March 11, 1900. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



II 



occasion to subject them to auy liard 

 forcing. Allow them to come along in a 

 night temperature of 52 to 55 degrees 

 and they will be all right. When they 

 show color, stand them in. a house kept a 

 few degrees cooler. Hydrangeas with 

 pots crammed with roots, in full growth, 

 can hardly be overwatered. On the first 

 signs of pale foliage use soot or nitrate 

 of soda in weak doses to color them up. 

 Plants for Memorial day will be start- 

 ing naturally before this time. They 

 should be afforded space in a cool, light 

 liouse. It will be difficult to give them 

 full justice, owing to the bench demands 

 of Easter stock, but do not stand them 

 under the benches, as is too often done. 

 Nothing but lanky, spindling plants 

 come from such treatment. If you have 

 no possible greenhouse space, prepare a 

 ooldframe of sufficient depth to afford 

 necessary headroom. Protect at nights 

 with mats and board shutters. These 

 Avill easily exclude any frost we are now 

 likely to get. Do not on any account 

 neglect the night protection. Any frost 

 now will mean a complete loss of flower 

 for the coming season. 



Look out for the young stock. The 

 early batches will be nicely established 

 in 3-inch pots now. Continue to pot up 

 successional batches as soon as the roots 

 are an inch in length. If you require 

 more plants, get a lot of cuttings in right 

 away. These will still grow into fine 

 jdants before fall, especially if pot 

 grown. 



Geraniums. 



The latest geranium cuttings should 

 ue potted off by this time. Keep them 

 rather warm until well rooted around the 

 pots. Later a temperature of 50 degrees 

 is ample. Geraniums are often spoiled 



J. A. Newsham's House of Onddium Splendidum. 



bj' being grown too warm. Just as many 

 are ruined by too much moisture on the 

 foliage and in the soil. 



With warmer weather growth is now 

 rapid and it often taxes one's ingenuity 

 to afford the plants the space they should 

 have. They will need spacing at least 

 once a week, if you want plants which 

 will do you full credit and bring top 

 prices. Keep all flower buds pinched off 

 as they appear and remove decaying foli- 

 age. Nothing prevents disease more than 

 perfect cleanliness. 



ONCft>IUM SPLENDIDUM. 



J. A. Newsham, of New Orleans, La., 

 thinks that Oncidium splendidum, one of 

 th ' Guatemalan varieties of the orchid, 

 is undoubtedly the finest oncidium for 

 cut flowers. The photograph wliich he 

 submitted, and which is herewith repro- 

 duced, seems likely to sustain him in that 

 opinion, since it shows a mass of flowers 

 which included, according to Mr. News- 

 liaiu's estimate, more than 3,000 fully 

 opened blooms. He says that the plants 

 were inii)orted last July, during their 

 growing season, and still they all flow- 

 ered, some having as many as fifty-three 

 flowers on a single spike. 



Oncidium splendidum, Mr. Newsham 

 says, is one of the easiest oncidiums to 

 grow. It is found growing on rf)eks in 

 full sun. During the rainy season, when 

 it makes its growth, there is almost a con- 

 tinuous stream of water running down 

 the rocks. After finishing its growth in 

 December, it gets no more laiu until 

 May, thus showing that it n-cjuires an 



orchid's season of rest, and plenty of 

 water while growing. 



It succeeds best in pans or baskets, 

 hung where they will receive plenty of 

 strong light all the year around. In its 

 native country it blooms in November. 

 It resembles Oncidium varicosum in the 

 lip, but is lighter, being a lemon yellow, 

 while rhe sepals and petals are larger 

 and arc pale yellow, blotched with choco- 

 late brown. It is not very plentiful in 

 its native country, and for that reason is 

 not often seen in Idrge quantities in cul- 

 tivation. 



DENDROBIUM NOBILE. 



Dendrobium nobile is one of the oldest 

 but still one of the most beautiful and 

 useful orchids in cultivation. Although 

 in cultivation for over seventy years, 

 there is no other orchid which can sur- 

 pass in beauty a well-grown and bloomed 

 specimen of D. nobile. At the present 

 time the plants, which completed their 

 growth in late fall, should be kept almost 



quite dry at the root. An occasional 

 syringing will furnish all the necessary 

 moisture. The flower nodes will now be 

 developing on the stems, and if much 

 moisture at the root is applied, these 

 nodes will develojd into little plants in- 

 stead of flowers. Continue the dryness 

 until you can see flower buds, when more 

 water can be given. While resting, a 

 cooler, sunny house is preferable to a 

 warm one. As the buds appear move back 

 to warmer quarters; 60 degrees at night 

 will answer well. The end of a rose 

 house has grown some of the finest den- 

 drobiums I ever saw, but a carnation 

 house will also answer for it. C. W. 



VHITE FLY. 



Kindly tell me what is the best remedy 

 for exterminating white fly. They work 

 chiefly on geraniums. J. M. 



The only thoroughly effective remedy 

 is fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas. 

 Frequent directions for the use of this 

 have been given in recent numbers of the 

 Review. If you do not care to try the 

 gas, you can greatly minimize the trouble 

 by syringing the plants twice or three 

 times a week with soap and water. I 

 find Ivory soap and Whale Oil soap arc 

 both effective. Use warm water of a 

 temperature of 100 to 120 degrees. 



C. W. 



BLACK FLY. 



In the greenhouse I have a lot of small 

 black flies. Are they harmful and what 

 can I do for them? I have smoked the 

 house twice a week with tobacco, but it 

 does not kill them. C. M. H. 



Black fly is easily destroyed, either by 

 fumigation or syringing with a nicotine 

 solution. You cannot have given a suffi- 

 ciently strong fumigation to clean them 

 out. Remember that in winter to keep 

 your plants clean you should either fumi- 

 gate or spray them once a week. If you 

 spray, get one of the various nicotine 

 extracts on the market. Directions for 

 spraying will be found on each bottle, 

 can or cask. C. W. 



Baltimoke, Md. — Harry Ekas will 

 erect a large greenhouse qn his property 

 on the Frederick road, liear Beechfield 

 avenue and opposite Athpl Heights. 



