I) ED) ED CD DDD) ) DD AD) ED) AD) D-DD 
News Letter 
April, 1951 
Dear Friends: 
The weather guys say we only have winters 
like this every ten years or so. Reassuring, at 
least. We told some of you folks 
{ov Lf up in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 
Q,9 joking, that it might be Mother’s 
§ \ Day before it warmed up enough 
to send you your plants. May not 
be such a big joke after all. Shall 
“ we dance? 
- 
Q. I see violet plants with real dark thick 
leaves, but mine are light in color. Why? The 
large ones I’ve had for two years, and they have 
never bloomed. Mrs. O.L.K., Missouri. 
A. Sounds like a case of malnutrition and/or 
insufficient light. Buy a commercial fertilizer 
at the dime store, follow the instructions on the 
package for supplementary feedings for your 
plants. Try to find a brighter location for them 
in your home. 
Q. I have a plant in a four-inch pot with 
four crowns. It was suggested that I prune it, but 
I don’t know how. Or should I repot it into a 
larger pot and let all of the plant continue grow- 
ing? 
A. Prune it? Or divide it? If you have the 
space to accommodate, or the need for, four plants, 
by all means divide it. If not, shift it on. Divide 
as follows: With the blade of a thin knife, cut down 
through the soil and roots where the crowns are 
join together, WITH THE PLANT STILL IN 
THE POT. Allow the plant to remain thus for 
about two weeks, giving the cuts sufficient time 
to heal over. Then prepare your soil, collect your 
containers, and slip out the crowns. Crumble off 
as much of the old soil as possible without dam- 
aging the roots, and pot up in the new containers. 
If there are small crowns which have no root 
system of their own, prop them up on a saucer 
full of sterile sand or vermiculite. In a month or 
so they will have sprouted their own roots and 
will be ready for shift to soil. 
_ Q. Three of my smaller plants were chilled 
this winter and lost their larger leaves. Will they 
revive and be satisfactory or not? 
_A. Sure they will, given time. 
Copyright, April, 1951, by Russell Gray 
lod FEAL EEE PER () EAL ERIS DETREI) OLE RO) I O-RED OEE ORE CBA 
