674 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



October Ifi. 1902. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Cannas. 



A biting frost occurred a few days 

 ago. Hope you had notliing tender out- 

 side. It usunlly conies witli us from the 

 5th to the lolii and tliere is no excuse 

 for being caught. Cannas will now want 

 to be lifted and stored for the winter. 

 They are killed down to within a foot or 

 so of the ground. That has not hurt 

 them in the least, but don't leave tliem 

 out to be frozen down to the surface of 

 the ground, for that will hurt. Dig them 

 up. shake oil' most of the soil, and it a 

 fine, sunny day, and mild, they will suf- 

 fer no harm to dry out a little in the 

 sun, or even a day or two it you are 

 quite sure there Avill be no frost. Cut 

 off the tops, leaving seven or eight inches 

 above the roots. 



We don't lose any roots nowadays, be- 

 cause we know where to keep them. Be- 

 neath a carnation bench does nicely. It's 

 seldom after this time, or again till you 

 water heavily in April and May, that 

 you would e\er soak the beds so heavily 

 that they would drip through, but be- 

 neath a bench of plants where there 

 was a thin layer of sand or ashes you 

 always have lots of water falling through 

 and "that is just what would rot the 

 canna roots. Tliey want no drip on 

 them. Don't put the roots on the moist 

 ground or they will take hold of it, 

 send out I'oots and begin to grow long 

 before you want them to start. So lay 

 down some old inch boards to keep the 

 clumps of earth off the ground, and bt- 

 particular that you label them correctly 

 and keep varieties separate, or you will 

 be planting mixed beds next spring. 

 Or you will have Grover Cleveland flirt- 

 ing with Madame Crozy, or J. D. Eisele 

 making goo-goo eyes at Florence 

 Vaughan, which is entirely out of place 

 in a well regulated floiver garden. 



Caladiums. 

 Caladium esculentum bulbs keep per- 

 fectly well about the same way if it 

 pays. They can be bought in the sprincr 

 so 'cheaply "that it scarcely pays to both- 

 er. Cut the b\g stem off above the bulb 

 and place tbemon boards beneath a rose 

 bench. It's better to keep the caladiums 

 a little warmer than the cannas. 



Hydrangeas. 



Hydrangeas are not hurt by a little 

 frost. Even those that are wanted for 

 Easter forcing are benefited by a slight 

 frost; it ripens the wood. The frost 

 we have had has not hurt them, but be 

 careful to get them under cover when 

 5 or 6 degrees are expected. It is rather 

 ditfieult to find a place just suited for 

 wintering large tubs of hydrangeas (not 

 so difhcu'lt farther south). Mr. Pievson. 

 of Tarrytown, or rather in this case, 

 Scarboro, digs a trench four or five feet 

 deep and six feet wide, puts the tubs 

 down there, and before very cold weather 

 makes a roof of boards on which can be 

 put mats or leaves or evergreen boughs. 

 No place could be better, for they can be 

 uncovered early, or partially uncovered, 

 and still left dormant. 



Few of us liave root houses, such as 

 nurseiwrnen have, and in the ordinary 

 basement it is too warm or too dry. Last 

 year we built a shed, but built it sub- 

 stantially, and put in a very small hot 

 water apparatus with a few li-inch pipes 

 running around the walls and a few big 

 windows on each side. The pipes will keep 

 the place about 35 degrees when a zero 

 zephyr is blowing through your whisk- 

 ers, and that's all you want, and a few 

 degrees of frost outside necessitates no 

 fire at all. We have crowded this place 

 with sweet bays and hydrangeas, and it's 

 just the place for them. 



Bay Trees. 



Those young men who never saw the 

 sweet bay growing as a hardy evergi'een 

 shrub in Europe may not know what a 

 hardy tree it is. That depends on how 

 it has been treated. I have seen it 

 come through a winter in the south 

 of England unharmctl by 20 degrees of 

 frost, and saw many beautiful specimens 

 killed to the ground in '01 because it 

 went down close to zero. You will think 

 by quoting so ancient a case that I am 

 old. Not at all ; I merely observed these 

 climatic effects when an infant. If cod- 

 dled up in a greenhouse all winter and 

 suddenly exposed to 10 degrees of frost 

 in April, it would likely hurt them, but 

 in the fall they are much better left out 

 of doors for another month, and 10 de- 

 grees of frost will not hurt them in the 

 least. 



A Storage Shed. 



I would just say that this $300 shed 

 has been an excellent investment, and I 

 cannot see how we could now dispense 

 with it. It could, however, be improved 

 on. In place of the floor being on the 

 level of surrounding ground, or a few 

 inches above it, it could have been exca- 

 vated six or seven feet. The cellar part 

 could have been utilized for storing many 

 loots, dahlias, etc., and the upper part 

 for the sweet bays, etc. The warmth from 

 the excavated part would also have 

 helped much to resist the cold. This 

 is a most useful structure on any 

 florist's place, but the excavation, drain- 

 age, stone or cement walls, etc., would 

 easily liave doubled the first cost. My 

 little shanty is about 50x20, and that 

 will hold a lot of sweet bays. 



Just let me remind you that you must 

 not let the sweet bays get dust dry. The 

 cooler the place the less moisture they 

 will need, but they are evergreens and 

 must not be dust di'y. If very little fire 

 heat is used and the shed feels moist, the 

 hydrangeas will want but little water, 

 j\ist enough to keep the wood from shriv- 

 eling. 



Lilies. 



The Japanese longiflorum lilies are ar- 

 riving, and I am glad to say what we 

 have received have a good, deep yellow 

 color, denoting a ripened bulb. Pot them 

 at once. A 7 to 9 wants a G-inch pot. 

 We pot an inch lower than we would 

 an ordinary plant when shifting, and 



fill u]) that inch with good soil when 

 wc bring them into the houses alxjut the 

 lirst of December. We are not trying any 

 Bermuda longiflorum. The last 1,000 

 we had died of paresis at a promising 

 age. As I have once stated before this 

 fall, if you have the heat at your com- 

 mand after New Years, there is no ad- 

 vantage in putting these Japan bulbs 

 into the houses now. They are doing in 

 a cold frame all you want them to do for 

 the next six or eight weeks or more, 

 viz.. making roots. In case of hea\'y 

 rains or a very bard frost be prepared to 

 co^er them with sash or boards. 



W^iLLiAM Scott. 



THE ASHEVILLE CONVENTION 



FROM A COMMISSION MAN'S 



STANDPOINT. 



BY SAMUEL S. PENNOCK. 



[Read before the Florists' Club of Phila- 

 delphia, Oct. 7.] 



Mr. President and Gentlemen: — It ha.s 

 been something like two years since I 

 have enjoyed the honor of addressing 

 you. It seemed to us at that time that 

 we had attained a large measure of 

 success in the promotion of the interests 

 of floriculture. Now, looking over the 

 succeeding months and their accomplish- 

 ments, we may well conclude that we 

 had then laid a basis for present attain- 

 ments, which in their turn are to become 

 the means to larger ends. 



In the assignment of the question 

 which I have to discuss I am prone to 

 wander into other, though kindred, sub- 

 jects rather than keep to the road laid 

 out for me, because, while the whole- 

 saler always has his own particular 

 business at heart, yet because of its 

 very nature he takes a deep interest in 

 that of his associates, the retailer and 

 grower. So you will pardon me it I 

 take, or seem to take, an interest in 

 things out of the direct line which our 

 subject indicates. 



The Asheville convention will be re- 

 membered by all who were there ag a 

 most successful and pleasant one. It 

 took us to a section of the country never 

 before visited by our society, and 

 brought a great many of our southern 

 friends in as members who in all prob- 

 ability would never have joined had the 

 society not met in a southern city, thus 

 bringing us in closer touch with the 

 South. 



The surroundings of Asheville are un- 

 rivaled by those of any city that our 

 body has ever visited, situated, as it is, 

 right in the heart of the Allegheny 

 mountains of Western North Carolina 

 at an elevaton of some 2,200 feet, with 

 a number of mountain peaks 6,000 feet 

 or over within a radius of ten to twenty 

 miles, thus affording drives and climbs 

 of unrivaled magnificence, and those 

 who took advantage of them will have 

 something long to remember. 



Biltmore, with its thousands of acres 

 surrounded by lofty mountains, must 

 be seen to be appreciated. Jaunts to 

 Overlook mountain and many other in- 

 teresting points, not omitting the climb 

 by some eleven members to the summit 

 of Mt. Mitchell, were all most enjoy- 

 able affairs. 



Tlie convention in itself was of in- 

 estimable value to those attending, valu- 

 able information having liecn derived 

 therefrom, and new and better ways 

 of conducting business indicated by the 

 lessons taught. These advantages could 



