BEDDING PLAJsTS AND PLANTING BEDS. 51 



quantity of each variety than to have fifty varieties and only a few of 

 each, so that when your customers come in and say, "I would like to 

 have five or six dozen all one shade geraniums for my beds," you can fill 

 the order without substituting. I don't believe there is any other line 

 of business that gets the roasting that a florist does. So, my reason 

 for growing a quantity of what I do grow, with the fancy-leaved varieties 

 and the Mad Sallverie. 



It is best to lift a few plants of each and pot in a five-inch pot, then 

 you can take your cuttings off during the winter. Mad Sallveries root 

 easily, so that a cutting put in the sand by the first of February will 

 make a nice stock in three months' time. 



Cannas are a great acquisition to the flower bed. They are easy to 

 handle and don't take up much bench room. After the first frost, cut 

 the foliage down to within five inches of the ground. In lifting leave 

 enough dirt to just cover the bulbs. Lay in the sun for a few days so 

 as to ripen them up. A good place for the florist to winter them is on 

 boards layed along the ground under the carnation bed. By dividing 

 tne clump about the first of March and placing the eyes in boxes of 

 sand, placed on the steam pipes under the bench, they will start nicely 

 and when the foliage is up about five or six inches, pot them up in 

 four-inch pots. This method of starting saves considerable bench room 

 and you don't pot up a lot of eyes that won't make a good plant. 



Dahlias when given good care make a nice plant for a back-ground, 

 or to fill in some corner. The same treatment will apply to them as to 

 cannas, with the exception of starting dahlias grown from cuttings make 

 nice plants and will bloom profusely the first year. Cuttings can be 

 taken off about the latter part of February by laying the tubers out 

 and covering slightly with soil and kept moist. The eyes will begin 

 to break freely and the old clumps can be divided later on. 



Coleus are in great demand for edging up with or for solid beds. The 

 most satisfactory way I find, also the most economical way to grow them, 

 is to lift up a few plants of each variety before frost, cut them back 

 to within ten inches of the pot and carry them through the winter in 

 a moderately warm house. When spring comes you will have all the 

 cuttings you want. The first of April is time enough to take cuttings; 

 they root in twelve to fifteen days; the old plants are subject to mealey 

 bugs, so keep your hose on them occasionally. 



Lantanus and heliotrope treated the same way are better than cut- 

 tings taken in the fall, only they don't lift very well, so it is best to 

 put a few in a five-inch pot in the spring and plunge in a frame through 

 the summer. 



Other plants, such as abutilon, ageratum, salvia, verbenas, marguerites, 

 double petunias, and feverfew cuttings taken before frost and rooted in 

 the sand will give you good stock to propagate from through the winter. 



The following plants can be grown from seed and give good satis- 

 faction, besides saving much valuable room: Single Petunias, Asters, 



