14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



OCTOBEU 27, 1910. 



SPLIT CALYXES. 



I have some Winsor, Victory and 

 White Perfection carnations which 

 split when they are about half open. 

 Please tell me the cause and what to 

 do. They are fine, healthy plants. 



H. L. S. 



Splitting of the calyx is usually 

 caused by uneven temperature, some 

 varieties being more easily affected 

 than others. During this unseasonable 

 weather, with bright, warm days and 

 cool nights, unless a little artificial heat 

 is employed the extremes are apt to be 

 a little more than the calyxes can stand. 

 Look after your temperatures a little 

 more closely and you will probably find 

 the trouble disappearing in time. 



A. F. J. B. 



GRUBWOEMS IN BENCH SOIL. 



How can I destroy the grubworms in 

 the soil in my carnation benches? When 

 cutting off my carnations I watched and 

 picked out as /fiany of the worms as I 

 " " " ' ~ were in the soil when 

 the house some time 

 E. T. O. 



could find. T 

 I brought it i 

 ago. 



The most commonly used means for 

 the destruction of grubworms in the soil 

 is air-slaked lime. Sprinkle it on the 

 soil and water it in. Use enough to 

 cover the soil, but not too heavily, and 

 scratch it in before you water. 



I would advise you to write to the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washing- 

 ton, D. C, and get the following bulle- 

 tins: Farmers' Bulletin No. 145 and 

 Bulletin No. 27, new series, revised edi- 

 tion, by F. H. Crittenden. In these two 

 bulletins you will find a lot of valuable 

 information about grubs of many kinds 

 and about other pests. A. F. J. B. 



THRIPS ON ENCHANTRESS. 



We are enclosing a partly opened bud 

 of an Enchantress carnation, which is 

 affected with some kind of disease that 

 we are unable to identify. The plants 

 were benched in the latter part of June, 

 from 21^ -inch pots, in fresh compost on 

 the south bench of an east-and-west 

 liouse, with continuous ventilation on 

 the south side of the ridge. We have 

 had exceptionally warm weather for 

 the last three or four weeks, the temper- 

 ature ranging from 70 to 90 degrees. 

 We were troubled considerably by this 

 disease last season throughout the house. 

 Ft seemed to spread more rapidly as 

 warm weather came on. We carry a 

 night temperature of 55 to 58 degrees. 

 This is the first appearance of the dis- 

 ease this season, and we should like to 

 know what we can do to prevent its 

 spreading. W.F. C. 



The trouble of which you complain is 

 not a disease, but a pest. Your plants 

 are infested with thrips. These columns 



have frequently contained directions for 

 destroying these insects, and you can 

 find aJl the information you need by 

 looking through your back numbers. For 

 instance, see the issue of April 21, page 

 12. Tobacco, or rather nicotine, applied 

 in the most available form, is all you 

 need to clean them out. A. F. J. B. 



A CHECK IN GROWTH. 



I never had a finer lot of carnation 

 plants at benching timie than I had the 

 first week of August. To all appear- 

 ances they were all right. About the 

 time the buds began to come, however, 

 they seemed to be badly affected by 

 rust. The buds came on short stems. 

 Often the main bud turned brown and 

 dried up, but the laterals came all right, 

 except in size. The blooms had a sleepy 

 look. The Enchantress were the worst, 

 the others being only slightly affected. 

 My soil was mixed as usual, and the 

 conditions, as far as I could see, were 

 the same as in former years, with the 

 exception that the weather was un- 

 usually hot. The house was well ven- 

 tilated and the plants were sprayed 

 from three to four times per week in 

 bright weather. The soil was moderately 

 wet, but by no means all the time. There 

 is no red spider or thrips that I can see. 

 There is a water pressure of 100 pounds. 

 The flowers have been of good size and 

 are now coming on long stems. As this 

 is my first experience of the kind, I am 

 puzzled. What seems to be the matter, 

 and what is the remedy? W. C. S. 



Judging from your description of the 

 behavior of your plants, I am inclined 

 to think that about the only thing the 

 matter with them was a severe check at 

 planting time. The extreme heat might 



be to blame for that. Cooler weather 

 will likely improve that sleepy appear- 

 ance you complain of. A. F. J. B. 



MUSHROOMS OR TOADSTOOLS? 



Last season I continually had trouble 

 with toadstools, or something resem- 

 bling toadstools, which grew in the soil 

 on some of my benches, among my car- 

 nations. They were white, or sometimes 

 brownish white, and some were very 

 large. They seemed to appear suddenly 

 during the night. I kept pulling them 

 out, but they continued to come. Now 

 they have again started. Please tell 

 me what causes these, how they may be 

 checked and what harm they can do. 

 They have a peculiar and rather offen- 

 sive odor. I am anxious to get rid of 

 them before firing begins in earnest. 

 E. H. 



The toadstools you complain of are 

 one of the varieties of fungi to which 

 belong the many edible sorts of mush- 

 rooms. Perhaps it is the common Agari- 

 cus campestris and, if it is, you are for- 

 tunate rather than otherwise. Many 

 growers plant the spawn of this mush- 

 room between their carnations in a lim- 

 ited way, and thereby get what is con- 

 sidered a dainty dish for the home table. 



Before you use any of them, however, 

 I would advise you to consult someone 

 who is versed in mushrooms, to make 

 sure that it is not one of the poisonous 

 varieties. 



One way of identifying the edible 

 kind, it is said, is by peeling them. Ac- 

 cording to this theory, a toadstool never 

 peels, but breaks. Take hold of the 

 upper skin at the edge and draw upward 

 and toward the center. If the skin will 

 strip off readily, it is supposed to be the 

 edible kind. 



The spawn of these fungi are usually 

 introduced into the soil in the manure 

 which is added to the compost. You 

 will find it difficult to destroy the spawn 

 in the soil, and that would be the only 

 means of getting rid of them. A heavy 

 coat of lime might help. They do the 

 plants no harm that I have ever dis- 

 covered, unless they lift them out of the 

 soil. A. F. J. B. 



LEAF-MINER ON MUMS. 



We are sending you some chrysanthe- 

 mum leaves which are eaten by some 

 sort of worm, apparently inside the 

 leaves. Please tell us where they come 

 from and what is the best way of get- 

 ting rid of them. Our chrysanthemums 

 were in fine condition and the foliage 

 was perfect until ten days ago; now 

 about one-quarter of the foliage is de- 

 stroyed. E. H. & S. 



The trouble is caused by Tephritis 

 onopordinis, commonly known as the 

 celery fly or leaf -miner. The fly lays 

 an egg in the chrysanthemum leaf, be- 

 tween the outer and inner skin of the 

 leaf, and when the larya begins to eat 

 it simply eats out the chlorophyl, leav- 



ing merely the two skins on the leaf 

 to protect itself. No tobacco solution 

 is strong enough to kill this pest. 

 Poisons are equally useless, since it 

 sucks only the inside of the leaf. The 

 only remedy I know of is to pick off all 

 leaves that would not be particularly 

 missed and then squeeze the worms, 

 which can be seen working in the leaf, 

 and destroy them that way. 



Chas. H. Totty. 



KATYDIDS ON MUMS. 



Enclosed you will find a bug that we 

 found crawling among the leaves of our 

 chrysanthemums. It is one of several 

 that we have found this summer, and, 

 as it is a new bug to us, we have killed 

 all we have found. It has just occurred 



