COPVRIGHT, 1899, BY 



PLORISTS- PUBUIStlll^G CO.. S20-53S Gaxton Bulldlnft, CniCAGO. 



Vol. m. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK, JANUARY 26, 1899. 



No. 6J. 



DAHLIA CAMELLIAEFLORA. 



We present herewith an engraving 

 ot some pot plants of this dwarf, early 

 blooming dahlia from a photograph 

 sent us by Mr. A. L. Miller, Brooklyn, 

 N. Y. 



Mr. Miller has grown it as a pot 

 plant for spring sales for the last 



It seems as though it should be very 

 useful to a florist doing a general local 

 trade. 



WILTING POINSETTLf^S. 



A correspondent from the far north, 

 where the thermometer was down to 

 43 degrees below when his inquiry was 



Dahlia Camelliaeflora. 



five years and has found it very use- 

 ful. He also grows it planted out in 

 the field in summer, where it not only 

 is the earliest to bloom, but produces 

 flowers freely all the season. The 

 plants do not exceed two feet in height 

 and do not need any stakes. The 

 flowers are pure white in color, of 

 large size, and borne on stout stems. 



penned, says: "How can I grow poin- 

 settias for cui flowers so fhey will 

 stand? Could sell them cut if they 

 did not wilt down so soon." 



I have never noticed that the bracts 

 wilt baSIy a'ter the first few hours, 

 and have noticed several times this 

 wintei- that the cut poinsettias stood 

 up well for several days, provided 



they ha"d been cut and placed in water 

 for a few hours, or better for a whole 

 night before being used tor the decor- 

 ation. There are few of our leading 

 flowers that should be cut and at once 

 handed over to the customer or used 

 for any purpose. This will assuredly 

 apply to roses, carnations, tulips and 

 even violets if the latter are wrapped 

 in oiled paper and kept in a moder- 

 ately warm place, and we suspect the 

 trouble with our friena's poinsettias is 

 the absence of the necessary "water 

 cure." All florists must have noticed 

 that when flowers are cut from the 

 plants when the roots are dry or dur- 

 ing the warm midday hours, the flow- 

 ers wilt more quickly than those cut 

 when the plants are well charged 

 with moisture, and if they must \Se 

 severed from the plant under these un- 

 favorable conditions, then some hours 

 with their stems in water is abso- 

 lutely necessary. WM. SCOTT. 



STEM ROT. 



I notice in replying to H. A. S., Mr. 

 Fred Dorner says that the so-called 

 stemrot of carnations is due partially 

 to deeper planting on the bench than 

 in the fleld. 1 do not find this to be 

 so in my case. 



Having been troubled with stemrot 

 last year on McGowan. 1 raised 400 

 McGowan cuttings from stock pur- 

 chased in Pennsylvania, taking the 

 greatest care with them. They were 

 planted on May 7 and by September, 

 when they were housed, I had the larg- 

 est McGowan carnations I ever housed. 

 These, as well as the other varieties, 

 were planted by myself, being particu- 

 lar to have the plants near the surface 

 and not any deeper than they had pre- 

 viously been planted, and in about two 

 or three weeks they commenced to 

 shrivel up and die. five to ten per day. 

 until by December 10 I had lost over 

 two-thirds of them, while of such va- 



