94 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Decembek 20, 1900. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Christmas Deliveries. 



T5y the time tliese notes ic;h-1i the 

 reader you will be so busy with the 

 Christmas rush that little lieed will be 

 given to trade papers. Let me just re- 

 mind you that it is neeessary to apply 

 all the system you possibly can in the 

 few days that we have to crowd a week's 

 good work into one daj'. 



Have your Saturday's. Sunday's, 

 Monday's and Christmas day's deliveries 

 each by themselves. As .soon as sold a 

 plant can be placed in either of these 

 groups and as soon as the rush of each 

 day is over the plants that are to be de- 

 livered in the morning can be wrapped 

 .and tagged and fixed up with more or 

 less frills all ready for the wagons or 

 delivery boys. Delivering in good order 

 is a very important part of our business, 

 and after growing the plant and selling 

 it, to have a failure at the last moment 

 is most distressing. We have all had 

 our experience with thick-headed deliv- 

 ery men, but we often tax their thinking 

 ])0wers too much on these occasions, 

 that are altogether out of the ordinary. 



We find the only safe plan is to have 

 at least the name on every parcel that 

 goes out. Supposing Mrs. Green has 

 three plants, the name and full address 

 should be on one and on the tag the 

 names of the other articles, and on the 

 other articles should be Mrs. Green's 

 name. It is the only safe way on these 

 occasions and that will save numerous 

 calls to the telephone to hear the old 

 cry: "Your man delivered one plant 

 here, but I bought two." 



Christmas cleans up nuicli stuff and 

 you find yourself with room to spare 

 and vou need it. 



Lilies. 



Put your Jajjun loiiijillni uiils into a 

 night temperaUiii- nf iln ,1. -i , , -'anii k<'('p 

 them there. A hiil. inmr hr.ii \m|| nut 

 hurt if they nee. I il, l.in n. \(i l-nvn tlie 

 temperature. Urmiiula l.ulli- are 

 usually more forward and may do with 

 a little less heat. Easter is fairly early 

 and there is little fear of your lilies 

 being too early. 



The greenfly must be watched or rather 

 it must be prevented. Smoking is good, 

 but it takes a lot of it to reach down in 

 the thick crown of Icavr- TIh li.iiMlicst 

 and most perfect impbii.^m i.. i|.|'ly a 

 tobacco spray is thf -■ .n- '-inav 

 Pump." It is a iii"-i iiii|il. .ciii- 

 trivance. but does its work lo perfection, 

 and I would not be without it for five 

 times its cost. It will send a lijrht spray 

 of diluted nicotine down where the fly 

 loves to dwell. 



Tulips and Daffodils. 

 After Christmas you can cret in tulips 

 and Von Sions, for" they will force then 

 with safety and make good flowers. 

 Still all through .Tanuary and most of 

 February the tulips want a .stron" heat. 

 Unlike "the lily of the valley, "which 

 make no roots and want a coul top with 

 great heat, the tulips and narcissus 

 don't want their roots roasted, and nnist 



have a nioi.-t t<.p heat fif at least 80 de- 

 grees for tlie lir^l fi'w batilie^. Few 

 houses are kepi .it ilii- i cuiini .i l ure. but 

 you can alw.iN- inel.i-.' ■., |".iiion of a 

 side bench ami l!ie\ inii-i he al-^- shaded 

 with thin boards, but cheesecloth is bet- 

 ter. Don't attempt any of the double 

 varieties of tulips; you don't need them. 



Crimson Ramblers. 



It will also be time to start the Crim- 

 son Rambler roses. Those you lifted 

 from the groiml aic |i.i-^ibly now in a 

 temperature <.i ta ih-i. ... if the wood 

 has kept iiIiiim|i nmm an all right. 'ly- 

 ing into the ,|i-iicd li.rMis or shapes 

 should be done at once. We tried sev- 

 eral forms last year, but prefer the canes 

 tied around four or five stakes spirally. 

 The thicker the growth and more abun- 

 dant the flowers the more attractive 

 they are and the least room they take up. 

 Don't keep them in anything higher than 

 50 degrees for the first month. In that 

 temperature they will break. 



If you grew any of these plants in pots 

 all summer and have tlicm resting in 

 cold-frames you can al^o I.iihl: them in 

 and start in a tem|ii i iim- i r. i|ei;rees. 

 These force with tin- um.iw -i ra-i . It is 

 a w'ell known fad th.u ihi.-je loses as 

 well as Hj'brid Perpeluals have a much 

 better color than when forced in much 

 heat, so begin at once and syringe frc- 



caii be shortened to where you think the 

 ryes are strong enough to give flowers. 



American Beauty. 



I have often remarked that American 

 Beauty was one of the best forcing roses. 

 We have a few hundred for this purpose 

 and hope you have. Cut them down to 

 four or live good eyes and start at once 

 in the same house with the Kainblers. 

 These are liflcil jil.mls imd must be 

 started cool, am! wli.ii iliey first break 

 you would iliMik liii LI i\\lli was coming 

 blind, but e\ii\ -i wili will finish with 

 a bud. l.a-i \! 11 we I. -1 -i\eial hun- 

 dred of the-e l,rrall-e ur I, I llielll get a 



zero night in a i.ll iiaim. Ii tiny had 

 been grown in imu all -iiiniiin .iiid the 

 wood ripe. Iiml im'-i would not have 

 hurt them. Inn a pi nil jinun inside and 

 lifted in i'ail\ \ih.iii1hi is in no condi- 

 tion to stand fio.,t inch if they are a 

 hardy plant, and so we live and learn to 

 the end of our days. Wxi. Scott. 



PALM NOTES. 



in public 



alwa\- lla ,1 ..-I . ,M ! , - ,, an. I :, l.^w 



hints , II ^i,.w iirj ],a hii- iiia_\ lint 1m- .an 

 of place. 



'riic seed bed should be prepared as soon 

 as you have notice that your seeds arc 

 shipped. I like a bed with a good bottom 

 heat. Have a bench well boarded up on 



all sides, using four-inch boards f»r the- 

 bench bottom, and place these so there is 

 a small space between each of them. 

 Have the heating pipes below well di- 

 vided. On the bench put a layer of about 

 t^^n ill. In- of -pli.iuriHiii moss, moisten it 



seeds 



-- put a layer of 

 niiiiience to spread 



Never allow the seeds to lay around 

 for days or weeks, but put them in at 

 once. They should not be exposed to the 

 air. I once saw a fine lot of kentia seed 

 lay in a shed for more than a month. 

 'The seed's were afterward put in the bed 

 ami prol.alilv bad pinp, i liealiiieni there. 



rsc. 



layer of moss on toii and upon this an- 

 other inch and a half of the same fine 

 sand as before. Keep moist and main- 

 tain a steady bottom heat. By this meth- 

 od I find that any seed that has life in 

 it will come. 



As soon as the young plants com- 

 mence to show anil tin' lir-t leaf i~ out, 

 pull them lip ami |Mit into a twi im h pot. 

 I prefer the ili.p lo-r pnt. a- a ]ialm 



ill, liii.n\ -li.tllow -. Pot deep, 



but never break oU 1 li,' >ec,l. lor it is still 

 the life of the plant. On a kentia the 

 seed will remain for several j-ears, while 

 on the latania and areca it conies off in 

 a short time. The seed bed I have de- 

 scribed' is good for most of the palm 

 seeds. 



Coeos Weddeliana I prefer to sow in 

 pots, as the cocos does not transplant very 

 well. If the main root is damaged the 

 plant will always be a poor one. I like 

 .1 v.ither stiff but not too heavy soil for 



In --luiimer, of course, give the plants a 



l: 1 shading, but on this matter I will 



speak later. Next week I will say some- 

 thing about gidwiiiLj tlie seeillini;- of dif- 

 ferent palms into ~p,i innii jilanl-. 



K". K. T.vrcH. 



^^rr* DRACAENA CANES. 



What is the Ih-i i le of starting 



canes of dracai'iia- inin L:n.\Mlr:' Is it 

 best to leave the ..im- in l.ai;; sections 

 as they are im])oited or will lluy furnish 

 more plants if cut into smaller jiieces 

 before laying them in the propagating 

 bed'? And what temperature should 

 they be kept in? I have generally buried 

 the whole canes but often got only one 

 or two shoots to start out of one cane. 

 A. D. 



matter of f.ni iln- w.i-la of argument 

 is against such a iirocccding on account 

 of the additional number of cut surfaces 

 that are exposed to decay. 



il.l 



cred with a mixture of sand and sphag- 

 num moss to a depth of .3 inches, this 

 material being pressed down firml.v and 

 flic canes laid upon it in regular order, 

 space need not lie more 



