12 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Si;i'ti:mbeu 21, 1911. 



atoski (lomcntia scril»eiKlioriiiiii? 1 

 siiiiply told him 1 VI liavo to talk with 

 you a little iiiorc about it and let it 

 rest as it was. What ] want is some 

 geraniums and verbenas and asparagus 



vine, but how am I to get them from 

 a man who wants to show me spirillium 

 trichinosis and omnia gallia divisa and 

 hinc illae lachrymae, and all that?" — 

 Chicago Evening Post. 



UNDRIED BLOOD AS FERTILIZER. 



Will you jilcase iiifonn ju'- whetlier 

 blood, fresh I'roiii the slaughter liuusc 

 is a gudd jdant food for carnations and 

 niuiiis.' In what jiroportion should it lie 

 usihI with water.' Any information will 

 be apiirei'iatcd. (i. N. < !. 



Fresh blood from the slaughter house 

 would not be a good fertilizer to use on 

 \our benclies. In that state it would 

 be weak in fertilizer and at the same 

 time likely to sour your scdl. If you 

 can arrange to put it througli a ra'iiid 

 drying process, the dry substance 

 would make a good i)lant food. Eva]io 

 ration would 1)0 too slow a process to 

 be profitable, and to rig up a plant for 

 drying it by heat would prol)ably cost 

 you more than your needs woidd war- 

 rant. However, if you wish to install 

 such a ]ilant I would suggest that you 

 consult :^omeono who is experienced in 

 that ]\no of work. You do not need 

 mu(di dried blood to give your jdants all 

 they can use, and my advice to you 

 would bt' to buy it in a dried state, be- 

 lieving tliat you will find it cho'aper 

 ill the i'U(] and more satisfactorv. 



A. F.'.I. B. 



DISEASED WINSORS. 



I am sending you tindir separate 

 co\ cr some stems of my \V'insor carna- 

 tion jdants. which are alVected witli 

 some sort of disease. Will you please 

 t(dl nu- wh;it the disease is, with the 

 causes and the remedy? The samjdes 

 whirh J am sending are amonsr the 

 worst, so you can phiinlv see what niv 

 trouble is.' ' ,\. C. TT. " 



'i'he dise.-ise which is attacking your 

 Winsors is the same that drove alf the 

 l-awson varietic'^ from a nund)er of 

 places some years ago. These varieties 

 seem to be especially subject tti it> 

 ra^■ages. Jt is of a fungfud n.ature and 

 sliould l)e tre.'ited in the same way as all 

 tlie sjiot dist'ases. e.xcejd that it does 

 not seem to yield to treatment as 

 readily a-; 7no>t of the other>. As ,\ou 

 will notice, it attacks the stem in most 

 ca^(\s. instead of the more tender leaxcs. 



First I would cut off all the stems 

 that are affected, cutting them at least 

 a full joint below the affe(d(>d jiart. 

 Then sjiray the plants he.avily with Bor 

 deaux mixture once each week. Keeji 

 the water from the foliage :is much as 

 l>ossil)lo ;is long as no red sjiider threat 

 ens. Dusting the jdants with (irape 

 ]>ust will ludji to keep it down. Wlien 

 you begin firing, paint one of the steam 

 pipes witli a paste made of sulpliur. 

 lime and water, using the sulphur and 

 lime in equal ])roportions. 



You Avill need eonsideralde jierse- 

 verance in combating this disease, as it 



1^ "Ue 111 the most stubborn of its kind. 

 When you see a stem with one of the 

 spots on it, you might just as well cut 

 it olf at once, and sa\(> others that may 

 not lie affected as vet. ]iurn ;ill vou 

 '•"f "ff. ■ A. F J. B. 



USE OF SOFT-WOOD ASHES. 



1 write to ask you whether 1 can use 

 muriate of jiotash or suliihate of potash 

 in ]>lace of wood ashes. If so, how 

 much ouglit I to use at a time on a 

 bench 1x10(1 feet, for carnations a^ 

 mums? I can not get good ashes here, 

 as there is so mu(di soft wood in them. 

 1 can get soft pine and cedar ashes for 

 nothing, only j>aying for the cartage, 

 l>ut the time spent iu jnitting these 

 ashes on the bench is worth more than 

 the,})en(^fit derived bv the plants. 



G. A. R. 



I have an idea that .vou underestimate 

 the value of those soft-wood ashes. Of 

 cours(^ they do not contain as high a 

 percentage of potash as those from hard 

 wood, but tliey do contain enough to 

 make them valuable. Simply ])Ut on 

 more of them and .vou will get the same 

 l)enefit. You will find them much safer 

 to use than the muriate and sulphate of 

 potash, esjiecially at this time of the 

 year. 



Do not .always expect to see quick 

 effects from the ashes after you apply 

 them. Some varieties will stiffen up 

 in the stem jierceptibly in a week or so, 

 but other varieties, wliich produce a less 

 fb's^iy growth, will md show the effects 

 so (piiidxl.v. 'J'his sotmdimes leads 

 growers to give too nnicdi ashes be- 

 fore they can see any effects, and the 

 result is a crop of brittle stems — some- 

 times so brittle that the weight of the 

 blo(MUs will cause them to sjiap at the 

 joints. This iisnally hapjiens in mid 



winter, when the sun is weak and the 

 growth is likely to be soft. 



A. F. J. B. 



IN SOUTH DAKOTA. 



The Mitchell Greenhouses and Nurs- 

 erv, operated by The Newburys, is one 

 of the rapidly growing establishments 

 that speak for the progress the trade 

 is making in the great northwest, where 

 the people are just beginning to culti- 

 vate the finer things of life, where 

 there are miles and miles of room, and 

 where floriculture is develojiing at a 

 rate second only to the increase shown 

 in the milder climate of the southwest. 

 Mitchell is a countv seat from which 

 radiate a number of rural mail routes, 

 but it is not the town one would expect 

 to support a range of 50,000 feet of 

 glass, such as The iVewburvs have, and, 

 in fact, were it not that they do busi- 

 ness at retail all over that section of 

 the country, and at wholesale in the 

 ]il:nit line all over the United States, 

 thi'.v would not find their facilities con- 

 stantl.v running behind the demand, as 

 is now the case. 



The accompan.ving illustration shows 

 one of The Newburys' carnation houses, 

 jilanted before the Fourth of July, from 

 which cutting was begun July 20. By 

 August 20 there was a good crop on, a 

 nice daily cut being made with stems 

 that ran fourteen to sixteen inches. 

 .\nd everything was selling well. 



DRAINAGE IN WINDOW BOXES. 



Will you kindly tell me how drain- 

 age is provided for and taken care of 

 in small winter window boxes that con- 

 tain about six primroses? A. E. B. 



Some window boxes can be drained 

 out from below by taking out a stopper, 

 standing a pail below until the mois- 

 ture is all drained out, but as a gen- 

 eral rule none is thought of or pro- 

 vided, in which case it is necessary to 

 take out the plants and sponge out the 

 water; otherwise it soon becomes putrid 

 and plants standing in it speedily show 

 yellow foliage. If carefully watered 

 there is no need for stagnant water col- 

 lecting in the boxes, however. C. "\V. 



FLOWER SHOW AT HELENA. 



The second annual flower show in 

 this cit.v, held September 7 and 8, was 

 an e\ent th;it might w(dl be copied by 

 many ]arg(>r cities. It was given under 



Carnation House of The Newburys, Mitchell, S. D. 



