MARCH 15, 1900. 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



441 



Piece-Root Grafted Roses. 



orders for orepe. He was not a d rum- 

 mer but a neighbor, and it reminds us 

 that by placing our orders now for 

 crepe and the fine grades of colored 

 tissue paper we saved almost 25 per 

 cent. You will need lots of it and at 

 the last moment will be paying 10 

 cents a roll for crepe when you can 

 order it now for S cents. You want 

 green and violet :>nd orange yellow 

 and white, and some other shades to 

 match the azaleas. It is a fad, but 

 really an excusable one, and so en- 

 hances the appearance of a gift. What 

 ■would a peacock be without his tail, 

 and what would some of our dear 

 friends be without their feathers, etc.? 

 WM. SCOTT. 



PIECE ROOT GRAFTS. 



Mr. George M. Kellogg. Pleasant 

 Hill. Mo., kindly sent us last week a 

 few specimens of the piece-root grafted 

 roses mentioned in his notes on page 

 378 of our March 1st issue. We had 

 a photograph taken, from which the 

 accompanying engraving is made, but 

 from the appearance of the roots in 

 the photo the photographer must have 

 allowed them to dry out a few hours 

 before attending to business. 



Mr. Kellogg writes that of the 2.500 

 piece-root grafts only seven failed to 

 grow. 



BULBS IN THE SOUTH. 



I have read with interest a commu- 

 nication from Bro. Read in The Flor- 

 ists' Review of March 8 on bulb grow- 

 ing. I agree wiLjj himjhat our bulbs 

 can and should be grown somewhere 

 ill this great and glorious country. 



I have had .some experience in that 

 line. In Bladin County, N. C, I have 

 raised from bulblets as fine hyacinths 

 as ever came from Holland. Gladi- 

 olus, narcissus and tuberoses were 

 grown to perfection and multiplied 

 with a rapidity equaling nut grass. 



In this sunny land 1 have grown all 

 the standard bulbs, with good and 

 poor results. Our soil is sand and 

 should be suited for hyacinth culture, 

 but the winters are too warm. The 

 bulbs come up in November and are 

 kept in a growing state nearl.v all win- 

 ter. This might not be against them 

 were it not for the cold spells that visit 

 us every few weeks during the winter; 

 then it is hot enough to seek the bath- 

 ing resorts between these cold waves. 

 This kind of weather is not good for 

 any kind of "traps." 



Taper white narcissu.s have done 

 well with me and some of the monster 

 bulbs that I have grown are "out of 

 sight." 



Gladiolus do fairly well. When left 

 over winter in the ground they be- 

 gin to grow in November to December, 

 and arc often cut down by the .lanu- 

 ary freezes, which we have not failed 

 to got these past ten years. They 

 should be dug when the tops die down 

 and stored away in dry sand until 

 February. Cannas grow and make fine 

 roots if planted in a moist situation or 

 watered freely. 



Lilacs of all kinds do well the first 

 year and then dwindle away. This 1 

 cannot understand, as they should do 

 well here with the right kind of treat- 

 ment. 



Freesias will grow as well here as in 

 California. My bulbs grow verj' large 

 and could be grown in large quanti- 

 ties very cheaply. C. S. TAIT. 



Brunswick, Ga. 



COMMERCIAL AND CHEMICAL 

 FERTILIZERS. 



By Jostru Ciih.M..\. 

 [Ke;\d before the Kentucky Society of Florists, 

 Lo"isvi:ie. March 7th,] 



The use of commercial and chemical 

 fertilizers by florists is still in more or 

 less of an experimental stage. Some of 

 our best and largest growers of roses 

 and carnations use these fertilizers to 

 some extent. Few of us here are using 

 them as they should be used. We seem 

 to be afraid of them, and so we should 

 be, for there have been many failures 

 due. not to their use but to their abuse, 

 because we have not made a proper 

 trial of them. 



If one man killed a house full of 

 roses by giving them too much bone 

 meal, and another killed his roses by 

 giving them a mulching of four to six 

 inches of fresh cow manure, and a 

 third destroyed the buds and foliage 

 by giving too much chicken manure, 

 must we therefore think that bone 

 meal and cow and chicken manure are 

 not good? If these persons had given 

 less manure at a time and oftener they 

 would have succeeded Instead of mak- 

 ing a failure. 



We are all liable to make mistakes. 

 Only a few weeks ago a good grower of 

 roses and carnations and who uses 

 liquid manure every week told me how 

 he had made a donkey of himself by 

 giving his roses a good dose of liquid 

 manure immediately after they had 

 been rested, pruned and tied down. It 

 nearly killed them and he said: "I 

 ought to have known better than to 

 feed my roses when thsy had no stom- 

 ach and could not digest the food." 

 When such men fail no wonder we do. 

 Be careful never to make your liquid 

 manure too strong. Give it often but 

 weak and you will be successful. 



In order that we may properly un- 

 derstand the use and value of commer- 

 cial and chemical fertilizers we ought 

 to know our soil better — what it is 

 composed of and what it needs. Too 

 often we hear florists say. my soil is 

 not good, my soil is this, my soil is 



