Mat 1. 1902 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



807 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Cold-Frames. 



I would call this spriug rather an 

 early but cold one, and white frosts 

 visit us frequently up to date. Yet 

 with all that there are many things that 

 are better out in frames than in the 

 houses, and there is no time in the 

 whole year when a square foot of bench 

 room is more eagerly sought for. Among 

 the things that should be in a cold' 

 frame — always considering that you 

 have a good, tight sash and dry bottom 

 for the plants to stauil on or be 

 plunged in — are pyrethrums, carnations 

 (unless they are in the ground, which 

 they should he at once), all the bedding 

 roses you expect to sell or are selling, 

 such as Soupert, Mme. Coehet, Agrip- 

 pina, etc., young dahlias (for they like 

 to be cool, but not a degree of frost 

 must touch them), Ce.ntaurea gymno- 

 carpa, in fact, anything you know that 

 is not hurt at a temperatutre of 40 de- 

 grees at night, and as important as any 

 of these are the little asters that have 

 lately been transplanted into flats from 

 the seed pans. 



To digress a moment let me say that 

 we are apt to think the seedling aster, 

 phlox, marigold, etc., at 20 to 2.5 cents 

 a dozen a rather bothersome business. 

 If you will look into the number of 

 dozens that you sell from a square foot 

 you will discover that you have re- 

 ceived more money, twice over, from 

 these seedlings per foot than the expert 

 carnation grower has taken from his 

 carnation benches, and the latter you 

 have been a whole year cultivating and 

 the asters but two months. There is of 

 course a limit to the quantity sold, yet 

 there is always a great demand for good 

 asters. 



Hotbeds. 



Your hotbeds, if you have to bother 

 with them, are by this time filled with 

 verbenas. altcrnantheras, tuberous- 

 rooted begonias for bedding, sweet 

 alyssum, small pots of mignonette, vari- 

 egated and bronze geraniums, etc. The 

 plants just mentioned can be grown in 

 these primitive greenhouses far better 

 than they can in any greenhouse, even 

 with the "best of management. I always 

 say a mild hotbed, by that I mean 1.5 to 

 JS" inches of heating material well 

 firmed with six inches of loam on top 

 for plunging. You are not forcing cu- 

 cumbers or melons, but only require 

 enough top heat to keep them at 50 de- 

 grees and the mild heat round the pots 

 and the ammonia arising from the ma- 

 nure makes the plants jump, at the same 

 time it is a robust, stout growth. 



Geraniums. 



I do not put zonal geraniums either 

 into a cold frame or hotbed. There is 

 no place for them equal to an unshaded 

 greenhouse bench. And in a week or 

 so, if they dry out too fast, two inches 

 of plunging material between the pots 

 will help them wonderfully, and for the 

 purpose there is nothing equal to spent 



hops, either fresh or decayed, but if 

 fresli no visitors can enter the house for 

 a week at least, because a limburger 

 cheese factory would 'be sweet breezes 

 from the spice islands compared to it. 

 This partial plunging is not extra labor 

 for yon have to give them at least one 

 move over and more space about now or 

 they soon crowd and lose their bottom 

 leaves. 



Carnations. 



A reUef to your crowded beuches is 

 also found in several things that are 

 better in the open ground by this time. 

 I am not going to touch on carnations 

 for next winter's flowers. You get well 

 told by good authority every week how 

 to manage that important plant. I 

 would merely say that if my ground 

 was dry and in good order, I would not 

 delay a day. But we sell a good many 

 carnations "from 3 and 4-inch pots, propa- 

 gated last October and grown on dur- 

 ing winter in a cool house. Our cus- 

 tomers ask more and more every year 

 for carnations, and these fill the bill 

 fairly well. If they have three or four 

 shoots they need no stopping and will 

 flower at least from early July till frost 

 kills them. They .should be planted at 

 once if you can only get hold of your 

 customers to toll them so. 



Pansies. 

 Now is when pansies should be look- 

 ing sweetly pretty in the garden and are 

 twice as pretty as they really are, be- 

 cause they have few "rivals. I may not 

 think of it at any other time so just 

 now it is well to note for the benefit of 

 those who are beginners, that these Aug- 

 ust and September sown pansies which 

 are now fine little blooming plants, are 

 just what you want for an early show 

 where the summer bedding plants are to 

 replace them in June. And many are 

 used for vases in the cemeteries. Yet, 

 if you want a bed of pansies to flower 

 all summer (and what is prettier?J the 

 plants sown in February are altogether 

 to be preferred. A heavy, well ma- 

 nured soil, water in abundance in the 

 very hot months and keep the old flow- 

 ers and seed pods picked off, and your 

 bed of pansies will be as continuously 

 beautiful as a bed of verbenas or pe- 

 tunias, and what meaningless-looking 

 flowers they are compared to the Viola 

 tricolor. 



Hardy Plants. 



Hollyhocks should be in the ground 

 and growing. The disease struck us so 

 badly two years ago that we got dis- 

 couraged, but where they can be grown 

 they are stately and lovely plants. The 

 best I ever saw were grown from plants 

 in 4-inch pots, wintered in a cool green- 

 house and planted out May 1 in a stiff 

 yellow clay that had a third of cow ma- 

 nure added to it. Our customers ask 

 for them, but delay their orders too late. 

 It is needless to say that the time for 

 transplanting hardy herbaceous plants 

 and grasses will very soon be over, even 



in our ncjrtliern climate, and what is to 

 be done in that line must be done at 

 once. 



Gladioli. 



Don 't be too busy to plant your glad- 

 ioli or at least some of them, and they 

 should, if possible, be within reach of 

 the hose or they suffer a good deal dur- 

 ing a dry August. 



Primulas. 



Early in May is none too soon to sow 

 your first, perhaps only, lot of Primula 

 sinensis. They sell in November and 

 December and round the holidays better 

 than later, for there is not so much op- 

 position. Put a third of leaf-mould in 

 the soil for the seed pans and cover 

 the seeds just out of sight. Keep the 

 soil uniformly moist and shaded till the 

 plants are above ground and then don't 

 let them draw up for want of light. 

 Those who had the good fortune to see 

 the wonderful plants of Primula obcon- 

 ica at Indianapolis know what a grand 

 plant it is when at its best. Have plenty 

 of them of the best strain you can buy. 

 It is a far superior plant to Primula 

 sinensis, not only as a flowering plant but 

 it is valuable for a int flower. 



Show Pelargoniums. 



We have not grown the show or fanjcy 

 pelargoniums for the past two years 

 simply because they did not sell at ' a 

 profitable price, but the fine collection 

 which Mr. C. W. "Ward sent us last 

 spring at the Pan-American (and which 

 lasted nearly two months in flower ahd 

 was a fine show, but unfortunately seen 

 but by a few) revived a fondness for 

 this handsome plant, of which Mr. Peter 

 Henderson says in his book : " If I 

 could only grow but one flowering plant 

 it would be the show pelargonium." 

 That is rather extravagant praise. I 

 hope many of you are growing them. 

 They do not like dampness. When in 

 flower never let water touch the petals, 

 still what is worse for them would be a 

 cool, wet day or night and no fire heat. 

 You must have fire heat for them for 

 several weeks yet, with ventilation. A 

 cool, moist atmosphere will soon make 

 the petals drop, then the leaves will rot 

 and it is all over for that year. A 

 genial warmth, with ventilation, with 

 plenty of water at the root, and mild 

 fumigation are the conditions. 



Poinsettias. 



It is now time to start up your poin- 

 settias. If the old stems have been kept 

 perfectly dry at the roots they will be 

 in the right condition. Gut them back 

 to sound wood. If they have been grown 

 in pots, shake out and pot in smaller 

 size. Any light house nowadays is warm 

 enough. Syringe frequently and you will 

 soon "see tlie old stems breaking and you 

 will get cuttings in abundance from June 

 1 till end of August. 



William Scott. 



ROSES. 



Seasonable Hints. 



As we are now within four or five 

 weeks of planting time, it is time to 

 have the procedure of planting thor- 

 oughly planned; by having this done be- 

 forehand it materially helps in forward- 

 ing operations. Young stock should be 

 looked over and its condition noted. The 

 plants which receive a Shift at this time 



