840 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mat S. 1002. 



to economize on fuel at this time of year 

 •(vith his tea roses deserves to pay inter- 

 est on his overdue taxes. 



William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



If you ha\e not alroatly put a light 

 shade on your carnation houses it is 

 about time you were putting on some 

 lime Trash. We have noticed a number 

 of places round about our city that have 

 had shade on their glass for several 

 weeks, in fact, as soon as it began to 

 get warm, and the blooms that come 

 from those places show it too. We have 

 this day, Mav' 3rd, put on our first 

 shade for this season, and our carna- 

 tion blooms are very nearly as good in 

 quality as they were in March, in spite 

 of the mercury being up to 93 in the 

 shade today, and above 85 a number of 

 days recently. An abundance of water 

 and air is far better for them than 

 all the shade you can put on the glass 

 and if it were not for the sun bleach- 

 ing the color out of the bloom I would 

 not be in a hurry about putting on 

 shade yet. Sucli varieties as Flora Hill, 

 E. Crocker, Mrs. Joost and a few others 

 delight in plenty of sunshine, but the 

 sun takes the color out of the blooms 

 so badly, and therefore just the least 

 bit of shade will do no harm to the 

 plants, and a great deal of good to the 

 half-open blooms. 



Whatever shade you put on now you 

 put on to stay for the summer, and 

 so you should put on something which 

 will stick fairly well. We have never 

 yet found anything that is better than 

 lime prepared as follows: Take fresh 

 lump lime and slake with water and 

 allow to cool. Then add enough water 

 ti thin it down so you can spray it on 

 with a hand syringe and add a handful 

 of salt to about 3 gallons of whitewash. 

 The salt will make it stick, but if the 

 lime is of good quality we sometimes 

 leave out the salt. Spray this on with 

 the hand syringe and as you force it 

 out of the nozzle make a long sweep 

 so that the stream of liquid will be 

 broken up into countless drops and cover 

 the glass with spots from V4 t" ^2 inch 

 in diameter. With a little practice you 

 will soon be able to do this nicely; one 

 of the main points is to stand well 

 away from the spot you wish to cover 

 and make the long sweeping movement. 



The one great objection to this method 

 of application is that the lime will eat 

 the paint off the bars on the outside 

 and expose the wood, necessitating re- 

 painting every season or two. That is 

 why some growers still cling to the old- 

 fashioned whitewash bnish and paint 

 down the center of the glass. This lat- 

 ter method takes about ten times as 

 long as the former ami if you have to 

 apply it a few times in a season you 

 can put a coat of paint on the bars 

 and still be aheail. Some use white lead 

 and naphtha, but we do not like it, as 

 it has to be rubbed off in the fall if 

 you want it off before severe freezing 

 sets in. The lime-wash can be made less 

 adhesive as the season grows late, and 

 the last application can bo made so that 

 a good rain will take most of it oft". I 

 have known growers to put in the lime- 

 wash just enough soot to give it a 

 grayish color, but I could never get a 

 good reason out of any of them for 

 doing it. You do not want your houses 

 •darkened by the shade any more than is 

 absolutely necessary; all you want is 

 to break the force of the sun. 



If you haven't all your young plants 

 out in the field you should be getting 

 them out as rapidly as possible. Every 

 day lost now means a good deal lost 

 next fall and early winter, as you must 

 have strong plants to house if you ex- 

 pect a good crop of blooms early in the 

 season. A. F. J. Baur. 



ROSES. 



Seasonable Hints. 



With the adveut of warm weather 

 Brides and Bridesmaids will soon begin 

 to show signs of deterioration. This 

 can be prevented in a great measure by 

 timely mulching, putting it on rather 

 heavy; a good inch thick is none too 

 much. 



After applying the mulch care should 

 be taken that the soil in t"he bench does 

 not become dry; the mulch absorbs and 

 retains the moisture and to all appear- 

 ance the bench is wet enough, but a 

 careful examination will often reveal 

 the fact that is is simply wet on the 

 surface. From now on the benches 

 should receive a thorough soaking twice 

 a week during bright weather, and 

 should never be allowed to become dry. 

 As the mulch will soon become exhaust- 

 e<l, giving liquid food once a week will 

 also help to keep up the quality. Keep- 

 ing the night temiicrature as near 56 

 degrees as the season will admit of and 

 giving plenty of ventilation during the 

 day is about all that can be done and 

 if this is faithfully attended to the 

 qualit.v may be kept up a few weeks 

 longer. 



In most houses about this season, ow- 

 ing to defects in the glass, some of the 

 foliage will be apt to get burned. This 

 is very annoying and usually a good 

 deal of damage is done, especially in 

 Beauty houses, before it is detected. 

 To prevent this the house should be gone 

 carefully over when the sun is shining 

 and with a brush tied to a long stake, 

 touch the burning spots lightly with lin- 

 seed oil. It may take a few days to 

 find all the spots, but it will pay in the 

 end. RlDKs. 



AZALEAS-GENISTAS- HIBISCUS. 



.\ subscriljcr asks fur the mctlmcl uf 

 jiropagating the above. 



Briefly, almost all the Indian azaleas 

 (the azalea of the greenhouse man) are 

 jiropagate<l by grafting. The half-rip- 

 eneil wood of the choice varieties is 

 grafted on some quick-growing, vigor- 

 ous variety or rather species, such as 

 old A. indiea alba. Now I won't pre- 

 tend to tell you the details of the oper- 

 ation of grafting, but doubtless it dif- 

 fers but slightly fnnn grafting other 

 plants that are not deciduous, viz.: Kept 

 close till adhesion has taken place and 

 then given every encouragement to grow. 

 The Belgians have reduced this to an 

 exact science and it would be futile for 

 you to attempt to go into the business. 

 In fact they not only graft, but grow 

 for two or three years an azalea and 

 sell it in such size and condition that 

 they have no O[iposition. 



Before we imported to any extent a 

 few firms in this country grew a few 

 azaleas from cuttings and they made 

 dwarf, bxish.v i)lants, but as a handsome 

 plant they were not in it compared with 

 those we now import, and 30 years ago 

 there was but one azalea sold where now 

 there is a thmisand. You can roof the 



young growths in Januarv and Febru- 

 ary. Tlic cutting does not want to be 

 too succulent. The cuttings need bot- 

 tom heat and should be kept rather 

 close. Thev will root in five or six 

 weeks. During the first summer it is 

 a hard job to kej?p spider and thrips off' 

 them as it is difficult to get water 

 enough under their leaves. "The second 

 summer the little plants can be planted 

 out, and so you go, but it is not worth . 

 the going. 



The c.vtisus or genista is propagated 

 readilv from cuttings during the win- 

 ter months. The tips of the growths 

 will root but it is better to take off a 

 small branch, say a little spray with 

 three or four shoots, bnt not over three 

 inches long. When vou have this rooted 

 you have a good start toward a com- 

 pact plant. 



The hibiscus will root from cuttings 

 (not too soft a growth) any time dur- 

 ing winter. When your propagating 

 bench stands at 60 to 65 degrees and 

 the air of the house is at 50 degrees 

 you have got the right conditions for 

 both the cytisus and the hiijiscus. 



William Scott. 



INJURED PALM LEAVES. 



The specimens of injured palm leaves 

 forwarded by "A Subscriber" are evi- 

 dently sun-burned, the mischief having 

 been done by defective glass in the roof 

 of the greenhouse. 



These accidents frequently happen 

 early in the season before one notices 

 that the sun has gained so much 

 strength, and the rflly remedy is found 

 in shading the glass before such an in- 

 jury can occur. 



We usually find it needful to apply a 

 light shiiding on the west side of our 

 palm houses by the first week of March 

 if the weather is bright, and the east 

 side also needs some protection by about 

 :March 15 to 20. 



W. H. Taplin-. 



VIOLETS IN PITS. 



What must I do with my violets that 

 are in pits? Must I separate them and 

 set them out in the field so they will 

 form clumps for the cold frames next 

 fall ? This is my first spring in the 

 Imsiness. H. .T. B. 



Much depends upon the condition the 

 violet clumps are now in. If the.y have 

 been allowed to run for the past few 

 weeks he should find plenty of young 

 runners that are strong and healthy 

 and with nice young roots. If, as 1 

 take it by his question, he desires fo 

 grow his violets next seas-'on in the same 

 frames he should lift these clumps with 

 care, ciircfully cutting off all these 

 strong rooted runners and either prick 

 them out in flats or pot them up, as is 

 most convenient, and place them in a 

 light place without direct sunlight and 

 with jdent.v of air, but not draughts 

 (which would spoil them), before taking 

 hoU; of the new soil, as in the ease of 

 any cuttings freshly potted up. 



Then the frames should be cleaned 

 out put in repair for another season. 

 ;uid new soil put in as I described a 

 few weeks ago in my violet notes. Then 

 unless your frames are in a hot situa- 

 tion you should plant your new stock 

 right where you wish the plants to grow, 

 giving them the same care as I have 

 described in late numbers of the Re- 

 view. 



