JANUAltr 19, 1899. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



J8I 



cut them back and plant out in May 

 and the following winter you have fine 

 bushy plants. 



Violets. 



A very interesting article appeared 

 in last weelv's Review on tne violet. 

 There is to me no doubt that the genu- 

 ine runner is to be preferred to the 

 division of the old plant. I have a 

 house of plants which represents both 

 methods and those from tlie runners 

 taken oft' in February are much the 

 best. I mention this now because no i 

 good strong runners should be pulled 

 off and thrown away after this date. 

 It is not necessary to put them in the 

 sand of the propagating bench as you 

 do carnations, but place them at once 

 into flats of light soil, 2^/^ or 3 inches 

 deep and keep cool and shaded till 

 they are rooted, when of course a 

 light house and low temperature is 

 the place till a cold frame will take 

 care of them. 



Weather. 



I have thought it worth while to 

 think seriously about the dates and 

 climate of this year as compared with 

 that of last year. Often the value of 

 our crops depends greatly on the right 

 or wrong time we have them for sale. 

 Easter is not the only week that 

 plants sell, but no one will question 

 that many crops grown for that date 

 would not be worth one-fourth the 

 price if not salable at that time. The 

 spring of '98 was the most remarkable 

 in the memory of "the oldest inhabi- 

 tant." Those older than myself have 

 lost their memory. About March the 

 first spring virtually set in and al- 

 though croakers and wise ones said, 

 "Oh, we will suffer for this," we 

 never did, March was a sunny, warm, 

 frostless month and although we had 

 a few sharp frosts in April it was no 

 more winter. Is it likely we will soon 

 see that again? I think not and 

 those who only reckon on last year's 

 experience and results and forget 

 ■what normal northern March is like, 

 and that Easter is this year very early 

 (April 2), had better think it over at 

 once. WILLIAM SCOTT. 



ROSE NOTES. 



As the days grow longer, with the 

 addition of brief intervals of sun- 

 shine, we begin to notice a renewed 

 activity in the growth of our roses. 

 ■What a wonderful change a few days 

 of sunshine can make in the appear- 

 ance of a rose house! Bottom shoots 

 are making their appearance in all 

 parts of the house, and what is more 

 cheery to the heart of the grower 

 than to see these strong canes spring 

 up like mushrooms during the night 

 and in seemingly very few days attain 

 the height of 3 to 5 feet? 



Now if you want extra fine flowers 

 and can get a sufllcient price for them 

 it may be well to disbud these shoots 

 to a single flower, otherwise it might 

 be best to break out the center bud 

 and leave three or four shoots to di- 

 vide the sap among them, which 

 means many flowers of more than 

 good average quality. Which will pay 

 the best in the end is a question for 

 you to decide. 



If this bright weather keeps up we 

 may soon get in shape for giving the 



roses a weekly application of manure 

 water. Those who are fortunate 

 enough to possess an elevated tank 

 connected with the water pipes for the 

 purpose of applying manure water 

 certainly have reason to congratulate 

 themselves in having eliminated the 

 worst features of an otherwise toil- 

 some and disagreeable undertaking. 

 When these modern improvements are 

 lacking we will have to depend on the 

 old method of placing barrels in con- 

 venient parts of the house and with 

 the use of a "Kinney suction pump," a 

 simple device which you screw on the 

 water faucet, and with the aid of two 

 pieces of hose we are ready for the 

 work (directions, etc., are supplied 

 with each pump). Every florist 

 should be in possession of one of these 

 labor saving devices the cost of which 

 will be saved in one application. 



One of the best and safest fertilizers 

 to begin with will be a dose of soot 

 water. Take V2 bushel of soot, pui it 

 into a bag, tie a weight to it so as to 

 keep it under water and place it in 

 the barrel, fill the barrel with water 

 and let it remain for a few days, 

 when it will be ready for use. This 

 will do to apply one-fourth strength 

 as a starter, and may be followed with 

 applications of animal manure in 

 liquid form about once a week or ten 



days, always bearing in mind not to 

 get it too strong. Weak applications 

 given regularly are always safest and 

 best. Should we have a prolonged 

 spell of dark weather it will be ad- 

 visable to wait for bright weather be- 

 fore applying, as the plants would not 

 be able to assimilate it, and what was 

 intended as a benefit might prove a 

 great injury to the welfare of your 

 stock. S. A. B. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SPORTS. ;^ 



The catalogues will soon be on hand 

 with the usual list of new varieties, 

 which are, however, hardly so numer- 

 ous as usual. Several of the new sports 

 will be much more useful to the grow- 

 er for exhibition than the commercial 

 man, notably G. I. Warren, a pale yel- 

 low sport from Madame Carnot, and 

 the white lora, Mrs. F. A. Constable. 

 Warren is distinct from Mrs. W. 

 Mease, another sport from Carnot, but 

 the difference is slight. The flowers 

 of Carnot and all its sports are superb, 

 but most unfortunately are rather soft, 

 and on that account cannot be handled 

 by the purely commercial grower as 

 much as their merits would otherwise 

 deserve. 



A pink sport from Carnot is noted 

 in Europe this year, but we are not 

 likely to see it in America before the 

 fall exhibitions. The Carnots are vig- 

 orous growers and must not be plant- 

 ed too closely, or a long neck will re- 

 sult. Mrs. F. A. Constable makes a 

 bad shipper, as does its parent, on ac- 

 count of the peculiar whorled petals 

 which interlace and damage each oth- 

 er if the flowers are not packed separ- 

 ately. Outside of this peculiarity, 

 however, Mrs. Constable is a splendid 

 variety, habit and foliage being very 

 satisfactory. 



Several growers claim to have yel- 

 low sports from Mayflower. One that 

 I saw was perhaps rather pale, but 

 that is nearly always the result when a 

 white sports to yellow, as, for in- 

 stance, Mrs. 0. P. Bassett, Yellow 

 Monarch, G. J. Warren, and a recent 

 yellow sport from Niveus, Pride of 

 Ryecroft, another European variety. 

 Sports are much more common in Eu- 

 rope than they are here, for the simple 

 reason that many more plants 

 are grown for decorative work and 

 are not disbudded to any great ex- 

 tent 



Viviand-Morel has two new sports 

 that I have not yet seen, which are 

 Mrs. I. Ritson, a pure white form, and 

 Lady Hanham, a combination of sev- 

 eral colors. Truly, Morel Keeps up its 

 magnificent reputation. 



Sports have been unusually numer- 

 ous in America the past year, though 

 why this is so, and. in fact, why or 

 how they appear at all, is more or 

 less a sealed book. Nature has her 

 own way of doing things. Even the 

 human family at times develops 

 "sports," the "dead game" sport being 

 possibly the best known break from 

 conventional lines and entirely dis- 



