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the Weekly Florists^ Review, 



OCTOBEB 10, 1911. 



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SUGGESTIONS 



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Cyclamens. 



There is always a good demand for 

 cycbimens at both Thanksgiviog and 

 Christmas. For- the former holiday it 

 is hardly possible to have the plants 

 heavily flowered, but, provided they 

 have good foliage, they will sell well 

 with even half a dozen blooms open. 

 In order ^to have them in nice shape 

 for the laist of November, plants should 

 now be removed from coldframes and 

 given a bench in a house kept at 50 

 degrees to 52 degrees at night. Do. not 

 use any more heat than that, a's it 

 only will mean drawn and spindling 

 plants. A carnatipn temperature suits 

 them nicely a&d it is sometimes pos- 

 sible to arrange, in a carnation hpuse, 

 narrow shelves with edges to hold in 

 some coarse sand on which to stand the 

 plants. 



The weather has now become suffi- 

 ciently cool so that the plants will not 

 require any further shading except, 

 perhaps, during a spell of exceptional 

 warmth, in which case a little cheese- 

 cloth may be hung to break the direct 

 rays of the run rather than shade the 

 glass at this late date. Free ventila- 

 tion they like at all times and, with 

 the pots full of roots, use weak liquid 

 manure twice a week. A little Clay's 

 fertilizer once a fortnight also will be 

 found helpful. Do not allow thrips or 

 green aphis to get a foothold on the 

 plants. Fumigation or spraying with a 

 nicotine extract will keep them clean. 

 Plants which it is desired to hold back 

 for spring flowering can be kept in 

 coldframes for some time yet and 

 later given a house with a minimum of 

 38 degrees to 42 degrees, in which they 

 will winter perfectly. 



Look after the seedlings intended for 

 flowering a year or more hence. Keep 

 the surface soil in the pots or pans 

 frequently loosened. When the plants 

 have made two or three leaves, trans- 

 plant them into flats containing three 

 inches of light compost. One contain- 

 ing one-half or more of half-rotted 

 leaf-mold, with the addition of some 

 loam and sand, is suitable. These seed- 

 lings should have a warmer house than 

 the plants which are about to flower; 

 58 degrees to 60 degrees at night is 

 about right. The little seedlings should 

 be kept on a shelf well up to the glass. 

 Any who have omitted sowing cycla- 

 mens have still time to get nice plants 

 for Christmas, 1912, but the seed should 

 be started at once. 



Azaleas. 



Azaleas now are arriving. Before 

 potting thenf, soak the balls thoroughly 

 in a tub of water. The soil not infre- 

 quently gets badly dried up in transit, 

 particularly if the cases chance to be 

 stored too near the boilers. If potted 

 dry it will take many waterings to soak 

 the balls, 'with the likelihood increased 

 of some ot the plants dying. After 

 potting stand the plants in a pit or | 



light cellar where they will be just 

 clear of freezing. Coldframes with 

 necessary head room will answer nicely 

 for some weeks. Deutsche Perle is 

 sometimes shading color when received 

 and often is bloomed for Thanksgiving. 

 If wanted this early give the plants 60 

 degrees to 65 degrees at night in a 

 moist house and spray them freely. 



Freesias. 



Any freesia bulbs not yet potted 

 should be started right away. It does 

 not pay to keep them any later than 

 this. The results are disappointing, as 

 the spikes on late started bulbs never 

 are at all eqnal in length or strength 

 to the early planted ones. 



At Christmas a few bunches of free- 

 sias always are a welcome addition to 

 the stock. In order to flower them this 

 early, the pans, pots or flats should 





now be placed on a shelf in a house 

 kept about 55 degrees at night. Sau- 

 cers under the pans or pots i^re an ad- 

 vantage. Freesias are quite thirsty 

 subjects and, once their receptacles are 

 full of roots, want as much water as 

 chrysanthemums, with weak Uquid 

 manure, in addition, every third or 

 fourth watering. . . . . 



Pansies. - >. ' "• 



If there should be a shortage of vio- 

 let plants to All any of the beds or 

 benches, or if any house is at disposal 

 which is not of the most modern con- 

 struction, it can be utilized for pansy 

 culture. Pansies want much the same 

 treatment as violets. They like a rich 

 soil and a similar temperature, but can, 

 of course, be planted much more close- 

 ly. Pansies have come to be a recog- 

 nized flower in the market now. As 

 midwinter bloomers they do not equal 

 violtts, but with lengthening days they 

 give an increasingly heavy pick, which 

 continues long after violets have passed. 

 If midwinter flowers are not especially 

 wanted the house containing them can 

 be run cold, even letting occasional 

 frost in during December and January, 

 and the house kept warmer from the be- 

 ginning of,/Fpbrua»y onyaivd. . Pansies 

 from the open ground should be lifted 

 with a nice ball and planted as soon 

 as possible in benches where they are 

 intended to flower. 



THREE MUM TROUBLES. 



I am having some serious mum trou- 

 bles and turn to The Review for advice. 



First: The same larva, or worm, 

 that infests the ear of sweet corn is in 

 many of my mum buds, usually develop- 

 ing as the bud does, so that about the 

 time the bud opens up it goes all around 

 it and eats the petals off at the base. 

 T have sprayed with nicotine extract, 

 but it seems immune. 



Second: About two weeks ago a 

 strong north wind brought millions of 

 leaf-hoppers from the fields into town 

 and for two nights they swarmed in 

 countless numbers about every street 

 light, but the second night they seemed 

 to starve to death and were to be found 

 on the pavement under the street light, 

 often an inch or more dee^ But in the 

 greenhouses they have thrived, and no 

 ordinary means avails against them. 

 Nicotine they seem to like. Kerosene 

 emulsion has bested them in the lettuce 

 houses, but the mums are three and one- 

 half to six feet high and they always 

 light on the under side of the leaf. My 

 Golden Glows are in full bloom and the 

 others are opening, but the bloom seems 

 to be smaller than it should be. 



The insect is about one-quarter inch 

 long, green in color, and jumps and flies, 

 invariably lighting on the under side of 

 the leaf. They are not thrips, for they 

 do not throw up the tail as if to sting. 



Third: Many of jny Golden Glow 

 blooms are rotting at the heart as they 

 open. This is usually on one side only, 

 but spoils the blooms. They are in solid 

 beds. I hesitate about using hydro- 



cyanic acid gas against the larvae and 

 leaf -hoppers because the Golden Glow 

 mums are in bloom. I fear I may not 

 have watered just right and that this 

 brought on the rotting in the center of 

 the mums, but the plants seem perfectly 

 healthy, the foliage being heavy and 

 dark green. The blooms have not been 

 wet since opening. H. S. M. 



I know of no method to eradicate the 

 worms, save hand-picking at night, with 

 a lantern. This worm is, I thi^, called 

 the army worm. In any case, it gets 

 busy just around the time the flower is 

 developing and goes merrily on from 

 flower to flower so long as the going is 

 good. It is almost impossible to poison 

 this worm, because it seems to eat noth- 

 ing much except the embryonic seed pod, 

 which naturally cuts off the petals. 



The leaf -hoppers I am not acquainted 

 with, but if they feed on the leaves it 

 would seem to me that Paris green as 

 recommended in the case of F. W. F., in 

 this issue, should be effective. 



I am unable to state why the Golden 

 Glow should be rotting at the heart, 

 since H. S. M. says the blooms have not 

 been wet since opening. 



Generally speaking, this trouble can 

 be traced to spraying and the water 

 lodging in the bud. The only other 

 reason I can suggest is overfeeding. 

 H. S. M. will be more familiar than I am 

 with what feeding he has been giving 

 his plants. If they have had none of 

 the chemicals, nor any strong dose of 

 natural fertilizers, it would be hard to 

 ssiy why the buds are rotting. Brilliant 

 sunlight will sometimes do it, but we 



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