NOVEMBKR 28, 1901. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



Floral Ajrangements at the Baltimore Show. 



want deer; there are lots of them. There 

 were thirteen of us in the party and ev- 

 ery man brought home a deer, but the 

 killing was not evenly divided, some 

 killed three and others none. Your 

 humble servant was among the latter 

 simply because they did not run his way; 

 he never saw one alive although within 

 300 yards of the first big buck when he 

 was killed. 



There are three requisites required to 

 shoot deer — endurance, patience and a 

 good eye. You must not get lazy. You 

 must sit on a log or stand on a rock 

 for three hours and scarcely wink, you 

 must not smoke and it is even worse 

 to eat onions for breakfast for the deer 

 have wonderful noses. This is when 

 the guides are driving the woods and 

 you e.vpect the deer to pass you. Still 

 hunting is when you walk softly through 

 the woods on the track of a deer or 

 expect to find them dozing. It is called 

 still hunting because in the majority 

 of cases at sunset you are still hunt- 

 ing. The sagacity of this agile, timid 

 creature is remarkable; of the scores of 

 deer that the guides started the great 

 majority ran almost over several Ger- 

 man brewers in our party wiio could 

 not hit the side of a barn, but they 

 avoided the good shots, hence none fell 

 to my rifle. 



Sitting on a moss covered log for three 

 hours (by the bye, always take water 

 proof pants) gives you cold feet and a 

 nuniray spine, and if it was not that 

 you were straining your eye all the time 

 you would get very weary and lonesome. 

 You have a splendid opportunity to 

 think of your past and future sins. The 

 silence is dismal ; a wee, small ground 

 mouse runs along a log; a red squirrel 

 hunts for the beech nuts, but all in si- 

 lence. The only sound is a pretty little 

 woodpecker tapping on some hollow tree,* 

 and so still is nature here that his little 

 bill makes a report like a cooper at a 

 barrel, and you are glad of it. The 

 harsh screech of a blue jay only makes 

 things more dismal for they are the deni- 

 zens of the deep woods. I thought of the 

 immortal lines many times as the shad- 

 ows deepened: 



Now fade.T the glimmering landscape on the 

 sight, 



And all the world a solemn stillness holds. 

 Save where yon beetle drones his weary flight 



And drowsy tinkling lulls the distant folds. 



The fold was .too distant. How I did 



wish that a large black bear had come 

 to interview me. It would have given me 

 exercise either in shooting, sprinting or 

 climbing, but no sucli luck, I was too 

 plainly dressed. The game went up to 

 the fellows who had hunting caps, won- 

 derful jackets, corduroy pants, woollen 

 socks up to their knees and remarkable 

 boots. Tlicy were jiicturesque and at- 

 tractive; I had simply an old Pan-Amer- 

 ican suit and rubber shoes. 



There was one thing in the outfit of 

 each that all agreed was essential; no 

 one showed it openly to his neighbor but 

 in the morning start you could see a 

 small flask being stored away in some 

 convenient pocket. I remarked to sev- 

 eral. "You take a little with you?" and 

 received always the same reply, "Yes, I 

 don't care for it but it's best to take a 

 little along in case of accident or chill." 

 I don't blame anyone under the circum- 

 stances and I found the chill came on 

 pretty regularly, about every twenty 

 minutes. 



Deer hunting or the ardor for it must 

 be acquired; feathered game or even rab- 

 bits, if plenty, will suit me better, but I 

 can understand that when a noble buck 

 falls to your gun j'ou feel rewarded for 

 days of travel, chills and fatigue. I 

 am not sure but what I shall try again, 

 but in five days I was glad to get back 

 to the city of Utiea and the genial com- 

 pany of Peter Crowe and his roses. 



William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Propagating. 



It is not too early to begin prop- 

 agating some varieties, and many grow- 

 ers put in their main batch of cuttings 

 during the first half of December. It 

 certainly pa^-s to propagate early if you 

 are willing to shift the young plants 

 as needed and if necessary plant them 

 out of Si or 4-inch pots. That is, of 

 course, taking it for granted that you 

 believe in housing your carnations early 

 in July or at least before August 15, but 

 if you do not care to plant until after 

 September 1st you had better wait until 

 in January or early February with most 

 varieties. Such varieties as Mrs. Bradt 

 and any other slow grower, however, 

 should be made up and gotten started 

 at once so as to have good plants to 

 start with. 



Remember always, that it pays to have 

 the plant make its growth before it is 

 time to house it, so that it can go right 

 to blooming after being planted inside 

 instead of having first to make its 

 growth. If you have only a few plants of 

 some new variety that is proving itself 

 to be a good one for you to grow in 

 quantity you can put in all the spare 

 cuttings now and thus save a good many 

 cuttings that may have to be picked 

 with the blooms anyway. If the variety 

 grows rapidly you can take the tip out 

 of the young plant by the middle of 

 January and root it and it will make an 

 excellent plant for next season, but you 

 must be careful that it does not shoot 

 up to bloom before you take it ofli. 



If you have no propagating house 

 built especially for that purpose you need 

 not worry, as a light north Ijench in a 

 carnation house is an ideal place to root 

 carnation cuttings. Clear ofl the bench 

 of all rubbish or dirt and wash the 

 boards clean. After allowing them to 

 dry for a few hours give a good coat 

 of hot lime wash and put it on thick. 

 That will kill whatever fungus may be 

 in the boards, e.specially if they are not 

 new, and incidentally it will kill what- 

 ever insects may be lurking in the cracks 

 between tlie boards. Allow that to dry 

 tlKiroughly before putting on any sand. 



About four inches of sand is enough 

 when laose as it should be, about three 

 inches after being packed solid. We like 

 to use a sharp gray sand in which you 

 can see the grains distinctly much better 

 than that fiiie dust-like sand commonly 

 used along the lake and rivers. It al- 

 lows the water to drain away much better 

 and keeps sweet much longer, frequently 

 being fit to use for two or three batches 

 of cuttings if care is taken to leave no 

 litter when taking out cuttings. It 

 should be allowed to dry thoroughly each 

 time, though, before being used over 

 again, and it should not be used over if 

 there was the least sign of fungus among 

 the cuttings it contained the last time it 

 was used. The co:irse grades of lake or 

 river sand and a clean graj' bank sand 

 arc equally .good but w'e do not like to use 

 a yellow bank sand as fungus will start 

 quicker in it. Many growers or prop- 

 agators are not near particular enough 

 aliout the sand they use and when the 

 cuttings rot by the thousands they won- 

 der what caused it and many a case 

 of stemrot in the summer or fall could 

 easily be traced back to fungus in the 

 cutting bench. 



Hang a curtain of muslin in front of 

 the bench, tacked to the roof and reaching 

 to the top of the bench, to keep off not 

 only the sun but also draughts which 

 are as harmful on bright warm days 

 as the sunshine. The old-fashioned way 

 of laying newspapers on the cuttings has 

 many disadvantages and should not be 

 practiced unless absolutely necessary. If 

 the hot sun is allowed to shine on the 

 paper it will get quite warm underneath 

 it, and the paper laying close to the 

 sand will keep the cuttings too dark. 

 The cuttings will be much healthier and 

 sironger if they can have the full day- 

 light right along while they are rooting, 

 merely being careful to keep off the siTn- 

 shine and draughts of air. 



A. F. J. Batjk. 



Kindly insert my classified advs. for 

 another month and add the two enclosed. 

 I was very much pleased with results. — 

 A. ScHMiTT, Glenville, O. 



