The Weekly Florists' Review, 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Roses. 



potti-'d two or lliiee wreks .will be get- 

 ting hold of the soil and will not need 

 the syringing that was necessary when 

 first lifted. Keep them as cool as possi- 

 ble till the middle of Ueeember, when 

 they can l>e pvit into a night tempera- 

 ture of 50 degrees and slowly started. 

 They need very little pruning'; just the 

 unripened ends of the shoots, and if 

 there are any lateral growths on the 

 strong canes cut them back to two or 

 thice eyes. 



I am by no means discouraged with 

 the method of growing them in pots all 

 sunnner from cut back dormant stock 

 started in April, and last Easter had 

 a number of well-flowered, medium-sized 

 plants grown in this way. This year 

 they did not make as good a growth in 

 early summer because they were neg- 

 lected in June and attacked by mildew. 

 That is nothing against the method, but 

 it shows what neglect will do. How- 

 ever, lifting the plants from the field is 

 much the least expensive plan because 

 you escape the long summer's care. 



Brunners, Jacks or any of the hybrid 

 perpetuals that have been grown in pots 

 for forcing should now be laid on their 

 sides to escape any more moisture. If 

 laid down in a frame with glass over 

 them, all the better. We have usually 

 had a few hundred American Beauty in 

 pots for Easter, and there is no other 

 rose its equal for this purpose. We lift 

 them from the bench in early Novem- 

 ber (strong plants that were put on the 

 bench in April ) , cut them down to with- 

 in six or eight inches of the bench and 

 pot them in 6-inch pots, place in a cold- 

 frame, where they stay till New Year's 

 or a little later, according to the date 

 of Easter. I have written of my meth-_ 

 od of doing this before and the reason 

 for bringing it up just now is to tell 

 you that although American Beauty be- 

 longs to the H. P. class and is quite 

 hardy in our cold winters you must not 

 let these plants in pots that have made 

 very few or no roots be exposed to much 

 frost. They will not stand it, particu- 

 larly if the soil is dry. They have been 

 all right in a frame up till now, but 

 after this must be well protected or 

 in a house that is kept just above freez- 

 ing. 



There is no rose that makes such a 

 fine pot plant for Easter as American 

 Beauty. Every eye sends up a flower 

 and with stems i2 to 15 inches long. 

 I know of some who have tried to do 

 this and failed. They lifted them in 

 early November, left them 18 inches tall 

 and put them in a greenhouse. That 

 won't do. They must be cut back hard 

 and kept very cool till starting time. 

 You can force them into flower in two 

 months, but three months is much bet- 

 ter, beginning at 45 degrees and finish- 

 ing at 55 degrees, then the color will 

 be fine and the plants sturdy. 

 Carnations. 



Some people are so stubborn and 

 knowing, that they will learn from no 

 one; others are too ready to adopt any 



|il:ni that is adviualrd. The writer, 1 

 luipc, bcloiiys to Mcillicr class, but is a 

 little inclined tu attach too much im- 

 portance to the views of men who set 

 themselves up as authorities. 



For instance, we have heard special- 



t\v. 



z.i years experience to the contrary 

 we adopted it and for five years past 

 have been rooting them in three inches 

 of sand on the board benches of a car- 

 nation house. We are tired of it. It is 

 too slow and some varieties will hardly 

 root at all unless the sand is warmer 

 than the house. So this fall we took up 

 the boards and put in their place roof- 

 ing slates 18 by 12 inches. Beneath the 

 bench are six IJ-inch hot water pipes, 

 and we boarded up the bench back and 

 front, leaving a board on the path side 

 hinged so we could let the heat into 

 the house and avoid so much in the 

 sand. This is precisely the kind of 

 propagating bed we rooted carnations in 

 for 25 years, and where we used to put 



of doors. You get very little from 

 inside during those months. For this 

 purpo,se you should propagate at once so 

 that you have well branched plants in 

 .'i-inch pots to plant out next April. 

 There are so many new kinds untried 

 lur ilii- |iiii|Misc that I would rather de- 

 I i-ihl ii|ii:]i III.- uhlrr varieties. But the 

 iiMiiM,' ]- y,n h;ivi' perhaps discarded 

 -Miiic vaiiilir- that gave excellent re- 

 sults in the licld. Portia, that became 

 useless in winter, gives you fine flowers 

 outside. For a white, Evelina is grand. 

 Daybreak is first-class. Scott will give 

 you thousands of (lowers. We can judge 

 from the habit of some of the newer 

 kinds and I am sure that Crane will be 

 a dandy for the purpose, and of the new 

 pinks Genevieve Lord has just the habit. 

 Rust has about disappeared with us. 

 I hope it has everywhere. I am sure 

 it was not from syringing the plants 

 with Bordeaux or any other mixture, 

 but for several years we have always 

 kept a tub of "ammoniacal copper car- 

 bonate" very near the propagating 

 bench, in which we immersed the hand- 

 ful of cuttings for a second or two just 

 before we put them in the sand. And 

 we do the same just before they are pot- 

 ted. We believe this is an excellent 

 plan and shall continue it. In a cool 

 house the sand is seldom troubled with 

 the fungus that carries off thousands of 

 cuttings in a warm house, but as a pre- 

 ventive, between batches of cuttings we 

 always water the sand with this mix- 

 ture. William Scott. 



Group of Crotons shown at the Chicago Exhibition by M. Luetschg, gardener t 

 F. R. Chandler, Lake Geneva, Wis. 



m 1,000 cuttings of old La Purite and 

 take out 1,017. As long as the house is 

 cool no harm' at all is done by having 

 the sand at 65 to 70 degrees. In this 

 bed the carnations will root in 20 to 25 

 days; in the cool sand it takes 35 to 

 40 days, and with some varieties more 

 if they root at all. You may think there 

 are a good many pipes, but the bench 

 is 3 feet wide and the pipes are spread 

 and 18 inches below the slates. 



On many places it pays well to have 

 a good batch of carnations for flower- 

 ing in July, August and September out 



CROTONS. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 from a photograph of a group of cro- 

 tons shown by Melchior Luetschg, gar- 

 dener to F. R. Chandler, Lake Geneva, 

 Wis., at the recent Chicago exhibition. 

 These plants attracted a good deal of 

 attention, not only because they were in 

 good condition but even more on account 

 of the fact that they had been bedded 

 out all summer and lifted and potted in 

 the fall. 



Mr. Luetschg accomplished this with- 



