26 



The Florists^ Review 



May 15, 1913. 



GEBANIUMS TURNING YELLOW. 



I am having a great deal of trouble 

 with my geraniums this year. The 

 leaves are all turning yellow. It is 

 underneath the leaves that the trou- 

 ble starts. I keep them wet enough 

 and always water them at the roots. 

 Will you please tell me the cause and 

 something to do for themf W. B. 



Among the possible causes of yellow- 

 ing foliage are too much water, too lit- 

 tle water, overfeeding, overcrowding 

 and starvation at the roots. Be care- 

 ful in feeding to apply the fertilizer 

 only to plants which are well rooted. 

 Avoid chemicals. A surface dressing 

 of Clay's fertilizer or bone meal is 

 safe. Spread your plants out. Do 

 not play the hose on the foliage. Pot 

 any which are much matted with roots. 

 Give full sun and free ventilation and 

 vour plants should soon improve. 



C. W. 



GOOD SINGLE GEBANIUMS. 



Will you kindly give me the names 

 of the single red geraniums, dark and 

 light? I have tried to identify them by 

 means of the descriptions in The Re- 

 view's advertising columns, but with- 

 out success. A. E. N. 



Without seeing any flowers, I can 

 only give the names of what I con- 

 sider first-class single geraniums, for 

 either pot plant culture or bedding. 

 Jacquerie, rich crimson scarlet, is the 

 finest dark red; Paul Crampel is bril- 

 liant vermilion scarlet; Rival is salmon 

 red; The Sirdar is rich scarlet; Tele- 

 graph is Lincoln red, and Maxime Ko- 

 valevski is rich vermilion, C. W. 



GEBANIUMS BLOOM POOBLY. 



I wish to ask you for some informa- 

 tion about my geraniums. I received 

 my 2-inch geraniums March 19 and 

 planted them in 3V^-inch pots. I 

 mixed the soil with bone flour and gave 

 them a good soaking with nitrate of 

 soda solution. The foliage is all right, 

 but they are slow to produce buds and 

 blooms, I want them for Decoration 

 day trade, I have them in hotbeds. 

 Do you think I should give them a 

 top-dressing of bone flour? How is 

 this done? Should it be strewn on top 

 of the soil or mixed with the top soil, 

 or should I give them a feeding of 

 manure solution? Which is the best 

 manure for this purpose — sheep, cow or 

 horse manure? Should it be fresh or 

 rotted? F, S, 



If you gave your geraniums a "good 

 soaking with nitrate of soda" right 

 after shifting them into 3%-inch pots, 

 this in itself would be sufficient to ac- 

 count for their present unsatisfactory 

 condition. Nitrate of soda is a power- 

 ful stimulant, which must be used with 

 extreme caution; ,only plants which are 

 really well rooted and are showing signs 



of starvation should be fed with it, 

 and then only sparingly, at the rate 

 of one pound to fifty gallons of water. 

 If you have any well rooted plants 

 it will benefit them to apply a top- 

 dressing of bone flour, lightly scratch- 

 ing the surface soil afterward. Cow 

 or sheep manure in liquid form is a 

 good stimulant. Do not use it too 

 freely, however, or it will promote rank 

 foliage at the expense of flowers, 



C. W, 



DISEASED GEBANIUM FOLIAGE. 



Enclosed you will find a geranium 

 leaf. Will you please tell me whether 



Peter J. Nicholas. 



(A Cleveland florist in the uniform-of the Oreek 

 army, of which he Is temporarily a part.) 



there is a remedy for its condition 

 and state what causes the trouble to 

 spread to other plants? S, D. 



This leaf had a diseased appearance. 

 Pick off all affected leaves and throw 

 away any plants which are badly at- 

 tacked. Keep the plants clean and not 

 too crowded. Pot any which may need 

 it or give them a sprinkling of fine 

 bone on the surface. It will be bet- 

 ter not to use any strong stimulants, 



but if any have a starved appearand , 

 one application of nitrate of soda, on ' 

 ounce to a 3-gallon can, will benefit 

 them. If your house is close and poorly 

 ventilated, plunge the plants in a gei.- 

 tle hotbed and they will grow away 

 much better. Do not sprinkle water 

 on the foliage. C. W. 



YELLOW GEBANIUM FOLIAGE. 



I am sending some geranium leaves 

 under separate cover. I should like to 

 know what kind of disease is affecting 

 the leaves and whether there is any 

 remedy. Should the foliage of gerani 

 ums be sprinkled often, once in a while, 

 or never? L. A. S. 



The leaves, on arrival, were prac- 

 tically all yellow. This did not look 

 like a disease at all, but simply a case 

 of too great dryness, or of root or soil 

 starvation. It could also be caused by 

 keeping the plants too crowded, or by 

 overfeeding. Spread your plants out, 

 pick off affected foliage and let them 

 have the sun and plenty of fresh air. 

 Pot any which are matted with roots 

 or give them a sprinkling of Clay's fer- 

 tilizer or fine bone to green them up. 

 The foliage should not be sprinkled 

 over at all; it is of no benefit and may, 

 if persisted in, be productive of leaf 

 disease. C. W. 



PATBIOTIC GBEEK FLOBIST. 



Peter J. Nicholas, proprietor of The 

 Arcade and one of the best known 

 Greek florists in Cleveland, is shown 

 in the accompanying illustration in the 

 uniform of a soldier in the army of 

 Greece. When the Balkan allies de- 

 clared war against Turkey, Mr. Nich- 

 olas was among the large number of 

 Greeks who went from this country to 

 take up arms for the king. He has 

 written friends that he expects to re- 

 turn to Cleveland soon. He is well 

 known both in Chicago and Pittsburgh, 

 where he buys his stock. 



THE ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION. 



President Charles Loveridge has ap- 

 pointed the following vice-presidents 

 of the Illinois State Florists' Associa- 

 tion to serve two years: A. C. Kohl- 

 brand, Chicago, 111,; H. E. Smith, Dan- 

 ville, m. As members of the advisory 

 board he has appointed W, N. Rudd, 

 Morgan Park, 111,, and J, F. Ammann, 

 Edwardsville,. 111., to serve a term of 

 two years. J, F. Ammann, Sec'y. 



SUMMEB CABE OF CYCLAMENS. 



We have a nice lot of 3-inch cycla- 

 mens which we carried over from last 

 fall. These plants are in fairly heavy 

 foliage, and some are still blooming. 

 We have them on a bench near the 

 glass, and shaded. How shall we take 

 care of them? Should this foliage stay 

 on or should we let it go down? The 

 foliage is bright green. We expect 

 to put them outdoors. Should we re- 

 pot them, and when? Any advice on 

 this matter will be greatly appreciated. 



C, F. B. 



The plants should not be kept dry, so 

 as to cause the foliage to die away. 

 Give them a shift now into 4-inch or 

 4^ -inch pots. After the third week 

 in May you can, if desired, place them 

 in a coldframe on a bed of fine ashes. 

 Cyclamens grow particularly well in 



