676 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



NOVEMBER S, 1900. 



looked for. Of course there is the shoddy 

 element in all countries; the worst class 

 are the "apers" — the "wduld-bc's-ancl 

 caiinots." 



Many florists make ijiisl.ikcs in argu- 

 ing with their customers; it is a bad 

 tiling to do; any one of them will listen 

 to your suggestion or opinion, but many 

 |)refor their own. and in this case be 

 quiet. Some hutlers are officious and 

 cannot restrain from attempting sii)M'- 

 riority, Init a good decorator .should tol- 

 erate no interference from an}' one ex- 

 cept his customer. Always see the table 

 before you start, let the butler set it. 

 Voiir flowers should not go on until late; 

 you slioukl time yourself to be finished 

 l."") iMinules before dinner is announced, 

 and if vnu are accustomed tn being on 



ezlii and Pilumna fragrans, a very sweet 

 flower; all these can be had in small 

 quantities from any of the large grow- 

 ers at present. Cattleyas are jilentiful 

 and will be obtainable right along. C. 

 bibiata is very beautiful now. C. Per- 

 civaliana follows, and then the great C. 

 Trianae. Some very fine blooms of Catt- 

 leya Dowiana are coming in; this is thii 

 choicest of all flowers at present, and is 

 easily worth $1.50 or $2.00 each. It is 

 unusual to see them so late; they are 

 gems, ^'anda coernlea will be late this 

 year. Sonic cyinipediums are in; try 

 them with valley or Liberties or Meteors. 

 It is hard to beat a group of Farleyense 

 and Oiicidium varicosum Rogersii, whicli 

 is ]dentiful just now. 



Tlicrc is considerable more Farleyense 



Rooting the top of an old leggy Araucaria. 



time there is seldoim any nervousness and 

 the flowers look better. 



Seasonable Flowers. 



Orange blossoms are very scarce at 

 present; we were through two or three 

 houses of orange trees lately and onl_v 

 saw one blossom in the lot. There are 

 plenty of other small flowers, though, 

 among which the Bouvardia Humboldtii 

 corymbiflora (one of the prettiest white 

 flowers on the Xew York market), .Tas- 

 minum grandiflorum or J. gracillimuni, 

 and lily of the valley. 



Among white orchids there is Dendro- 

 biiim forraosum giganteum, Miltonia PiO- 



being grown this year, yet it is liable to 

 be scarce when most wanted; any one 

 with first-class trade should always have 

 a plant or twO' of it in the window. 

 Xeedn't put a frond in with every 25 

 cents worth of flowers, but it's the best 

 green for orchids. IVER.\. 



ARAUCARIAS. 



Amputating Leggy Plants. 



Having five large araucarias that were 

 in very poor shape owing to bad treat- 

 ment, and not wishing to throw them 

 aw'ay as they had beautiful tops, I con- 

 cluded to try to save the tops and get 



rid cf the bare lower stem by rooting 



the tops by the method used for rooting 

 file ficus and the dracaena, merely chang- 

 ing the plan a little. 



I cut out a piece of the wood at each 

 side of the stem below a tier of branches, 

 bring careful to leave enough of the bark 

 to insure circulation of sap to the top, 

 and having previously cut a C-inch pot 

 in two, the two lialves were wired to- 

 gether around the cut. the pot being filled 

 with a mixture composed of equal parts 

 of soil, sand, leaf-mould and sphagnum, 

 with a little charcoal added. 



The plants were kept in a warm, shady 

 place and given plenty of time to root 

 anil were not .listurbed until roots were 

 .seen coming through the bottom of the 

 pot. Taking off the top when rooterl is 

 a ve)y delicate operation and must be 

 done carefully. 1 saw through the old 

 stem just below the pot, and after 

 .smoothing the cut with a knife cover it 

 with grafting wax. The plant is then 

 Unnckcd out of the 0-inch pot and re- 

 potted into ail S-incli in usual potting 

 soil, but without disturbing the material 

 in which the new roots have formed. 

 The plant is then kept for a week in a 

 warm, moist place, free from draughts, 

 when it is ready for the greenhouse 

 bench. 



One of the photographs shows a plant 

 with the top in process of rooting, the 

 pot being supported in position by wire 

 stakes. The second photograph shows the 

 top taken oft' and potted, with the old 

 stem beside it, and in the third picture 

 is seen several plants that are having 

 their tops rooted by the method de- 

 scribed. 



1 have several times been asked why 

 I did not merely moss the cut as is done 

 in propagating the ficus. The reason is 

 that it takes about three months to root 

 the top of the araucaria and by that time 

 moss would have become decayed, and 

 the ball would contain cavities. And 

 again there is much greater danger of the 

 moss being allowed to dry out at times. 



Chicago. John Reardon. 



THE BOSTON FERN. 



Growing for Pot Plants. 



Hv .lAS. S. Wilson, 

 [Re.id befoi-e tlie Chicag-o riori.sts' Club. Nov. 2.] 



The method of culture is as follows: 

 First, I plant up a house of young 

 plants froim 3 to 4-inch pots, about Dec. 

 1, using rather stiff loam, one-fourth 

 old rotten cow manure with a sprinkling 

 of bone meal. As the plants begin to 

 grow I tie the fronds cf each plant 

 loosely to a light cane stake so as to 

 keep the leaves off the soil and to let 

 light and air reach the soil between the 

 rows, which makes the young plants, 

 which begin to appear about February, 

 dwarf and stocky. Such runners when 

 potted into 2J-inch pots never wilt or 

 lose a leaf, which is usually a saving of 

 six to eight weeks' time over long, drawn- 

 up runners, which when potted lose their 

 leaves or must be cut, leaving 8 to 12 

 inches of the fronds. 



