730 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



-MAY 10, lilW. 



are kept in these houses for decorating 

 chvirches, dwellinss. etc., but some of 

 them have by their growth exceeded 

 their accommodations, and another 

 winter will find their places filled by 

 successors. Other subjects are kept 

 either for sale or the pleasure of the 

 owner, and new things are added from 

 time to time. Wo noticed a more th;m 

 usually well-conditioned specimen of 

 the Charaerops Fortunii. 



Mr. Cook believes a good deal in spe- 

 cialties and novelties. At his store in 

 the city his almost daily effort is to 

 have something new or striking. This 

 great collection readily enables him to 



do this. His immense beds of daffo- 

 dils, The Emperor, must have been a 

 gorgeous sight when in iJlooni. and 

 besides the local demand 20.000 flow- 

 ers were shipped to New York. 



He finds the .Tap;ui>\se double cherry 

 ;i very taking thing, and of fine lilacs, 

 like the making of books, there is no 

 end. Indeed, were one to attempt to 

 merely catalogue the lovely and attrac- 

 tive things to be found on the well- 

 stocked twenty - seven acres of this 

 genial and devoted liorticulturist, it 

 would be a Herculean task, which will 

 not be attempted by RIX. 



Heat and Shade. 



We find from now till about the 

 20th of this month to be our most 

 crowded time, and every inch must 

 be made use of. Cold-frames help 

 very much and should be used as 

 largely as possible, for with all the 

 hardier bedding plants, such as ger- 

 aniums, you can give them the full 

 sun if plunged in some material and 

 on fine days remove the sash, which 

 hardens them for their future use. 



Ten years ago we used to make the 

 mistake of shading our houses, per- 

 haps all of them, about the end of 

 April, and then for economy's sake 

 letting the fires go out. This, to 

 coleus, cannas, acalyphas, and other 

 tropical plants that you have been 

 previously growing in a brisk heat, 

 is murder. They will just stand 

 still, if not even go back. Get 

 all such plants in houses that you 

 don't need to shade for anything and 

 make up your mind to fire till the 

 end of this month. More favored con- 

 ditions may exist in some localities, 

 but here it is necessary. Last night, 

 May 5, we had a decided frost. 



Geraniums, petunias, ageratums and 

 ihe colder blooded plants will do 

 without fire if the glass is unshaded 

 and you make allowance for the ab- 

 sence of heat by more careful water- 

 ing. 



Chrysanthemums. 

 Chrysanthemums grow fast now, 

 and it is a good time to put in big 

 batches of cuttings. We never seem 

 to have too many. Although the sand 

 in your propagating bed is getting 

 cooler every day and less conducive 

 to quick rooting, you can overcome 

 that by giving an abundance of water. 

 Twice a day a heavy watering is not 



too much and never let them wilt, 

 either from sunshine or want of 

 water. You must attend to these 

 things, or in .June when the benches 

 are empty you will have to buy. 



Don't think for a moment that 

 chrysanthemums are going out of 

 fashion. The great big "ponderosa 

 Paderewski" type at $9.00 per dozen 

 may be, but $2 and ?3 a dozen flow- 

 ers are as essential to us in the fall 

 as the roses and carnations, and ihey 

 just suit the plant men near the cities 

 who can fill up again with lilies, aza- 

 leas, etc. 



Cyclamen. 



It is just about now that the most 

 beautiful of our winter flowering 

 plants, the cyclamen, gets neglected. 

 If they are in 3% or 4-inch pots and 

 plunged in a mild hotbed, then they 

 have a line place, providing they get 

 no neglect, but there are many ways 

 in which they can be neglected just 

 now. and for another month I would 

 prefer to keep them on a light bench 

 in a house where you will keep a 

 fire for the next 30 days, and in addi- 

 tion to regular fumigating, scatter 

 tobacco stems between the pots. 



We have never had our cyclamen 

 grow so freely and robust as this year, 

 and from one particular cause, which 

 has taught us a lesson. Instead of 

 putting them in 2-inch pots from the 

 seed pans, we planted them in flats 

 two inches apart. They have grown 

 as they never would grow in pots and 

 needed a 3 - inch when potted. Now 

 tliey are in a 4-inch. The lesson was 

 that in the bulk of soil contained in 

 the flat there was not the drying out 

 and starvation that would be liable 

 to occur in a tiny pot, and shows 

 they must grow right along; once 



checked by severe dryness, they are 

 seriously hurt. 



The soil was 40 per cent loam, the 

 sam.e of leaf mould, and 20 per cent 

 rotten manure. The finest cyclamen 

 grown here or in Europe are grown 

 through the summer in hotbeds, but 

 they are not necessary to grow a fine 

 plant, and a plant IS inches across, 

 well flowered, will suit your trade 

 more often than the prize-taking 30- 

 inch i)lant. 



Primroses. 



It is now time to sow the Chinese 

 l)rimula as well as P. obconica and 

 Forbesii. None of these are heat- 

 loving plants, so after the plants are 

 up coolness is rather the object to 

 be sought. We find a bench in a 

 shaded house does them very well 

 in the summer months, but they must 

 have plenty of fresh air. P. obconica 

 has proved to be one of the best 

 plants we have, not only as a pot 

 plant but for cutting. While a cold- 

 frame is a splendid place for the pri- 

 mulas during the summer, we have 

 got along very well in a house where 

 there was an abundance of air and 

 very little shade. There are some 

 great improvements in the obconica 

 of late and you should get the best 

 seed procurable. 



Boston Ferns. 



There seems to be no let-up to the 

 popularity and usefulness of the 

 Boston fern, "N. e. Bostoniensis." 

 and after New Y'ear's it was Im- 

 possible to buy medium sized 

 plants. A plant that fills a 5 or 

 6-inch pot is in greatest demand. 

 .\11 the young plants you can get to- 

 gether should be planted out on a 

 bench as soon as you have the room. 

 If you don't have them, buy them now 

 in 3-inch pots. Four or five inches 

 of soil is enough, one-half loam and 

 the remainder rotten manure and leaf 

 mould. If you don't have the leaf 

 mould, decayed refuse hops will suit 

 them finely. 



Give plenty of water, a syringing in 

 the morning and shade from the hot- 

 test sun, and by October they will 

 be fine plants and lift without losing 

 a frond. I can add nothing to the 

 well known qualities of this fern, but 

 it really seems to be the most perfect 

 house plant we have, thriving every- 

 where. 



Hydrangeas. 



Hydrangeas that you did not force 

 for Easter but rested as long as pos- 

 sible will now be coming into flower. 

 Look out for red spider. We have 

 had the flowers ruined on them 

 during hot weather before we 

 knew what was the matter. It is not 

 only the want of syringing, but al- 

 lowing them to wilt for want of water, 

 that promotes greenfly. If in small 

 pots they should be supplied with 

 liquid manure. Any one-year old 

 plants of hydrangeas that were forced 

 for Easter and did not sell, if cut 

 down low, partly shaken out and 

 started growing again, w-ill make the 



