NOVEMBER 8, 1000. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



677 



The top of the old Araucaria after having been rooted, cut from the old stem and potted. 



As the benched stoek, or mother plants 

 as they may be termed, get larger, I thin 

 them out by cutting out the largest old 

 fronds, leaving only sufficient fronds to 

 sustain the action in the growth of the 

 runners. After each batch of runners 

 is taken off I retie the old plants and 

 give them a top dressing of fine sifted 

 soil, with a good sprinkling of fine bone 

 meal mixed in. Then the bench is in 

 good shape for another crop. 



When the runners have made two or 

 three leaves and are about G to 10 

 inches high, they arc pulled up with a 

 nice bunch of roots and potted into 2i- 

 inch pots. In tliree weeks' time they 

 are rfloted through and ready for a shift 

 into 3-inch and then into 4inch, and so 

 nil, never permitting the growth to be- 

 come checked. In potting, use the same 

 kind of soil. 



Method of Potting. — ^Vhen plants 

 reach a 4-ineh pot and are ready for a 

 shift into 5 or C-ineh, there are a number 

 (if aerial roots extending over the side 

 of the pot. I am always careful of these 

 roots and in shifting to a larger pot, 

 twine them around the ball about half 

 an inch under the soil around the rim. 

 They soon take root and send up young 

 growth, wliich makes the plant full and 

 bushy, such as the 10-inch size I show 

 here. You will note the bushy, com- 

 pact growth of this plant and I am 

 often asked how they are kept to this 

 shape. In the first place, my benched 

 stock plants are never shaded. The run- 

 ners, after potting. I shade a little, and 

 after a few days give them the full sun. 

 This, I believe, accounts for the sturdy, 

 compact growth so much desired by buy- 

 ers of this popular fern. 



I am aware that a great many writers 

 and florists grow these ferns by planting 



out in benches, keeping them thcie until 

 the required size is attained, then lifting 

 and potting them. I do not approve of 

 the plan and claim a first-class plant 

 cannot be produced by this method, be- 

 cause you only have the old mother plant 

 to lift. The cutting away of all the 

 runners leaves nothing but the old plant, 

 which soon becomes hard-stemmed and 

 leggy with no foliage around the top of 

 the pot, unsatisfactory to handle and un- 

 satisfactory to the buyer. 



The pot I use is the azalea or half pot, 

 in size from tO' 12 inches. The plants 

 grow better, throAving out runners and 

 forming young plants much sooner than 

 when planted in the old deep pot. Be- 

 sides, they look much better and are not 

 so clumsy to handle,, while the retail 

 store men like them much better for 

 counter trade. 



I have seen the statement that the 

 country is being overstocked with the 

 Boston fern; the same cry has been often 

 applied to Beauties, carnations and 

 cannas. The fact remains that the de- 

 mand for this fern was never so strong 

 as today, while well-grown, shapely 

 plants of the best selling sizes are con- 

 tinually scarce and often out of stock 

 for weeks at a time. 



The plant exhibited by Mr. Wilson was 

 a. truly superb specimen, with a spread of 

 over four feet and remarkably full and 

 bushy: the gi'owers present voted it the 

 finest they had seen. 



In response to questions, Mr. Wilson 

 stated that the plant shown was grown 

 from the 24-inch pot size since last Feb- 

 ruary, and that his plants were always 

 exposed to the full sun. The cutting 

 away of a. share of the fronds on the old 

 plant on the bench is to admit an abun- 



dance of light to the young runners that 

 are f<irming and to stimulate their forma- 

 tion. The pot plants as they attain some 

 size are plunged in sphagnum on the 

 lieiich, not only to insure moisture but 

 lo get the benefit cf the runners they 

 form, wliich root readily into the sphag- 

 luuu. Growth during spring and summer 

 is stimulated by feeding occasionally 

 with a weak solution of nitrate of soda, 

 a tcaspoonful to a bucket of water, ami 

 lie once in a while shifts to liquid cow 

 manure. 



He had noted no variation indicating a 

 difierence in type in this fern except 

 when the plants w-ere allowed to get 

 liard, and they would then resemble the 

 old cxaltata. To maintain the character 

 of the Boston fern it must be kept grow- 

 ing freely, sturdiness being obtained by 

 an abundance of light and air. 



Keferring to the freedom with which 

 lliis fern reproduces itself, Mr. Aug. 

 Jurgens said that if he had taken care 

 (if all the runners produced from a lot of 

 [dants he bought last year he would have 

 had to double the size of his establish- 

 ment to house them. 



jNIr. Wittbold said he grew good 

 plants by the bench system, but never 

 lieyond the G-iiich size, and to insure good 

 plants Ihey must have plenty of room. 



CUT FLOWERS. 



Packing and Shipping. 



liV \V.\l.ri;H S. HKKFIHtN. 



llU-ad before Ihe Chicago Florists' Club, Nov. 2.] 

 The subject of marketing cut flowers 

 is one so broad, if treated in its entirety, 

 embracing as it does business methods 

 as well as how, where and when, that I 

 scarcely believe it to be the committee's 

 intention that I should attempt to solve 

 problems over which many able men are, 

 have been and will continue to study 

 with all their strength of mind influenced 

 by strongest self-interest. In attempt- 

 ing to instruct how to place cut stock 

 on a wholesale market in as perfect con- 

 dition as possible, some few generalities 

 will apply with equal force to all locali- 

 ties and conditions. 



The shipping box is an important and 

 much neglected feature. On its suita- 

 bility much depends. The proper dimen- 

 sions are not arbitrary and are wholly 

 dependent on class and variety of stock 

 to be shipped. Great depth, breadth and 

 excessive length and weight are to be 

 avoided. Depth because of pressure from 

 weight on the lower part of the contents, 

 also because of greater liability of stock 

 heating in transit. Width because of 

 unwieldiness. The various express com- 

 panies as a rule have at the several 

 points of transfer but a single employee 

 to handle the packages and even where 

 there are several it is rarely that more 

 than one attends to the same package. 

 A box, then, that is overly wide is a con- 

 stant source of temptation. Nine times 

 out of ten it will be on edge, with more 

 or less disastrous result to the contents. 

 Weight speaks for itself. Excessive length 



