102 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Jl^NE 21, UKlll. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Carnations in the Field. 



Many of us are suffering in western 

 New York for want of rain and it is 

 particularly hard on young carnations 

 that have not had a good soaking 

 since they went out early in May. I 

 am not an advocate" of watering and 

 few of us have the raei^'ns of watering 

 an acre thoroughly. If easily irri- 

 gated or you can give it a thorough 

 soaking with the hose, I should be 

 tempted to do so just once and then 

 hoe, but in the absence of this oppor- 

 tunity you can do what is of the great- 

 est benefit, keep on hoeing. 



Never should there be a week pass 

 but what the carnations are hoed. The 

 Planet, Jr.. cultivator is a gem. and a 

 man can get over an acre in two days 

 and do' it carefully and well, but good 

 as the cultivator is, I like every third 

 hoeing to be done around the plants 

 with the back-bending hand hoe. In 

 rainy weather you hoe to keep the 

 surface broken and to kill the weeds. 

 In dry weather it is even more neces- 

 sary to hoe to keep the surface loose 

 and encourage moisture to rise to the 

 surface and feed the roots. 



It is wonderful how the carnations 

 will thrive, even in the dryest time, 

 where the surface is constantly kept 

 stirred. If a man could plant his car- 

 nations on land that was so-called 

 "trenched," that is. dug two feet deep, 

 as old country nurserymen do for al- 

 most all their shrubs and conifers, or, 

 what is next best, subsoiled with a 

 plow, we should be still more indepen- 

 dent of the weather, for that kind of 

 cultivation is good both ways. Land 

 that is pulverized two feet deep allows 

 surplus rains to pass freely through, 

 and in the absence of rains gives it 

 readily back again to the roots of the 

 crops. 



Cyclamen. 



Your cyclamen are now in 5-iuch 

 pots, or should be, and whether you 

 grow them inside or have them 

 plunged in a mild hotbed and shaded 

 during the brightest sun, you should 

 give them a slight syringing every 

 morning and never let them suffer 

 from extreme dryness. 



Begonia Incarnata. 



I notice a batch of Begonia incarnata 

 grandiflora that now want shifting in- 

 to 4-inch pots, and in September into 

 fi-inch. There is some dispute about 

 the name of this pretty coral pink 

 begonia, and if old Sam De Graw, of 

 Franklin, Pa., will tell us once more 

 its correct name, we will abide by it. 

 It is a most useful plant, but is gen- 



erally grown what may be called "too 

 fat," and then it wilts. 



Give it rather a stiff soil and almost 

 the full sun during summer. In this it 

 differs from many species of this wide- 

 ly distributed genus, although most of 

 them are given too much shade. 



Begonias for Fall Sales. 



In October and November there is 

 always a demand for plants for the 

 window or private conservatory and 

 there is not a great choice. A pot of 

 mums is short lived and many tliink 

 the zonal geranium gay but plebeian. 

 The fine-leaved begonias, which have 

 also beautiful flowers, are just the 

 thing. a.nd so they are, for begonias 

 are one 6f the grandest of plants and 

 best adapted to unfavorable conditions 

 of all the plants we grow. 



Young plants that were propagated 

 in March or April should be grown 

 on and pinched if necessary. Most all 

 of them like a third of leaf-mould. 

 When the leaf is the chief ornament 

 ' leaf-mould and well rotted manure can 

 be freely used. For this use metallica 

 is fine, and so is manicata aurea. Paul 

 Bruant is very effective. Rubra and 

 several more of the winter bloomers 

 are worth growing well. Now, none of 

 these want shade and a close atmos- 

 phere; plenty of light and air they 

 must have. Plunged out of doors and 

 jr.st shaded from the hottest suns 

 would be the ideal place, but they do 

 very well on a bench plunged in some 

 material, with little shade and plenty 

 of air. 



Begonia Gloire de Lorraine. 



I wish I could write full and accu- 

 rate and absolutely infallible rules and 

 regulations on "How to Produi-e 

 Splendid Plants of Gloire de Lorraine 

 Begonia Without a Miss." You would 

 give 10 cents a copy for the instruc- 

 tions, I am sure. This wonderful be- 

 gonia is a hybrid and of delicate con- 

 stitution, but nothing surpasses it in 

 beauty when well grown. 



A great many things in our business 

 and in electricity and in matrimony 

 are discovered by accident, perhaps 

 more than were designed, and within 

 a day or two my son drew my atten- 

 tion to a plant of Lorraine that was 

 growing in a bed of adiantum. He 

 had put the leaf there in .lanuary: it 

 had taken root and is now a compact 

 little plant, the very essence of health 

 and happiness. Now. this plant has 

 been entirely hidden from light by the 

 fern fronds which cover it. showing 

 that it wauls, now at least, lots of 

 shade. 



About a month ago we shook out 

 all our rusty little plants, potted them 

 in 3 and' 3i^-inch pots and made the 

 soil almost -half of leaf-mould and 

 have heavily shaded them, and they 

 are making a good healthy growth. 

 When they once start to thrive and 

 grow they want no pinching: they 

 branch themselves quite sufficiently; 

 in fact, you can't improve on their 

 natural symmetry. 



Repairing, e;c. 



After your roses are planted, palms 

 shifted, everything plunged outside 

 and stock generally in good shape, you 

 will feel like taking it easy. Don't do 

 it just yet. If there is any painting or 

 repairing to be done, do it right off. 

 If you say, "Oh, I'll do that in the 

 fall." you will find twenty things that 

 must be done then. 



Nowadays carnation growers plant 

 early in August, and even some before 

 that, so how little time there is to 

 spare should your benches want re- 

 pairing. I don't believe in neglecting 

 a crop a day; keep it up to concert 

 pitch till the day you throw it out. but 

 don't keep an old crop in a week 

 longer than you should because it is 

 giving you a few flowers. 



To moralize a bit, the difference in 

 the success of the man who does every 

 operation promptly on time and one 

 who is always three weeks behind is 

 marvellous; in fact, it generally 

 amounts to the difference between suc- 

 cess and failure. 



Smilax. 



By the first of July you should plant 

 your new smilax bed. If you leave it 

 till the 1st of August, you get three 

 crops instead of four. Smilax, to be 

 profitable, should have 60 or 65 de- 

 grees at night. Make the bed on the 

 floor of the house; a little superfluous 

 moisture don't hurt it. 



Six inches of heavy, well enriched 

 loam will do. and plant strong plants. 

 Ten inches between the rows and 

 eight inches between the plants is 

 about right. Any old SxlO glass will 

 do for smilax if you have the heat. 

 The principal neglect with smilax is 

 not tying it up in time after a crop is 

 cut. " WILLIAM SCOTT. 



BUGS. 



Shaumburg, June 32, 1492. 



Tear Frient: It seems dot droubles 

 nefer come single handed; dey are 

 allways coming in bunches. Jusu 

 now look at de droubles we are haf- 

 ing in China, in de Philippines, in 

 Philadelphia mit Mark Hanna, Roose- 

 velt und oders who want to be vice 

 bresident und can't spaie de time. 

 I'nd efen at home in de greenhouse 

 we haf our own droubles. 



At dis season off de year de florils 

 are all podered mit pugs in de green- 

 houses und dey certainly are a nui- 

 ."ance und de questio.n is how to get 

 rit off dem. I was spheaking mit a 

 frient off mine de Oder day apoud 



