September IS, 1902. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



535 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Look Out for Frost. 



The last ten days of Septeinl>ei' is a 

 very busy time with tlie man who grows 

 a mixed collection and is bothered with 

 bedding plants. Frost has appeared in 

 western New York, not a killing one yet, 

 but in the center of the state it has 

 been killing, and doubtless there are 

 many other localities where Mr. Jack 

 has made his appearance, and tnough by 

 no means a weather prophet, everything 

 points to early frosts. Now you can't 

 do everything the day you see the night 

 is going to be cold. 



Stevia. 



Don't delay in getting your stevia lift- 

 ed. There is only one of these cheap 

 plants that is generally grown nowa- 

 days which we know as sweet stevia. 

 Serratifolia is, I believe, the correct 

 name. It is a. most useful plant at 

 Christmas, and we should miss it very 

 much. I like them best in pots. Some 

 plant them on the benches in five or 

 six inches of soil, where they flower 

 freely, but the pots are more easily 

 managed, as you can cut all there is on 

 a plant and out with it. Lift them, but 

 leave them out of doors as long as you 

 possibly can. They need the coolest 

 house you have, anything above freezing, 

 and if given the heat of a glass house 

 now will be too early. 



Azaleas. 



The azalea is now our most important 

 Easter plant, going ahead of even the 

 lily in value of plants sold on that im- 

 portant date. If you have summered 

 over any plants and taken good care of 

 them they will make your best Easter 

 plants. You would think that these 

 plants would be good stuff for forcing 

 at Christmas, but that is not so, and 

 they should not be grown for flowering 

 at the holidays. There is no object in 

 leaving them out of doors any longer. 

 Get them into a cool, well ventilated 

 house, and every bright day give them 

 a syringing for red spider and thrips. 

 Both will attack them in a dry, hot 

 house. 



It is some weeks yet before the azaleas 

 will arrive from Europe. It is remark- 

 able how well they endure the journey 

 and the splendid flowering plants they 

 make. If you left all the soil and roots 

 on that is sent with them they would 

 be too large to look well. It does not 

 hurt them in the least to chop off with 

 a sharp hatchet or big knife an inch or 

 two of the soil and roots. A very im- 

 portant point to observe is to dip the 

 ball of roots in a tub of water for a 

 minute or so before potting. If the ball 

 of earth and roots were quite moist this 

 would perhaps not be so necessary, but 

 they seldom are and sometimes are quite 

 dry, and if potted in that .state you 

 could scarcely with a dozen waterings 

 get the roots thoroughly wet. After 

 potting them, and that should be done 

 firmly, they should be put either in a 

 deep cold frame and shaded for a week 

 or tw^o, or in a shaded cool house. Ex- 



eepung those that we want for early 

 forcing, these imported plants should be 

 ke[)t so cool that they do not need a 

 light house because little or no growth 

 is going on. 



Bulbs. 



It has been quite dry in this neigh- 

 borhood for the past three or four 

 weeks, and the Koman hyacinths and 

 paper-white narcissus that are boxed 

 and covered with a few inches of soil 

 will not be making roots unless they 

 are given a good watering at least once 

 a week. Soak the whole bed. 



Tulips and narcissus are arriving, and 

 although there is lots of time for those 

 that you want to flower in Jlarch and 

 later there should be some put into 

 fiats at once for forcing in January and 

 February. There are two or three points 

 to observe. Don't have your flats of dif- 

 ferent sizes and depths. A convenient, 

 handy size should be made, 24x12 inches 

 is the best we have found, and three 

 inches deep is enough. A rich, new soil 

 is not necessary. An old carnation bed 

 would be just the soil, and you can put 



vesting In a few thousand tulips for 

 the first time, and for their benefit I 

 would say that the desirable forcing 

 kinds are few. For yellow. Orange 

 Prince and Chrysolora; for white, Ll 

 Heine and Wliite Pottebakker; for scar- 

 let or red, Waterloo and Vermilion 

 Brilliant; for pink. Cottage Maid and 

 Hose Grisdelin. La Heine under some 

 conditions comes also a beautiful pink. 

 Proserpine is classed as a rose-pink. It 

 is a shade hard to describe. It's a 

 glorious flower and one of the earliest to 

 force. The Due Von Thols will force ten 

 days earlier than any of the above, but 

 I don't consider them worth the trouble. 

 We do not want these tulips at Christ- 

 mas; there are other flowers, and if 

 we get tulips and dafl'odils by middle to 

 end of January it is early enough. 



■ William Scott. 



ROSES. 



Seasonable Hints. 



During this and the next month will 

 be the most critical time for the grower. 

 Firing will have to be resorted to, and 

 tne change from natural to artificial 

 heating, if not done carefully and intel- 

 ligently, is likely to affect the consti- 

 tution of the plants to such an extent 

 that it may take the best part of the 

 winter to bring them back to a healthy 

 condition. 



At this season all vegetable life calls 

 for a rest, root action becomes sluggish 

 and the plant cannot use the supplies 



A Boatful of Plants at Humboldt Park, Chicago. Max Kleppin, Gardener. 



the bulbs almost touching, letting the 

 top of the bulb be just even with the 

 top of box and soil. We have tried dif- 

 ferent places for these tulips and Von 

 Sion, but never found a cellar or root 

 house or beneath a bench equal to stand- 

 ing the flats on some boards on the open 

 ground and covering with three inches of 

 soil. Before covering give them a soak- 

 ing, and if October is dry give the beds 

 a weekly soaking. Remember there is 

 no moisture going up to these bulbs; the 

 bottom of the box prevents that. 



There may he a few of my readers in- 



of water to which it has been accus- 

 tomed during the growing period, so the 

 supply should be gradually diminished 

 to suit the requirements. The benches 

 should be thoroughly examined every 

 morning, noting all those .spots which 

 dry out quicker than others, and giving 

 them a wetting previous to the general 

 •watering so as to get the benclies as 

 nearly as possible equally wet. 



Especial care should be taken to see 

 that the soil is wet to the bottom, as it 

 is apt to dry out at the bottom first, 

 especially where the pipes run unaer 



