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16 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Febbuabx 8, 1912. 



SUPPOSED TO BE WOOD ASHES. 



I am sending you a sample of what is 

 supposed to be wood ashes. Please let 

 me know whether it would be safe to 

 use it on carnation or aster soil. 



E. L. 



The stuff forwarded does not look to 

 me like pure wood ashes. There may be 

 some wood ashes among it, but it looks 

 to me more like burnt loam. It may 

 not injure your crops, but I feel sure 

 it will not do as much good as good 

 wood ashes would do. Try it on a small 

 space and you can soon tell whether it 

 will harm your plants. Wood ashes 

 should be more flaky, like flour or air- 

 slaked lime, and usually it is of a 

 gray color. Sometimes it is a whitish 

 gray and sometimes it has a brownish 

 cast to it, but it should not be gritty 

 and full of pebbles, as this is. 



A. F. J. B. 



STIGMONOSE ON SANGAMO. 



I am sending you two specimens of 

 my Sangamo carnations, and I shall 

 be glad if you can tell me the reason 

 why some of the plants appear to be 

 drying up. They were all in good con- 

 dition in the fall, but afterward I no- 

 ticed one go, then another, and so on. 

 The trouble does not seem to spread, 

 but I find an affected plant here and 

 there. Some of them are badly affected 

 and others are not. I notice that other 

 growers are also having the same 

 trouble. A. S. C. 



The samples bear the evidences of be- 

 ing affected with stigmonose. The vari- 

 ety Sangamo seems susceptible to this 

 disease, as it had it when it came to 

 us and has had more or less on it ever 

 since. We find among our plants, here 

 and there, a plant literally eaten up 

 with stigmonose, just as you say yours 

 are. It is a pity that such a splendid 

 sort as this should be ruined in that 

 way but, with other healthy varieties 

 coming on to take its place, it will hard- 

 ly pay you to bother trying to eradi- 

 cate the disease from this sort. If you 

 do want to keep on with it, the thing 

 for.:yjak;to do is to select your cuttings 

 froza.7tbe absolutely healthy plants. 

 That is the only way you can combat 

 it. A. P. J. B. 



FAIBY BINa. 



I enclose a sample of leaves and 

 stems of carnatioBB. , I have grown car- 

 nations for years, but have never had 

 anything like this before. Judging 

 from reports I see in The Review, I 

 believe it must be stigmonose. The 

 plants were carefully lifted from the 

 field about the end of August. They 

 were not extra large, but quite healthy, 

 and they did well until the end of the 

 year. Then they began to show this 

 disease. At first I thought it was red 

 spider, and I sprayed them with weak- 

 ened nicotine once or twice, but it did 



no good. Our soil is black, from low 

 land, with about one-third rotted cow 

 manure. The cows were bedded with 

 shavings, which I do not like. Our 

 water, also, is unsuitable, being ex- 

 tremely hard and not good for vegeta- 

 tion. I also gave the plants a little 

 liquid manure before this disease 

 showed itself. "We have picked the 

 worst stems and leaves off several times, 

 but still the disease is spreading and I 

 fear it will destroy the crop. Can I 

 save them in any way — for instance, by 

 cutting them back hard? They are al- 

 most the only flowers I have to depend 

 on. I buy rooted cuttings every spring, 

 to get all the blooms possible for use. 

 Do you think the disease would be lia- 

 ble to occur another season, if the house 

 is thoroughly cleaned and the benches 

 are whitewashed? The benches are of 

 cement. I shall feel grateful for any 

 advice you may give on the matter. 



F. W. A. 



The specimens forwarded were pretty 

 badly covered with one of the worst 

 diseases to control that the carnation 

 is ever afQicted with. It is called fairy 

 ring, on account of the ring-shaped 

 spots it produces on the leaves. You 

 will notice around the edge of each spot 



a distinct ring, slightly darker than 

 the rest of the spot. 



This is a fungous disease and will 

 spread all over your plants unless you 

 get it under control. Pick off all the 

 affected leaves you can, and then spray 

 the plants heavily with Bordeaux mix- 

 ture. After it has been on a week, 

 choose a warm, bright day and wash 

 off the plants in the morning; then, by 

 afternoon, apply the Bordeaux again. 

 If the disease keeps on appearing, keep 

 it picked off and keep spraying with 

 the Bordeaux. It is the best thing 

 known for those spot diseases. 



A. F. J. B. 



CABNATION THE HERALD. 



The accompanying illustration is re- 

 produced from a photograph of the red 

 carnation which the Chicago Carnation 

 Co., Joliet and Chicago, plans to dis- 

 seminate next season. It has been 

 seen at most of the exhibitions since 

 last autumn and the reception it has 

 received encourages Messrs. Pyfer and 

 Olsem to believe they have a good 

 thing. The variety is a seedling raised, 

 on their place at Joliet. 



COVERED WITH SPIDER. 



I am sending you two of my carna- 

 tion plants for examination. If you 

 will kindly tell me the trouble with 

 them and state what remedy to use, I 

 shall be thankful. From the time I 

 took them from the field, in the last 

 part of August, until about Christmas, 

 they were doing well, but after that 

 they seemed to fade away rapidly. Fol- 

 lowing the advice in The Review, I 



i*^ 



y:r>. 



-mr 



Carnation The Herald. 



