28 



The Florists^ Review 



Mabch 6, 191S. 



tion of twice these amounts has not 

 produced harmful results. On another 

 soil, ill effects might have followed such 

 an application, while upon some kinds 

 of soil more might safely be applied. 

 The exact amount for each florist to 

 use is a matter to be settled by careful 

 trial upon a small number of plants, 

 using the amounts given above as a 

 working basis. 



Semedies for Overfed Plants. 



Various remedies have been sug- 

 gested for relieving the plants injured 

 by an excess of fertilizer, among them, 

 addition of the other elements on the 

 theory that a balanced excessive appli- 

 cation is not so harmful as one in 

 which one element is present in excess; 

 also the planting of oats or some other 

 quick growing crop in the benches to 



relieve the plants of excess of food. 

 These remedies are being tried at the 

 experiment station and a report upon 

 their value can be made after this sea- 

 son. It is to be hoped that by follow- 

 ing the above suggestions the florists 

 will avoid the need of any remedy. 



Boses. 



The cultivation of roses with chemical 

 fertilizers has been continued during this 

 year. ^ visit to our greenhouse will 

 demonstrate that good roses can be growm 

 by this treatment. An extended study of 

 the data cannot be given in this paper, 

 but the station uipesitatingly recom- 

 mends the use of sixteen pounds of dried 

 blood, four pounds of acid phosphate and 

 four pounds of potassium sulphate as a 

 basis if they are applied as directed in 

 our pamphlet. 



JUST A FEW KNOCKS. 



[Extracts from a paper by Elmer Weaver, of 

 Blrd-ln-band, Pa., read before tbe Lancaster Flo- 

 rists' Clab.] 



The constant adding and discarding 

 of new varieties of carnations is ex- 

 pensive for the small grower, but if 

 you do not do it you will soon, very 

 soon, be comparing the market reports 

 in your trade journal with the returns 

 from your commission firm with the re- 

 sult that you will decide that the re- 

 porter for the trade journal should be 

 in Teddy's Ananias Club or the com- 

 mission merchant in jail, while the 

 cause usually is to be attributed to 

 your own lack of business acumon in 

 not keeping up with the times. 



Some years ago Mrs. Lawson was 

 given a trial in a small way and in a 

 careless manner, with the result that 

 we discarded it the first season as no 

 good, and you all now know we lost 

 good money by our hasty action. Later 

 on when everybody was doing it well 

 we bought stock again, but we lost 

 several seasons when the flowers were 

 bringing big money. 



A Boost for Oloriosa. 



A present day parallel is Gloriosa, 

 about the grandest variety we have had 

 up to the present time. I have made 

 many inquiries regarding this variety 

 and have never realized before how 

 many people are affected by various de- 

 grees of indecision. Several are propa- 

 gating and buying all they can get of 

 it. Others say frankly they are going 

 to discard it, while others are up in 

 the air and don't know yet what they 

 want to do. The chief objections to 

 this variety are its lack of desire to 

 reproduce itself by a cutting and its 

 lack of growth in the field. These 

 faults should not deter us from exper- 

 imenting until we overcome them. 

 The tendency to run to a flowering 

 shoot in a short space of time can be 

 partly overcome by topping part of the 

 shoots back when bringing them in 

 from the field. 



Benora looks like an ideal varie- 



gated. It is an exceedingly free 

 bloomer, with a stem of sufficient 

 length and strong enough to hold the 

 flower erect. The color is good, al- 

 though showing a slight yellow cast. 

 The growth is healthy and vigorous 

 and the cuttings root about as easily as 

 Beacon, which means you may get them 

 rooted if you are careful, very careful, 

 not to allow any chance for them to 

 get too wet, too dry, too hot, or too 

 cold, don't let any wind blow over 

 them, and a few other don'ts. In 

 transplanting from the field, the plants 

 take hold easily and in a few weeks 

 blooming shoots are forming in abun- 

 dance. On the whole it is a variety 

 worthy of trial, although the color pre- 

 cludes growing it universally in large 

 quantities. 



Delhi is an improved Victory and, as 

 I personally never eould muster much 

 enthusiasm over Victory, I do not know 

 whether or not I think much of Delhi. 

 With us it has somewhat the habit of 

 a sweet potato vine, the stems show- 

 ing a tendency to grow horizontal in- 



stead of vertical. Even though it has 

 such undesirable habits, it certainly 

 makes enough flowers; it will make as 

 many during the season as anything 

 in sight. I have seen it growing in 

 Chester county this season and can say 

 it was a fine sight, away ahead of Bea- 

 con in the same house. It has as good 

 a stem, better color, is a freer bloomer 

 and not the cropper Beacon is, although 

 the flower looks as though a trip to the 

 laundry would improve it greatly, as 

 Victory looks like a wilted collar, and 

 Delhi the same. 



Comfort and Bosette. 



Comfort has had the advantage of 

 two years' trial on our place and when 

 you visit us next season you will find 

 10,000 plants. I know a number of 

 you are afraid of Comfort because it 

 looks sleepy under certain conditions. 

 The grower who thinks Comfort is 

 sleepy and discriminates against it on 

 that score is nearer asleep than the 

 carnation. He had better take a nap 

 and, when he wakes up and feels fit, 

 try Comfort. It will produce more 

 money per square foot of bench surface 

 than any red we now have. 



Rosette is the fourth variety of last 

 season's novelties with which we are 

 experimenting and from the ultimate 

 dollar and cents point of view I feel 

 sure the best, first, from what it is 

 showing itself to be and, second, be- 

 cause it is one of Dorner's seedlings, 

 all of which have made good here ex- 

 cepting Scarlet Glow. It differs from 

 their other recent introductions in that 

 its growth is heavier, and that it makes 

 plenty of good cuttings that root 

 easily. When lifted and planted in- 

 doors it was ready for business long 

 before Mrs. Ward, White Perfection 

 and some others decided whether they 

 wanted to move or not. The stem is 

 stiff, of good length, the flower larger 

 than either Qloriosa or Pink Delight, 

 deeply serrated, center well filled and 

 of unusual depth. In color it is per- 

 fectly clear and nearly a Lawson shade, 

 having none of the streaks or faded 

 edges sometimes found on Mrs. Ward. 

 My commission man pronounces it a 

 desirable shade and an excellent 

 keeper. 



STUNTED CAENATION PLANTS. 



I am sending a carnation plant and 

 a sample of the soil, so as to get your 



Half of One of Fred Roll's Carnation Houses. 



