216 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Janlary 9, 1902. 



to 55 degrees will do them very well, and 

 at this time of year all the light yoii 

 can give them. There is no plant culti- 

 vated that needs the old maxim, "Eter- 

 nal vigilance," etc., more constantly ap- 

 plied than in the care of the cyclamen. 

 And yet there is not any difliculty or 

 science about it except a continuous 

 avoidance of neglect. Never let them 

 get killing dry, never let them be in- 

 fested with aphis or thrip. These are 

 the two principal things to look out for. 

 Cyclamen, like all the rest of our plants, 

 are less particular about quality or tex- 

 ture of soil than we think they are, but 

 they do like real leaf-mould, viz., leaves 

 that have been collected and thrown in 

 a heap and turned frequently for two 

 years; that is leaf -mould. 



The cyclamen is no new plant in pop- 

 ular favor. It has been grown for 50 

 years to my knowledge, but it is yet 

 grown but sparsely compared to its 

 worth. To me it is so far ahead of a 

 Gloire de Lorraine begonia that there 

 is no comparison. The latter is all right 

 for a special decoration, but as a plant 

 for the house, either singly or a number 

 of moderate sized plants in a basket at 

 the holidays, the cyclamen is a gem, and 

 loved by all. 



A BALL OF BEGONIAS. 



The engraving on page 215 is from a 

 photograph of a ball filled with Begonia 

 Gloire de Lorraine as described in our 

 Philadelphia notes in last issue. It was 

 designed and executed by William Trick- 

 cr. of Henry A. Dreer, and the firm sold 

 quite a number for the Christmas trade. 

 Tlie wire frame was 10 inches in diam- 

 eter, and, as can be seen by the photo- 

 graph, the effect was most excellent. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Propagating. 



If you haven't already got your main 

 batch of carnation cuttings in the sand 

 you should lose no time in getting them 

 in. Of course, you can get good plants 

 from later propagations, but for early 

 planting, and if you want to have good, 

 Inishy plants to house by August, it is 

 high time they were started. You will 

 also find much less trouble in rooting 

 the cuttings now than you will in a 

 month or two. The sun is weak now 

 and there is very little wilting, but later 

 on, when the sun gets stronger, you will 



Coleus Thyrsoideus. 



Vase Plants. 



There are one or two common plants 

 used in the spring which if you have not 

 got the old plants lifted for stock you 

 should sow the seed at once. One is 

 Lobelia speciosa; if you don't sow it 

 early you don't get plants large enough 

 to be of use for baskets and vases. An- 

 other is lophospermum, a most useful 

 plant for vases and veranda boxes. Sow 

 at once. 



Verbenas. 



About the end of the month sow ver- 

 bena seed, Our seedsmen now supply 

 us with seed that produces alxiut as 

 good colors as the named varieties and 

 the seedlings are always healthy and 

 grow freely. And a bed of mixed colored 

 verbenas is far prettier than one of all 

 one color. Flowers of one species, how- 

 ever diversified, always harmonize; that 

 is nature. William Scott. 



even with the best of care, success is not 

 so certain. 



Be sure you select your cuttings care- 

 fully £0 there will be less disease next 

 year than you have among your plants 

 this year. Employ the same method of 

 making up the cuttings and also the 

 propagating bench as I have described 

 in these columns a few weeks ago. I 

 will not repeat it unless some new sub- 

 scriber to your paper wishes it done. 



If you put in your cuttings last month 

 when I first advised you to do so they 

 will be rooting by this time and as soon 

 as they are well rooted you should take 

 them out of the sand. There are several 

 ways of keeping them in a thrifty grow- 

 ing condition until they are planted in 

 the field or on the benches. Perhaps the 

 most economical w.iy is to clear a side 

 bench which is close to the glass and put 

 on it about three inches of good soil and 

 plant the cuttings in this soil from two 



to three inches apart each way, accord- 

 ing to the variety and the length of time 

 they are to remain there. They will 

 make a strong, healthy growth and if 

 pinched properly you can get fine plants 

 this way. 



Another way is to make a lot of shal- 

 low boxes about three inches deep, fill 

 in about two inches of soil and plant in 

 the cuttings. These can be raised up near 

 the glass on a swinging shelf and they 

 will take up no valuable bench space, but 

 you must watch them closely, as they 

 will dry out rapidly and it will not be 

 so handy to water them. Another advan- 

 tage is that the boxes can be moved 

 aiound easily and quickly. 



Perhaps the best way, though, is to 

 pot the cuttings up into pots and shift 

 them as they need it. It makes a little 

 more work, but I believe it pays. We 

 found last summer that we were able to 

 lift good balls of earth with those that 

 were planted from 3-inch pots, while 

 those that were planted in fiats would 

 not hold the soil at all. The reason 

 was plain enough. The plants were fair- 

 ly well pot bound in the 3-inch pots and 

 that ball always remained intact al- 

 though the roots reached out farther 

 around for nourishment and moisture, 

 and when they were dug up the 3-inch 

 ball still remained intact, while on those 

 that were planted from flats there was 

 no ball of earth when they were planted 

 and the dry season did not allow them 

 to make enough roots to hold the soil to- 

 gether, and it all dropped off in the dig- 

 ging. Then, again, those from pots will 

 stand a short dry spell right after being 

 planted much better than will those from 

 flats, as the roots are not disturbed nor 

 exposed so much as on the others, but if 

 they have a good rain or two after plant- 

 ing they will take hold and grow into 

 just as good plants, and if Ihey are not 

 to be taken up in the fall I would just 

 as soon plant from the bench or flats. 



Cuttings that are ready to pot now 

 should go into 2-inch pots and later be 

 shifted into 3-inch, but cuttings that are 

 put into the sand now will stand nicely 

 in 2i-inch pots until planting out time. 

 Last year we had a lot of extra strong 

 cuttings and we potted them right into 

 3-inch pots and I believe it paid us to 

 do it, as they lifted with good sized balls 

 of earth. A. F. J. Batjk. 



COLEUS THYRSOIDEUS. 



We are indebted to the firm of Henry 

 A. Dreer, Philadelphia, for the accom- 

 panying illustration of this coleus. It 

 was sent out as a summer flowering sort, 

 but Mr. J. D. Eisele, manager of the 

 Dreer greenhouses, believes it will be 

 most valuable as a winter flowering plant 

 and that its deep blue flowers will make 

 it a very acceptable Christmas plant. 

 Some brief notes on its culture appeared 

 under the heading Riverton on page 190 

 of our last issue. 



BALL DECORATION. 



We present in this issue an engrav- 

 ing from a photograph of a decoration 

 arranged by Mrs. C. Eickholt, Galves- 

 ton, Texas, for the annual Artillery ball 

 in that city. 



As will be noted, wild smilax is most 

 effectively and artistically used. The 

 picture makes all details so plain, with 

 possibly the exception of the arrange- 

 ment of plants on the stage in the back- 

 ground, that any description seems un- 

 necessary. 



