420 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



SEPTEMBER 6, 1900. 



fill the vases full. Clematis panicu- 

 lata is pre-eminently the finest ma- 

 terial for decorating at present; cut 

 the sprays good and long and hang 

 them up independent of other greens. 

 If you are a grower don't forget to 

 plant some of this beautiful vine for 

 next year, and it you are a store 

 keeper you can get it from any large 

 nursery; it is the finest thing out at 

 present for decorative work. Cannas 

 will furnish you with elegant material 

 for table or mantel work; use grace- 

 ful greens with them, their own foli- 

 age is too rough. 



A Late Season. 



The season will be very late this 

 year, the best people will not return 

 "from their country homes till after 

 the bluster of election is over, and al- 

 though a few choice plants is at this 

 time in order for your store, don't be 

 in a hurry to stock up. It will pay 

 those having a greenhouse to look out 

 for the many bargains usually obtain- 

 able in the early fall, but it's bad pol- 

 icy for a store keeper to plunge when 

 he has but his store to keep them in. 

 Get a nice little stock in by the middle 

 of September or first of October; peo- 

 ple like to see them even though they 

 may not buy till November. 



See that your store and stock is 

 thoroughly clean, and make some 

 change that will look as if you were 

 prospering; people get tired looking 

 at the same old thing and like to 

 think they are dealing with a live man 

 or woman. 



We were glad to meet so very many 

 lately who read our notes and would 

 ask them to send us illustrations and 

 items of their own works. 



IVERA. 



FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



No doubt it is all right to deprecate 

 the use of set designs as being in bad 

 taste, but all the same the wise re- 

 tailer will get all the orders he can 

 for work of this character, as it en- 

 ables him to work off short stemmed 

 stock that would otherwise be a total 

 loss. There is still a place for the de- 

 sign. 



The real floral artist is the man who 

 can take the meager material avail- 

 able (which is sometimes very scanty) 

 and make a design that will please 

 the customer. I once made a horse- 

 shoe of Dutch hyacinth bells that was 

 much praised. It was the only mate- 

 rial I had to work with, other orders 

 having cleaned us out of everything 

 else. 



One time when our supply of carna- 

 tions was exhausted and an order for 

 a four-foot broken column was given 

 us, I made it of solid smilax with a 

 simple garland of white roses and adi- 

 antum and the customer was immense- 

 ly pleased with it. 



These incidents convinced me that I 

 was daily passing over great oppor- 

 tunities to do effective work at a small 

 outlay and to vary decidedly from the 

 stereotyped if I could only get my 



ideas to working rightly. It seems to 

 sharpen our wits to be placed in an 

 awkward position for material. 



H. M. L. 



AMERICAN BEAUTIES THE 

 SECOND YEAR. 



After taking the plants out of the 

 benches tie the branches together half 

 way up, cut the roots back somewhat 

 and heel in the plants in sand or very 

 sandy soil, in an upright position, in 

 rows two feet apart. Give them one 

 good watering, and no more should 

 there be rain in the meantime. Leave 

 them out of doors at least four to six 

 weeks. By this time they will be in 

 a dormant condition, and your houses 

 will be prepared for planting. 



Fill the benches with good, rich 

 soil. A 5-inch deep bench is prefer- 

 able as the old Beauties have a long 

 root neck and the 4-inch deep bench 

 does not give sufficient soil to cover 

 properly. Don't be alarmed if the 

 leaves all drop off. If this happens 

 and the bark on the stem begins to 

 shrivel give them another watering. 

 When the benches are ready put some 

 light shade on the glass of the houses 

 you intend to plant. 



Lift the heeled in Beauties care- 

 fully from the sand and you will be 

 surprised to see how many new roots 

 they have made. Cut the plants back 

 ten to twelve inches. Have alongside 

 of you a tub filled half way up with 

 clay and to the top with water. Stir 

 this up till it makes a mud-like mass. 

 Dip the roots of every cut back plant 

 into this to prevent the new roots 

 from drying up, and when you have 

 from 25 to 50 so treated, let them 

 have from 5 to 10 minutes' exposure 

 to the air, so as to form a crust of 

 the clay on the young roots. Now 

 take them in the houses and plant 

 them no deeper than they stood in the 

 old benches. 



• When a bench is planted water it 

 thoroughly, but be very careful as to 

 subsequent watering. I would give 

 them no more water until a week after 

 the first one. but twice a day give a 

 damping over and a good syringing 

 in and about the walks to keep a 

 moist atmosphere. After the first 

 week give them very little water un- 

 til you see the eyes swell. Maintain 

 this care in waterine for two or three 

 weeks: the roots will then have taken 

 a good hold of the soil and will drive 

 out the eyes very auickly. After a 

 month has passed give the plants a 

 good watering once a week and on 

 other days a very little. At the end 

 of the second month there will be a 

 good growth on the Beauties ard you 

 may give them more water. 



Cut off all the flower buds, as the 

 first crop is of no value, being verv 

 short stemmed. Toward the midd'e 

 of September be very careful in water- 

 ing and keep your benches more on 

 the dry side, so as to give the toli-^ge 

 a dark green color: the outside tem- 

 perature is cooler, but it is still too 

 wHim lo f'vi'. 



Ventilation and tying up is about 



the same as with young Beauty plants, 

 but where five rows are planted I pre- 

 fer six rows of stakes so each plant 

 will have a stake on both sides. A 

 better way of tying up old Beauties is 

 to put string around the two stakes 

 so the young shoots are all in the 

 center and not in one bunch, thus 

 permitting a freer circulation of air. 



When regular night firing begins, 

 start to water the whole bench; be- 

 tween the rows, too. and thoroughly, 

 but not every day; one thorough wa- 

 tering in two weeks is ample. Before 

 syringing watch out for a bright day 

 and full sun, and by no means syringe 

 on a partly cloudy day, for without 

 the sun the plants will not dry off 

 before night. Use cold water for 

 syringing; it kills red spider, which 

 warmed water will not do. It is not 

 always the force of the water that 

 kills red spider, it is the cold water 

 that does the business. 



If a temperature of 56 to 58 degrees 

 is given American Beauties In the 

 winter months no black spot will ap- 

 pear if the watering is properly done. 

 As to time of replanting, this may 

 vary. If you plant the old Beauties 

 by the middle of June there will be 

 a full crop by the middle of Septem- 

 ber with stems from 18 to 32 inches 

 long. The third crop will be ready 

 about December and it will be much 

 larger than from young plants. Of 

 course there are always a good many 

 to cut. It is my belief that old plants 

 pay better than young plants. 



PAUL KOPANKA. 

 Rose grower for Peter Reinberg, Chi- 

 cago. 



CARNATIONS IN ENGLAND. 



While in England I visited many es- 

 tablishments and while many of the 

 gardeners claimed to have the same 

 class of carnations that we have in 

 America I am sure they have not. The 

 varieties they have are small, with a 

 slender, grassy habit and blooms two 

 inches in diameter. 



I saw what they think to be the 

 same as ours in the Malmaison type of 

 bloom at the exhibition of the Horti- 

 cultural Society at Tunbridge Wells. 

 Kent. The blooms were 3% inches in 

 diameter, but very coarse and ragged, 

 the shabbiest blooms I ever saw, and 

 exliibited with two-inch stems. But 

 the surprising part was that they were 

 the most admired fiowers in the show: 

 the ladies went wild over them. At 

 another show a Mr. Charlton exhil)ited 

 a collection of 50 named carnations, 

 with stems two inches long, and the 

 largest bloom was not over 21/2 inches 

 in diameter and very inferior to our 

 American carnations of today. I 

 brought back plants of some of what 

 they call their winter bloomers, as 

 there are some colors that may be use- 

 ful in hybridizing, especially a pure 

 yellow, but I have little faith in any 

 satisfactory result from the experi- 

 ment. I met Mr. James Hartshorue, 

 of Joliet, 111., who felt as 1 did, that 

 llie American caruatiuu belongs in a 



