BEDDING PLANTS AND PLANTING BEDS. 53 



as a rule, are pot bound. So in setting out be sure and make your holes 

 deep enough. 



Plants to make a good showing, as a rule, will stand it to be planted 

 from ten to twelve inches apart. After making your holes, place your 

 plants in and if the arrangemetit suits you, water each individual plant. 

 After the water has soaked away fill up the holes with dry soil. This 

 method keeps the soil from baking around the roots. It would be well 

 if we could abide by this rule in all our plantings. The soil wants to 

 be kept loosened by frequent cultivation. Don't be afraid to go down 

 well, as that is where you want the moisture to go. 



As a rule sufBcietit rain falls to do most plants, cannas and dahlias 

 excepted, they can take a soaking every evening and be better for them. 

 When w^atering, give the plants enough water to thoroughly soak them, 

 not a light sprinkling, as that only does more harm than good. 



Window boxes, porch boxes and hatiging baskets are used extensively. 

 I find that the wire baskets lined with moss are the best, as they hold 

 the moisture better. 



The Asparagus Sprengrie is used extensively as a basket plant and 

 seems to thrive nicely. For boxes or vases, I would recommend to mix 

 your soil with stable manure, as it seems to hold the moisture better 

 than the cow manure does and the ammonia in it seems to give the 

 plants good color. 



After a flower is through blooming, pick it off, stem and all. Your 

 plant will do better and bloom more freely. 



Ornamental bedding is something that is always left to the florist to 

 do, and lucky is the florist that has a man that can do ornamental work, 

 for nowadays everything is specialized. So that to get an all-rouHd man 

 nowadays is a hard proposition. You will find them mostly on the smaller 

 places. Where a man is expected to be able to grow most anything there 

 is to be found, make up designs, decorate, and last but not least, steam- 

 fitter, carpenter and a good wheelbarrow pusher. 



I can't close this paper without saying a word or two on bulbs. What 

 is prettier in the spring than a nice bed of Tulips. Hyacinths, and Nar- 

 cissus. Oftentimes people come in about the first of March and want 

 bulbs, and when you tell them that fall is the time to put them in they 

 look surprised. Bulbs can be put in after a light frost or two. Put them 

 down five or six inches in the ground about December, give them a 

 good covering of coarse manure. As the weather begins, remove your 

 covering. After they are through blooming, which depends on the sea- 

 soti, lift them up, cut the tops and the roots off, let lie in the sun for 

 a few days, taking them in at night, then lay on a shelf in the cellar, 

 and about the 10th ot May you can plant out your bedding plants. 



This concludes my paper, thanking you for your attention. 



Mr. Green: I would like to ask Mr. Williams what varieties of hybrid 

 teas he finds best for small bedding. 



Mr. Williams: The La France, Liberty, Golden Gate, and Pearl make 

 good ones. 



