MARCH 2. 1899. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



327 



sun in any cool, light house. Give 

 them a thorough watering when first 

 potted, and then for the next three 

 weeks water only when they are de- 

 cidedly on the dry side. These gera- 

 niums will never catch up to those 

 struck in the fall, but if, when well 

 rooted, they are shifted into a 3-inch 

 or, better still, a 3%-inch pot, using 

 good, rich soil, and firing at night 

 continued until at least the middle of 

 May, you will find them a first-class 

 article, after your largest plants are 

 gone, and you can afford to sell them 

 at a less figure, for they have cost 

 much less. 



Poinsettias. 



Once more comes the request: "Will 

 you be good enough to tell us in the 

 ne.xt Review the best way of striking 



seven weeks the old plants will give 

 you lots of young growth, which cut 

 off and put in the sand in the usual 

 way. You -will not only get that first 

 crop, but can take off cuttings till 

 August. This is a much better plan 

 than propagating the old canes; better 

 in every way. While the green cut- 

 tings are in the sand look out for the 

 bright and hot days of May. They 

 want plenty of water, and the first two 

 weeks after potting the cuttings from 

 the sand be careful to attend to shade 

 and water. After once established in 

 the small pots, no shade at any time 

 of the summer should be allowed. 



Meteor -Rose. 



Mrs. E. asks. "Why is it the Meteor 

 so often has such short stems? The 

 plants have been doing fairly well and 



Easter Stock. 



Nothing will now occupy time and 

 close attention so much as our Easter 

 crops. There is one mistake made 

 frequently, and that is to remove a 

 plant when well advanced in bud from 

 a warm house into a cool one. I 

 mean by that say from a night tem- 

 perature of 60 degrees to one of 4.i 

 degrees. This is done sometimes be- 

 cause you think your lilies or lilac or 

 azaleas will be a few days too early; 

 it is most unnatural and a great check 

 to a plant; if you will just think about 

 it, most all the plants we force when 

 out of doors are in their natural sur- 

 roundings. The heat of days is gradu- 

 ally on the increase till flowering 

 time; when once the flowers are open, 

 then anything above freezing will do. 



A Glimpse of the Exhibition at the Philadelphia Convention of the American Carnation Society. 



poinsettias from the old canes? Is it 

 best to let them dry off some or put 

 them in as soon as cut down?" So 

 much and so often has the poinsettia 

 been written of that it staggers me to 

 receive the above. The plants left over 

 from the holidays should be resting 

 perfectly dry beneath a bench or in 

 some warm shed. The first of April 

 is plenty of time to start them. Any 

 part of last fall's growth will root ex- 

 cept perhaps the last top joint or two, 

 which sometimes do not ripen. Put 

 the cuttings in the sand in a warm 

 house. The cutting should have at 

 least two joints, one in the sand and 

 one above. They root readily, but 

 propagation from the old canes is not 

 the way to do it, and that has been 

 said many times in these columns. 

 About April 1st shake out the old 

 plants and repot. Shorten back the 

 cane if it is not well ripened and start 

 the plants growing in a warm house 

 with plenty of syringing. In six or 



have good foliage, but throw out such 

 short stems. Can you tell me how I 

 can have longer stemmed Meteors?" If 

 the foliage is good, then the roots are 

 all right. Meteor when well grown 

 makes fine, long stems. Perhaps Mrs. 

 E. is not aware that Meteor requires 

 almost 10 degrees higher temperature 

 to grow it well than Bridesmaid or 

 any of that type. While 55 to 58 night 

 temperature is considered right for 

 most tea roses, and the great army of 

 rose growers endeavor to keep their 

 houses at that temperature. Meteor is 

 kept at 65 to 68 degrees, and a corre- 

 sponding high day temperature. We 

 expect there is nothing else the trouble 

 except too low a temperature, and 

 during that ten days of below zero 

 weather you were doing pretty well 

 to keep up an ordinary rose house 

 heat, much less the extra ten degrees 

 required by Meteor, which it must 

 have in the dark days of winter, if 

 you are going to do it well. 



A lily will last two weeks after open- 

 ing, and so will an azalea, if cool and 

 shaded. 



Several inquiries of late have been, 

 "How many days shall I give my tu- 

 lips or hyacinths in the house to be in 

 just right for Easter?" There is no 

 set time to guide us, and you must use 

 your wits and consider the date on 

 which Easter falls, for that makes all 

 the difference. Some twelve or four- 

 teen years ago Easter Sunday was on 

 the 25th of April. The month had 

 been bright and warm, and with less 

 experience than now we got in our 

 bulbs disastrously early, and we had 

 to make use of cellars and all sorts of 

 contrivances to keep them in shape till 

 the 25th. Last year March was a most 

 beautiful month, the finest in my rec- 

 ollection of thirty-one years. Spring 

 virtually started in about March 1st 

 and kept it up till a cold spell again 

 in April. Are we to have the same 

 balmy March? Present outlooks say 



