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16 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



November 2, 1911. 



WHITE ANTS IN MUM SOIL. 



My attention has just been attract- 

 ed to an inquiry in The Review for 

 September 21, in which a subscriber 

 says: "I have an entirely new bed of 

 chrysanthemums, outdoors, and I am 

 bothered with white ants. Will you 

 kindly give me some advice as to how 

 to get rid of them? The only reason 

 for the trouble that I can give is that 

 I spaded in fresh cow manure that was 

 unclean. My location is southern 

 Louisiana. ' ' 



C. H. Totty replies: "Possibly some 

 southern grower who has had experi- 

 ence with white ants can give better 

 information on this subject than I can. 

 I would state, however, that Paris 

 green or arsenic, mixed with corn 

 meal or some other cereal of a like char- 

 acter, and scattered on the soil, will 

 in many cases clean out the ants, and 

 it will also destroy sowbugs. It is not 

 at all probable that the ants originally 

 came from the cow manure. In most 

 cases, like Topsy, they 'just grow,' but 

 their presence, when they do get here, 

 is exceedingly real and unwelcome." 



Carbon bisulphid will settle their 

 hash in short order. I was troubled 

 with them in my mums on the bench 

 a year or two ago and found the car- 

 bon bisulphid the only thing to get at 

 them, as they work altogether from be- 

 low the ground, eating out the pith or 

 center of the stem for quite a distance 

 up the stem, until the plant dies. With 

 a small stick make holes in the ground 

 where the ants are at work, put a small 

 quantity of carbon bisulphid in each 

 hole, quickly closing the hole, and the 

 fumes will do the work. The holes 

 should be about a foot apart. The ants 

 also are destructive to geranium plants 

 in beds outdoors. They breed in rotten 

 wood that is either buried or lying on 

 the surface of the ground, so it is a 

 good thing not to have any lying 

 around. The carbon bisulphid can be 

 had at the drug store, but don't smoke 

 while you are handling it, as it is highly 

 inflammable. William Walker. 



BEASON FOR POOR GROWTH. 



I should like to know what caused 

 the condition of some of my chrysan- 

 themums? The soil was not changed 

 after growing tomatoes on it, but had 

 some well-rotted manure mixed in, and 

 seemed in excellent condition. On 

 parts of two beds, however, some of 

 the plants have made little if any 

 growth and the foliage is yellow, while 

 others growing among them are strong 

 and healthy. The soil now seems a 

 little heavy and the yellow plants ap- 

 pear to have made no root growth. 

 How do you explain the trouble, and 

 is there any remedy for it? Do red 

 spider and black aphis grow together 

 on mums? I have some trouble with 

 the latter but the former don't seem 

 to thrive and I have wondered whether 

 these two insects were natural enemies. 



B. B. 



Undoubtedly the fact that the soil 



was not changed after growing toma- 

 toes has considerable to do with the 

 condition of the plants at the present 

 time, although if properly managed, 

 fairly good success can be obtained by 

 growing in a soil that has grown pre- 

 vious crops. 



It would seem that the part* of the 

 bed where the plants have made such 

 poor growth and the leaves are yellow 

 may be poorly drained, or else the stock 

 when planted was in wretched condi- 

 tion. I note that while some are 

 strong and healthy growing among the 

 diseased plants, others have made no 

 growth and are yellow, and this would 

 indicate that the stock was diseased 

 when it was planted; otherwise there 

 is no reason why they should not all 

 have come along in a similar manner. 



It is too late to try any remedy for 

 the stock this year. The only thing to 

 do is to propagate only from healthy 

 plants and discard the diseased plants 

 entirely another year. Then the crop 

 should come in good condition. 



Red spider and black aphis will grow 

 together on mums. So far as I am 

 aware these insects are friends. We 

 sometimes wish they were enemies. It 

 would simplify matters a great deal. 



If B. B. is never bothered with red 

 spiders on chrysanthemum plants, it is 

 an exceptional case, although many peo- 

 ple lose lots of flowers from red spider 

 and do not know, until too late, what 

 caused the trouble. The red spider is 

 so small that it is almost invisible to 

 the naked eye, although the web that 

 it weaves around the bud is always in 

 evidence if red spider is present in any 

 quantity. The red spider and aphis 

 will certainly grow together on mums 



and need no "reciprocity treaty" to 

 do it either. C. H. T. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY. 



Work of the Committees. 



Before the Cincinnati committee Oo 

 tober 21, Alice Solomon, incurved 

 white, exhibited by the E. G. Hill Co. 

 Richmond, Ind., scored for commercial 

 purposes as follows: Color, 18; form 

 12; fuHness, 8; stem, 15; foliage, 12, 

 substance, 10; size, 8; total, 83. 



Before the New York committee Oc 

 tober 21, Jennie, Japanese, white with 

 blush tint, exhibited by Alfred J. Love 

 less, Lenox, Mass., scored for com 

 mercial purposes as follows: Color, 

 16; form, 12; fullness, 10; stem, 12; 

 foliage, 14; substance, 14; size, ,9; total, 

 87. For exhibition purposes it scored 

 as follows: Color, 14; stem, 4; foliage, 

 5; fullness, 15; form, 12; depth, 13; 

 size, 26; total, 89. 



Before the Philadelphia committee 

 October 21, Mrs. Bartlet E. Hayward, 

 pink, incurved, exhibited by G. A. 

 Lotze, Glen Burnie, Md., scored 85 

 points. 



Beffore the Chicago committee Oc 

 tober 28, Arthur Orr, lemon yellow, in 

 curved, exhibited by Peter Schilt, 

 Evanston, Jll., scored 81 points. 



Before the Chicago committee Oc 

 tober 28, Esthelic, lemon yellow, in- 

 curved, exhibited by Elmer D. Smith 

 & Co., Adrian, Mich., scored 87 points. 



Before the Chicago committee Oc- 

 tober 28, Pink Gem, pink, incurved, ex- 

 hibited by Elmer D. Smith & Co., 

 Adrian, Mich., scored 90 points. 



Before the Cincinnati committee Oc- 

 tober 28, Pink Gem, pink, incurved, 

 exhibited by Elmer D. Smith & Co., 

 Adrian, Mich., scored 87 points. 



Before the Cincinnati committee Oc 

 tober 28, No. 10, 1909, white, incurved, 

 exhibited by H. W. Rieman, Indian- 

 apolis, Ind., scored 80 points. 



Before the New York committee Oc- 

 tober 28, Sport of Brighthurst, bronze, 

 exhibited by Alfred J. Loveless, Lenox, 

 Mass., scored 85 points. 



BUD-ROT OF CARNATIONS. 



Under separate cover I am forward- 

 ing to you a few carnation buds and 

 I shall be grateful to you if you will 

 tell me what is the trouble with them 

 and what I can do to remedy it. I 

 am losing a good many. The buds 

 are rotting off in this way as soon 

 as they start showing color. I keep 

 the houses on the dry side, syringe them 

 about once in two weeks and fumigate 

 with nicotine twice a week. Would 

 fumigating with hydrocyanic acid gas 

 be advisable and how should it be done? 

 How should I prepare Bordeaux mixture 

 and how often should I use it as a 

 preventive? S. S. 



You are troubled with what is com- 

 monly known as bud-rot. This is caused 



by a tiny insect which works inside 

 the bud and prevents development, 

 causing the petals to stick together and 

 rot. Spraying with nicotine is supposed 

 to be a good remedy, if done persist- 

 ently and in strong enough doses. Hy- 

 drocyanic acid gas is also supposed to 

 be good, perhaps better than the nico- 

 tine. Write to the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington for Bulletin 

 No. 27, by F. H. Chittenden, printed 

 in 1901. This bulletin will give you 

 more information on the subject than I 

 could take the space for here. When 

 picking off buds which have rotted, be 

 sure that you burn them and let none 

 of them be thrown in the walks or 

 under the benches, to multiply. 



To make Bordeaux mixture, take six 

 pounds of copper sulphate and dissolve 

 in a couple of gallons of water. Do the 

 same "with four pounds of lime. Add 

 enough water to each to make twenty- 



