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The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Sbptbmbbr 16, 1900. 



TO REMOVE BORDEAUX MIXTURE 



I sprayed Bordeaux mixture on my 

 chrysanthemums to protect them from 

 leaf-spot, and one day afterward I 

 syringed them several times, but it seems 

 I cannot clean this Bordeaux mixture off 

 by syringing with water. Please let me 

 know if there is something to use for 

 washing off Bordeaux mixture. 



S. U, E. 



S. U. E. might try a weak solution of 

 Ivory soap, or a spray with the new 

 Aphine solution might remove the Bor- 

 deaux mixture, as it has great cleansing 

 properties. It is late now to give ad- 

 vice, as the Bordeaux is already applied, 

 but in future, when spraying the mums 

 so near flowering time, use potassium sul- 

 phide, one ounce to two gallons of water, 

 as advised for rust and mildew. It 

 does not discolor the foliage to any harm- 

 ful extent and is a valuable fungicide. 

 The chief merit of the Bordeaux is that 

 it sticks, but S. U. E. does not seem to 

 care for it on that account. 



Chas. H. Totty. 



SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. 



Spraying and Watering. 



The cooler days are with us and more 

 particularly the cooler nights. Much 

 more care must be taken now in spray- 

 ing the plants, as a heavy dose of mildew 

 often results from spraying the stock too 

 late in the day and having the plants wet 

 all night. Do all your spraying and wa- 

 tering in the morning, so that the bouse 

 will be dry everywhere by nightfall, and 

 then mildew will not make any headway, 

 unless your growth is extremely soft. As 

 the buds burst through their covering, 

 overhead spraying should cease, because 

 the water will lodge in the bud and rot 

 the embryonic petals. Some buds that 

 are more or less conical in shape shed 

 the water easily, but the flat ones hold 

 the water, the old Bobinson and the 

 Batons being noteworthy in that respect. 



Feeding. 



As the different varieties show color 

 the feeding should cease, because if the 

 feeding is too long continued the flow- 

 ers damp and are rendered useless. It is 

 an art only acquired by long observation, 

 to know when to stop feeding, but the 

 grower had better err on the side of 

 too little rather than too much, aa a 

 flower spoiled means the loss of the sea- 

 son's work. 



Never use bone or any solid fertilizer 

 80 lat« as this. Confine the feeding en- 

 tirely to liquids, either chemical or nat- 

 ural manures, as the liquid can be taken 

 up by the plant and used at one© and 

 will not remain in the soil to injure the 

 blooms later. 



Rust. 



The usual complaints regarding rust at 

 this season are coming in, more particu- 

 larly from growers who have their stock 

 outside. In New Jersey it seems impos- 

 sible to grow mums outside any more 



without rust and leaf-spot. Before the 

 plants are got inside they should be 

 sprayed with the liver of sulphur or 

 potassium sulphide. I have found this 

 will keep down rust and will also check 

 any mildew that may be coming as a 

 result of the damp night air. 



All plants that are outside should be 

 got in as soon as possible now, especially 

 if they have to be lifted and potted, be- 

 cause time must be given the plants to 

 get eatablished again before the flowers 

 open. Many market pot plants are han- 

 dled in this way, and if the lifting be 

 carefully done and the plants shaded for 

 several days after potting, they suffer 

 but little injury. Chas. H. Totty. 



WHITE GRUBS IN SOIL. 



Will you kindly advise me what to do 

 for white grubs: They eat the roots off 

 my bedding plants and girdle them under 



the ground. I have lost a great many 

 plants that I ha\] in the field. The soil 

 that I have prepared for my benches also 

 has grubs in it. Each time I handle it 

 I kill all I find, but no doubt several will 

 be left in. 0. A. H. 



The grubs you are having trouble with 

 are probably the larvae of the May beetle 

 or June bug. These are destructive, par- 

 ticularly in dry seasons, when they come 

 near the surface of the soil and eat the 

 roots from grasses and many garden 

 crops. Steam sterilization of the soil de- 

 stroys these and all other pests. This 

 is, of course, impossible among growing 

 crops, but you can get rid of them by 

 tising carbon bisulphide. This will cost 

 you about 25 cents per pound commer- 

 cially. Bore holes eighteen inches apart 

 each way in the affected beds, using a 

 pointed stick. In each hole pour a few 

 drops of the carbon, covering the hole at 

 once. The fumes are penetrating and 

 deadly, especially when the ground is 

 damp. This remedy can also be applied 

 to plants in pots or crops in benches. It 

 will not hurt any of your crops in the 

 least. Keep any naked lights away from 

 the bottle while using it; when you have 

 done using it, cork up securely and seal 

 the top with paraffin to prevent any 

 fumes escaping. C. W. 



TROUBLE WITH GERANIUMS. 



I am sending you samples of my gera- 

 niums, the leaves of which are diseased. 

 These plants were purchased in April. 

 They have been kept in covered frames, 

 well ventilated, until two weeks ago, when 

 I brought them into the greenhouse. This 

 trouble began the last of May and has 

 been increasing, in spite of all my ef- 

 forts to check it. I have sprayed them 

 with Bordeaux mixture and "have used 

 sulphur and air-slaked lime. What is the 

 trouble and can it be checked? The 

 leaves finally turn yellow and drop. I 

 find my large stock geraniums planted 

 out in the borders are affected also. 



L. M. D. 



Your trouble is not by any means an 

 uncommon one. As your plants appear 

 to have been sickly from the start, it may 

 have been due to overpropagation. If 

 the plants from which your stock was 

 obtained were from plants kept contin- 

 ually under glass and every possible cut- 

 ting taken from them, it is not surpris- 

 ing that they show a lack of vitality and 

 fall an easy mark to disease. Keeping 

 cuttings too long in the propagating 

 bench is also liable to start this trouble. 

 As a general thing, cuttings taken from 

 indoor stock root with the smallest loss 

 from damping off and, unless the propa- 

 gating is overdone, they should remain 

 healthy, either inside or out of doors. 



Climatic conditions often start blight 

 in the foliage. Damp, warm and sunless 

 weather, if continued for several days, 

 will sometimes ruin whole beds. Your 

 trouble, however, is evidently of a differ- 



ent nature, and as you evidently have it 

 in a virulent form and remedial measures 

 have been of no avail, it would be better 

 to throw away vyour plants and endeavor 

 to secure clean stock from a reliable spe- 

 cialist in geraniums. If you do not care 

 to do this, pick your pot plants clean and 

 stand them on a sunny bench, where they 

 can get plenty of pure, sweet air. If the * 

 pots are well filled with roots, use a little 

 nitrate of soda or soot in an endeavor to 

 tone them up. Before taking any cut- 

 tings from your stock plants wait until 

 just before frost threatens. Trim the 

 foliage off quite bare, dip the cuttings in 

 Bordeaux mixture and place in clean sand 

 in a sunny house. It is possible they 

 may keep clean, but I would have more 

 faith in new stock. C. W. 



GERANIUMS FOR SPRING SALES. 



How late can cuttings be put in sand 

 to make 4-inch blooming plants not later 

 than June 1? C. L. H. 



The usual plan is to grow along the 

 cuttings taken in September and October 

 for spring sales, but you can propagate 

 as late as the end of January and get 

 nice 4-inch pot stock by June 1. In the 

 case of cuttings taken during the winter 

 the best plan is to insert each singly in 

 2-inch pots of sandy loam. They will 

 root within a month. Shift to 3-inch and 

 later 4-inch pots. C. W. 



CoBTLAND, N. Y. — N. Starr & Son are 

 extensive market gardeners here, and they 

 also contemplate growing flowers for the 

 wholesale market. 



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