524 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



March 13, 1902. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Cannas. 



I received one or two letters asking me 

 to state more plainly or completely what 

 I meant by placing the eanna roots on a 

 bench on an inch or so of sphagnum moss. 

 I did not add that some moss should bo 

 scattered over the bulbs as well, but I 

 took it for granted that any or every one 

 would know that it would be necessary to 

 cover the roots as well ; that is, just cover 

 enough to barely hide them. Keep mod- 

 erately moist and they will soon start. 



Caladium Esculentum. 



The Oaladium esculentum roots are 

 just arriving. This is a very vinimportant 

 plant with many, but where much bedding 

 is done there is large use for it and where 

 you grow a thousand of these leafy plants 

 any economy of space in their cultivation 

 is of great value. Now or within two 

 weeks is plenty of time to start them. 

 Place the bulbs in flats three inches deep, 

 an inch of rotten manure or leaf mould 

 in the bottom, and then the bulbs, and 

 then fill up between the bulbs with sand. 

 You can place the bulbs almost touching 

 and the flats can be placed a few inches 

 above some heating pipes. The root ac- 

 tion will start at once, but you will save 

 three weeks' bench room and when potted 

 into 5-inch pots directly after Easter, 

 they will go right ahead. 



Bulbs from 2V2 to 3 inches in diameter 

 are large enough to make the finest deco- 

 rative plants, and those as large as coa- 

 coanuts should be kept south for an edi- 

 ble vegetable for which they are used by 

 people who cannot afford to indulge in 

 the great luxury of Solanum tuberosum. 

 Some people will gi-ow this plant in a 

 warm, shady house and produce a long, 

 soft growth wliich only blows into shreds 

 when planted out. The lightest house 

 with ))lenty of ventilation is what it 

 wants. 



Ficus Ekstica. 



This is a good time to moss your Ficus 

 elastiea, supposing you have plants that 

 will bear it. Leave three or four leaves 

 and joints above the cut, put a little 

 sphagnum in the incision made, which 

 may be an inch or IV, inches long, and 

 tie enough moss round the cut to make a 

 bunch as big (or nearly) as a hen's egg. 

 Syringe every day as you will likely be 

 doing to the plants at this time of the 

 year and in six or seven weeks they will 

 have sent out roots enough so that you 

 can sever the young plant from the par- 

 ent. These freshly potted, newly severed 

 plants will not stand the full sun and a 

 draught right off, and if so ex])osed will 

 often wilt badly or die. Keep them close, 

 moist and warm for a few weeks to give 

 them a chance to get hold of their sur- 

 roundings. 



Crotons. 



Crotons root from the cuttings in good 

 strong heat in the usual way of rooting 

 cuttings, but quite as sure a way, and, to 

 produce a strong plant quickly, they are 

 better propagated like the rubbers. The 

 ficus will exist and even thrive in a com- 



paratively low temperature, say 50 de- 

 grees at night, but the crotons should 

 never be below 60, and better 65 to 70 

 degrees, at any stage of their growth. 



Seeds. 



It is now time to sow a good part of 

 your main crop of aster seed; also about 

 the 20th of the month sow zinnia, ten 

 week stocks, balsam, Phlox Drunmiondii, 

 in fact, all the so-called hardy annuals. 

 Don't forget to sow some rielnus end of 

 the month. You are sure to be a.sked for 

 then if you don't have them. Celosia 

 can also be sown now. and dianthus of 

 the chinensis and Heddewigii type. 



This is about the time to sow Cobaea 

 scandens. For a cheap summer climber 

 to make a big growth and cover a big 

 space in a few months, there is nothing 

 equal to the Cobiea. Time was when you 

 were very likely to get coba?a that would 

 not grow, however skillfully sown, but of 

 late years we get such good seed from 

 California that most any old seedsman 

 will send you good seeds. It should be 

 sown on end, but it is so difficult to de- 

 scribe which end, that I would rather say 

 just squeeze it into the surface of soil on 

 edge and if kept in a house at about 55 

 degrees and kept moderately moist you 

 will get all of them up. 



Begonias. 



Begonias of the tuberous type for bed- 

 ding purposes should be started now. 

 There is no need of putting them in pots, 

 they are better started in flats in a mix- 

 ture of leaf mould and sand and placed 

 in a house at 55 to 60 degrees. By the 

 middle of April they will be ready to pot 

 into 4-inch pots, and I have never found 

 a place that suited them so well from 

 that time till bedding time, as a mild 

 hotbed. They will stand the fullest sun 

 if the roots are moist and you can remove 

 the sash the last two weeks in May and 

 then they do not feel the change to the 

 open air and broad sun. 



Hotbeds. 



You are almost lucky if you do not 

 have to resort to the primitive greenhouse 

 known as a hotbed, but many of us do 

 for two reasons: It gives us room for 

 quite a little overflow and unmistakably 

 it grows many things better than any 

 greenhouse, which I can mention later, 

 for we don 't believe in using hotbeds for 

 any of our plants before the second week 

 of April, but it is time to look out for 

 material. If you were a market gardner 

 and raising lettuce and the tropical "cow- 

 cumber," you would want a bed three feet 

 deep with mats to cover at night, etc., 

 but after the middle of April no very 

 hot bed is needed. But the gentle bot- 

 tom heat, the uniform moisture of the 

 roots and the ammonia, which doubtless 

 feeds the leaves of plants, will make 

 many of our common bedding plants 

 jump as no greenhouse can, particularly 

 one where the shade is on and coal is 

 economized. 



Straw stable litter is the best of ma- 

 terial and if it is fresh a third of leaves 



well mixed with it will do no harm. 

 Eefuse hops from the breweries is a most 

 violent fermenter, and if a third of that 

 can be procured fresh and mixed with the 

 stable litter it makes the very best and 

 heat-lasting material. No material should 

 be hauled on your place and dumped into 

 a bed ; if so, it will be uneven in heat, 

 likely to sink in one spot more than an- 

 other, and be frightfully hot for the first 

 two weeks and burn itself up quickly. 

 The material should have at least two 

 turnings, mixing the long w-ith the short, 

 at intervals of four or five days. When 

 making the bed see that every part is 

 equally solid by a thorough treading at 

 every layer of six inches of material, and 

 if it is at all dry, have the hose handy 

 and at every 6-inch layer give it a good 

 sprinkling. Y"ou will then have a bed 

 that will heat slowly and mildly but will 

 be even and lasting. 



Speaking about refuse hops, when well 

 rotted it is a splendid substitute for gen- 

 uine loaf-mould and when about half rot- 

 ten has considerable more fertilizing 

 quality about it. The best fuchsias I 

 ever saw grown had about one-fourth of 

 hops and nothing else but loam. But re- 

 member if you live in a delicate nosed 

 community you should get their permis- 

 sion to have this material on your prem- 

 ises, for when fermenting Limburger 

 cheese in its most aggravated mood is 

 attar of roses compared to it. Limburger 

 must be within two feet to remind yoii 

 vividly of the Fatherland, but fermenting 

 hops is audible two miles away. 



William Scott. 



ROSES. 



Seasonable Hints. 



Those who are intending to plant for 

 early summer cutting should now have 

 their plants in 3-inch pots. These will 

 be in fine condition for planting week 

 after Easter. 



By planting at this time young stock 

 gets the full advantage of the best grow- 

 ing season of the year and will make 

 plants fit to bear a good crop by the be- 

 ginning of June, when the other houses 

 are cleared out for general planting. The 

 benches should be thoroughly repaired 

 and washed clean by playing the hose 

 on them with sufficient force to dislodge 

 the old soil from all joints and crevices, 

 and given a coat of hot lime-wash to 

 help preserve the wood and destroy in- 

 sect eggs. 



The soil should be got into a hearty 

 condition before planting is done. If too 

 wet when brought in it should be al- 

 lowed to lie on the benches a couple of 

 days; by turning it over once a day 

 it will soon get into good condition. As 

 a fertilizer, a sprinkling of bone meal 

 should be used; twenty pounds to a 

 bench 100x41,4 feet is about the right 

 quantity at this time. Bone meal should 

 not be used for this purpose until it has 

 been in stock for some time, as this al- 

 lows time for deleterious gases to escape. 

 The advantage to young stock is a 

 quicker start and a better quality of 

 growth. 



Bridesmaids, Brides and other roses of 

 about the same habits of growth require 

 about a square foot of space. Beauties 

 1^2 feet. By planting diagonally across 

 the bench each plant will receive an equal 

 amount of light. This style of planting 

 also makes it easier to reach them with 

 the syringe. 



Planting should be done with the same 



