26 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



March 7, 1912. 



PINCHING OFF SIDE SHOOTS. 



When sweet peas start to bloom and 

 side shoots start to come, should these 

 side shoots be pinched off to aid the 

 main stem, or should some of these 

 be left on? A. L. 



Pinching out the side stems will cer- 

 tainly improve the flowers on the main 

 stems. It is, however, a mistake to 

 remove them, as they will a little later 

 give excellent flowers themselves, espe- 

 cially if you took care to thin your 

 plants out well or allowed them ample' 

 .space when transplanting. C. W. 



i BUD WHEN TOO SMALL. 



What causes sweet peas to start to 

 bud when about six to eight inches 

 high? A. L. 



The winter flowering type of sweet 

 peas always starts to bud when com- 

 paratively low, but they should be more 

 than six to ten inches high. Are you 

 sure that your soil is sufficiently rich 

 for them? The poorer the soil, the 

 dwarfer will the plants be when they 

 start to flower. Old seed also pl-oduces 

 plants which lack the vigor of those 

 grown from new-crop seeds. Your soil 

 should be liberally enriched with well 

 decayed cow or sheep manure. This 

 should be well mixed with the soil. If 

 in solid beds, in which peas succeed 

 the best, a thorough trenching must be 

 given each season. Under glass, sweet 

 peas succeed perfectly well in the same 

 soil year after year. The bulk of grow- 

 ers on a large scale run cucumbers or 

 tomatoes through the summer, and this 

 change of crop seems in some way to 

 prevent the soil from becoming what is 

 commonly called tired. Provided your 

 soil is deficient in plant food, you can 

 much improve your crop by a liberal 

 top-dressing of fine bone, cow manure 

 or sheep manure, working this lightly 

 into the soil before watering. C. W. 



OYAIODE OF SODIUM. 



For fumigating I have used cyanide 

 of potassium for some five years and 

 have become fairly conversant with it, 

 but I hear that cyanide of sodium can 

 be used with less danger. What are 

 the differences and how does the for- 

 mula for cyanide of sodium compare 

 with the one used with cyanide of 

 potassium? F. B. 



The principal difference between po- 

 tassium cyanide and the related sodium 

 cyanide, as used in fumigation, is in the 

 greater quantity of hydrocyanic acid 

 gas given off by sodium cyanide, 

 amounting in the chemically pure salts 

 to nearly one-third (thirty-three per 

 cent) more. In the generation of the 



gas from chemically pure sodium cyan- 

 ide, therefore, about one-third more 

 sulphuric acid is required per pound of 

 the chemical to completely liberate the 

 hydrocyanic acid gas. However, as 

 sodium cyanide is frequently adulter- 

 ated with inert substances, in order to 

 standardize its cyanide content with 

 that of potassium cyanide, a 100 per 

 cent sodium cyanide becomes equal to 

 pure potassium cyanide in quantity of 

 gas generated. It is well, therefore, 

 in using sodium cyanide to insist upon 

 getting the pure, or 130 to 133 per cent, 

 substituting this in the potassium cyan- 

 ide formulae in the proportions of three 

 parts of the sodium cyanide where four 

 of the potassium salt are in^dicated, 

 thus preventing an overdose. Three 

 parts of the sodium will require the 

 same amount of sulphuric acid as four 

 of the potassium salt. 



F. H. Chittenden. 



OBITUARY. 



William Barry. 



William Barry, one of the best known 

 horticulturists^ in California, died at 

 his home in Niles, Cal., February 25. 

 Mr. Barry was a native of Ireland, but 

 had resided in this state for over fifty 

 years and was 80 years of age at the 

 time of his death. He ha-d been hor- 

 ticultural inspector of Alameda county 

 for about twenty years and only relin- 

 quished that position when the feeble- 

 ness due to old age made it necessary. 

 Mr. Barry was a thorough horticulturist 

 and exceedingly well versed in all 

 branches of the nursery trade, and the 

 entire Pacific coast loses one of its 

 brightest members by his death. G. 



M. O. Shoop. 



M. Orr Shoop, aged 27, nurseryman 

 of Sidney, O., died in the home of his 

 father, John Shoop, at Springdale, Pa., 

 February 26. He leaves his widow, 

 three brothers, William W., of Vander- 

 grift, Pa., Earl and Paul, and two sis- 

 ters, Euby and Helen, all of Spring- 

 dale. 



WARD'S EPIGRAMS. 



The condition of a man's store is a 

 pretty good criterion of his character. 



A mule makes no progress when he 

 is kicking — neither does a man. 



A florist is known by the character 

 of help he keeps. 



The man who tries to tear down repu- 

 tations gets most of the dirt himself. 



Some florists' shops look like the 

 inside of a woman's purse — how does 

 yours look? 



Edison says genius is two per cent 

 inspiration and ninety-eight per cent 

 perspiration. 



Northumberland, Pa. — W. H. Mertz's 

 greenhouses were recently almost de- 

 stroyed by fire. The loss was esti- 

 mated at $5,000. 



Joliet, m.— The J. D. Thompson Car- 

 nation Co. is getting estimates on three 

 new houses that are expected to be built 

 this summer. 



Danville, 111. — Frank B. Smith's Sons 

 have the glass on the ground for a 

 rose house, 30x175, to be put up this 

 season, and also for another house to 

 be put up the year following. 



Jamaica Plain, Mass. — M. J. Killion, 

 the Washington street florist, recently 

 procured six small beagle hounds, to be 

 exhibited at the spring dog show. They 

 are of blue ribbon stock and have al- 

 ready won prizes. 



Edwardsville, 111. — The Madison 

 County centennial is to be celebrated 

 here in September. Of the association 

 formed to handle the affair J. Fred 

 Ammann is one of the vice-presidents 

 and a director. 



Middleboro, Mass. — Geo. W. Leland, 

 of Keene, N. H., is erecting two houses 

 in this city, 26x150 each, of Moninger 

 iron frame construction. A Moninger 

 high pressure hot water heating system 

 is being installed. 



Herington, Kan. — J. A. Gordon, who 

 formerly conducted the Herington 

 Greenhouses, under lease, has now with- 

 drawn from the growing end of the 

 business and has opened a store on 

 East Maine street. He has named the 

 store the Herington Floral Eoom. 



Elgin, HI.— Miss Anna Souster, 

 daughter of Geo. A. Souster, received 

 the honor of being crowned queen of 

 the carnival in the celebration of Mardi 

 Gras in this city. The ceremony of 

 crowning was conducted in an elaborate 

 way, in the midst of splendid decora- 

 tions. 



Morrison, HI. — K. R. Davis Co., which 

 has a plant of 135,000 feet of glass 

 here, states that the reports published 

 in connection with the news of the 

 company's new plant at Streator are 

 inaccurate in that there is no inten- 

 tion of abandoning the Morrison plant; 

 it is to be continued exactly as in the 

 past. 



Nashville, Tenn. — Mclntyre Bros., 

 who have large greenhouses on the 

 Hillsboro road, have purchased the two- 

 story brick residence located at 1502 

 Broadway and will convert it into a 

 handsome store as soon as the present 

 lease expires. It will be thoroughly re- 

 modeled and fitted up with a modern 

 store front, with plate glass windows. 

 In the front will be the display rooms 

 for cut flowers and blooming plants, and 

 in the rear will be erected a large con- 

 servatory, where a stock of flowers will 

 be kept. Mclntyre Bros. ' plant, covering 

 over thirty acres of ground, is one of 

 the largest in the south. This firm 

 was organized nearly fifty years ago 

 by Dan Mclntyre, and is now being 

 carried on by his four sons, Dan, Will, 

 Tom and Hugh, and one daughter, Miss 

 Nellie Mclntyre. 



