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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



April 22, 1909. 



CARNATION NOTES.- WEST. 



Bench Soil for Next Season. 



There is one thing you are apt to for- 

 get, or neglect, during the rush of get- 

 ting ready for spring trade. Of course 

 you are crowded with work, and anything 

 that can be left undone, apparently, with- 

 out serious loss, is left for the present. 

 One job, however, which it never pays to 

 neglect is caring for the soil for your 

 benches for next season. I presume you 

 have it on the place and that it is piled 

 up, with manure added as it was put up 

 last fall. If so, it should now be turned 

 over and broken up. Unless you have 

 had more rain than we have had during 

 the last few weeks, it will be in good 

 condition to handle and no time should 

 be lost. After you get through planting 

 in the field and through the bedding sea- 

 son, you will want to begin benching 

 roses and mums, immediately following 

 them up with your carnations. So, you 

 see, unless you get it done before you 

 begin planting in the field, you will get 

 no chance to do it at all. 



Next to having good plants to bench, 

 the most important thing is to have good 

 soil to plant them in. Perhaps I should 

 not say good soil, but soil in good condi- 

 tion. The best of soil, if handled im- 

 properly, will not grow good stock. 



A Help in Rainy 'Weather. 



If the weather does not remain steady 

 long enough to permit working the soil, 

 you can help matters by laying some sash 

 over as much of the pile as you can turn 

 in two or three days. Always keep that 

 much covered ahead of you and you will 

 need to stop working only while it rains. 

 Hotbed sash is more satisfactory than 

 boards, as the soil will dry more quickly 

 under them when the sun shines. 



If you have no soil provided, you will 

 do well to get it on the place at once. 

 Take more soil and less sod than you 

 would have done last fall. If possible, 

 turn the pile as soon as you finish haul- 

 ing, to get the soil and manure mixed 

 thoroughly. It will take more work to 

 get this soil in proper shape than soil 

 which is hauled in the fall. You have 

 not the frosts and the time to aid you 

 in getting it properly decomposed and 

 incorporated. 



If you merely plowed and manured a 

 plot from which you expect to take your 

 soil, you need not worry at present, 

 though you must not forget it altogether. 

 Plow it as soon as it is in good condi- 

 tion, and again as often as seems ad- 

 visable to keep it loose and mellow. This 

 need not be piled up nor hauled until it 

 is put onto the benches. A. F. J. B. 



YELLOW SPOTS ON FOLIAGE. 



I am sending some specimens of my 

 carnation plants. Within the last few 

 days the ends •• of the new shoots have 

 taken on this yellow-spotted appearance, 

 and in most cases have dried at the tips. 

 I have never had anything like it before 



and am at a loss to know the cause. The 

 buds that are growing and maturing look 

 all right and the blossoms are fine. I 

 have been feeding the last few weeks 

 with liquid fertilizer, but not in excess. 

 It is the same fertilizer as I use every 

 year. I use Nico-fume to fumigate with 

 and can find no trace of insects. 



I. E. L. 



The specimens mentioned did not ar- 

 rive and S(5 I cannot say with any cer- 

 tainty what ails your carnation plants. 

 From your description I would judge that 

 it is stigmonoa^ that is causing your 

 trouble. This Is quite possible, in spite 

 of the fact thaKjou can find no insects 

 present. If your stock has been infested 

 at any time within the last two seasons 

 — last year before the cuttings were taken 

 from which these plants grew, or any 

 time this season — it may be the cause of 

 your present trouble. That it has not 

 shown during the dark days of last win- 

 ter and is cropping out now, can be ac- 

 counted for in the feeding you have done 

 recently. Excessive watering or feeding 

 will always aggravate this trouble. 



Sometimes we find a plant which turns 

 yellow in the young growth, but not in 



spots. These plants seem to have lost all 

 their vitality, and gradually shrink away 

 to almost nothing. Such cases are rare, 

 however, and we have never been able to 

 discover the cause. Perhaps your trouble 

 is identical with this one. A. F. J. B. 



LOSS OF LOWER FOLIAGE. 



What is the cause of my Enchantress 

 drying up, with dead leaves at the bot- 

 tom? I noticed it about March 1. Do 

 you think I do not water enough, or too 

 heavily? W. R. D. 



Your Enchantress may be planted too 

 close on the bench, causing a lack of air 

 circulating between them. If they are 

 at all crowded it will be only natural for 

 them to lose the lower foliage. Then, 

 again, if your plants were large last fall 

 and the lower stems have become woody, 

 it would be natyral for the foliage to 

 dry up. Lack of water would perhaps 

 aggravate the trouble somewhat. Carna- 

 tions enjoy liberal watering when the 

 days get longer. Ventilation is carried 

 more freely and evaporation is more 

 rapid than it was two months ago. 



A. F. J. B. 



CARNATION MARY TOLMAN. 



Carnation Mary Tolman is a salmon 

 pink variety that made its first appear- 

 ance at the national flower show and 

 which looked specially good at the an- 

 nual carnation exhibition of the Chicago 

 Florists' Club. It is a Chicago variety, 

 having been raised by A. E. Hunt & Co., 

 at Evanston, who are growing quite a 



Carnation Mary Tolman. 



