SEPTEMBER 27, 1900. 



The Weekly Florists* Review, 



497 



A Group of Cattleyas in bloom at Lager & Hurrell's, Summit, N. J. 



deeply, or allowed it to perish just 

 as it was germinating. And none of- 

 those things were luck. 



Get verbena seed from a reliable 

 house. Sow end of January. The soil 

 should be a good light loam, and two 

 inches of it in a flat is enough. 

 Press the seeds evenly into the soil 

 and cover with loam or sifted leaf 

 mould just thick enough to hide the 

 seeds. Keep the seed pans or flats 

 in a temperature of 60 degrees till 

 the seedlings are well up: then re- 

 move to a 50-degree temperature. If 

 you get good, fresh seed, the verbenas 

 are most easily raised. 



I have always considered that the 

 raising of plants from seed taxed the 

 skill and attention of a gardener more 

 than any other operation. Scott's 

 Florists' Manual contains a long chap- 

 ter on the subject. W. S. 



REX BEGONIAS. 



Propagation and Culture. 



Have a 2-inch deep bench, not too 

 far from the glass, very clean and 

 whitewashed with lime. Fill the bench 

 very evenly to the top wdth moss, 

 press it down to 1 inch, soak the 

 moss with the sprinkling can. put a 

 layer of very clean sand on top of the 

 moss, of % of an inch, press it down 

 and water again with the can. 



Take all the oldest and largest 

 leaves off of the Rex begonias. Cut 

 them into pieces so that each piece has 

 part of a main rib in a triangular 

 form. A very large leaf will give from 

 fifteen to twenty-five cuttings. Pui 

 them in this prepared cutting bench 

 by taking a lath 1% in. wide and p'.ac- 



ing it across width of bench. Make 

 a cut in the sand close to the lath — 

 deep to the moss. Put the cuttings 

 in this cut, half as deep as the sand, 

 almost touching each other's edges. 

 Put the lath close to the cuttings and 

 pound on the top with the handle of 

 the knife. 



When your cuttings are all in give 

 them one watering with the can and 

 no more for at least a week, because 

 the moss keeps the sand moist from 

 below and will supply sufficient mois- 

 ture almost till the cuttings are root- 

 ed. By this method little watering is 

 required and as a result there will b? 

 no fungus. But every day give them 

 a very light watering with a fine rose 

 on the can to keep a moist atmosphere 

 on the cutting bed. The temperature 

 of the sand should be 70 to 75 degrees 

 and that of the house "(• degrees, with 

 a good shade on the glass. 



Be very careful as to ventilating. 

 During nice clear bright weather ven- 

 tilate every day. but avoid the least 

 bit of draft or wind. The best time 

 for propagating to have good plants 

 for the spring trade is the beginning 

 of January. 



After the cuttings are rooted — which 

 will take a month's time — lift them 

 very carefully out of the sand and 

 plant in 2-inch pots filled with soil 

 one part of which is leafmold, one 

 part loam and one part of very old 

 rotten cow manure, that looks almost 

 like earth, to which add clean coarse 

 .'■and. and sift through a fine sieve. 



It is a great advantage to have a 

 house devoted to Kex begonias alone. 

 Prepare the benches for the young 

 plants in this way: Fill the bench 

 three inches deep with sawdust, into 



which plunge the young potted plants 

 in rows, pot against pot, until they are 

 well rooted through and have made 

 from one to three leaves. Have bot- 

 tom heat by boarding up sides of 

 bench. The temperature in the hous3 

 should be 65 to 70 degrees. Be very 

 careful as to watering and water each 

 plant only when need be. Syringe 

 very lightly every day in bright 

 v.-eather and give plenty of air. Damp- 

 en the sides of benches and walks 

 twice a day. Wlien plants are well 

 rooted through plunge again in small 

 3-inch pots, with the same prepara- 

 tion of soil as before. 



Prepare the second bench in the 

 same w-ay as the first. Plunge the 

 plants in rows two inches apart each 

 way. When the plants in 3-inch are 

 well rooted through they will have 

 reached a good size for the shipping 

 trade. Repot the 3-ineh into shallow 

 4-inch begonia pots using same soil 

 as before. Do not plunge but place 

 on top of the sawdust. 



To give the leaves a rich color give 

 the plants a watering once a week of 

 guano liquid. Fill an ordinary barrel 

 one-fourth full of guano and then fill 

 to the top with water, and let it stand 

 three days before using. Then stir up 

 well and after filling the watering can 

 half full of the liquid fill to the top 

 with clear water. Water each plant 

 with a long spouted can. You can 

 continue repotting up to 8-inch, and 

 such will give very fine show plants. 

 PAUL KOPANKA. 



ORCHIDS. 



Orchids, especially cattleyas, are be- 

 coming more and more a factor in 

 the cut flower market, and the gen- 

 era! flower buying public, as well as 

 the very wealthy, are becoming famil- 

 iar with them. During the winter 

 season the demand is usually greater 

 than the supply and the call for these 

 gems of the floral kingdom will un- 

 doubtedly continue to increase. Where 

 something extra fine is wanted, or- 

 chids nearly always have the call. 



Probably the only establishment in 

 the country devoted exclusively to 

 orchids in a commercial way is that of 

 Messrs. Lager & Hurrell, Summit. N. 

 J., and the accompanying engraving 

 is from a photograph of a group of 

 cattleyas in bloom in one of their 

 houses. 



CANNAS. 



Mr. C. J. Strombach, head gar- 

 dener at Lincoln Park. Chicago, has 

 not made any additions to his list of 

 cannas during the past season. His 

 leading varieties at present are: 

 Mme. Crozy, Charles Henderson, 

 Egandale, Queen Charlotte. Florence 

 Vaughan, Flamingo, Stella Kanst. 

 Chicago and Peley No. 1. In fact the 

 list has been condensed rather than 

 expanded. Roosevelt is with him al- 

 most Identical with Charles Hender- 



