JCLT 21, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



manure to be had than that from well- 

 fed cattle. Other manures are rich in 

 certain elements used by plants as 

 food, but none seems so perfectly bal- 

 anced as the cattle manure. Many 

 >rrowers, however, are so situated that 

 Tt is difficult to procure cattle manure. 

 Hence, other fertilizers must be made 

 use of. By using several kinds you can 

 produce resiilts nearly, if not quite, as 

 irood as you could with the cattle 

 manure. 



We use a great deal of stable manure 

 now, as a base, adding sheep manure 

 and shredded cattle manure to bring 

 it up in the elements lacking in the 

 stable manure. 



In your case I would not hesitate to 

 use the sheep manure in the soil. How 

 strong it should be used will depend on 

 how it has been handled. If it has 

 Itewn kept dry, so that it contains its 

 full strength, you can mix it with the 

 soil at the rate of about one part in 

 fifteen. If it has lain outdoors and 

 been leached by the rains you can use 

 it in larger proportion. 



A few years ago we had a pile of 

 the rough litter as it came from the 

 sheep pens, lying outdoors. One of our 



men got onto this pile instead of the 

 cattle manure when mulching a mum 

 bed. He put it on a full inch thick, as 

 he had been told, and, to our surprise 

 and relief, no ill results followed. Had 

 it not been leached considerably, wo 

 feel sure the plants would have suf- 

 fered. A. F. J. B. 



A SAMPLE OF SOIL. 



I am sending you, under separate 

 cover, a sample of soil and should like 

 to know whether it would be good for 

 roses and carnations. It is from a low, 

 swampy place. I had some potted roses 

 snipped in and, as nearly as I can tell, 

 the soil looked like this. If this is not 

 suitable soil for the purpose, please 

 advise me as to the best kind to use. 



S. & L. 



The sample of soil is not suitable for 

 either roses or carnations; it is simply 

 sour, swamp mud. 



Try to get a yellowish loam, with 

 at least thirty-five per cent of clay. If 

 you can find such a soil in old pasture 

 land, take the top spit, six inches deep. 



and add to it decomposed cow manure 

 in the proportion of four of soil to one 

 of manure. Chop up and mix thor- 

 oughly. In the course of four or five 

 days it will be in good condition to 

 bench. 



A sprinkling of bone meal over the 

 bench previous to planting will be of 

 great benefit. Ribes. 



ROSES WITH CARNATIONS. 



I wish to inquire if there is some 

 free blooming white or pink rose that 

 would do well in a carnation house. 

 "Which is considered better, grafted or 

 own-root stock? When sliould they be 

 planted? A. 0. C. 



If the temperature of the carnation 

 house does not fall below 'A degrees, 

 several varieties of roses will do fairly 

 well in it, although they would fare 

 much better at 56 degrees. Bride or 

 White Killarney would be suitable for 

 white and Bridesmaid or Pink Killarney 

 for pink. Grafted stock would be pref- 

 erable under such conditions and they 

 ought to be planted as soon as possible. 



Ribes. 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. 



The Question of Feeding. 



The plants that were set out on the 

 benches in May will now be benefited 

 ill many cases by light applications of 

 fertilizers in some form or other. The 

 •juestion of feeding chrysanthemums is 

 a large one. The average commercial 

 grower does not, of course, feed nearly 

 so heavily as the exhibition grower. In 

 the first place, he does not have to get 

 the last particle of size into the flower, 

 as a small flower that has grown hardy 

 stands shipping better and gives more 

 satisfaction, and, in the second place, 

 the cost of production's a large factor 

 in determining whether the mum crop 

 is a profitable one or not. 



I always figure, after a plant has 

 been set out frem eight to ten weeks, 

 that it has then arrived at that condi- 

 tion of growth when a little feeding 

 will be beneficial. This could be in the 

 torm of a sprinkling of bone flour, cov- 

 ered with a mulch of half an inch of 

 well rotted manure, or in the form of 

 waterings with liquid cow or sheep 

 manure. Personally, I always like a 

 light mulch on my beds. It keeps the 

 roots cooler and the beds do not need 

 soaking so often, but it also seems to 

 roake the plant produce a great many 

 more suckers, which is one phase that 

 can well be dispensed with. 



Taking the Buds. 



Buds may be secured now on Golden 

 Glow, Monrovia and October Frost, 

 fight along as soon as they are pro- 



duced, as it is the early bud on these 

 varieties that produces the heavy flower 

 and swells the bank account. 



It is not wise to give the plants a 

 heavy feeding just at the time they are 

 setting buds, because, when the side 

 shoots are pinched off, the growth is 

 necessarily checked and all the strength 

 of the plant is diverted into the tiny 

 flower bud and the foliage. 



Midseason varieties that are produc- 

 ing buds at this time should have the 

 bud pinched out and the plant encour- 

 aged to make further growth. It will 

 be found that the second growth below 

 the bud is almost invariably a much 

 better growth to keep than the one next 

 to the bud, as it frequently happens 

 that the first growth will make three or 

 four leaves and then produce another 

 bud, instead of pushing right along and 

 producing a healthy shoot. 



Attention must be given these hot 

 days to watering and spraying. We 

 make a practice of spraying our houses, 

 side walls, roof, plants and beds sev- 

 eral times during the day. This cools 

 off the temperature nicely and is a 

 great help to the plants in producing 

 and holding large, luxuriant leaves, as 

 evaporation is not nearly so rapid 

 where the atmosphere is kept moist. 



Planting Late Varieties. 



Late varieties — that is, kinds in- 

 tended for later flowering and flower- 

 ing around Thanksgiving — can be 

 planted any time now with profit. 



Chadwick does not get away nearly 

 so rapidly as some other varieties, but 



it makes up for it when once it does 

 get a start. These plants in the late 

 house will, of course, be kept growing 

 after the others have set buds, so if any 

 buds appear at this time, or next month, 

 they should be kept closely pinched off 

 and the plants encouraged to make all 

 the growth possible. If you have any 

 plants that you are planning to flower 

 in 6-inch pots, for single stems, they 

 should be potted from the 2V^-inch to 

 the 6-inch pots just as soon as they 

 are ready to be shifted. It is the 

 height of folly to let them get potbound 

 at any stage of the game, and particu- 

 larly just now, with the weather run- 

 ning so warm and dry. 



Singles or any other varieties tlmt are 

 intended to make specimen plants, 

 should not be pinched any more, but 

 should be tied into shape so that the 

 finishing growth will not" be too stiff 

 and formal. 



Thrlps and Other Pests. 



Caterpillars are beginning to show 

 on the plants and should be closely 

 looked out for. This is easy if one 

 catches the colony just when the eggs 

 are hatched, before they scatter over 

 the plants. One squeeze of the thumb 

 and finger and all is over, but if you 

 let these caterpillars get big enough, it 

 necessitates a great deal of labor and 

 hand picking to clean them off again. 



The ladybug is now, in most cases, 

 taking care of the green and black fly, 

 but if these pests are at all numerous 

 in the house, it is best to do a little 



