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March 5. 1914. 



The Florists' Review 



19 



long. Kindly tell me what to do in 

 order to get longer stems. P. W. 



There are several possible causes of 

 the shortness of the narcissus stems. 

 In the first place, are you sure your 

 bulbs had an adequate water supply? It 

 is not sufficient, as many still suppose, 

 to soak them at planting time and ex- 

 pect that this will suffice to carry the 

 bulbs until forcing time. The tops 

 should be started two td three inches 

 when housed. Early in the season, to 

 insure stems of good length, it is neces- 

 sary to Iceep the flats dark for a few 

 days to draw up the stems. This is 

 unnecessary after the middle of Febru- 

 ary. You will find that coal ashes or 

 loam will make a better covering than 

 leaves for daffodils. Princeps forces 

 j«arly, but N. poeticus is naturally late. 

 Try N. poeticus ornatus another sea- 

 sou, as it comes much earlier. C. W. 



NARCISSI FAILING TO FLOWER. 



Enclosed you will find some would-be 

 flowers of Golden Spur and daffodils. 

 About one-third of our bulbs are turn- 

 ing out this way. What is the trouble 

 with them? We potted and boxed 

 them as soon as we received them, 

 put them in a coldframe and covered 

 them with leaves. Later we brought 

 them in and put them under the green- 

 house benches, bringing them into the 

 light as we wanted to use them. We 

 bought these bulbs from a firm in Hol- 

 land. Do you think it is probably the 

 Hollanders' fault? Those that produce 

 flowers are first-class. F. & F. 



As two-thirds of your bulbs flower 

 first-class, it is evident that your cul- 

 ture has been all right. There are 

 many complaints this season of bulbs 

 acting in this way, and, while too 

 early forcing sometimes is partly ac- 

 counta|)le for it, I should say that if 

 this trouble has continued after Fieb- 

 ruary 1, the most probable cause is 

 immature bulbs. The Hollanders not 

 infrequently are guilty of sending 

 biilbs^that are not properly ripened. 

 C. W. 



SEEDS I'AIL TO GERMINATE. 



In the last three years I have had se- 

 rious trouble in getting my seeds to 

 germinate, and especially this season. 

 Thunbergias, snapdragons, maurandias, 

 ageratums, lobelias and sweet alyssum, 

 all have proved almost absolute fail- 

 ures. The soil in which the seeds were 

 sown is such as I have grown my car- 

 nations in during the winter. I have 

 planted at various depths and covered 

 some with the same soil, others with 

 fine sand, but all methods have failed. 

 The boxes have been covered with glass 

 and aired in the morning and evening, 

 and a good bottom heat has been main- 

 tained. The night temperature has 

 been about 60 degrees. Can you tell 

 me the cause of failure and, if possible, 

 suggest a remedy? J. G. B. 



With poor seeds, of course, you can- 

 not expect much success. Perhaps, 

 however, your seeds are all right and 

 the trouble is altogether in improper 

 soil a»d too deep covering. Carnation 

 soil is not at all suitable for seed sow- 

 ing; it contains loam and considerable 

 manure. Seeds require a light compost; 

 one which contains more leaf -mold than 

 loam is to be preferred, and to this is 

 added sand. The finer the seeds the 



Growth of the Early Hybrid Spencer Peas at the Dale Estate, Brampton, Ont. 



lighter the covering needed. In the 

 case of fine seeds, such as lobelia, be- 

 gonia and gloxinia, prepare your flats 

 and pans, and water through a fine rose 

 before sowing the seeds. Merely sprin- 

 kle a little fine sand over these. All 

 the other seeds you name must be cov- 

 ered lightly or they will germinate 

 poorly. It is an advantage to have the 

 surface rather sandy; there is then less 

 likelihood of slime forming, although 

 I like to sterilize soil for seed sowing. 

 This destroys all weed seeds, fungi 

 and soil pests. Your treatment after 

 sowing seems to have been all right. 

 C. W. 



PELARGONIUM LEAVES SPOTTED. 



Under separate cover I am sending 

 you some pelargonium leaves with 

 small, reddish brown spots on them. 

 The older leaves thus affected turn al- 

 most red, later brown and finally fall 

 off. Some time ago these plants had a 

 good many white flies on them, but I 

 got rid of them by using cyanide gas. 

 I thought it possible that the flies feed- 

 ing on the leaves had caused the spots. 

 Please tell me what the trouble is and 

 how to remedy it. J. N. S. 



The spots are due to the attacks of 

 the white fly, which you have not yet 

 fully mastered, as one of the leaves 

 forwarded was almost covered with 

 them. Another dose of gas will be nec- 

 essary to clean them out. Even this 



may not exterminate them, and so I 

 would advise giving another dose three 

 or four days later for any fresh ar- 

 rivals from unhatched eggs. Your fo- 

 liage is strong. Feed the plants with 

 a good fertilizer, or a mixture of soot 

 and bone, and they will soon overcome 

 the loss of foliage. C. W. 



SCALE ON ALTERNANTHERA. 



I am enclosing a branch of alternan- 

 thera, which you can see is covered 

 with scale. We have several thousands 

 of these plants, and all are more or less 

 affected by it. Can you suggest a rem- 

 edy which will destroy this scale with- 

 out harming the plants? Any advice 

 will be much appreciated. T. E. N. 



Scale on greenhouse plants is not 

 easy to get rid of, as doses which are 

 sufficiently strong to kill the scale will 

 usually disfigure the plants at the same 

 time. I have found Aphine a first-class 

 remedy for scale, and if you will se- 

 cure some and apply it according to 

 directions printed on each can, you will 

 kill and loosen the scales, although they 

 will not fall off, as will some other 

 pests. C. W. 



Auburn^ Neb. — Cyrus G. Milam, pro- 

 prietor of the Burlington View Green- 

 houses, has been having good success 

 with both vegetables and flowers this 

 winter. 



