U4 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Decejibee 10, 1003. 



Keep close watch now for your choice 

 pedigreed stock and mark same to propa- 

 gate from. Choose only those chunps 

 that are giving you tho best, long- 

 stemmed large ilowers and a large crop 

 for the holidays, as it always pays, as far 

 as possible, to breed up in plants as 

 well as stock, and needs as much time, 

 also, if one is to make a success of it. 



Watch out with care for the watering 

 until the days get longer and brighter, 

 when you can water more carelessly with 

 less bad effect than now, ;*' you must be 

 careless at any time. 



E. E. Shuphelt. 



ROSES. 



Propagation. 



As the propagating season is again 

 approaching, we should begin to gtt ev- 

 erything in readiness so that there may 

 be no drawbacks to hamper that most 

 important work. The propagating house 

 should claim our first attention. The 

 benches should be looked over and any 

 necessary repairs made, pipes tested and 

 ventilators adjusted. The benches 

 should have a good coating of hot lime 

 wash to help destroy fungus and insect 

 eggs and the house should get a thorough 

 fumigating. 



The propagating medium, whether 

 sand or coke, should be secured whUe 

 the weather is open, and in sufficient 

 quantity. The question of which is the 

 best material for this purpose is still an 



bench to a depth of five inches and then 

 watered. When partly dry it should be 

 pouuded quite firm and made of even 

 depth all over. This will make the 

 depth of the sand something like four 

 ini'Iieir. 



The cuttings should be inserted in 

 straight lines about one and a half 

 inches apart and one iuch between the 

 cuttings. Beauties will rex^uirc much 

 more room, as they do not like crowd- 

 ing. The heel of the cuttings should be 

 at a uniform depth of an inch and a 

 half in the sand and, with other eondi- 

 tious right, they will all form roots in 

 about the same period of time. 



The selection of proper wood for pro- 

 pagating is one of the fundamental ele- 

 ments of success. A thorough knowledge 

 of what is best, with care and patience 

 in selecting being really essential, this 

 duty should never be entrusted to any 

 but the most experienced. We frequent- 

 ly see whole batches of cuttings taken 

 indiscriminately, small underwood and 

 stout pithy flower stems, and while these 

 will form roots, they never can make 

 thrifty plants and the grower who uses 

 such methods is courting failure. Good, 

 stout, well ripened blind wood with short 

 joints will root more uniformly and 

 make, with careful handling, as good 

 stock as can be desired. The wood 

 should not be allowed to stand long in 

 water before being made and put into 

 the sand, as this causes that condition 

 known as "water heart." 



A well sharpened knife is essential in 



Azalea with Pot Cover of Porto Rican Matting. 



open one, but where clean, sharp sand is 

 available there need be no grumble on 

 this score. Clean sand possesses no nu- 

 tritive qualities which can cause decom- 

 position and as a medium for retaining 

 moisture in sufficient quantity for this 

 purpose without souring it is nearly 

 perfect. This should be laid on the 



successful cutting making. The cut 

 should be made as short as possible, as 

 tlie smaller and cleaner the cut, so 

 much earlier will the wound heal anel 

 form a callus. The cuttings should also 

 be as near of a size as possible. Tb^ 

 ideal cutting for teas and hybrid teas 

 should have at least three eyes, one at 



the heel of the cutting and two above 

 ground. 



After being inserted in the sand they 

 should be thoroughly watered, to settle 

 the sanel around the heel and stem, and 

 shaded from the direct rays of the sun. 

 They shoukl not be allowed to remain 

 shaded for any length of time after the 

 sun ceases to shine on the bench, as this 

 has a very weakening effect. The sand 

 must never be allowed to become dr^-, 

 a gentle sj'ringing twice a elay during 

 very bright weather being nearly suf- 

 ficient to supply their wants that way. 



The temperature of the sand should 

 never range higher than 62 nor lower 

 than 60 degrees, if possible, while a 

 house temperature of 48 to 52 degrees 

 will be sufficient to check the breaking 

 of the eyes and consequent growth dur- 

 ing the process of root formation. 



In from twenty-eight to thirty days 

 the roots will be large enough for pot- 

 ting, and this should be done as soon as 

 they are ready. Every day they stand 

 in the sand after the roots are formed is 

 a very severe check and the grower who 

 has a pricle in having the best will not 

 let this condition long remain. 



ElBES. 



CARNATION NOTES— WEST. 



Christmas Stock. 



Only two weeks after these notes go 

 into print you and I will be working as 

 hard as ever we can to take care of our 

 share of the great Christmas trade. But 

 since these notes are to go into the Re- 

 view's Christmas number we will talk a 

 little about how to handle the Christmas 

 stock so as to give the most satisfaction 

 to both yourself and your customers and 

 their customers, if you happen to be a 

 wholesale grower. The retail customer is 

 alv.ays the important one to consider. It 

 is he who causes either trouble or sat- 

 isfaction, increased trade or diminished 

 trade. If he is satisfied and pleased 

 with a certain lot of flowers, the retailer 

 is very apt to have an increased call for 

 that kind, and the grower who supplied 

 tiiem is, of course, called upon to fur- 

 nish more of them. You may be ever so 

 vrell pleased yourself Vfith a certain va- 

 riety, or a certain lot of blooms, and 

 your retailer may think they are just 

 right, but if the one who buys them is 

 not pleased with them your trade will 

 suffer. 



I am writing this especially for those 

 who are in the habit of holding up their 

 stock too long before a big day, or, in 

 other words, pickling it. These men seem 

 to imagine that if the blooms are in fair 

 shape until they can ship them to the 

 retailer, or -until the retailer has sent 

 them to his customer, that all is well. 

 They do not care if the blooms are asleep 

 or falling to pieces the next day after 

 they are sent out, thereby cutting off 

 their own nose. The cut flower grower 

 can make no greater mistake than this. 

 It is unfair and unjust and any man with 

 judgment who cares for his business will 

 not practice anything of the kind. The 

 customer, after paying double and treble 

 the regular price for the flowers, cer- 

 tainly has a right to expect them to keep 

 as long as they do ordinarily. Is it any 

 wonder that in so many cases he will 

 fight shy of cut flowers, having been bit- 

 ten a few times, and turn to the next 

 best, the blooming plant? A bunch of 

 fresh carnations or roses ought to last 

 as long as the average Gloire de Ivor- 



