The Weekly Florists' Review, 



35 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Imting til it will siNH \()u t,pice and 

 iino^iiifp 111 tl till Fij;in at the end 

 ( 1 I II h 1 \ \ lit one bench or 



I I It I 1 1 1 1\ \ iiieties, the 



111 with tl 1 I II ind same 



,_iin uitli till lit \ 111 tK^ then you 

 iL cut clean oil t bem li md can clean 

 11 the whole '>pi e tii lilieb oi other 

 lims^, tlut ntcd the spui 



\\ ILL! \M Scott. 



Stock Plants. 



Tlii'io arc some plants that to perpet- 

 uate your stock are betjler kept in pots 

 and vvith some it is not only better, but 

 essential, and before you arc sold otit 

 you should reserve a few plants of each, 

 the lemon verbena is one. Lantana is 

 another, and the heliotrope should also 

 be kept in pots, as they do not propa- 

 gate from the cuttings taken from out- 

 aide. We .shift young plants of these in- 

 to 4 or 5-incH pots and plunge them out 

 in a frame. 



I suppose you still grow that useful 

 Christmas flower, the sweet stevia. The 

 only trouble with it is that it is not 

 profitable, yet you cannot do without it, 

 and it matters not how much we have 

 of it, there is never enough. You should 

 have small plants of it now propagated 

 in March, and they must be planted out 

 in the open ground, growing them two 

 feet each way. It should not be highly 

 enriched ground, for the stevia is a rank 

 grower. It is the only one of thf ste- 

 vias or eupatoriums that is worth grow- 

 ing. 



Primroses. 



If you have not sown primulas for 

 next winter's flowering you should do 

 so at once. Cover the seed very lightly 

 with sifted leaf ' mold and keep moist. 

 Keep them constantly shaded till the 

 plants are up, and look out for slugs, 

 for young primroses are a dainty dish for 

 these nocturnal enemies. 



Azaleas. 



With us it is time now to get our 

 azaleas plunged into a frame or the 

 open ground. They should be in the 

 broad sun, never behind a wall, or worse 

 yet, under a tree. They grow a great 

 deal during the summer and should not 

 be crowded for several reasons. You 

 want to get at them on all sides with 

 the hose and they need daylight and air 

 between them. In the hottest weather 

 we have to water them twice a day and 

 give them plenty of syringing. 



Tlie finest azaleas we have had for the 

 past three or four years have been those 

 that were unsold in the spring and were 

 carried over for another season. Some 

 of the varieties, in fact, do not turn out 

 well the first season, but make splendid 

 plants if carefully treated during the 

 summer. .. Don't fail either to plunge 

 them in the ground or thoroughly sur- 

 round the pots with spent hops, tan bark 

 or some such material. Another plan is, 

 plant them out for the summer months 

 and they do very well this way if you 

 have a good, deep, friable soil, but I 

 like growing them better in pots. 



Poinsettias. 



This is a good time to propagate the 

 poinsettias, in fact, any time on till 

 the first of September. They should not 

 be long shoots; three joints long is 

 enough. They root very readily, but you 

 must keep them constantly moist. Water 

 the sand twice a day and when potted 



oir keep them shaded and moist till liny 

 get a start in the pots. After that tlicy 

 grow like weeds, but must have the 

 lightest and brightest house you have. 



Please remember when shifting to be 

 careful not to disturb the roots. When 

 in active growth poinsettias do not like 

 it and if their roots are disturbed after 

 October 1st it is fatal to the foliage. If 

 you want very large bracts you can pro- 

 duce them best by planting them on a 

 bench in 6 or 8 inches of good soil, but 

 we grow them all in pots. The pans 

 have of late years been most profitable, 

 and for this purpose the cuttings that 

 are taken off the old jilants at the end 

 of August are most suitable. 



Chrysanthemums. 



We never get a chance to plant out our 

 chrysanthemums till the bedding plant 

 season is over, which is toward the end 

 of this month, and many are planted in 

 July and give us a most satisfactory 

 crop. So you can still put in all the 

 cuttings you can get. We used to fail 

 on many mum cuttings in the hot weath- 

 er of June simply because we did not 

 keep them soaked sufficiently. Keep them 



DRACAENA INDIVISA.^ 



We present herewith an engraving 

 we have reproduced from the Gardeners' 

 Chropiele showing a fine specimen of 

 Cordyline (Dracaena) indivisa in flow- 

 er. The specimen illustrated was in the 

 garden of Dr. Ramsay at Forquay and 

 the Chronicle notes that both this spe- 

 cies and C. australis are hardy in the 

 southwestern counties of England and 

 the Scilly Islands. 



SIDE ISSUES. 



The specialist in our business is 

 troubled with fewer details in regard to 

 his stock than is his less fortunate 

 brother who finds it necessary ; to grow 

 a general line of plants and flowers in 

 order to accommodate his retail trade. 

 But there is also the possibility of fail- 

 ure on the part of the specialist from 

 some unforeseen contingency, ; and in 

 that ease the general grower has the op- 

 jiortunity to comfort himself byi quoting 

 that old adage about carrying ^11 of his 

 eggs in one basket. ■ 



The testing of novelties is one of the 

 things in which both the specialist and 



Dracaena Indivisa in Bloom. 



saturated and they will root as well as 

 in February. 



Four inches of good heavy loam will 

 grow flowers of the best quality. If you 

 grow two or three flowers to a plant then 

 eight inches apart is almiit lii^hl. We 

 prefer a stem to evor\ llow.i :mii| |i1;iiiI 

 si.\ inches between row- ;iihl }i\r iimIh- 

 between plants. A few .l;iy- altn plant- 

 ing every bit of shading that you may 

 have had on the glass for other plants 

 should come off. All the air you can 

 give, but the broadest light, is needed. 

 There is one thing to be observed in 



the retail grower are interested, for each 

 is on the lookout for something that will 

 be an advance on the present stock, 

 though the purchase of novelties does 

 st'cm to be akin to that of lottery tick- 

 rl , llii' prizes being few and far be- 



\r\ II 1 heleas there would be but little 

 :i.l\ aiiri- made in our business were it not 

 for those enthusiastic growers who are 

 willing to risk a little space each season 

 in the testing of some novelties, or for 

 the purpose of doing some hybridizing 

 or otherwise improving existing varie- 



