380 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



MARCH 1, 1900. 



and in his paper carried on a vigorous 

 campaign against anything in the hor- 

 ticultural world that did not accord 

 with his views of what was right, and 

 he knew no fear in doing what he 



considered his duty. He was withal a 

 man of broad education and refine- 

 ment. In his death American horti- 

 culture loses a powerful supporter of 

 its best interests. 



Fuchsias. 



I have had occasion to remark be- 

 fore that fuchsias propagated after 

 this date make poor plants. The plants 

 have given so many cuttings that the 

 growths now made at this late date 

 want to flower and make but a poor 

 growth. Don't throw away your old 

 plants of fuchsias. If allowed to grow 

 on they make fine material to again 

 give you good plants for another year's 

 propagation: or if you are asked to 

 fill up a shady bed or border with 

 these pretty and old familiar plants, 

 the old plants will be most satisfac- 

 tory. 



Remember, in growing on young 

 fuchsias they should not have less than 

 50 degrees at night, plenty of syring- 

 ing, and shifting whenever needed. 

 The soil should be at least one-third 

 rotten manure and it is worth while to 

 mention that well decayed refuse hops 

 suits fuchsias better than any other 

 manure, and there are few of our soft- 

 wooded plants that it does not suit. 

 Many years ago we grew our La Purite 

 and Edwardsii carnations well for 

 those days with at least a fourth of 

 refuse hops. 



Lemon Verbeoi. 



The lemon verbena always sells well 

 and is always in demand, and a stock 

 is easily produced if you have a few 

 old plants that were grown in pots last 

 summer and kept nearly dormant till 

 now. Get them up, shake out the soil, 

 repot after cutting back the shoots just 

 a little, start growing in about 55 de- 

 grees, with plenty of syringing, and 

 you will get any amount of young cut- 

 tings, which, if not allowed to wilt in 

 the sand and given lo(s of water, will 

 root as surely, if not as quickly, as an 

 ageratum, 



Lantanas. 



Lantanas should also now be started 

 in a warm house, and the young 

 growths root easily. These plants are 

 not grown as much as they were, but 

 in mixed borders are useful, free grow- 

 ing plants. 



Hydrangeas. 

 Hyilrangeas that are wanted for late 

 May sales will be starting to make a 



growth If they are kept where they 

 usually are — under a cool bench. Don't 

 let them make a weak growth there. 

 It is better to keep them in the light 

 from now on. but in the coolest house 

 you have. I have found that about the 

 same time that bedding plants go is 

 the time when there is the best de- 

 mand for hydrangeas. They are usual- 

 ly bought to stand on verandas and 

 the less advanced they are the more 

 satisfactory they will be. 



It is a good time now to put in a 

 batch of hydrangea cuttings for your 

 next year's forcing plants. They root 

 most readily. The strong young shoots 

 from the bottom of the plant make the 

 best stock, far better than the weaker 

 terminal growth. 



Cannas. 



It is a favorable time now to get up 

 your canna roots and clean and cut up. 

 Tnder a bench, where there was little 

 drip and kept from the ground by 

 boards, ours have wintered. A single 

 piece of root with one good eye is 

 plenty large enough to make a fine 

 plant for spring planting. Even if you 

 are not ready to start them they are 

 no worse for being cleaned a few days 

 ahead. 



Much time and room is saved by 

 starting the canna roots and caladi- 

 ums in flats with an inch or so of soil 

 in the bottom. Well rotted manure is 

 just as good and then two inches of 

 sand. 1'lie roots can go quite close to- 

 gether and \>c well started before they 

 need the 4 or 5-inch pot. We usually 

 don't have bench room for the cannas 

 or caladiums until our Easter crops 

 arc cleared out. so don't put the canna 

 flats on the pipes more than four 

 weeks before Easter. 



Viol ts. 



We have bad the greatest success 

 with some benches of Marie Louise 

 violet this winter and some benches 

 not as good, and without exception the 

 best plants and best results have been 

 those from plants propagated from 

 cuttings of the true runners cut off 

 and put in the sand as we do other 

 cuttings. The trouble is it is difficult 

 to get enough of 'the runners to give 



you sufficienl stock. I mention this 

 now because the plants will now be 

 sending out runners and none should 

 be wasted. Put thii-m in the .sand, and 

 the same bed that roots carnations 

 does finely for the violets, which is 

 equal to saying any box or bench of 

 sand in a cool house. 



WM. SCOTT. 



BOTTOMLESS POTS. 



In the issue of The Review for Feb. 

 1.") I notice an article Re unfavorable 

 reports of bottomless pots, and do not 

 think it justice on my part not to men- 

 tion this fact. Last fall I read in The 

 Review about bottomless pots, and 

 having some A. Sprengeri in pans that 

 needed shifting I thought it would be 

 a good idea to try the bottomless pot 

 .system. I knocked the bottoms out of 

 the pans and planted in bench in 12 

 inches of soil and they have done re- 

 markably well. 



Were the pots made a little deeper, 

 say, 15 inches, they are in my opinion 

 a grand acquisition tor growing A. 

 Sprengeri. having all the advantages 

 of the bench, besides keeping the 

 fronds from getting dirty, and better 

 than hanging baskets, as they do not 

 dry out so quickly. Also I believe 

 there are probably other things this 

 pot may be useful for. and hope before 

 it is altogether dropped the florists 

 will give it a fair trial. 



HARRY McNAUGHTON. 



Berlin. Ont. 



[The item we published was based 

 entirely upon reports from violet 

 growers, and we understand that this 

 style of pot has been most largely used 

 by them.— Ed.] 



EXPRESS SHIPMENTS. 



We notice that at the convention of 

 the Carnation Society some reference 

 was made to expres.s shipments and 

 losses on same. I would like to have 

 the opinion of wholesale plant ship- 

 pers on the following case: 



.T. shipped a box of palms to M. on 

 11 o'clock train Saturday night. It 

 was zero weather at the time. The 

 box had a double lining of paper in- 

 side and express paper outside, no 

 wadding being used. M. got the box 

 from the express company on Monday, 

 also a letter, at 8 a. m. The plants 

 were frozen stiff. M. wrote to .1. and 

 asked whether to return the box or 

 throw the plants on the dump pile, as 

 they were not accepted. .1. wrote back 

 saying that M. should put in a claim 

 against the express company. 



M. holds that as the plants were not 

 properly packed he had. no cldim 

 against the express company, and if 

 such a claim was to be made it should 

 be done by the shipper. And he don't 

 believe it would be just to make the 

 express company pay, anyway. It 

 would be an encouragement to the 

 shippers to pack plants "any old way" 

 and then claim damages from the ex- 

 press companies when injury results. 



