710 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



=Ti 



Lilies. 

 It is not safe to leavi- yoiu Japan and 

 Bermuda lilies exposed to too severe a 

 frost. They are considered hardy, or 

 almost; hut we have produced by our 

 growing them in pots a growth that can 

 be hurt by a severe frost, and those that 

 are in frames should be protected. Easter 

 is so early this year that I would advise 

 those that have but a limited control of 

 temperature to get their Easter crops 

 into the greenhouse as soon as they have 

 room. The earliest 5 to 7 bulbs will soon 

 be giving you flowers and from now on 

 there will "be no intermission. The early 

 crops are not so often troubled with 

 aphis but regular fumigating is the only 

 way to be sure. As has been often re- 

 marked, when the aphis are down in the 

 heart of the young growth, and that is 

 where they "love" to feed, fumigation 

 hardly reaches them and a solution of 

 nikoteen syringed into the centre of the 

 crown will do more good. 



Geraniums. 



The cutting of chrysanthemums will 

 give you much needed room and don't 

 forget to stand over all your geraniums 

 in 2 or 2J-inch pots as soon as you have 

 the time. A small percentage will be 

 dead and many dead leaves will be on 

 them, and they will be all crowded. It 

 is wonderful what a benefit it seems to 

 them to stand them over and give them a 

 clean up and a little more space. They 

 may seem a very secondai-y crop to you 

 just now but they are of the first im- 

 portance when next May comes. 



Spirea, Lilac, Etc. 



Very soon the last of the importations 

 of shrubs and lily of the valley will be 

 here. I once lost a fine lot of spirea by 

 its being exposed to nearly zero weather 

 soon after it was unpacked. Spirea, 

 viburnum, lilac and Ghent azaleas can be 

 considered hardy under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances but after two weeks in the 

 hold of a vessel they are little prepared 

 for a sudden and hard frost. There is 

 no advantage in ]i<:itfiiiL' those plants 

 when received ; t1iv\ lii il- \'-,\ wr]] in 

 a cold-frame with I '■ i> < 1 |.r<iir,i- 



.ed and gla.ss over 1 -li ! • ■ i IlM Ilim' 

 a cold house or r.l 1,1 1 Imm -nil :i lidtcr 

 place. These deciduous ahrubs make no 

 roots during winter so potting just be- 

 fore you begin to force is time enough, 

 but take care of them. 



Rhododendrons want a little better 

 than a cold-frame; somewhere about or 

 a little above the freezing point will do 

 for them and they must not be allowed 

 to get very dry at the roots for they are 

 evergreen. 



Lily of the VaUey. 



So much of the lily of the valley grown 

 and sold is handled by the man who 

 grows hundreds of thousands or millions 

 that the care of a few thousands seems 

 of little consequence. From Jaji. 1st to 

 June 1st, we depend on the importa- 

 tions of the previous fall, and there is 

 little trouble in handling it. Unpack at 



once and soak the roots of each bundle 

 for a few moments, then store away in 

 boxes 5 or 6 inches deep with some sand 

 or soil between them. Cover the tops 

 with 2 or 3 inches of moss and place the 

 boxes in a frame and cover with sash or 

 shutters, the latter preferred. They 

 want neither the light nor heat but they 

 don't want rain on them. In boxing it 

 is well to have the right quantity in a 

 box that you want to force in each week 

 or twice a week; then it is convenient to 

 bring in just the quantity you want, and 

 more convenient than in a trench for 

 they may be frozen hard and difficult to 

 get at. 



William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



By this time 3-ou should be thinking 

 of your Xmas crop of carnation blooms 

 and you should do all you can to get 

 them into as good condition as you can. 

 If any varieties are a little backward 

 you can hurry them along somewhat 

 with the aid of a few extra degrees of 

 heat and a few light doses of food. We 

 do not make a practice of trying to work 



you may be sure that they will need a 

 certain Icngtli of time to recover their 



trcim growers wlio had been cutting ele- 

 gant stock before the forcing com- 

 menced. 



One can hardly be blamed for raising 

 the temperature a few degrees to help 

 open up a few hundred extra blooms 

 when they are bringing double the regu- 

 lar price, and this can be done without 

 injury to the plants if a good deal of 

 judgment is exercised in the operation. 

 We will write of that later, but now 

 you want to get all your varieties into 

 bloom by Xmas at the very latest. If 

 necessary raise the temperature a few 

 degrees to hurry up the growth and 

 give a sprinkling of slaked lime to help 

 keep the stems strong. 



If the benches are not all mulched it 

 will do the plants good and will hurry 

 them up some to give a light top-dress- 

 ing at this time. Don't put on as heavy 

 a mulch as you do in spring, or early in 

 the fall, as it is not needed. Half as 

 much is plenty as a food for the plants 

 and it will allow the soil to dry out 

 much quicker. Those that were mulched 

 in September can stand a sprinkling of 

 bone meal mixed with soil. Mix about 

 one part bone meal to three parts of soil 

 and allow it to lay a few days and 

 then throw a good handful between each 

 row of plants and give a good water- 

 ing to help wash it into the soil. 



A. F. .T. Baur. 



A. Herrington's Mrs. Robinson that Won the Chrysanthemum Society's Cup 

 at the New York Show. 



our carnations for special licavy crops for 

 Xmas and Easter ri.".;;ii .I'r-- of «li;ii we 

 may be able to cut Im-iwc n .n .iii, i ihnse 

 dates. We need a -i.:mI\ -Mji|ily of 

 high-grade blooms rii^lit along and we 

 find that we cannot expect such a sup- 

 ply from plants that have had to go 

 through a spell of forcing for every spe- 

 cial demand that comes along. If you 

 force your plants unduly at one time 



ROSE NOTES. 



If the soil has been in hearty condi- 

 tion at planting time and the house giv- 

 en proper attention since there will now 

 be a nice growth on the plants, ac- 

 companied also by a luxuriant crop of 

 weeds. The benches should be allowed 

 to become moderately dry and the weeds 



