344 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



AUGUST 31, 1899. 



spray of Cattleya Dowiana, no "fixin's" 

 necessary. Phlox Drummondii is a 

 dazzling little beauty that could be 

 often used to great advantage on 

 small tables, or where high color is 

 desired. Asteis in pots have not sold 

 very well; people seem to be satisfied 

 with cut flowers this time of the year. 



It's a difficu'.t thing sometimes to gat 

 the right colors for the National em- 

 blem. The right shade of blue is hard 

 to find, and many content themselves 

 with the best they can get among as- 

 ters, though they are more purple 

 than blue. 



Lilium speciosum album is very 

 plentiful and is being much used for 

 funeral work. Tuberoses seem to have 

 lost much of their popularity; very 

 few are grown compared with what 



used to be; other and more refined 

 flowers have pushed them out. L. 

 Harrisll have been on the market all 

 the year so far, and they continue to 

 be the best flower for flat bunches. 



Roses are getting better in quality 

 but there is little demand for them; 

 the indications are that high colors 

 will lead this season. 



Geraniums have done very poorly in 

 the cities this year; they have shown 

 very little bloom; some attribute this 

 to high feeding by growers in early 

 season; however, the results this year 

 will not go to advance a more general 

 use of them. 



Cannas have not advanced in public 

 favor, because too many old rubbishy 

 sorts are flooding the market. 



IVERA. 



Geraniums. 



First week of September is an ex- 

 cellent time to take off your first big 

 lot of geraniums. The geranium was 

 never more popular than today and 

 deservedly so. What Is there to com- 

 pare with it as a bedding plant? 

 Nothing. Just a word to the water 

 cranks. Not having room to plant 

 out sufficient stock on our ground we 

 had to use some ground offered by 

 a customer who wanted the beauty 

 of the geraniums on his twenty thou- 

 sand dollar acre farm, and we wanted 

 the land to grow our stock. The ge- 

 raniums — a few thousand — were plant- 

 ed out about June 20, watered when 

 planted but not a drop since except 

 that which falls on the just and un- 

 just alike, and that has not fallen suf- 

 ficiently to wet down one inch in ten 

 weeks. The bed of geraniums is bril- 

 liant, and for health and display equal 

 to or better than those that have had 

 the everlasting squirting. Hoeing they 

 have had in abundance. 



The little talk at Detroit about the 

 striped and parti-colored flowers of 

 the Mirande type was instructive be- 

 cause it may induce many of us to 

 try the newer shades. I would not 

 condemn any variety because it was 

 single, for some of the best bedders 

 we yet have are single. The decided 

 shades, however, will be found to suit 

 most people. There is always a cer- 

 tain class of customers that are look- 

 ing for something new or bad, usually 

 represented by a lady past the prime 

 of life with spectacles, who wants to 



select "half a dozen jarenums," but 

 that is not where the bulk of your 

 stock goes; it is the beds of 100 plants 

 of one shade that empty your benches, 

 though I must confess that a most 

 pleasing sight is a big bed of 1,000 

 plants containing a dozen shades. 



In mentioning a few varieties that 

 we depend on there is no pretense that 

 they are the only ones. S. A. Nutt is 

 still grand as a semi-double dark 

 scarlet or crimson. Alphonse Riccard 

 is a splendid double soft scarlet with 

 immense truss and florets but should 

 always be in the broad sun or it is a 

 little shy. Ernest Lauth is still a 

 grand old variety and can't be beat 

 in its color, a purplish crimson. This 

 is a great variety for vases and veran- 

 da boxes, and so is Prokop Daubeck, 

 not particularly valuable for a bed but 

 strong and vigorous and withstands 

 the drying out that plants get in those 

 unkind surroundings; a soft scarlet. 



Emile de Girardin, the free flower- 

 ing double pink, is entirely supersed- 

 ed by the beautiful, healthy, vigorous 

 and more floriferous Francis Perkins, 

 which is just about perfect and there- 

 fore indispensable. This variety was 

 raised by a private gardener in Cleve- 

 land and is not yet widely disseminat- 

 ed. A double white was for years ab- 

 sent, i. e., a variety that would flower 

 just as freely as the colored ones. 

 Now we have a white that makes a 

 border or a bed and is as free as Nutt, 

 and that Is La Favorite. There may 

 be some with finer trusses but none 

 better as a bedding plant, and in near- 



ly all flower gardening there Is a lack 

 of white. 



A few miles east of this city on the 

 great New York Central R. R., there 

 is an acre or two of flower garden 

 planted by the De Pew Improvement 

 Co. There are gravel walks between 

 the beds, and brown grass, and bed 

 after bed of crimson, red and pink ge- 

 raniums. In this arid and parched 

 time it is enough to give j r ou the 

 blind staggers. 



Beaute Poitevine Is a double sal- 

 mon having all the finest qualities. In 

 singles Athlete is most dazzling scar- 

 let and very free, but J. P. Cleary, (I 

 am not certain about the initial let- 

 ters), is the best thing we have seen 

 in single geraniums for a long time. 

 It is a compact grower, deep brilliant 

 scarlet, and one mass of bloom. We 

 cannot do without Mrs. E. G. Hill, the 

 splendid salmon; the dry season has 

 suited it finely. 



Of all the brilliant beds of gerani- 

 ums, clean looking and pleasing, espe- 

 cially when surrounded by a broad 

 belt of grass, nothing surpasses old 

 single Gen. Grant. Its pure scarlet on 

 its pure zoneless green leaves is why 

 it is so effective and pleasing. A ge- 

 ranium grower or raiser will pooh- 

 pooh the mention of the old General 

 but that makes no difference. For 

 large beds on lawns is has no equal. 



Cuttings put in now make the finest 

 of bedding plants if grown along cool, 

 and will give you another cutting in 

 February. Don't send a greenhorn or 

 a careless brute to take your cuttings. 

 You may just as well cut them off the 

 right length when severing them from 

 the plant as to waste the shoots. And 

 you will get another crop of cuttings 

 from the plants in October. 



Pot in 2% or 2%-inch pots, using 

 good loam, and pot firmly; that is, 

 let the soil be firm around the end of 

 the shoot where the roots will come. 

 The hose always firms the top soil; it 

 is at the bottom you want it solid. A 

 cold-frame where they can be shaded 

 is an excellent place if you don't neg- 

 lect them, or any ordinary bench is 

 all right. Water well the firs! time and 

 be sure you have wet every particle 

 of soil; after that water only suffi- 

 cient to keep the soil moderately 

 moist. We have often seen a batch of 

 geranium cuttings very dry two weeks 

 after they were potted but never saw 

 any ill effects from it. The geraniums 

 when growing are quite succulent and 

 there is more danger of their rotting 

 from overwatering than dying for 

 want of it. 



Cut just below a joint. It's as easy 

 to cut there as anywhere and much 

 safer, and we like to leave one small 

 and one large leaf on each cutting — no 

 more, no less. These plants will make 

 large fine plants without much care 

 and you cannot buy such because the 

 man who grows a hundred thousand 

 cannot afford to select such cuttings; 

 he propagates anything and every- 

 thing he can cut up. 



