352 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



MARCH 9, 1899. 



not say it is the best, because I be- 

 lieve a very slight departure from the 

 equal span is the best of all. 



I don't approve of the violet house 

 taclied on to the front of rose houses. 

 I have precisely such a structure with 

 a path dug out against the rose house 

 wall to give me head room. I built it 

 for violets, but long since abandoned it 

 and now use it to keep hardy shrubs 

 till forcing time. In very severe 

 weather it is awkward to get at and is 



a great place for the lodgment of snow. 

 Be persuaded and build your violet 

 house independently. An equal span 

 with the ridge running east and west 

 and a good steep pitch will do well in 

 your severe climate. Use solid beds 

 by all means and either have the 

 means of removing the glass in the 

 summer months or an abundance of 

 ventilation, not forgetting plenty ot it 

 in the side walls. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



Carnations for Borders. 

 If your trade demands a few hun- 

 dred carnations for your customers' 

 flower borders and you propagated 

 them in November as advised in these 

 columns they should now go into a 3 or 

 3y2-inch pot and be given the light- 

 est, airiest bench you have. With a pre- 

 vious pinching they will m two 

 months' time be excellent plants for 

 the l3order and without any further 

 stopping give flowers in June and from 

 that on till the frosts of winter stop 

 them. Our customers appreciate 

 these plants very much, for to go into 

 their own garden and pick their own 

 boutonniere is gratifying. Never mind 

 what it costs them, they grew the 

 flowers and that is enough. 



Propagating. 



At this time when you are well filled 

 up with Easter stuff and can do little 

 shifting for want of time you should 

 make use of every spare inch of prop- 

 agating facility. After this month 

 propagating even of the simplest and 

 easiest increased plants is not done 

 with the ease and certainty that it is 

 during the cold months of winter. The 

 reasons are well known; briefly they 

 are as follows: In cold winter weath- 

 er the temperature of your house is 

 more uniform and seldom excessive, 

 while with constant fire heat the sand 

 of your propagating bed is warm. 

 This is the ideal condition tor prop- 

 agating most of our soft wooded 

 plants. Soon the reverse will be the 

 case. Our bright suns will raise the 

 temperature of the house and without 

 the necessity of firing the sand will be 

 comparatively cool. There will be more 

 danger of neglect in watering, shading, 

 airing and other cares that want our 

 watchfulness. Somewhere, not in the 

 remote past, but where I am not sure, 

 I saw written as advice to brother 



florists that a newspaper after all was 

 good enough for shading cuttings. 

 This I beg to differ with. Up to 

 March first very little shading is need- 

 ed for the propagating bed even if the 

 sun has full play on the bed, but 

 from now on I consider the newspaper 

 a very crude method and in high tem- 

 perature very conducive to the fungus 

 which carries off so many cuttings if 

 it once gets a foothold in the sand. 

 Cheese cloth tacked to the roof so 

 that it shades the bed after eight m 

 the morning and till five in the after- 

 noon I consider infinitely better than 

 newspaper. The cloth is only subdued 

 light anyway; it is not opaque like a 

 paper; once on it will not blow off 

 or be forgotten, and cannot possibly 

 do the cuttings the slightest harm up 

 to the time of their being rooted. So 

 now is the time, not only to put in 

 all you can of such bedding plants as 

 coleus, achyranthes, acalyphas, sal- 

 via, ageratum, lemon verbena, etc., but 

 put in a big lot of chrysanthemums. 

 Flowering begonias of all kinds root 

 well now rather better than they do 

 earlier. We are never afraid of having 

 too many ivy geraniums, and if your 

 older plants will give a cutting or two 

 it is not too late to make useful 

 plants. With me tea roses root this 

 month with the greatest certainty. 



Pansies and Violets. 



If you have any frames of pansies 

 intended for early use for vases, etc.. 

 look sharply out for ventilation. They 

 are easily spoilt with a few warm 

 days and with the frame kept close 

 they will draw up spindling plants and 

 be useless. The same can be said 

 about violets. The writer has 30 sash- 

 es of Marie Louise which he believes 

 will give better flowers in April and 

 May than those which have flowered 

 all winter, but they won't unless venti- 

 lation is closely watched. Whenever 



the outside temperature goes above 

 the freezing point, or even when it's 

 below, but when the sun is shining 

 brightly, air should be given. Not 

 only will these cold frames give fine 

 blooms but they will be fine stock to 

 propagate from, for no kind of dis- 

 ease will ever trouble these plants in a 

 cold frame. Propagation from the 

 violet houses should now be going on; 

 there is no better time if your plants 

 are making a healthy growth. We 

 were told by a good violet grower, 

 slightly in contradiction to what I had 

 said about runners, that "division of 

 the old plant was just as good." It 

 may have been with him, but I shall 

 stick to the runners. Not the long 

 thread-like growth that shows no sign 

 of making either a bud or a root but 

 the short-jointed leafy runner which 

 you can see is ready to root at the 

 first opportunity; that is the runner. 

 No need of putting them in the sand: 

 planted in 2 or 21/2 inches of good soil 

 and kept shady for a couple of weeks 

 is just as well. It is well to have a 

 good surplus over your needs for they 

 don't all take hold, and remember if 

 a young violet plant gets a hard stem 

 with but a few stunted roots it should 

 never be planted for a future crop. It 

 will exist but will always be a runt 

 and a disappointment. 



Seeds. 



The middle of this month will be 

 a seed sowing time with many of our 

 summer flowers; asters, stocks, zin- 

 nias, China pinks. Phlox Drummondi 

 and more of our so-called hardy an- 

 nuals. You may not grow them but if 

 you do sow along about the 15th. Don't 

 fill the pot or flat with dry soil cov- 

 ering the seeds lightly and then ex- 

 pect to give water enough on the sur- 

 face to thoroughly saturate all the 

 soil. If you do you will doubtless 

 wash many of the seeds to one corner 

 and a very uneven, unsatisfactory 

 come-up will be the result. Fill the 

 flats or pans to the required depth 

 pressing down the surface smooth and 

 even and then give a good watering. 

 When the water has soaked in sow the 

 seed, press the seed lightly into the 

 moist soil and then cover with a fine 

 sieve. 



There have been many things said 

 and written about covering seed and 

 some seeds are so small and fine that 

 to attempt to cover them at all is 

 dangerous, petunia and calceolaria for 

 instance, but for any seeds the size of 

 asters or pansies a good rule is to 

 cover them just enough to be out of 

 sight. After pressing the top cover; 

 ing very lightly the slightest sprink- 

 ling of water is sufficient and there is 

 no tear of washing the seed out of 

 place. Whatever the difference of 

 opinion may be as to the merits of 

 Jadoo as a compost for growing plants. 

 I have found it an excellent material 

 when sifted to form one half the com- 

 post for seed pans and the ideal stuff 

 to use as a covering, keeping the 



