470 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



SEPTEMBER 2i>, WIO. 



ly appreciated when generally known, 

 as the shade is perfect. 



The giant strains were not yet fully 

 in flower, but there are giants in most 

 of the colors, that is, varieties that 

 are grosser in all their parts, but pro- 

 duce in consequence fewer leaves and 

 fewer flowers than ordinary strains. 



The "star" or "stellate" primulas 

 quite deserve recommendation. They 

 are so free-blooming, and their grace- 

 ful, branching, pyramidal habit gives 

 to them much effect as winter-flower- 

 ing plants for decoration. The flow- 

 ers are only small, have no flmbria- 

 tion, but merely a wedge-like notch in 

 the center of each petal, yet are the 

 plants so bedecked with them that 

 they are exquisite to behold. There 

 is a white form and a pink variety, 

 and a recent lilac-tinted one. An im- 

 proved white on a very dark foliage 

 was admired. In addition, there are 

 varieties with new shades of color, 

 and others more or less intermediate 

 between the type and the florists' va- 

 rieties. The latter are the least sat- 

 isfactory, because they forfeit the 

 charming habit of the pyramidalis 

 strain to acquire only part of the ex- 

 cellence in flower possessed by the 

 florists' type. 



As typical of the best of the novel- 



ties, our artist has reproduced flowers 

 and foliage of "The Duchess," shown 

 at the meeting at the Drill Hall above 

 referred to, when an award of merit 

 was recommended to the strain. The 

 cross was one of Crimson King and 

 Pearl, and this blending has resulted 

 in the charming seedling variety. Its 

 flower-stem is strong and erect, flow- 

 ers large and of much substance, hav- 

 ing a yellowish center, and white, pro- 

 fusely fimbriated petals, but around 

 the eye is a starred ring of intense 

 rose, which to some degree suffuses 

 the white. We saw other novelties 

 from this and similar crosses that will 

 be certain to command admiration. 

 Several of these resembled greatly the 

 Duchess itself, but were even more 

 delicate, the color being softer. There 

 were flowers of magenta color, red, 

 vermilion, and a purple or plum-blue, 

 and generally the eye is yellow. The 

 process of "selection" and "fixing" has 

 to be applied to these, and the results 

 should be most, gratifying to lovers 

 of the primula. Among the novelties 

 we should perhaps include General 

 French, a semi-double variety, also 

 given an award of merit by the 

 Royal Horticultural Society on Janu- 

 ary 9; it represents the best crimson 

 semi-doul)le up to date, and is most 

 vivid. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Cuttings. 



Cuttings of tender plants should be 

 in the sand by the end of this month. 

 We seldom get a frost that hurts be- 

 fore the first days of October. Vincas, 

 abutilons, ivy geraniums and a few 

 of everything else that you need 

 should be put in. 



Instead of whitewash on the glass 

 or newspapers, which are constantly 

 blowing off and which make it stuffy 

 and dark for the cuttings when they 

 are on, I much prefer cheese cloth, 

 tacked on to the sash above the cut- 

 tings. If the house is light the sub- 

 dued light made by the cloth will not 

 be injurious to the cuttings at all 

 times, and there is no forgetting to 

 put on or take off shade. The abuti- 

 lon wilts terribly on warm days, so 

 keep it thoroughly soaked till it be- 

 gins to root. 



Salvias. 



There are few more brilliant plants 

 than the Scarlet sage. Salvia splen- 

 dens. It seems to be very strong just 

 now and after the frost has killed 

 everything outside its sprays are oft- 

 en found very useful. You should lift 



and pot as many as you can find room 

 for; they soon get cut and will all 

 disappear before you are pressed for 

 room. Nothing lifts more easily. 



Cyclamen. 

 It is time to sow your first lot of 

 cyclamen seed. Sown now you can 

 have grand plants for fall and early 

 winter. There is nothing very difil- 

 cult about the operation. They are 

 a little slow to germinate and the sur- 

 face often becomes green before the 

 little plants are up. so if you bake 

 the leaf mould with which you cover 

 the seeds it will be a cleaner and 

 neater job all around. 



Herbaceous Plants. 

 If you have any transplanting of 

 herbaceous plants to do this fall don't 

 be afraid to begin the end of this 

 month. Although the tops of many 

 are yet flourishing it will not hurt 

 them at all to transplant and it is 

 much better done now while the 

 ground is dry and pleasant to work. 



Cannas. 

 I would just remind you once more 

 that you should be very particular and 



have your cannas properly and dis- 

 tinctly labeled before frost has made 

 them all look alike. The smaller the 

 line of business you are in the more 

 reason for it. If you have half acres 

 of one variety you will not be liable to 

 get a mix up, but if only half a row 

 there is great need of labeling. To 

 have two or three yellow flowers in a 

 bed that is intended to be all scarlet 

 is annoying. You may know and be 

 able to pick out the plants in the 

 spring, but Charlie Greenhorn don't 

 know them and swearing at him won't 

 teach him. How many hours have 

 been wasted and petty worry caused 

 just because, "I forgot to label 

 them!" 



Tulips. 



Tulips will soon be here and you 

 should lose no time in getting some 

 into flats. The earlier they are put 

 into the soil and making roots the 

 earlier they will force. The tulip 

 business has much decreased of late, 

 yet there is a reasonable demand for 

 them and particularly after the first 

 of February. It is no longer neces- 

 sary to have them at Xmas, in fact 

 you don't want them till they can be 

 grown to perfection, because there are 

 plenty of other flowers: 999 people out 

 of every thousand much prefer a doz- 

 en carnations to a dozen tulips. 



Any light soil does for them. We 

 force in boxes or flats 24x12 and 3 

 inches deep and cover with 3 inches 

 of soil. Before you put on the cover- 

 ing give the flats a most thorough 

 soaking and when that is soaked in 

 scatter a little buckwheat husks over 

 the surface, then the 3 or 4 inches of 

 covering. By doing this we find the 

 covering of soil breaks away clean 

 from the soil in the flats when we 

 bring them in to force. 



There is no better place for the flats 

 than on the open ground. And don't 

 forget once a week to soak the whole 

 bed. You can plant the bulbs in the 

 flats almost touching: it makes no 

 difference to the quality of the flowers 

 and saves room. i 



I don't know of any novelties in tu- 

 lips that are desirable. We depend on 

 the well known sorts that are moder- 

 ate in price and most reliable to force. 

 Yellow Prince and Chrysolora for yel- 

 low, Vermillion Brilliant and Water- 

 loo for red, Cottage Maid and Pose 

 Grisdelin for pink, L^Reine and White 

 Pottebakker for white. Of other 

 shades Prosernine is a most lovely 

 rose pink. LaReine when well man- 

 aged assumes a lovely pink shade and 

 is more valuable in that form than it 

 is as a white. There are few doubles 

 th.Tt are valuable for cuttins:. but there 

 is one that is a jewel, and it is Mu- 

 rillo. Either for pots or pans or cut- 

 ting it is grand, white with a slight 

 l)Insh pink. There are several other 

 tulips that can be grown for varietv's; 

 sike. hut the above will entirely fill 

 the bill. 



General Remarks. 



We are just now entering a season 

 of two months that taxes the ability 



