JANI'ARV II. l:««i- 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



159 



shifting goraniums from 2 to :i-iiifli 

 pots, in whicli tliey will reni:iiii till 

 first of April. You can grow geraniums 

 clipaper but we get a good price for 

 them and o\ir i)eoplc expoci a fine 

 plant in a 4-inch pot with one cir two 

 blooms by liedding time, end <il May. 

 We ilon't pinch the geraniums now 

 because by the middle of February 

 most all oi' them will give us their top 

 three inches for a cutting. Wc- have 

 seen lots of geraniums grown in other 

 cities and our people would not accept 

 them at any price, but doubtless there 

 are many good ones grown. 



To produce a short, stout growth 

 and freedom of flower a geranium 

 wants a rather heavy soil, only mode- 

 rately manured and firmly potted. The 

 latter is important. A light house, 

 plenty of ventilation and a night 

 temperature of 45 to 50 degrees ac- 

 cording to how fast you want them to 

 grow. 



The bronze, tricolor and silver leaf 

 sections, which are grown exclusively 

 for their foliage, want more manure, 

 a lighter soil and 5 to 10 degrees more 

 heat. 



The ivy leaf section is now a very 

 important one with us, not only for 

 use in vases and baslsets but thousands 

 selling singly. If you have any hang- 

 ing shelves there is no plant more 

 suited to them than the ivy geranium. 

 The variety that was sent out a few 



temperature must I keep my Easter 

 lilies? Some are just starting, some 

 are 6 inches and sonu' 12 inches above 

 the 5 and ti-inch pots. All are left in 

 a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees." 



IJresumal)ly this gentleman's Easier 

 lilies are meant for lOaster and what 

 he wants to know is how to bring 

 them in all in good shape for that im- 

 portant time. There is a wide dif- 

 ference between 40 and 50 degrees; 

 perhaps he means that they are all in 

 one hou.se where the temperature va- 

 ries between 40 and 50 degrees. 



If you have several houses where 

 you can keep the temperature from 45 

 to G5 or TO degrees, you might be able 

 to bring in most of the lilies at the 

 desired time; without these facilities 

 you can only favor those that you 

 think are best adapted for flowering 

 at Easter. Those only just starting 

 should not have more than a night 

 temperature of 50 degrees, and it 

 would be hard work getting them in 

 flower by Easter, however much of an 

 oven you had, while those a foot high 

 should come along very well in about 

 50 degrees. The last four or five weeks 

 it would be easier to keep a higher 

 temperature, which will suit them bet- 

 ter. 



As has been often remarked in 

 these columns, and as was remarked 

 to the writer by that shrewd, obser- 

 vant and clever man, Mr. W. K. Har- 



llowers. But I did not do that by 

 writing or talking; I did it by hard 

 work, and many of the plants were 

 moved 20 times in the last two months. 

 W.M. SrOTT. 



MY FIRST YEAR'S EXPERIENCE IN 

 HYBRIDIZING CARNATIONS. 



Bv J.^coii Siiici./. 



(Head before the Kentucky Society o( Florists, 

 at Louisville. 1 



You must not expect mo to tell you 

 in this paper anything new in the art 

 of hybridizing this graiul flower, the 

 carnation. The tradi> papers have so 

 often published articles on this sub- 

 ject that anything I say will only be 

 repeating an old story. If you in- 

 tend hybridizing carnations, you must 

 not expect to make a fortune from 

 your seedlings, for there are only a 

 few who are fortunate enough to get 

 a Lawson among their seedlings. 

 There will be hardly any financial re- 

 turns, but the pleasure derived in 

 watching "The Babies," as you will 

 soon call the seedlings, as they de- 

 velop and bloom, will amply repay you 

 for your trouble. 



The first thing necessary in hybrid- 

 izing carnations is the selection of 

 parents, and here you must use your 

 best judgment. I always try to se- 

 lect two parents that combine free- 

 dom of bloom, good stem and growth, 



Fleischmann's store and delivery wagons. 

 NEW YORK STORES AT CHRISTMAS. 



years ago, "Pere Crozy," is a jewel. 

 It is a distinct cross between the ivy 

 leaf and the zonal, and partakes of 

 both types. It is covered with its 

 bright red flowers just when you need 

 them, and last spring sold at sight. 

 ' I cannot once more speak too highly 

 of the beautiful semi-double pink zonal 

 "Frances Perkins." It has completely 

 sent the old Emile de Gerardin, Mme. 

 Thibaut and the rest of the pinks to 

 Sheol, which in Greek was a dump 

 pile but in translation got tangled up 

 with a place where they fry and frizzle 

 for everlasting, a sort of natural gas 

 furnace. WM. SCOTT. 



EASTER LILIES. 



A subscriber asks for information 

 about his lilies and says: "At what 



ris, of Philadelphia, as we walked up 

 Cocoanut street, or some other nutty 

 street of that beautiful city, "the East- 

 er lily is not so profitable a plant as 

 it appears, for there is a great amount 

 of labor entailed if you are going to 

 get a large percentage in flower just 

 when you want them." 



And any long distance instruction is 

 useless. It is easy to grow a good lily; 

 most any one can do that, but to get 

 95 per cenfl in the right condition about 

 the Thursday before Easter requires 

 gardening genius highly developed and 

 actively exercised. 



Without boasting, with the closest 

 personal attention, some eight or nine 

 years ago I succeeded in bringing in 

 about 1,200. and there were not 20 

 plants that had not one or more open 



good color, and large size. I select 

 the flower which is to be the seed 

 bearer, or mother, first, and I always 

 see that the flower is as near a per- 

 fect specimen of the variety I select 

 as possible. I cut away the petals 

 from around the pistils, leaving them 

 exposed until they are ready to re- 

 ceive the pollen, which will take sev- 

 eral days. You can tell when the 

 pistils are ready to receive the pollen 

 by their turning downward and out- 

 ward. When this happens you must 

 select the pollen parent, or father. If 

 I have selected a mother that has some 

 defect. I try to get a pollen parent 

 that is without this defect, or if the 

 color is not as good as I think it 

 should be, I select a pollen parent 

 that has the color I desire. Even with 



