June 27, 1901. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



123 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Palms. I 



Most florists have in their houses a 

 few large palms which they use for 

 decorating. It will do these plants a 

 very great deal of good if they are 

 stood out of doors during summer. It 

 is a mistake to think that palms burn; 

 they do, most of them, only if neglected 

 for water. The exceptions are the are- 

 cas. Those I would not advise you to 

 put out unless it is in an entirely shady 

 place. Palms will also burn when 

 grown in a dark shady house and sud- 

 denly removed to the full sunlight, but 

 I am not supposing you have grown 

 your kentias and latanias in a shady 

 house and with much heat. Under or- 

 dinary treatment they can be moved to 

 the brightest rays of the sun. By all 

 means sink the plants in the sod or have 

 some plunging material around them 

 and keep them well supplied with wat- 

 er. It is when dry that they burn. We 

 have for years been putting out lata- 

 nias, kentias, phoenix and some of the 

 larger pandanus and consider that they 

 are much better and more serviceable 

 plants in the fall than if coddled up 

 under glass. This, of course, does not 

 apply to small or moderate sized plants 

 that you want to increase in size. In 

 addition to plunging the plants, an inch 

 or two on the surface of the soil nf some 

 good manure will help them a great 

 deal. 



Gloxinias. 

 I hope you have not in this busy 

 time neglected your gloxinias. We find 

 them a very salable plant during July 

 and August, but they want a little more 

 growing than most of our plants. They 

 also want very careful potting or you 

 will break their leaves in the operation. 

 Soil I have never found of any great 

 consequence. A good loam with a fourth 

 of leaf mold or well rotted manure, or 

 even of spent hops, suits them admir- 

 ably. They do not like a dense shade 

 and a clo.=e house or they will get rusty ; 

 neither will they stand the brightest 

 sun. A slightly shaded house is best. 

 I have never grown as good plants as 

 when I stood each plant on an inverted 

 6-ineh pot and gave plenty of room for 

 daylight between them. Watering is 

 also a great point with gloxinias. They 

 do not want to be over wate-red and yet 

 if allowed to flag they lose their flowers 

 soon. Watch them and water when they 

 want it with no unnecessary amount on 



the leaves. 



Hydrangeas. 



Don't forget to plunge, if you have 

 not already done so, your hydrangeas 

 out of doors in the broad sun, but see 

 that they are well plunged and do not 

 suffer for want of water. I once made 

 a failure of these by standing them too 

 close and they got very much crowded. 

 As they grow give plenty^ of room so 

 the light can get all around them. 



Priroroses. 



Your young Chinese primroses will 



now be wanting a 2-inch pot. Some 

 growers get these into a cold-frame dur- 

 ing summer, with a shaded sash. That 

 will do if you are sure not to neglect 

 them. I have had the best results by 

 keeping the young plants in a shaded 

 house. While growing primroses don't 

 forget obconica, and the "Baby" prim- 

 rose, Forbesii. They are easily raised 

 and are most useful for cut flowers dur- 

 ing winter. 



Soil. 

 Some florists may be better situated 

 than others for the supply of soil or pot- 

 ting earth, or "dirt" as it is too often 

 called by our customers. I have learned 

 for a number of years that it is an ex- 

 cellent idea to buy it whenever it is of- 

 fered. If you are situated in a growing 

 city you will find every year there is 

 more difficulty in obtaining this import- 

 ant article. As I have often remarked, a 

 man will lay out a thousand dollars a 

 year, or even five thousand, for coal, but 

 will grudge one hundred for soil. It is 

 true we must keep warm, but good soil 

 is the foundation of our business, and 

 even if you buy enough for two or three 

 years ahead it is money well invested. 

 Another thing, you should not put it off 

 till October and then be hustling around 

 to see where you can buy fifty loads of 

 soil. Get it done at once, while you 

 have time to attend to it. 



I think as good a plan as any for the 

 florist who does a lot of potting is to 

 lay the soil if possible in layers six 

 inches deep. Put two or three inches 

 of manure on the top of this, letting 

 each layer have a good application of 

 the hose until it is thoroughly wet 

 through, then another layer of soil and 

 follow on with the manure, and so on 

 till the bed is about four feet high. At 

 this time of the year if properly wet 

 when being piled up the manure will 

 quickly decompose and in two months 

 you can chop it down, beginning at one 

 end, and throw it over, and if possible 

 before winter one more turning will be 

 good, but if that is too much labor the 

 turning over that it gets as you wheel 

 it into your shed for winter use will be 

 sufficient. 



Benches. 

 You are sure to have a good many 

 repairs to do. We always do every 

 summer. There should be little delay 

 about this, for it is much pleasanter to 

 take a rest after your work is done than 

 to have the work continually before you. 

 In fact, those who plant chrysanthe- 

 mums and roses must have their benches 

 in order at once, and those who grow 

 carnations have no time to spare because 

 the first of August is pretty well agreed 

 upon as late enough to plant this most 

 important crop. 



I have many times recommended us- 

 ing 2-inch plank instead of 1-inch 

 boards, and if the right material is used 

 I still think it is the cheapest in the 

 end, but perhaps not where your benches 

 were used for plants, as you are more 

 often making changes in these houses 



than you are with the crops that grow 

 in the solid benches. We use planks 6 

 inch by 2 inch of hemlock. I am aware 

 this wood is not common everywhere, 

 but it is the cheapest with us and is 

 better than cheap white pine. Where 

 you are fortunate enough to be so situ- 

 ated that you can get cypress, or, as the 

 Canadians do, use tamarack, that lumber 

 is much better than either pine or hem- 

 lock. 



I have no reason to alter my opinion 

 about the use of a good dressing of 

 water lime, or, as it is properly known, 

 hydraulic cement, although the greatest 

 benefit from this is, of course, on new 

 lumber, and it pays well for the time 

 and expense of applying it, as it keeps 

 the water out of the wood and adds two 

 or three years to its durability. We put 

 a 5-inch pot full of water lime in a pail 

 and fill it up with water, keeping it 

 well stirred or it will settle quickly, 

 then apply with a whitewash brush. In 

 fact, the mixture had better be about as 

 thick as you can spread it on the boards. 



Empty Pots. 



A very simple thing that should hard- 

 ly need writing about is the care of 

 our empty flower pots. With people 

 who do a retail and general plant busi- 

 ness there is a very great accumulation 

 of empty pots just now. I am sorry to 

 say I found recently some young men 

 who were inclined to argue with me 

 that it was quickest and cheapest to 

 throw the pots under the bench. This I 

 entirely disagree with. The very worst 

 place to keep flower pots is under the 

 bench. You are sure to have some crop 

 over them that will keep them contin- 

 ually moist, and if there is anything 

 that will unfit a plant for .healthy 

 growth it is a waterlogged, dirty pot. 

 Never mind the few days' labor. You 

 can move many thousand pots in a few 

 days. Get them out somewhere in or- 

 derly and compact piles where the sun 

 and rain can beat down on them. Even 

 if it is only the fact of their having 

 been once thoroughly dried out it will 

 do them a great deal of good. 



William Scott. 



TIMOTHY EATON. 



To guide growers of "Timothy Eaton" 

 chrysanthemum aright, and make it a 

 success, we desire to say that the flower 

 being naturally a large one, requires that 

 the plant to produce perfect specimens 

 should be grown only to single stems, 

 giving liberal space. Ours last year (as 

 seen by Mr. Scott, of Buffalo, and other 

 prominent florists) were planted in 3-foot 

 beds, five plants across, and nine inches 

 Ijetween the rows. All were planted in 

 like manner. This does not mean that 

 for exhibition purposes or special mar- 

 ket a wider space would not be advan- 

 tageous, as it certainly would be. 



The crown bud must not be taken be- 

 fore end of August or beginning of Sep- 

 tember and great care should be exer- 

 cised in syringing that water does not 

 lodge in it, as early buds are liable to 

 come cup shaped and thus hold water and 

 rot. Terminal buds have produced much 

 larger and finer flowers than those ex- 

 liibited by us last year at various places. 

 The plant will stand liberal feeding. 



We write these notes to aid purchas- 

 ers of stock, as we are desirous they 

 should make "Timothy Eaton" a suc- 

 cess and surpass our efforts in growing 

 it last year. Miller & Sons. 



Bracondale, Ont. 



