June 19, 1913. 



The Florists^ Review 



13 



Blooms of Petenon Nuisery Staged at the Chicago Peony Show, June 12, 1913. 



Ido not figure in the list of awards. The 

 |bay trees, boxwoods, etc., that were 

 ased to decorate the main entrance were 

 ■loaned by Winterson's Seed Store. 



PALE FOLIAGE, FEW BLOOMS. 



In a planting of peonies that I made 

 fn the fall of 1910 about fifty per cent 

 jf them have pale green or straw-colored 

 [foliage. These are not making good 

 growth and are not blooming well, while 

 the ones with green, healthy looking 

 leaves are blooming heavily. The plants 

 pre growing in a rather light, gravelly 

 foil, which was trenched about two feet 

 peep and mixed with about twenty per 

 fent its bulk of rotted cow manure, 

 ^ach fall I have given them about a 

 pinch covering of cow manure and have 

 Bug in around each plant a handful of 

 grouBd bone. I have kept them well 

 T^atered and cultivated. I have seen 

 lany otklt peonies about this city that 

 peni to be affected the same way. I 

 ^ardly think that the soil where the 

 peonies are can be sour, as it has ex- 

 N'lent drainage. Do you think I have 

 ^^*en them too much fertilizer? I hope 

 [ou can advise me what to do for the 

 ^enefit of these plants. A. A. C. 



lou prepared your ground well, and 

 |oe annual top-dressings of cow manure 

 Wd hone should be just what the plants 

 peed. There may be something lacking 

 I" your soil, which would account for 

 y> large a percentage growing poorly. 



^'I'lild suggest sending a sample of 

 four soil to your state agricultural col- 

 rgP ior analysis. You could thus uis- 

 F°^CT just what is needed. 

 . ' '''iietimes the mistake is made of 

 panting too deeply. This causes the 

 '^^^'"'^ to make an enfeebled and some- 

 ^•>' sickly growth. Some fourteen 

 la^r' ^^^ ^ ^^^ occasion to overhaul a 

 l^^'' bed of peonies, planted by a so-' 

 Y^\i'<\ expert gardener. The plants were 



'";- poorly and made a comparatively 



feeble growth in the spring, although 

 the soil was thoroughly prepared. On 

 examination I found that these peonies 

 were covered twelve to fifteen inches 

 deep with soil! In August they were 

 lifted and brought nearer the surface, 

 and the next spring there was a sur- 

 prising improvement in their growth. 

 Of course, this may not be the trouble 

 with your plants, but it is a possible 

 cause. 



Have you been in the habit of cutting 

 long stems with your flowers — down to 

 the ground, to be exact? If you have, 

 that is another possible reason fCr their 

 coming weak. In cutting peonies, leave 

 a fair amount of foliage on the lower 

 part of each stem. If you cut away all 

 the foliage you will cripple the plants 

 for flowering next season. Just try the 

 experiment of cutting all the flowers 

 from any clump with long stems; mark 

 it and note how sparsely it will bloom, 

 if at all, the following year. C. W. 



THOSE TARIFF CHANGES. 



I have read with much interest the 

 various articles in The Review in refer- 

 ence to the correction of errors in the 

 new tariff bill. McHutchison & Co., 

 New York, are the people who are en- 

 titled to all the credit in this matter, 

 because they are the only house that 

 had the enterprise to take this proposi- 

 tion up by mail with the florists. When 

 I received their letter, asking for aid, 

 I at once wrote them and told them to 

 tell me just exactly what they wanted, 

 stating it briefly, as I knew that Con- 

 gressman Ten Eyck, who is a personal 

 friend of mine, would be willing to do 

 what he could for us. When I received 

 their second letter I sent it to Mr. Ten 

 Eyck, who took the matter up with 

 Francis Burton Harrison, who is a mem- 

 ber of the ways and means committee of 

 the House, and I have a letter from 

 Mr. Harrison saying that every request 

 we made has been complied with. In 



printing the bill, however, two discrep- 

 ancies crept in. McHutchison & Co. 

 called my attention to them and I have 

 again taken the matter up with Mr. Ten 

 Eyck, who assures me that he feels quite 

 confident that the errors will be cor- 

 rected. 



You can see from this that McHutchi- 

 son & Co. are entitled to the credit, and 

 they are the large importing house that 

 was mentioned in the article in the 

 Albany Times-Union that was reprinted 

 in The Review. I sincerely hope that 

 you will give them as much publicity 

 as you can in the matter, as I think any 

 concern as enterprising as this one 

 should be supported. 



Wm. C. Gloeckner. 



The Review's Washington corre- 

 spondent advises that in a brief filed 

 with the Senate committee on finance, 

 which now has the new tariff bill, Wil- 

 liam F. Gude, the national representa- 

 tive of the S. A. F., asks that on page 

 .54, paragraph 215, line 15, the words 

 "and all other decorative greenhouse 

 plants" be omitted; also that on page 

 53, paragraph 216, line 10, immediately 

 after the word * ' nursery, ' ' the words 

 ' ' or greenhouse ' ' be inserted, for the 

 following reasons: By doing this the 

 various sections of the bill will be 

 brought more in harmony with each 

 other, bringing nursery and greenhouse 

 stock in the same paragraph and at 

 the same rate of duty, which is essen- 

 tial because the line of distinction be- 

 tween nursery and greenhouse stock is 

 not clearly defined; nursery stock 

 grown outdoors in the southern parts 

 of the United States would be green- 

 house stock in the north, and for this 

 reason different rates of duty for the 

 different sections of the United States 

 would be required if the requirements 

 of the bill be adhered to. Again, bay 

 trees which are hardy outdoors eight 

 months of the year must be kept in 



