12 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



February 22, 1912. 



ROSES DYING. 



Your paper seems to be the best place 

 to get information, and as I am in need 

 of some, I will place the matter before 

 you. I have a new house of roses, 

 planted last June. They did well until 

 nearly Christmas, when they got a 

 pretty good dose of mildew, in spite of 

 the fact that I had used sulphur regu- 

 larly on the hot water pipes; some- 

 times I thought I used it pretty strong, 

 as I could smell it plainly and feel it 

 in my eyes, but the mildew came just 

 the same. I tried some sprays, which 

 seemed to have no effect whatever, so 

 finally I used Bordeaux mixture, which 

 cleaned it out, but two or three weeks 

 ago the Killarneys began losing their 

 leaves and a great many of them took 

 on a sickly yellow appearance. Even 

 the young shoots, with buds on, com- 

 menced to lose their leaves from the 

 bottom up, and finally to the top; some- 

 times the bud matured and sometimes 

 it wilted and turned its head down. 

 Some of the foliage looked as if it had 

 a bad case of red spider. There were 

 some red spiders in spots, but not a 

 bad case of them. I used the hose 

 freely, but now some of the roses are 

 dying. I am sending a sample of them 

 under separate cover — two small plants, 

 pulled up. 



The soil was well enriched with horse 

 manure at the time of planting and a 

 layer of coarse manure was put over 

 the cracks in the benches. The only 

 other fertilizers used were a little bone 

 meal and a small watering of nitrate 

 of soda, about a teaspoonful to a 1^- 

 gallon sprinkler of water; also a little 

 wood ashes and a small amount of lime, 

 the latter just a few days ago, to help 

 kill the fishworms. These plants seem 

 to be dead at the roots and I do not 

 know what the matter is. Eichmond 

 and Maryland in the same house and 

 under the same treatment are not 

 affected, or only to a small degree, but 

 I fear half the Killarneys will go, 

 though some of them are showing new 

 growth and a few were not badly 

 affected. E. M. H. 



The two plants received were entirely 

 dead. Each contained some mealy bug 

 just iibove their roots, but these speci- 

 mens were so thoroughly dried up that 

 they (lid not in any way assist in locat- 

 ing the cause of their death. If Mary- 

 land and Richmond, under similar con- 

 ditions of soil and atmosphere, are 

 unaffected, the cause is probably not in 

 the soil. Heavy top-dressings of fresh 



cow manure will not infrequently cause 

 a loss of foliage and even scorching. 

 This would show more quickly on Kil- 

 larney than on Maryland and the 

 tougher foliaged Eichmond. It is likely 

 that bety^een your several remedies, 

 sulphuring the pipes, spraying with 

 Bordeaux mixture, etc., the foliage has 

 been injured. This damage would most 

 probably be caused by the Bordeaux 

 mixture. This is a splendid spray for 

 fungoid diseases, though I have doubts 

 as to its efficiency against mildew. 

 Much would depend on how strong you 

 used the Bordeaux. If, for instance, 

 it was of a strength equal to what is 

 generally used in spraying apples and 

 other fruit trees, it would be reasonably 

 sure to destroy much of the foliage. 

 Peach trees, if sprayed at the same 

 strength as apple, will lose a lot of 

 foliage; this would not occur at once, 

 but gradually, and after a lapse of two 

 or three weeks. My personal opinion 

 would be that the sulpjiur on the pipes. 



added to the Bordeaux, caused the loss 

 of leaves and caused the plants to die. 

 Your soil was evidently all right and 

 so were the moderate applications of 

 stimulants. Eosa. 



BOSE FOLIAGE DISEASED. 



I am sending in a box of some rose 

 leaves that are infected. It is some- 

 thing new around here. We would 

 like to know what it is and how to 

 treat it. F. C. 



The leaves, when received, were 

 much dried up. It is hard to give an 

 opinion as to what has caused the 

 foliage to go as yours has, and not 

 know anything of your varieties, cul- 

 tural conditions, etc. The most prob- 

 able cause would seem to be an excess 

 of manure, either in the form of top 

 dressing or as liquid. Fresh cow ma- 

 nure highly charged, as it always is, 

 with ammonia would cause this scorch- 

 ing unless some air was kept on the top 

 ventilators until the odor subsided, but 

 of course this would not be done with 

 such weather as we had early in Feb- 

 ruary. Of course this may not be the 

 cause of your trouble, but I have 

 seen similar damage done on a num- 

 ber of occasions by using fresh cow 

 manure. C. W. 



CHBYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Geo. W. Burke offers special prizes 

 for the 1912 C. S. A. exhibition as fol- 

 lows: Best six blooms on long stems 

 Chrysanthemum Mrs. Geo. W. Burke, 

 first prize $15; second prize $10. 



Chas. W. Johnson, Sec'y. 



I SEASONABLE 



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SUGGESTIONS 



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i 



Stevias. 



Of course you would not forget to 

 save a few stock plants of the easily 

 grown but ever useful winter blooming 

 plants, the stevias. Place a good batch 

 of cuttings in the sand now. Further 

 cuttings can easily be had from these, 

 and the stock plants can be discarded. 

 For pot culture the dwarf variety is 

 best, but for cutting, the tall variety 

 has many advantages. 



Canterbury Bells. 



The plants of Canterbury bells in- 

 tended for Easter should now be a foot 

 high and should have a few stakes to 

 keep them erect. The night tempera- 

 ture for these is better if it does not 

 exceed 50 degrees. In a warmer and 

 moister atmosphere the shoots have a 

 faculty of dying off, which is rarely 

 seen when they are grown cool. 



Cannas. 



It is much too early to start canna 

 roots yet, but if you want a plant or 

 two of each variety in flower to show 

 your customers what the varieties are 

 like, place one or two in a warm, moist 

 house at once. Look over your stock 

 of roots and remove any that show 



decay. If you are short on any sorts, 

 and there are many who annually buy 

 large quantities, place your orders now 

 before the stocks of A-1 varieties be- 

 come depleted. Lists of first-class sorts 

 will be found advertised by all the lead- 

 ing specialists in The Eeview. 



Calceolarias. 



Like show pelargoniums, calceolarias 

 want a cold house. One which seems 

 clammy to the feel will just suit them- 

 Never let them get potbound before 

 shifting them. They should get their 

 final potting as soon as possible. Three 

 parts of fibrous loam and one part oi: 

 old cow manure, with some soot, coarse 

 sand and fine charcoal added, make 

 an ideal compost. As everyone knows 

 who has grown them, they are head- 

 quarters for aphis, and fumigating 

 rather than spraying is needed to keep 

 these in check. It is difficult to get a 

 spray on the lower surface of the leaves 

 without damaging them. 



Allamandas. 



Allamandas, whether in pots, tubs or 

 planted out, which have been resting 

 through the winter, should now be 

 pruned back and, in the case of pot 



