278 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



AUGUST 9, 1900. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



[The following "Hints" weru written lor our 

 issue of last week but through a delay in the 

 mails came too late for that number. While their 

 seasunableness has, we think, ntit been impaired 

 by the delay, we tliought it best to make this an- 

 nouncement.] 



Carnations. 



The next four weeks will be carna- 

 tion lifting time, and well it will be to 

 get as much as possible done before 

 you go to the convention. We read 

 that that excellent gardener and man- 

 ager, Mr. Rudd, has done lifting. That 

 is very early. It was a year or two 

 before I was converted to the early 

 lifting, but it is a wise man who 

 changes his mind; fools are stubborn. 



If we went back to the old days of 

 short stems and picked the flowers 

 single and did no disbudding the late 

 lifting would do, for there is no mis- 

 take that the latter part of August and 

 September is the time your carnation 

 plant puts on growth and size. But 

 that day is likely never to come, and 

 we want flowers in November, and 

 must have a stem. To do this they 

 must be lifted early in August with- 

 out flower stems and make that growth 

 inside. 



Some soils allow you to lift at any 

 time, but a loam, particularly if in- 

 clined to be heavy, will not fall away 

 from the roots unless it is moist, and 

 waiting for a rain is tedious. Last 

 August we had scarcely a drop. This 

 is a time when a soaking will pay, 

 and lift just between the wet and the 

 dry. Any gardener knows that the 

 more working fibers you save the 

 quicker the plant takes hold of its new 

 environment. 



It is no use telling a man how many 

 forks or spades it takes to dig up a 

 carnation plant. In a stiff soil it may 

 take two, and in a light sand or muck 

 one fork well put down will bring up 

 every fiber. The carnation is a tough 

 plant and it would be incredible to our 

 fathers to see the barbarous way they 

 are handled and yet survive. Abuse 

 as little as you can. Don't let the roots 

 dry. Get them planted as soon as pos- 

 sible after digging. Let 'the soil fall 

 off or crumble it off; you don't want 

 it on the bench; new soil is wanted 

 around the roots, and not the soil of 

 the field. 



Shade the house for one week. A 

 good enough shade is made from a 

 handful of stiff clay (blue clay if you 

 have it) in a pail of water, and throw 

 it on the glass with a dipper. How- 

 ever, some may disagree with me. I 

 say keep the house rather close for 

 one week. Avoid bright sun and 



draughts from doors and ventilators. 

 If the night is still, put on all the 

 ventilation you can, but keep close in 

 the day time for one week. By that 

 time the plants will have hold of the 

 soil. Then off comes the shade: a hose 

 will take it off. Then up go the ven- 

 tilators and for the next at least two 

 months you cannot give your carna- 

 tions too much light and air. The 

 foundation of a strong, robust plant is 

 made in the early fall months before 

 there is any need of fire heat. 



One important part of the program 

 I did not mention, viz., watering. I 

 believe that many do not water enough 

 when first planted. They will not 

 want it again perhaps for ten days or 

 two weeks, as there are few if any 

 active roots, but the first watering 

 should be what we call "the first grand 

 watering." I never saw a plant die 

 from overwatering the first time in 

 thirty years of carnation growing. A 

 soaking settles the soil around, every 

 particle, and that is a great point, 

 that the soil should be in immediate 

 contact with the roots (this principle 

 applies to any terrestrial plant), and 

 makes amends for careless and loose 

 planting. 



One word about planting. Spread 

 the roots (not cramp them into a small 

 hole) and plant firmly, very little if 

 any deeper than they were in the field. 



Now all these simple truths are well 

 known, perhaps better known by the 

 score or two of carnationists, but 

 there are several people handling car- 

 nations this summer that have never 

 done so before. 



Altemantheras. 



Just about now is an excellent time 

 to take cuttings of alternanthera. 

 Don't put them in the propagating 

 house and afterward in two-inch pots. 

 It's a waste of time and space. Just 

 dibble them thickly into some very 

 sandy soil in flats two inches deep. 

 They root quicker than weeds, and 

 you can keep them in the flats all win- 

 ter and move them around to suit your 

 convenience. All of them, if kept on 

 the dry side, will winter in some very 

 unfavorable places, except the bright- 

 est and best — paronychioides Major — 

 which wants to be warm and not over- 

 watered. 



Geraniums. 



Please don't begin to propagate any 

 of the zonal geraniums during hot 

 weather. The first of September is 

 early enough. We saw a friend and 



neighbor try a big batch of the zonals 

 last year in the middle of August, and 

 !10 per cent went off black, which they 

 always will. 



Chrysanthemums. 



This is the time that chrysanthe- 

 mums appear to take up a good deal 

 of your time and labor. Beds get 

 weedy, plants want continual tying 

 up and side growth pinched oft'; and 

 all of it must be done to do them 

 justice. Don't let them fall about for 

 want of a tie. I have found nothing 

 as good as a coarse, cheap twine tied 

 to wire on the surface and another 

 overhead. It is quickly and cheaply 

 installed and quickly removed. 



This is the time that mums are 

 making their most vigorous growth, 

 and if the bench is properly drained 

 will take a great deal of water. Keep 

 them growing. No need of liquid 

 manure yet for a long time, but plenty 

 of water till they show their buds, 

 then more carefully. 



The black fly is not so troublesome 

 with us, but there is enough of him 

 to necessitate fumigation. If there 

 are too many holes in the glass you 

 can syringe with the rose leaf extract 

 of tobacco diluted 75 to 1, but fumi- 

 gation is the cleanest and most thor- 

 ough. And as for broken glass it 

 should not be. It is hot to be on a 

 roof, but painting and glazing must 

 never be put off. You will be busier 

 in a month, then you will put off such 

 jobs till frost comes, and the first 

 thing you know you are sitting on the 

 roof with frosty fingers and a blue 

 nose, and the pleasantries you dedicate 

 to broken glass and stiff putty are 

 enough to crack others. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



A SUMMER FROST. 



Shaumburg, July 15th, 1900. 



Tear Freint: Owing to de recent 

 cold spell I haf been to bissy to write, 

 but now dat it is growing a liddle 

 warmer, I dink dat I can leaf de fire 

 go wile I rote a few lines mit you. 



It seems dat summer has at last 

 mate its abbearance, at least a berson 

 would ding so too look at de flowers 

 which are now coming mit the town 

 in. Summer flowers, und sum mer 

 not. Und dose wich . are not, are de 

 most blentifull. It has struck me mit 

 great forcefullness dat some dings 

 coult be done to remedy dis subbly 

 off hot wedder flowers und if dere 

 were only a few more enderbrizing 

 beople in de flower bissness it woult 

 not be long pefore we could haf chust 

 as goot stock in de summer time as 

 we haf in winder. In winder we burn 

 coal to make heat und in de summer 

 time de heat is subblied to us in lib- 

 eral quandities, so liberal dat it be- 

 hoofs us to exberimentations off differ- 

 ent ways und means to ofercome dis 

 eggsessife heat. 



So naturally, I being off an exber- 



