l^ppnrT^.iifvii'.i.i iJ " 1 ^^•W'5^^TO?9W^P»""J»,«. ' ' \ "i! , i.'.n V im'^^^ 



^■"I.T-'vT'' 



:■ i,Tj"*p?r»'."^'^^ ■'/»*< 'Y^ritiTR^w.-'n'^TTi 



18 



The Florists' Review 



ApBiL 24, 1913. 



ac 



3C 



ac 



F SEASONABLE ^ 



i 9^ suggestions! 





Pruning Hardy Climbers. 



There are a number of hardy climb- 

 ers which should be pruned ^t once, 

 provided the work has not already 

 been done, before the real spring rush 

 commences. Among these may be men- 

 tioned wistarias, Clematis paniculata, 

 bignonias, loniceras, actinidias, and 

 Aristolochia Sipho, or Dutchman's pipe. 

 Cut the Clematis paniculata back quite 

 hard, for the best results. In the case 

 of such evergreen climbers as Euony- 

 mus radicans and English ivy no prun- 

 ing should be necessary at this time, 

 but any dead shoots on the ivy would 

 better be removed now. It is better 

 not to prune climbing roses until there 

 is no longer any danger of a sharp 

 frost. If they are pruned too early 

 and a warm spell starts, them at once 

 into active growth, they are liable 

 to sustain considerable injury if a cold 

 snap immediately follows. 



Petunias and Verbenas. 



This is a good time to make a lib- 

 eral sowing in flats of the tijb popular 

 annuals, petunias and verbenas. Be 

 careful to sow the fine petunia" seed 

 thinly and not to cover at air with soil. 

 Give the verbena seed a light covering 

 and let it be mostly sand. Start them 

 in a warm house, but do not keep them 

 there after the seedlings have made 

 their second pair of leaves. Use light, 

 rich soil when potting them off, and 

 grow them in a temperature of 50 to 52 

 degrees at night. This will insure 

 stockiness. Verbenas are among the 

 best and most persistent flowering an- 

 nuals for bedding, while petunias, in 

 addition to being excellent in the 

 flower borders, can be used to good 

 advantage in window boxes, vases and 

 hanging baskets. Where the water sup- 

 ply is adequate and there is suflScient 

 plant food for the roots to subsist on, 

 they will never stop blooming until 

 cold weather arrives. 



Transplanting Seedlings. 



The annual seedlings will now need 

 considerable attention, for during the 

 pressure of Easter work they were 

 liable to be somewhat neglected. Now 

 that Easter is gone, take these in hand 

 and either pot or box off all that are 

 urgently in need of a shift. If a lit- 

 tle of this work can be done each day 

 it will greatly relieve the pressure and 

 be the means of saving many seedlings 

 which would otherwise be spoiled, for 

 if seedlings become crowded and drawn 

 they are to a large extent ruined. Be 

 sure to give all transplanted seedlings 

 some shade from bright sunshine for 

 a day or two. 



Outdoor Bulbs. 



"With winter on the wane and the 

 weather quite springlike in character, 

 at least seme of the covering should 

 be removed from the bulb beds. Do 

 not be in too much of a rush to take 

 it all away, for we are still liable to 

 have some cold snaps. It is the custom 

 to leave at least a light mulch on, in 



the latitude of Boston, until April 10, 

 after which time they can be entirely 

 cleaned off. We have had an unusually 

 open winter, and on this account great 

 care had to be taken when removing 

 the mulch not to break the young 

 shoots, which in some cases were found 

 of considerable length. 



VARIOUS INSECTS. 



I bought a great many plants last 

 spring, to stock up with. I bought them 

 from a good many firms and, incident- 

 ally, I secured a great many insects, 

 among the rest white fly, which I have 

 subdued with cyanide, but a minute in- 

 sect, which I presume is thrips, is baf- 

 fling me in my efforts to grow carna- 

 tions, although I am spraying with 

 Aphine and also with Paris green and 

 sugar. As I do not know exactly what 

 a thrips is like, I should like to have 

 it described. This insect is extremely 

 small and enters the flower. It hops 

 like a flea. The petals of the flowers 

 are withered on the edges and the flow- 

 ers are small and do not keep. I also 

 got the white fern scale on some ferns 

 purchased of a firm of growers who ad- 

 vertise that they have none on their 

 ferns. It seems to me the wholesale 

 plant growers should be more careful 



about sending out such injurious ij. 

 sects. E. S. P 



White fly can only be subdued by the 

 use of hydrocyanic acid gas. You will 

 find this pest partial to fuchsias, agera- 

 tums, calceolarias, pelargoniums, nas- 

 turtiums, heliotropes and some other 

 soft-wooded plants; it also attacks to- 

 matoes, cucumbers and lettuce, espe- 

 cially the first named vegetable. 



You have correctly described the 

 thrips, or hopper as it is sometimes 

 called, and the remedies you tried have 

 proved successful with other growers. 

 The scale on the ferns can be controlled 

 by the use of Aphine, either dipping 

 or spraying, according to the size of 

 the plants. C. W. 



ASTERS ON CLAY GROUND. 



We have no ground for asters this 

 year, except clay. We plowed it last 

 fall and are manuring it heavily this 

 spring with well rotted manure. We 

 shall also put on well balanced com- 

 mercial fertilizers, such as blood, meal, 

 ashes, lime, etc. Under these condi- 

 tions, ought we to get good asters? If 

 not, what else should we do to get 

 good asters on clay, or, in fact, can we 

 get a profitable crop of asters under 

 such conditions? S. F. G. 



I see no reason why you cannot grow 

 good asters in your clayey soil, if horse 

 manure is used. Some road scrapings, 

 fine coal ashes, sand or any other form 

 of grit will also help to relieve the stiff- 

 ness of the soil. Lime and wood ashes 

 will also help, but do not apply lime 

 with the manure or fertilizers, as it 

 would release too much of the nitrogen. 



LEAF DISEASE ON BONNAFFON. 



Last spring I bought some rooted 

 cuttings of White Bonnaffon. They ap- 

 peared to be healthy, but as the plants 

 grew during the summer the lower 

 leaves got brown around the edges and 

 curled up, and by the time the flowers 

 were cut there was not much good 

 foliage. I saved some stock plants; 

 the suckers looked nice, but now, as 

 they start to grow, the lower leaves 

 begin to get brown again around the 

 edges. The flowers which were cut 

 last fall were not so full in the center 

 as the Yellow Bonnaffon. Can I over- 

 come the trouble, or would you advise 

 me not to propagate from this stock? 



C. B. 



If your stock plants show the same 

 leaf disease as the old plants last year, 

 I certainly would suggest that you 

 throw them out and try to procure 

 new, clean stock from some other 

 source. A solution of sulphide of 

 potassium, in the proportion of one 

 ounce to two gallons of water, is good 

 for the treatment of rust and all leaf 

 diseases, but, as a matter of fact, if 

 the plants are in poor shape I would 

 suggest that you throw them away and 



procure new stock from another sec- 

 tion of the country. Chas. H. Totty. 



POT PLANTS FOR EARLY FALL. 



Kindly inform me what are the best 

 early varieties of chrysanthemums for 

 flowering in pots in the fall. State when 

 I should start them and give particu- 

 lars as to their care. I prefer to sink 

 the pots in a vacant coldframe when 

 the weather is suitable. 



K. P. & T. F. 



The following varieties are amon^j 

 the best in their respective colors for ■ 

 flowering in pots in the fall: Crimson 

 — Florence Stanton, Crimson Source 

 d'Or, Crimson Quintus, La Triumphant, 

 Rayonnante and Dean's Favorite- 

 White — Mrs. W. Scott and Parsons' 

 White. Bronze — Hortus Tolosanus an'i 

 Source d'Or. Yellow — Lizzie Adcoclc 

 and Yellow Triumphant. 



If the cuttings are struck by the en 1 

 of April, so as to be ready to shift the 

 first week in May, they will give the 

 grower splendid pot plants early in thi^ 

 fall. The foregoing are all splendifi 

 varieties and will probably give goo<l 

 satisfaction to the grower. 



Chas. H. Totty. 



