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April 29, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



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CARNATION NOTES.— WEST. 



Potting Late Cuttings. 



If you still have some cuttings in the 

 propagating bench, do not allow them to 

 remain any longer than is absolutely 

 necessary. They will be late even at 

 best, and will need every possible en- 

 couragement to make fair plants for 

 housing next fall. Some varieties, with 

 a fair growing season, Avill make it all 

 right, but only the stronger growers will 

 do it. 



Varieties like Lady Bountiful or Vic- 

 tory will make only small plants unless 

 they are well established in pots by this 

 time. 



When potting cuttings this late in the 

 season, use the smallest pots you have, 

 2-inch or less. The smaller the pot the 

 quicker will the young plant establish 

 itself, and the sooner can the plant be 

 handled without breaking the ball. This 

 latter point is worth a great deal at 

 planting-out time. Pot in rather light 

 soil, as you want quick root action. 



The Young Plants. 



Of course you have been going over 

 the young plants regularly and topping 

 those which were advanced enough. We 

 like to have every plant topped when it 

 is planted out, as it saves considerable 

 labor. If the young breaks are just 

 showing the first leaves, we consider the 

 plants in perfect condition for planting. 

 When the breaks have grown long, there 

 is danger of their hardening off before 

 the plant gets under way again, and with 

 many varieties a sprawly plant will re- 

 sult. Instead of one crown with many 

 shoots, there will be several smaller 

 crowns hanging to the main stem. At 

 housing time there is much breaking off 

 of branches, and the plants will need 

 supporting early. That is why I have al- 

 ways advocated close topping at the be- 

 ginning. 



Water the young plants carefully and 

 watch for dry spots. When potbound 

 they will dry out rapidly on bright, 

 warm days. Repeated severe drying out 

 will cause them to harden, and the 

 breaks Mill come weaker and slower when 

 you top them. 



Did you put your young plants outside 

 in a coldframe a Aveck or two ago? If 

 you did, they will be in fine condition 

 to plant any time you can get the land 

 ready. If, iiowever, you have kept them 

 in the growing houses, do not be in too 

 big a rush to get them out. A frost 

 may not kill them, but no one has ever 

 convinced mo that it will do them any 

 good. A. F. J. Baur. 



VENTILATION. 



At present my employer is building a 

 carnation house 18x50, designed by a 

 landscape firm who are in charge of cer- 

 tain improvements which are being made 

 on this estate. The house in question is 

 designed not to have side ventilators; to 

 which I object, as I know the house will 



have to be used for various purposes in 

 spring and summer. But, for the sake 

 of argument, would not a house of the 

 above dimensions strictly for carnations 

 be better with side ventilators? The de- 

 signers claim that the best carnation 

 growers in New York state have no side 

 ventilators on their houses. This is a 

 point I have not seen discussed in the 

 Review, and would like to have some of 

 your readers' views on it. 



Hector MacDonald. 



kind. Especially is this true of manure 

 which has lain to rot outside, and has 

 been leached by the rains while rotting. 



A. F. J. B. 



AMERICAN CARNATION SOCIETY. 



F. Schramm, Park Eidge, 111., registers 

 new carnation Kathleen B. W., a sport 

 from Mrs. Thos. W. Lawson; color, light 

 pink; size, three inches. This registra- 

 tion is provisional, subject to the de- 

 cision of the judges at the next annual 

 meeting as to its distinctiveness. 



A. F. J. Baur, Sec'y- 



MANURE FOR MULCHING. 



Is well rotted cow manure better than 

 finely chopped fresher cow manure for 

 mulching carnations and roses? I mix 

 it with a double quantity of soil and run 

 through a coarse sieve. J. P. K. 



When cow manure is about half rotted 

 — that is, rotted enough to have lost its 

 rankness — it is in the best possible con- 

 dition for fertilizer. When mixed with 

 soil as you describe, it makes an ideal 

 mulching material for carnations, roses 

 or almost any other crop. Mixing it 

 with soil safeguards against an excess of 

 ammonia, which the soil will take up and 

 give off later, gradually. 



Cow manure which is well rotted can 

 be used alone and makes good mulch, 

 but has not the strength of the fresher 



RUDD'S WEED KILLER* 



The following is the weed killer for- 

 mula used by W. N. Eudd at Mt. Green- 

 wood Cemetery, Chicago: 



' ' Twenty pounds common arsenic, fif- 

 teen gallons water; boil fifteen minutes;, 

 thirty-five gallons cold water to be the» 

 added; forty pounds caustic soda; boil 

 till clear. For use dilute with four parts- 

 water to one part stock solution and ap- 

 ply after a rain or at least after the 

 walks and drives have been well' 

 sprinkled, as it does not penetrate to the 

 roots well when the roadway is dry- 

 Materials should be purchased in quaa- 

 tity from Mdiolesale druggists. The last 

 lot bought here was at the rate of 2 

 cents per pound for sixty per cent caustic 

 soda and 4^^ cents for arsenic, thus mak- 

 ing the cost of material less than 7-10 

 cent per gallon. 



* ' As in many other cases, prevention is 

 better than cure, and if applied when the 

 weeds are small much less material and 

 much less labor is needed. ' ' 



Reading, Pa. — Irvin H. Anderson, pro- 

 prietor of the Brookside Greenhouses, 

 will open a store in this city. 



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SEASONABLE 



SUGGESTIONS 



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Peonies. 



Peonies are now pushing up quite vig- 

 orously. The cool, moist, spring weather 

 hitherto enjoyed hasTieen much to their 

 liking, and a good crop of flowers should 

 bo vouchsafed us. Beds or nursery rows 

 of plants should havfe the soil stirred. 

 Any winter mulch will, of course, have 

 been removed before this time. Peonies 

 arc gross feeders, and they will be much 

 invigorated by a top -dressing of dried 

 blood or blood and bone now, hoeing the 

 ground over after applying it. It is a good 

 plan to give a second application of somo 

 quick-acting fertilizer, like sulphate of 

 ammonia or nitrate of soda, when the 

 buds appear. Keep the hoc or cultivator 

 constantly at work among the plants. It 

 will astonish you how much faster they 

 will grow than if left with a hard baked 

 surface. 



Lilies. 



Lilium longiflorum intended for Me- 

 morial day should now have the buds in 

 sight. Tliey will be in season if you can 

 count them a month before you want 

 them, growth now being much more rapid 



than before Easter. It will, of course, be 

 necessary to move forward plants to 

 cooler quart'Ors and backward ones to 

 more heat. Prices are somewhat lower 

 at the end of May, but it will pay you 

 to hold as many lilies as possible for 

 that time. 



Speciosums and auratums in pots or 

 boxes will now have stems of consider- 

 able length, and should be given a light 

 bench in a cool house. These lilies must 

 not be forced. An ordinary greenhouse 

 temperature will give you stocky plants. 

 Coddling tactics will make lanky stems 

 and simply ruin the plants. Aphis must 

 be guarded against. If it gets a good 

 foothold in the tops of the shoots, it will 

 mean a loss of many buds. Keep some 

 tobacco dust dropped on the tops, or 

 spray with some tobacco extract. -Fumi- 

 gation, now that the weather is so much 

 warmor, should be done on cool, damp 

 nights. Avoid it as much as possible on 

 warm nights. The higher the tempera- 

 ture, the greater the chances of injury 

 to tender foliage. 



Outdoor clumps of lilies will, or shouM 

 be well above ground now. A mulch of 



