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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Apbil 14. 1910. 



TO PREVENT SPLITTING. 



Noticing that there are a good many 

 references in the Beview to the splitting 

 of carnation calyxes, I thought that an 

 item or two from my experience might be 

 i/seful.- I find that if I run my houses 

 at a temperature of 42 to 44 degrees for 

 the first two nights after disbudding,"! 

 have extremely few split blooms — scarcely 

 five per cent. I also take this precau- 

 tion: For one week after I have fed my 

 carnations, whether with lime, mulch, 

 bone or sheep manure, I run my houses 

 at 42 to 44 degrees. This keeps the 

 plants from running too quickly to bud. 



Frank J. Veith. 



FERTILIZER MIXTURES. 



In a bulletin of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture published in 1905 the dan- 

 ger of indiscriminate mixing of fertiliz- 

 ing materials ,^as briefly explained, and 

 a diagram was( given (reproduced in the 

 Keview^ of July 20, 1905) which indicat- 

 ed what combinations may be safely 

 made of some of the more common fertil- 

 izing materials. The present illustration 

 is a somewhat more elaborate diagram of 

 the same kind, including, in addition to 

 the materials shown in the simpler dia- 

 gram, bone meal and the new nitrog- 

 enous fertilizers, lime nitrogen (calcium 

 cyanamid) and Norwegian nitrate (basic 

 calcium nitrate), prepared from the nitro- 

 gen of the air. In this diagram the 

 dark lines unite materials which should 

 never be mixed, the double lines those 

 which should be applied immediately aft- 

 er mixing, and the single lines those 

 which may be mixed at any time. 



SOILS AND FERTILIZERS. 



The National Council of Horticulture 

 says there is no soil so poor that it can- 

 not be made to grow flowers, vegetables, 

 shrubs and trees well, if properly treated. 



Successful cultivation demands two 

 things — a good mechanical condition of 

 the soil, and richness. The first is really 

 as important as the second, or even 



and allow the rain to wash it in grad- 

 ually. If the soil has been cultivated 

 before and has plenty of decayed vege- 

 table matter in it, excellent results may 

 be had with artificial fertilizers. 



Bone is good, but it is not a complete 

 fertilizer. Wood ashes should be used 

 with caution, as the large amount of 

 lime they contain may do mischief. The 

 best is what is known as a complete fer- 

 tilizer. Ask when you buy it how to 

 use it and never use more than the di- 

 rections permit. A light sprinkling over 

 the soil after spading or plowing, and 

 then raked in, is best. Chemical fertil- 

 izers are strong and will kill or injure 

 plants if used to excess. 



A USE FOR SWEET PEAS. 



The immense popularity of the sweet 

 pea as a vase and bouquet flower is a 

 thing apart from its fame as an exhib- 

 itor's blossom. There is another manner 

 in which it is entitled to be highly valued, 

 however, and that is as a garden orna- 

 ment. 



Instead of viewing an annual that re- 

 quires to climb as an untidy grower, let 

 us see what can be done to show' it off 

 to the best advantage,— and yet make it 

 add to the effect of the pleasure grounds. 

 To begin with, banish the usual pea 

 stick ; it is the too wide practice of train- 

 ing sweet peas upon this that has aaused 

 it to be relegated to the kitchen garden, 

 or placed in rows and groups in reserve 

 beds. Single plants tied up to a slender 

 bamboo cane each make excellent pillars, 

 and enable the real grace and beauty of 

 stem, foliage and bloom to be fully ap- 

 preciated. It should be remembered that 

 Mr. Brotherston, a noted Scottish grower, 

 gave similar advice some yearS ago. He 

 counseled: "Grow the plants singly, al- 

 lowing each plenty of room. If you are 

 able to get plenty of good loam, allow 

 each plant one and a half barrowfuls, 

 and of leaf -soil half a barrowful, incor- 

 porating these with the top spit of the 

 garden soil." 



In no other way can the sweet pea 



Superphosphate. 



Thomas slag. 



Ammonium sulphate. 



Lime nilropen (cal- 

 cium cyanamid). 



Potash salts 



Barnyard manure 

 and guano. 



Norwegian nitrato 

 (basic calcium 

 nitrate). 



Kainit, 



Nitrato of soda 



Bone meal. 

 Diagram Indicating what Fertilizer Materiak May and May Not be Safely Mixed. 



more important. Given a soil in good 

 mechanical condition, it is simply neces- 

 sary to work in the proper amount of 

 well decayed manure at planting time. 



Never dig fresh manure into the soil 

 just before planting. If you have none 

 which is well rotted, and cannot get any, 

 then spread the fresh manure thinly on 

 top of the ground, between the plants, 



plant be fully shown as an individual in- 

 stead of a member of a crowd. Those 

 cultivators who wish to discover whether 

 certain varieties that seem much alike 

 really possess points of difference, cannot 

 do better than adopt this method. Rows 

 of bamboo-trained sweet peas, the pillars 

 wide apart, make a beautiful background 

 to a border of low-growing annuals 



against a fence, or not far from the wall 

 or trellis covered by roses, or may occupy 

 the middle row of borders and long- 

 shaped beds in the open. — Gardeners' 

 Magazine. 



SOLANUM JASMINOIDES. 



The accompanying illustration shows a 

 plant of Solanum jasminoides which was 

 planted against a chicken coop five years 

 ago in Sequel, Cal., and which now al-. 

 most covers the building. It is locally 

 known as the potato vine and is in bloom 

 practically the year through, though the 

 heaviest bloom is seen in the spring and 

 summer months. It seems to be im- 

 mune from insect pests and is a most 

 satisfactory vine under such conditions 

 as prevail on the southern Pacific coast. 



RHINEBECK'S VIOLET OUTPUT. 



How many violets does Rhinebeck pro- 

 duce in a season? It is a question often 

 asked. 



The estimates vary greatly, but one of 

 the means of guessing at the figure is 

 supplied by the Violet Growers' Associa- 

 tion, which reports having used approxi- 

 mately 100,000 corrugated pasteboard 

 boxes during 'the season now closing, the 

 boxes having been supplied by the Fort 

 Wayne Corrugated Paper Co. The aver- 

 age box contains 2,500 violets, rather 

 more than less. Therefore, the boxes of 

 the Rhinebeck Violet Growers' Associa- 

 tion have carried away at least 25,000,000 

 violets this season. The secretary of the 

 association states that the association 

 handles about ninety-five per cent^of all 

 the boxes used in the vicinity. /On this 

 basis the output of the district would be 

 not less than 26,000,000 or 27,000,000 

 flowers for the season. / 



NAME OF FLOWER. 



I am sending you a bud of some kind 

 of lily. If you place it in water I think 

 it will bloom out full. A friend of mine 

 brought the bulbs from near the Andes 

 mountains, in South America. He was 

 in search of orchids. Can you name the 

 variety for mef C. P. M. 



The flower belongs to the amarylli- 

 daceae family, but as it arrived in a 

 withered condition its name could not 

 be determined. It is evidently a hand- 

 some and desirable bulbous plant. 



C. W. 



NEW YORK. 



The Market. 



The market is convalescent. Saturday 

 it sat up and took notice. Monday there 

 were symptoms of renewed health. The 

 worst is over, but it was a close call. If 

 a halt had not come to the depressing 

 conditions, we would now be writing its 

 obituary. The. weather has been much 

 cooler. One night there was even a touch 

 of frost. The week opens encouragingly. 

 The normal spring temperature contin- 

 ues. The change is a most welcome one 

 to the seedsmen and nurserymen, who are 

 simply swamped with orders. A week of 

 summer heat in March and early April 

 was too much to bear. 



There is little change of prices in the 

 cut flower market. A few selected Beau- 

 ties touch 20 cents, and in quantity the 

 same quality later in the day will go for 

 10 cents. So it is with all varieties, and 

 even yet the boxes go at far below their 

 valu;e. The street has about everything 

 to offer, except orchids. JuiSt now the 

 lilac has the center of the stage. The 



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