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14 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



FEBHUARr 1, 1012. 



tion rust, to which A. F. J, B. replied 

 that "there is no known remedy that 

 will destroy the rust without destroy- 

 ing the parts affected," the Aphine 

 Mfg. Co., Madison, N. J., calls atten- 



tion that Thomas Proctor, Lenox, 

 Mass., has had excellent results in the 

 use of Fungine as a cure for rust on 

 carnations. He used one part of the 

 fungicide to forty parts water. 



FEBTIUZEB FOB PEONIES. 



I should like to get a little informa- 

 tion concerning the culture of peonies. 

 What is the best fertilizer and how 

 should it be applied to the best ad- 

 vantage? How are wood ashes, if 

 worked into the soil around the roots! 

 I begin cultivating just as soon as the 

 ground is in condition for it in the 

 spring and continue to cultivate until 

 July; then I let the weeds grow, burn- 

 ing them off early, before the buds are 

 through the ground. I have practiced 

 this for the last two years, with good 

 results. J. W. D. 



Well rotted cow manure, applied to 

 the plants late in October, is probably 

 the best fertilizer for peonies. Being 

 strong feeders, they require rich ground 

 and this should be thoroughly enriched 

 before they are planted. Bone and 

 wood ashes, applied in early spring and 

 scratched in about the plants, are help- 

 ful. E. J. Shaylor, of Wellesley Hills, 

 Mass., in a lecture in Boston last May, 

 recommended a good potato fertilizer, 

 rich in potash, as being good for 

 peonies; this, of course, would be ap- 

 plied in spring. I do not approve of 

 allowing weeds to grow, as they only 

 use up food which the plants should 

 have. C. W. 



STOEING PEONY BLOOMS. 



I am interested in storing a few peony 

 blooms for Memorial day this year and 

 would appreciate information through 

 The Keview on the following points: At 

 what stage of development should the 

 flowers be cut? How should they be 

 packed? At what temperature should 

 they be held and how treated while in 

 storage? How long can they be held in 

 salable condition? W. L. L. 



Success in storing peonies is easier to 

 describe than it is to attain; all there 

 is to do is to cut the flowers just as they 

 are ready to open, bunch and wrap them 

 carefully, put in pails of water and 

 stand in the apple temperature of any 

 public cold storage warehouse. Theoretic- 

 ally, then, the peonies should keep in 

 prime condition for a couple of weeks, 

 some varieties considerably longer. But 

 the fact is they don't do it, except for 

 the few, who have acquired their ability 

 through long experience and close ob- 

 servation. The average peony grower 



has found his flowers to be worth as 

 much the day they are cut, no matter 

 when it is, as they are worth after being 

 put in storage to await a special de- 

 mand. Holding the stock may be worth 

 trying in a small way, but don't risk 

 too much at the start. 



Apparently the first detail to observe 

 in storing peony flowers is to select the 

 right varieties to grow. As a keeper 

 there is nothing beats the old Queen 

 Victoria, but the flower is far behind 

 the times in the matter of quality. Some 

 of the finest varieties, however, have 

 faults that destroy their value for stor- 

 age and shipping. Then, too, the peonies 

 have to be well grown. The stage in 

 which to cut depends on the variety; 

 some will not open if cut too soon, 

 while others soften and drop if not cut 

 right. Also, the stage in which to cut 

 depends somewhat on weather condi- 

 tions and time of day in which the 



work is done. Most varieties should be 

 cut just before the bud breaks. Thir- 

 teen identical buds should go into each 

 bunch, after being given a drink. The 

 lower foliage should be pulled off and 

 the stems cut to even length. With as 

 little delay as possible they should be 

 wrapped tightly, placed in water not 

 deep enough to reach the paper, and be 

 placed in a room kept just above freez- 

 ing. The peony specialists keep Queen 

 Victoria under such conditions for as 

 much as four to six weeks, but peonies 

 are not like wine; beyond a quickly 

 reached point none of them improves 

 with age. 



SOIL FOB DAHLIAS AND ASTEBS. 



I have some soil which I am planning 

 to use for the growing of dahlias and 

 asters and I should like to know 

 whether the soil is suitable for such a 

 purpose. The soil was removed from 

 a small lake about four or five years 

 ago. It cont/iins sand about the size of 

 buckshot, besides decayed leaves, and 

 has grown several heavy crops of corn, 

 but early planted vegetables do not 

 ripen in it as soon as those planted in 

 other soil. A. H. 



This muck-like soil, which has grown 

 good crops of corn, should grow equally 

 good asters and dahlias. It is in itself 

 rather light and would produce earlier 

 crops were it mixed with loam, either 

 sandy in nature or of a rather stiff and 

 retentive nature. The great trouble 

 with this soil is that it dries out badly 

 in summer unless well mixed with some 

 other material, and when once it gets 

 quite dry, it takes a lot of rain to wet 

 it. When it is well incorporated with 

 other soil, however, and has been in 

 use a few years, it makes good soil. 

 There is no reason why your dahlias 

 and asters should not do well in it if 

 you manure it liberally, and, as soon as 

 the ground is open, plow it deeply. 



C.W. 



I SEASONABLE ^^^^^| 



SUGGESTIONS | 



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Antirrhinums. 



While it is as yet too early to sow 

 snapdragon for planting outdoors, this 

 is an excellent time to make a sowing 

 for indoor culture to bloom for Me- 

 morial day. While white, yellow and 

 pink are the best colors to sell in win- 

 ter, it will be well to use some of the 

 higher colors to flower at the end of 

 May, these selling much better than 

 the light shades. If you have a batch 

 of plants blooming now, you can also 

 secure an abundance of good cuttings 

 from the flowering stems to perpetuate 

 any extra good strains. These, if 

 rooted in a carnation cuttings bench, 

 potted and benched, will also come in 

 useful for Memorial day trade. An- 

 tirrhinums are rather heavy feeders 

 and plants now in crop will be bene- 

 fited by a mulch of sheep manure and 

 liquid manure once a week. Keep the 

 plants carefully supported, for once 



the stems become bent they are prac- 

 tically useless. 



Bouvardia. 



Those useful winter-flowering plants, 

 the bouvardias, will now be over 

 for the season. All are readily 

 propagated from root cuttings. This 

 means cutting up the thickest pieces 

 of the roots into short lengths and 

 covering them with sand in the warm- 

 est propagating bench at command, 

 where they will soon start to push up 

 little growths. B. Humboldtii corym- 

 biflora propagates easily from soft 

 wood cuttings, which can soon be ob- 

 tained in quantity by simply heading 

 back a few old plants and placing them 

 in a warm house to break. 



Genistas. 



Genistas started now will flower be- 

 fore Easter, but where nice flowering 

 pot plants are in demand they can be 



