The Weekly Florists' Review, 



XorEMBEii 28. 1901. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE MINTS. 



Chrysanthemums. 



Chrvsantlieniums are often much neg- 

 lected as soon as the iiowers are gone — 

 that is the provision for future stock. If 

 grown in pots they can be stood in some 

 cool lif;lit house, cool as you like until 

 end of February, when tliey can be given 

 more heat and will give you lots of cut- 

 tings. If all your jdanls have l)een grown 

 on benches you will want to get them 

 out of the way at once. A flat of three 

 or four inches of soil }iol<ling a dozen 

 roots will give you lots of cuttings. If 

 in a still larger way and you want to 

 have cuttings to sell you can plant out a 

 few rows of each kind on a iK-nch similar 

 to the one they have flowered on. 



Still another p!an followed by some 

 of the principal specialists is to root 

 a few of the earliest and strongest cut- 

 tings or suckers in October and Novem- 

 ber and when rooted jilant them out on 

 a good light bench in four or live inches 

 of rich soil. These young plants giow 

 vigorously and if you have given them 

 room, 7 or 8 inches apart, you can get 

 any amount of the best cuttings from 

 them, and as late as you like in the 

 season. 



Pot Roses for Easter. 



W'lien speaking of Kastcr plants last 

 week I forgot a very important one, the 

 hybriil perpetual rose in pots. Thous- 

 ands of these are now sold at Easter. 

 There is no doubt that a rose that has 

 been siunmered over in pots outside and 

 made a good growth is the ideal jdant to 

 force at any time during winter, but 

 thev should be worth a good deal more 

 than the plants lifted from the field this 

 fall, and the latter are good enough for 

 Kaster. You have most likely received 

 and potted them two or three weeks ago. 

 If not, it is not too late now. 



I do not think it much of an ad- 

 vantage to pot these before yo>i bring 

 them into the house, but a good deal does 

 depend on how yini treat them before you 

 begin to give them any heat. If you 

 potted them the mid<lle of this month 

 you would most likely plunge them in a 

 cold-frame — a good place. They are bet- 

 ter not cut down, or only just the long 

 tops taken off, till you bring them in, 



A little frost does not in the lea.st 

 hurt but it is well not to let it be too 

 severe, and above all don't let them freeze 

 hard while the roots are dry. This is 

 a mistake too often made with other 

 plants and trees besides roses. In hard 

 winters our fruit and ornamental trees 

 always suffer most when it is a dry fall. 

 Trees want to go to rest with their 

 roots v.-ct. You can see swamps all 

 round us where the beech and maple 

 stand in two feet of water all winter. 

 If this happened in .June it would quickly 

 kill them, so don't subject your potted 

 roses to hard frost if the soil is dry. 



If not potted T would just as soon 

 heel them in in deep boxes in a cold- 

 frame till New Year's, when it will be 

 time to start them going in a night tem- 

 perature of 40 degrees. When you prune 

 them don't cnt them down too low — say 



six inches, or even eight inches of a good 

 cane, should be left. Some recent exper- 

 iences with hardy roses, which I believe 

 were the finest ever seen on this side 

 of the Atlantic (excuse the ajjpavent con- 

 ceit, but I know it's a fact ) . proved to 

 me that where the plants had made a 

 splendid growth the previous year you 

 could cut them down to within two 

 eyes or two inches of the ground. The 

 tremendous \-igor of the roots pushed 

 out eyes where no eyes were seen, but 

 with these pot-grown plants that have 

 not active roots to begin with, there is 

 little to push <mt the eyes and growth. 

 The best buds must be left and they 

 are not always so near the base of the 

 plant. 



Hydrangeas. 

 It I- tinu' now to put your hydrangeas 

 on the beiu-h for Easter. They should 

 have been as well ripened as possible and 

 a little frost will have done them no 

 harm. If they were shifted late out of 

 doors they can do without a larger pot 

 but if cramped for room give them a 

 ■2inch larger pet. The first month or 



fuchsia plants. The ends of the flower- 

 ing shoots you often see propagated are 

 an abomination and will never make a 

 plant. William Scott. 



FEEDING CARNATIONS. 



I have a iiench of Sc-otts that were 

 benched September lOth. using fwo parts 

 garden soil and one part well rotteil 

 manure, with a liberal application of 

 bone meal and wood ashes half and half, 



I gave them bone meal and wood ashes 

 again about October 1.5th and now the 

 bench looks fine with a good crop of buds 

 coming along. The roots are showing 

 above the surface all through the bed. 



Would this be a good lime to give a 

 nnilch. or what should be done? Is it 

 advisable to stir up the surface when the 

 bed is in this condition? W. B. 



If W. B.'s carnation soil contains over 

 30 percent of manure with a liberal ad- 

 dition of bone meal and wood ashes, 

 and if the plants are growing nicely 

 now I would advise him to let well 

 enough alone. A very surprising thing 

 is that they are looking well at all as 

 such a mixture of soil is entirely too 

 strong for carnations. When I read the 

 first part of his letter I said to myself, 

 "A clear case of over-feeding." and I 

 certainly would expect such results from 

 such a mixture. 



I would advise W. B. to be very careful 

 during the next three months with the 

 watering, because although the plants 

 lunc made a good growtli it has been 



The Philadelphia Market. View in Leo Nicssen's. 



up to New Y'ear's a house about 45 to 50 

 degrees at night will do very well and 

 after that you can raise the temperature. 



Fuctsias. 



If you still grow that good old ]ilant 

 the fuchsia, you should start the plants 

 that you summered over out of doors. If 

 they have been resting beneath the bench 

 all the better. Shake off most of the soil, 

 repot, cutting back to ripe healthy 

 growth and put into a warm house. Sy- 

 ringe often and you will so(ui have them 

 l)ristliiig with youny lender growth that 

 roots like a verbena, and nuike the onlv 



jnadc in favorable weather conditions and 

 it is quite possible that during the dark 

 winter months when the plants do not re- 

 quire so much food it may be too strong 

 for them. A soil with so much manure in 

 it will sour very quickly and cause the 

 plants to suffer from what may be termed 

 a sour stomach. Therefore, I would ad- 

 vise running them just a little on the 

 dry side so as to keep good control over 

 the moisture at all times. Let them 

 get well on the dry side before watering 

 and then water so that it will go clear 

 through to the bottom. Give plenty of 

 iiir on all favorable occasions but main- 



