DECEMBER 1, 189S. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



POTOMAC— Color pure salmon 

 pink: under artificial light taking 

 an intense fiery depth : very broad 

 petals; narrow grasslike foliage: 

 \ery roljust and a profuse bloomer. 

 By Peter Fisher. Ellis. Mass.: 



MRS. THOMAS LAWSON.— Color 

 dark pink: flowers immense size: 

 borne on an exceedingly long and 

 strong stem and with an excellent 

 calyx: vigorous growth and a free 

 and early bloomer. 



THE MAINE.— Color white. (N<i 

 further particulars.) 

 liy Henry Eichholz, Waynesboro, Pa.: 



ADMIRAL DEWEY.— Sport of Ar- 

 mazindy: white spotted and 

 striped pure pink; can be used as 

 a delicate pure pink; stem very 

 stiff, flower extra large, calyx 

 good; flowers nicely fringed and 

 scented. 

 liy Pick & Faber, No. 1401 Woolsey 



street, San Francisco, Cal.: 



VICE ADMIRAL SCHLEY.- Color 

 pink. tNo further particulars. I 

 By M. Wieland, No. 1913 Maple avenue. 



Evanston, 111. : 



EVANSTON.— A sport from 'lidal 

 Wave, in color a bright red. and 

 a very free bloomer. 

 By Elmer ,1. Weaver. Bird-in-Hand. 



Pa.: 



S. S. PENNOCK.— Deep pink, very 

 full, of good size, stem and calyx: 

 habit good and a free, early and 

 continuous blocmer. 

 By .1. M. Gasser, No. 101 Euclid ave- 

 nue, Cleveland, Ohio: 



MERRIMAC— In color a trifle dark- 

 er than Tidal Wave; flower of fair 

 size on a stiff, wiry steam and 

 with an excellent calyx: plant in 

 habit resembles a William Scott; 

 easy of propagation and an ex- 

 ceptionally free bloomer. 



A. M. HERR, Sec'y. 



Hydrangeas. 



Two inquiries have just reached mt 

 which being not entirely out of sea- 

 son, can be answered under this head 

 From "S. S. P." comes the questions: 

 "With good Hydrangea plants in 1- 

 inch pots now, what is the proper 

 treatment to get them in flower tor 

 Memorial day? Can they be repotted 

 and stopped once or must they be 

 grown to single stem?" 



Memorial day, better known with us 

 as Decoration day, is the very end of 

 May, chosen by those in power as a 

 season when flowers are supposed to 

 be most abundant. That may be the 

 case in some of our Southern States, 

 l)Ut by no means is it so in our North- 

 ern States, for frequently I have 

 known it to bo a time of unusual 

 scarcity. Plants are, however, in 

 greater supply and it is the very time 

 when Hydrangea Otaksa, with ordi- 

 nary greenhouse treatment, is at its 

 best. Plants in 4-inch pots would be 

 rather small to be called good plants 

 to make much of a show in pots, still 

 if there is a good leading bud and 

 most likely some latera' buds, they 

 will make most acceptable plants liy 

 the end of May. 



Keep them as near dormant as pos.>i- 

 ble till middle of February. Under a 

 bench in a warm greenhouse is not a 

 good place. A pit or house where the 

 thermometer ia near or little above 



the freezing point is the ideal place, 

 and of course with such a low tem- 

 perature little water is needed. Don't 

 do any shifting till you start them into 

 growth, then it the roots have filled the 

 1-inch pots they should be shifted into 

 at least a 5-inch and the strongest into 

 a 6-inch. With the length of time they 

 have to grow it can scarcely be called 

 forcing and they may come along 

 nicely in a light, cool greenhouse. 



Plenty of water is essential, especial- 

 ly when the leaves and flowers are 

 fully developed, and look out for red 

 spider. I have seen a lot of fine plants 

 ruined by spider almost before the cul- 

 tivator knew what was the matter. 

 The spider is worse on the flower than 

 the foliage. An early application of 

 the hose and its continual, judicious 

 application will keep down spider. I 

 almost forgot to mention, don't do any 

 cutting or stopping. The leading shoot 

 will assuredly give you a fine head of 

 bloom au'l if the lateral buds are well 

 developed they will also. 



Spiraea. 



No. 2 is: "What is the proper treat- 

 ment for spiraea frcm receipt of roots 

 to getting in flower for Easter?" My 

 last week's notes in The Review, page 

 682, have a few hints bearing on the 

 spiraea, but which though somewhat 

 of a repetition are susceptible to im- 

 provement. We will suppose the in- 

 quirer refers to what is generally 



known as Spiraea japonica, although 

 its correct botanical name may be As- 

 tilbe .laponica. It is one of the hardi- 

 est and most easily handled of all our 

 commercial plants. They are better 

 kept out of doors until you want to 

 l)0t and force them. In faat, boxes 

 with a little soil between the roots, 

 ever so little will do. and an inch or 

 so over the crown would be the best 

 treatment. If snow or rain falls on 

 them all the lietter. 



The time it takes to bring them into 

 flower will depend on the heat you give 

 them, but I would say that 10 weeks 

 in a night temperature of .50 degrees 

 is not too long a time and 12 weeks 

 is better. A rich soil is not necessary, 

 but a good sized pot to do them well 

 is very essential. The roots are often 

 rammed into a pot just large enough to 

 admit of the dormant clump and when 

 they grow or near their flowering time 

 the scanty portion of soil you have 

 given them is nothing but a mass of 

 roots. You have almost to stand them 

 in water to keep them from not only 

 wilting but shrivelling up. This is 

 why they are so generally called and 

 thought to be such an unsatisfactory 

 house plant even for a tew days. 

 Scarcely any roots we import should 

 have less than a 7-inch and most of 

 them would be better in an 8-inch. I 

 am aware that it is classed by our 

 large market growers as a very profit- 

 less plant. It may be. but it only oc- 

 cupies much bench room about 6 

 weeks. There are only a few points to 

 observe in its easy culture. An un- 

 limited amount of water, full daylight, 

 and don't burn tobacco near it while 

 it is making its young tender growths. 



Carnations. 



In my limited wanderings I yet see 

 in many places that the practice of 

 disbudding is but partially done and 

 in others not attempted. It is but half 

 a dozen years ago that it was seriously 

 and soberly discussed among the spe- 

 cialists of this universal favorite 

 whether it was desirable or necessary. 

 At this day I should not think there 

 was a single carnation grower, big or 

 little, who doubted the wisdom or 

 profit of disbudding. It should be 

 faithfully and timely done. I say time- 

 ly done, because if the side buds or 

 later buds are left on till the leading 

 or most forward bud is about to show 

 color, it may as well be entirely left 

 undone. 



We disbud chrysanthemums as soon 

 as the side buds can be rubbed off 

 without danger to the leading bud or 

 the selected one, and see what results! 

 We know it does not make such a vast 

 difference in the carnation as it does 

 in the chrysanths, but it makes a good 

 deal of difference, and if it is only a 

 little difference a little is a great deal 

 in these days of great production and 

 keen competition, where the very best 

 commands a real good price and the 

 second and third quality is only among 

 the "also ran" and brings, except at 

 a few short seasons, a most unprofita- 

 ble price High quality and lessened 



