276 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



July 31, 1902. 



■work. A. plumosus is the best for deco- 

 rative purposes, but it is too dull in color 

 to put with the choicest blooms. 



In addition to the above and the usual 

 list of palms there are such plants as 

 Araucaria escelsa, Crcas reroluta, a few 

 bright or extra good draeaenas, such as 

 D. fragrans, which are good for filling 

 up, D. Bausei, D. Kothiana, and above 

 all D. terminalis. Many of the plants 

 will need to be made up into groups this 

 year, because that style is in growing 

 demand. Don't wait till late to get 



your plants arranged. Start now. And 

 the best help to all plant life is cleanli- 

 ness. In another note we will discuss 

 flowering and berried plants. Ivera. 



ASTERS. 



The engravings of asters in this issue 

 are a continuation of the series that ap- 

 peared last week. We feel sure these 

 will be found equally interesting. The 

 descriptive matter printed last week ap- 

 plies to these pictures also. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Propagating. 

 There is very little propagating to do 

 just now. There is no need of it, and 

 conditions are most imfavorable. A few 

 exceptions are noted. Flats of alteman- 

 theras, particularly of the best one, par- 

 onychioides major, can now be rooted. 

 They will be strong little plants if put in 

 the flats at once, and can remain out of 

 doors for almost a month after being 

 rootetl- They will then be in excellent 

 order to pass through the dark days in 

 any place that is not too cold if they 

 are kept- quite dry. 



Begonias. 



Any flowering begonias that you are 

 short of can be increased now. All be- 

 gonias, except perhaps the tuberous sec- 

 tion, delight in hot weather and root 

 freely in sand now without any bottom 

 heat. I am afraid to say much about 

 that pretty plant, Gloire de Lorraine, be- 

 cause we have not grown it well this 

 summer. I did not boss the job. and per- 

 haps if I had things would be no better. 

 If they once start to grow it is easy 

 work, but they too often hang fire and 

 remain rusty, stunted things. If grow- 

 ing freely they can be propagated from 

 small shoots for another month and 

 make nice little plants. It is not alone 

 as a single plant that these are sold; 

 we want them in various sizes. Many 

 trays and centar pieces are made entirely 

 of this plant, and for that you want 

 small as well as good-sized plants. 



A little shade is needed during the 

 bright, hot days, and plenty of ventila- 

 tion, x>r the growth will be weak and 

 soft. Here is where the correct system 

 of shading would be of such inestimable 

 value. Oh! for the man that will invent 

 a shade that we can apply to plants like 

 begonias and cyclamen and hundreds of 

 others from 10 a. m. to 4 p. m. and dis- 

 pense with it during the other hours 

 and entirely on rainy and dull days. 

 Why, it would be beneficial even to 

 our roses and carnations to temper the 

 sun's rays for a few hours in the scorch- 

 ing days of July and August. There are 

 several ways of doing this in a small 

 way: Laths nailed on a frame an inch 

 apart, or cheese cloth tacked on a frame 

 and made a convenient size to lift off 

 and on, will do for small batches in a 

 very small hoiise or frame, but what the 

 commercial florist wants is something 

 that can be used in large houses and that 



is not too expensive. A fortune awaits 

 the man who invents some method to this 

 end. 



Chrysanthemums. 

 We usually put in a good batch of 

 chrysanthemum cuttings early in August 

 of those varieties that make good pans. 

 They root well enough during any week 

 of summer if kept well shaded the first 

 two weeks and constantly saturated. Once 

 allowed to get dry in the sand will hurt 

 them seriously. It is only a very limited 

 number of varieties that are suitable 

 for this purpose— dwarf healthy but free 

 growers. Ivory has yet no equal in white, 

 and old Lincoln for yellow is not sur- 

 passed. It is not quite safe to take the 

 rooted cuttings from the sand and put 

 them in the 8, 9 or 10-inch pans, because 

 one plant will be more vigorous than oth- 

 ers, and you will have an uneven, ragged- 

 looking pan. We prefer to pot them for 

 a week or two and as soon as they start 

 to grow freely select plants of equal 

 strength for each pan. 



Poioscttias. 



We keep propagating the poinsettia 

 up to the middle of August. They root 

 freely any month of the summer. Don't 

 let them wilt in the sand. The single 

 plant of poinsettia is no longer favored; 

 in fact our customers don't want them, 

 and for this they can't be blamed, hav- 

 ing once seen an 8, 9 or 10-inch pan well 

 grown and flowered. To keep the plants 

 dwarf with good green foliage and 

 bracts of six or seven inches across are 

 what you are looking for. Cuttings put 

 in even at the end of August will make 

 the ideal plants for the purpose. The re- 

 mark I made about selecting plants of 

 ec,ual strength of chrysanthemums is 

 truer still with the poinsettia. After 

 being potted two weeks you can then sort 

 them pretty well. Remember, although 

 these tropical plants want shade while in 

 the sand and for a few days after being 

 potted, they want nothing but the bright- 

 est and lightest position after that. 

 Shade of any kind after that would be 

 ruin to them, for they are nothing if not 

 dwarf and stout. 



Ferns. 



.Are yon well supplied with a good 

 stock of young ferns for your jardiniere 

 trade this winter? The business of rais- 

 ing the young seedling ferns is a spe- 



cialty with a good many firms and now 

 is the time to buy a good stock. Quite 

 small plants, even from the flats, will 

 make good plants in 214-hich pots by Oc- 

 tober, and that is when you begin to use 

 them. If you depend on buying a few 

 hundred at a time during winter you will 

 pay more for them and get poorer stock. 

 -A. gocd, ordinary loam, even if' it is a 

 little stiff, with a fifth or sixth of rotted 

 manure, will grow any of our commer- 

 cial ferns; moderate shade and plenty 

 of top ventilation is what will prepare 

 these little plants for future use. Get a 

 good supply at once. 



Violets. 



There was in these columns some 

 months ago a most able series of arti- 

 cles written on violet culture. It was 

 most complete, and the author knew 

 what he was talking about. Many of us 

 know "about it," but do we follow it 

 up? Sometimes there is an excuse for 

 neglect, or seems to be. But really I 

 suppose there is no excuse. If all hands 

 are building, then more hands should be 

 got for gardening. 



Now, about this time the small, black, 

 dirty aphis will appear on the violets 

 whether you have them planted in the 

 beds or still in pots or in the field. There 

 is more failure of violets from the work 

 of this brute than all other causes, and if 

 they are allowed to have possession of 

 the plants up to November, you may 

 about as well throw them out. The plants 

 are now small, and if given a good dust- 

 ing with tobacco every week you will as- 

 suredly keep the aphis away. A very 

 sensible and successful grower told me 

 in conversation recently that he did not 

 like to apply the dust when the leaves 

 were wet. Let the foliage get dry after 

 watering, then dust them and let it remain 

 till the next watering. Last November 

 by two applications of the hydrocyanic 

 acid gas, half the regular strength, and 

 by keeping the ventilators closed all 

 night, I killed the black wretches dead; 

 but tobacco dust will do first-rate this 

 time of the year and is much more easily 

 applied. Don't trust to the rubbish you 

 get from your local cigar maker, but get 

 tlie genuine article from the manufac- 

 turer in New York. 



William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES. 



Right now while yuu are planting your 

 carnation houses you have a great many 

 things to think about, such as the tem- 

 perature each variety wants, how tall it 

 will grow, etc. But there is another thing 

 you should take into consideration and 

 that is this: I never knew a grower yet 

 who did not run short of room during 

 the spring months when his young stock 

 needs potting just before planting out 

 can be done, and those who grow a line 

 of bedding plants find themselves even 

 more cramped n ) the potting up ana 

 spreading out goes on. 



Now, there are varieties that you must 

 have during mid-winter but which you 

 can do without after about April 1st 

 and in fact some of them are almost 

 worthless after May 1st, while there are 

 other varieties that with proper care will 

 remain in fine condition right up to the 

 middle of July. These last mentioned 

 varieties should be planted where they 

 will be as cool as possible when warm 

 weather sets in, for instance on the 



