numbers of the newer 

 chrysanthemums in the show, but while 

 a specimen of the new pure white 

 variety, Mrs. David Syme, was nearly 

 equal to winning the award for tiie 

 best bloom in the show, W. T. 

 Pockett won with a Mme. Carnot, a 

 result that was not begrudged l)y 

 chrysanthemum enthusiasts, who reog- 

 nize the remarkable manner in wl)ieb 

 this old favorite has maintained its 

 vigor. 



"That the work started at Malvern 

 is established on a solid foundation 

 is now an established fact. Speaking 

 with Mr. Pockett on this subject, li» 

 said: 'I have accomplished the objeet 

 I had in view when I first started. It 

 was some time before my friends gave 

 me encouragement. How could I <-■*■ 

 pect to compete with America, Fnn.ce. 

 Japan, Italy, England? How couM } 

 get plants to England in good condi- 

 tion? Now, all these difficulties have 

 been overcome, with the assistance "f 

 those across the sea, and today "^^ 

 best growers and distributors of t''® 

 two greatest flower loving countries m 

 the world, England and America, "'^^ 

 give them the greatest possible atten- 

 tion. It was thought when I raised <"f^ 

 or three varieties some years ago tliiJt 

 it was the luck that comes to ni<ist 

 plant raisers, and that I would never 



