December 26, 1912. 



The Florists^ Review 



11 



New Store of Lesfer F. Benion, Indianapolit, Ind 



BEX BEGONIAS. 



Can you give me information that 

 will enable me to grow good Eex be- 

 gonias f Those I have in stock appear 

 strong and healthy, but the leaves con- 

 tinually turn brown, as if burned. 

 G. I. W. C. 



Give your Eex begonias a tempera- 

 ture of 50 to 55 degrees at night. 

 Shade them from direct sunshine, or 

 their beauty will be spoiled. If they 

 show any signs of poverty at the root, 

 either repot them or feed with manure 

 water once a week. Spray overhead 

 occasionally; some people imagine this 

 hurts them, but it is purely a fable. 

 Portions of leaves placed in sand now, 

 with a good bottom heat, will root 

 readily and make heavy plants before 

 next fall. C. W. 



CANDYTUFT FOR MEMOBIAL DAY. 



I should like to know the proper time 

 to sow candytuft to have it in flower 

 for Memorial day. Please mention, also, 

 the best variety for indoor culture and 

 give me some cultural hints. 



J. E. S. 



Candytuft to be in flower for Memo- 

 rial day should be sown about the mid- 

 dle of January. If vacant beds or 

 benches are at disposal, sow it in rows 

 twelve to fifteen inches apart and 

 rather thinly. Do not leave more than 

 three or four good seedlings to the 

 square foot where fine stalks are 

 wanted. Usually there are no empty 

 benches in January. This being so, the 

 best plan is to sow in 3-inch pots. Put 

 half a dozen seeds in a pot and thin 

 out to three. You can also sow in flats 

 of light soil, but great care must be 

 taken to pot off in good season, as 

 candytuft seedlings do not transplant 

 as easily as some other annuals. Place 

 the pots or flats on a shelf or bench in 

 a moderately cool and well aired house, 

 with a temperature of not over 48 de- 

 grees at night. Water carefully. Do 

 the necessary thinning in good season 

 and spread out a little where the little 

 plants crowd. 



The plants must go into the benches 

 before they become at all potbound, for 



if once they get stunted and hard no 

 amount of after treatment will recu- 

 perate them. Use a generous soil, such 

 as would grow good mums or roses. 

 Keep the surface soil stirred frequently 

 and ventilate the house freely. Candy- 

 tuft will not stand any coddling and 

 does better in a night temperature of 

 45 degrees than 50 degrees. If your 

 plants seem at all late you can run them 

 a little warmer as the flowers open. 

 On the other hand, if early, you can 

 keep them cool. Candytuft must be 

 kept moving all the time, so be careful 

 not to give it any check. It will pay 

 best to have the plants thin in the 

 benches where strong spikes are wanted, 

 and these are what bring the money. 

 As to the variety, every seedsman has 

 some special strain. Giant White Per- 

 fection is the best I have grown, but 

 many like Empress. C. W. 



ADVANTAOES OF OSGANIZATION. 



[An essay by August R. Baumer, LouiSTllle, 

 awarded first prize In a contest conducted by tbe 

 Kentucky Society of Florists.] 



I should like to make the title of this 

 paper "Some of the Advantages De- 

 rived from Such Societies as the S. A. 

 F. and the Kentucky Society of Flo- 

 risti." Yon will note I did not indi- 

 cate that I would show the advantages 

 of belonging to these societies, but I 

 will try to show the advantages that 

 arise from the existence of such or- 

 ganizations as our national and state 

 societies. 



Unfortunately for these societies, the 

 man who is not a member receives 

 many of the benefits that should go 

 only to those who support and assist 

 in making the societies the success that 

 they are. 



In more than twenty years' connec- 

 tion with the florists' business I have 

 seen the S. A. F. grow from its small 

 beginning at Cincinnati to its present 

 standing, with its charter from the Con- 

 gress of the United States. I have 

 watched the many special societies that 

 have sprung from it, and I know of the 

 work that it has done. I also know 

 much of the good that has been accom- 

 plished by our state society. 



Work of the S. A. F. 



The national society has been able, 

 through the union of numbers and in- 

 fluence, to get one of the strongest com- 

 binations of capital, the expriess com- 

 panies, to grant a reduction in express 

 rates on plants that are properly 

 packed, and also has secured the better 

 handling, by the express companies* 

 employees, of all packages containing 

 cut flowers or floral work of any nature. 

 This has greatly helped all florists, be- 

 cause it enables them to ship funeral 

 work to the surrounding country with 

 a great degree of safety. 



The S. A. F. has by persistence and 

 hard work had the United States gov- 

 ernment get its experts to take up the 

 study of plant life. By this I mean 

 especially such plants as are generally 

 grown by florists, their diseases, their 

 [OootlDaed oo paite 34.] 



New Store of Lester F. Benson Indianapolis, Ind. 



