56 



The Florists' Review 



Afbil 2, 1914. 



SWEET PEA FOLIAGE SCOBCHED. 



I am enclosing some sweet pea and 

 other leaves^ and some insects with 

 which they are infested, and would like 

 to know the cause of the drying out 

 of the leaves. If the insect is causing 

 this trouble, please tell me the habits 

 of the insect and how to destroy it.\ 

 I have used carbon bisulphide for 

 fumigating, and thought perhaps this 

 might have caused the injury. 



H. F. 



each year, and a liberal application of 

 well rotted cow or horse manure should 

 be applied. In your case, if the crop 

 is a failure, I would suggest that you 

 lime well, turn the ground over roughly, 

 and then leave it uncropped until 

 planting time for the peas in the early 

 fall, unless you may wish to use the 

 house for tomatoes or some other veg- 

 Vetable crop, which would give the soil 

 a needed change and would put it in 

 much better condition for sweet peas 

 next season. C. W. 



The sweet pea and other foliage had 

 a scorched appearance, such as might 

 have come from a too heavy fumiga- 

 tion. The insects forwarded would not 

 cause it; they do no great amount of 

 damage. Liming the soil freely after 

 this crop is cleared will clean most of 

 them out. Was the carbon bisulphide 

 evaporated in the house or in the 

 ground? It can be used in either way. 

 As the fumes descend, it is necessary 

 in fumigating a house to have the re- 

 ceptacles, into which the liquid is to 

 be poured, well elevated. Half a tea- 

 spoonful poured into holes four to six 

 inches deep, a foot apart each way, 

 will kill soil pests and will not harm 

 the plants. Of course, an overdose 

 would prove harmful. C. W. 



SWEET PEA VINES DYING. 



My sweet peas are all dying. They 

 grow three feet, begin to bloom, and 

 then the roots rot off. What can I dof 

 The ground was changed last June, 

 and I wonder whether it is the fault 

 of the seed. Having ground beds, I 

 always change the soil down to the 

 clay, which is porous and drains well. 

 This bed has been used about ten years 

 and the ^p soil has - been changed 

 every year, but it seems to turn red, 

 like red paint oozing out. Is it possi- 

 ble that this is caused by nitrates ris- 

 ing from the subsoil! I have used 

 lime, but without effect. G. O. K. 



The soil is evidently sour and un- 

 guited to sweet pea culture when they 

 die in the* jnanitor described. Lime 

 applied after the trouble had once 

 started would be of no value. If you 

 have used these beds for sweet peas 

 for as long as ten years, and have 

 merely changed the top soil, it is not 

 surprising that trouble has started, for 

 sweet peas do not, as a rule, succeed in 

 the same soil year after year unless 

 some other crop is grown there part 

 of the year. One or two successful 

 sweet pea growers who have big, wide, 

 lofty houses never change their soil, 

 but either grow violets in midwinter, 

 following with tomatoes and then sweet 

 peas for a winter crop, or merely run 

 sweet peas and follow with tomatoes. 

 The ground should be deeply spaded 



SWEET PEAS BRANCHING OUT. 



I would like to know the reason for 

 my sweet peas branching out so much 

 instead of running up strings. They 

 are about twelve inches high and one 

 inch apart in the rows. The tempera- 

 ture is from 50 to 55 degrees at night. 

 I also have some Spencer varieties. 



pK/ye HU 



Beds ArouDd a Sun Dial. 



which are about three inches apart. 

 The soil is fairly rich. H. C. B. 



Your sweet peas are doing all right, 

 and you have no cause to worry over 

 them. It would have been better if 

 your plants had been four or five inches, 

 instead of one inch, apart. Plants ^hich 

 branch near the ground are sure to give 

 you a wealth of flowers later. The soil 

 must be tolerably rich for sweet peas, 

 and just as soon as your plants show 

 any signs of a lack of plant food,* apply 

 it either in the form of liquid manure 

 or^ as top-dressings of sheep, manure, 

 cow mshrtT* or bone. Do not let the 

 night temperature go over 50 degrees; 

 55 degrees is too high and will make 

 the growths waak. C. W. 



I have tried pansies in it," but they did 

 not do well. Will you suggest some an- 

 nuals that will succeed there t 



D. 0. L. 



There are no annuals which you can 

 sow in such a bed and depend upon to 

 flower through the summer. Pansies 

 are, of course, only good in late spring 

 and early summer. To keep them alive 

 they must have plenty of water. Fi- 

 brous-rooted begonias of the Vernon and 

 Erfordii types are persistent bloomers 

 and succeed well in either sunshine or 

 shade; tuberous-rooted begonias are 

 also excellent in a. shaded position. If 

 they can have a mulch of well decayed 

 manure and an occasional soaking of 

 water they will do all the better. 



0. W. 



PLANTS FOB FORMAL BEDS. 



I enclose a rough sketch of four small 

 beds, each 5x8, around a sundial. Will 

 you suggest how to plant these so they 

 will look attractive all summer t We have- 

 hot, dry weather here, in central Ala- 

 bama, but can water freely. The beds- 

 are now planted with hyacinths and I 

 will plant . pansies next week. I want 

 to follow the pansies with something 

 that will Btand our hot summers. In 

 making your suggestions, please state- 

 the number of plants, as I shall have 

 to buy them. F. B. 



PLANTS FOE A SHADY BED. 



I have a flower bed situated in an 

 angle of the greenhouse, which is shady 



Your diagram is reproduced herewith, 

 so that the beds may be referred to by 

 number. Geraniums would make a good 

 showing in your beds, but your climate 

 would be a little too hot for them. Can- 

 nas would be the most satisfactory flow- 

 ering plants you could have, as they are 

 perpetual bloomers. They need a deep^ 

 rich soil. If beds No. 1 and No. 3 were 

 planted with Canna King Humbert,, 

 orange scarlet with bronze foliage, and 

 if No. 2 and No. 4 were planted with 

 Canna Gladiator or Richard Wallace, 

 yellow with green foliage, you would 

 have an attractive arrangement. Yoi> 

 could use a border of Coleus Golden 

 Bedder around the red cannas and 

 Coleus Verschaffeltii or Hero for the 

 yellow beds. Use twenty-five canna» 

 and forty coleus in each bed. The can- 

 nas will grow four and one-half to five 

 feet high. 



If lower growing plants are preferred^ 

 plant No. 1 and No. 3 with Acalypha 

 Macafeana, forty plants in a bed, with 

 a border of Alternanthera aurea nana, 

 fifty plants. Plant No. 2 and No. 4 

 with Lyons coleus bordered with Al- 

 ternanthera brilliantissima. using the 

 same numbers of plants as in No. 1 and 

 No. 3. 



Still another combination could be 

 had by using Vinca alba in No. 1 and 

 No. 3 and Vinca rosea in No. 2 and No. 

 4, using sixty plants in each bed, with 

 borders of Alternanthera aurea nana 

 for the rose-colored bed and A. amoena 

 rosea for the white one. 0. W. 



A NEW BBUNSWICK PLANT. 



It was only about a year and a half 

 ago, September 7, 1912, to be exact, 

 that William Federsen dissolved part- 

 nershk) with his brother and discon- 

 5 tinueu the firm so long known as 

 W. & K. Pedersen, at St. John, New 

 Brunswick. Shortly afterward he 

 opened a large store at the earner of 

 Charlotte and Princess streets, in the 

 same city. This is said now to be the 

 largest flower store in eastern Canada. 



