Septembek 8, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Bed spider may appear near the heating 

 mains, but not if the spray nozzle is 

 used judiciously. Aphis must be kept 

 in check by weekly fumigations with 

 tobacco dust, tobacco stems or nicotine 

 extract. A mild dose once a week will 

 keep the house clean. I like nicotine 

 extract, as it does not leave any dis- 

 agreeable odor on the flowers, as the 

 stems do. 



On dull days in winter keep the tern- t 

 perature 55 to 58 degrees.| On bright 

 days it can run from 60 to 65 degrees, 

 with ventilation. Do not grow the 

 rows too close together; the farther 

 apart they are, the better will the 

 plants sucker out from near the base. 

 C. W. 



MUM COMMITTEES GET BUSY. 



Although President Elmer D. Smith, 

 of the Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America, has not yet appointed the 

 city committees to judge the season's 

 novelties in mums, he has set some 

 work for them to do and is putting it 

 up to the last year's committees. Be- 

 fore the Cincinnati committee August 27 

 his firm, E. D. Smith & Co., Adrian, 

 Mich., exhibited Smith's Advance, an 

 extremely early white, Japanese re- 

 flex, which was scored as follows: 



Color 18 Foliage 10 



Form 12 Substance 13 



Fullness 10 Size 8 



Stem 15 — 



Total 86 



SMITH'S NEW WHITE MUM. 



At the S. A. F. convention at Eoches- 

 ter, August 16 to 19, one of the smaller 

 exhibits, but one which nevertheless 

 attracted much attention, was a vase 

 of the white chrysanthemum shown in 

 the accompanying illustration. It is 

 Smith's Advance. The color is white 

 and the variety is in this class what 

 Golden Glow is among yellows. For 

 those who have use for early chrysan- 

 themums, it brings the opening of the 

 season for whites several weeks ahead 

 of the previous date. 



Since the convention the variety has 



Chrysanthemum Smith's Advance. 



been exhibited before a number of flo- 

 rists' clubs, at Detroit August 29 the 

 local florists' organization there hav- 

 ing an excellent vase of it and giying 

 it special commendation. 



mM 



SCALE ON FERNS. 



We are sending you a fern leaf which 

 has some small, white object on the 

 under side of it. Please tell us what it 

 is and a remedy for it. S. F. C. 



The insect on the fern leaf is one of 

 the scale insects, which do much injury 

 to ferns and are not easy to dispose of. 

 The white dots are the young insects, 

 and as they mature they turn to flat 

 scales of a light brown color. 



It would be best to cut oflP all leaves 

 that are as badly infested as the speci- 

 men forwarded, and then to dip the 

 plants in a solution of Kose Leaf Ex- 

 tract of tobacco, using the solution in 

 the proportion of one part of the ex- 



tract to fifty parts of water, and repeat- 

 ing the dipping after a week has 

 passed. This dip may injure the tips 

 of the young leaves slightly, but a 

 weaker solution would not do much 

 good. W. H. T. 



CAEE OF HOUSE FERNS. 



We should like to know about the care 

 of ferns, ordinary varieties, in a store 

 or house. What food would you recom- 

 mend for ferns, palms, etc.? F. S. 



The chief point in the care of ferns 

 in a store or house is to see that they 

 are kept moist, taking into considera 

 tion the fact that the atmosphere of a 



dwelling is much drier than that of a 

 greenhouse, and consequently the plants 

 are likely to require water more fre- 

 quently. There is also more or less dust 

 in the atmosphere, and as this settles 

 on the plants it closes the pores of the 

 leaves, making it necessary to give the 

 plants either a sponging or a good dip- 

 ping in a tub of water about once a 

 week, or sometimes oftener. 



Potbound palmn and Boston ferns may 

 be fed once in two weeks with manure 

 water or solution of dried blood, the 

 latter being used in the proportion of 

 one ounce to two gallons of water, but 

 either of these fertilizers has an ob- 

 jectionable odor, so that it is not well 

 to use them in the house. A weak solu- 

 tion of sulphate of ammonia may also 

 be used for this purpose, at the rate of 

 an ounce of the sulphate to three gallons 

 of water, and this preparation has lit- 

 tle or no odor. W. H. T. 



TO PREVENT REVERSION. 



What can be done to prevent Nephrol- 

 epis Whitmani and like varieties of 

 ferns from returning to the Boston? 



F. S. 



From the fact that Nephrolepis 

 Whitmani and several other varieties 

 are simply sports or variations from the 

 Boston fern, there is always some ri?k 

 of reversion, and little can be doic to 

 prevent this, except to select crrefuUy 

 when propagating and then to keep the 

 stock growing freely. W. H. T. 



