I)K.rr.Mni;ii :;i. 1003. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



267 



Carnailon Crusader. 



Carnation Reliance. 



Two of the Seedlings Originated and Exhibited by the Chicago Carnation Co. 



heat at the roots, such as would result 

 fi-om slates, would be a detrimeut. Tliey 

 don't want their roots scorched. A 

 strong, moist top heat is what they want 

 and the shade of the cheese cloth will 

 draw up the stems and this drawiug up 

 by shade is necessary until the middle 

 of February, after which they make stem, 

 enough. Water copiously every day and 

 if you are tiring hard, spray once be- 

 sides. 



Lily of the Valley. 



You can from now on force the newly 

 imported roots. As I have had occasion 

 to say before, the conditions for success- 

 fully forcing the valley are almost di- 

 rectly opposite those for tulips. The val- 

 ley makes no roots : it is brought in per- 

 fectly dormant and by great heat at the 

 roots the flower is forced up. Not less 

 than six inches of sand should be in the 

 bed for, little as the roots seem to do. 

 they should have only their tips chopped 

 off. If the sand is 85 degrees and the 

 atmosphere 50 you will have about ideal 

 conditions. The base of the pip should 

 he even with the surface of the sand. 

 We have covered the pips or crowns with 

 sphagnum moss and left some uncovered 

 and noticed no difference. 



One of the most important features of 

 ^the operation is that the edge of your 

 bench should have a board hinged at 

 the level of the sand and when you water 

 the sand, which is daily, this board can 

 be let down so that you can water the 

 bed without wetting the flowers. For the 

 fii'st two weeks they can be watered over- 

 head, but as soon as the spike appears 

 only keep the sand moist. 



Above the level of the sand the boards 

 on all sides should be one foot higher. 

 The first two weeks we cover with a 

 shutter made of 14-inch boards. Then 

 we use in place of the boards a frame of 

 cheese cloth and for the last few days, 

 unless the sun is strong, nothing at all, 

 as full daylight gives color to the foli- 

 age. There were many experiments and 

 mistakes made in forcing this daintv 

 flower and perhaps the writer does not 

 know it all yet, but we know that a 

 warm, wet sand and cool top, keeping 

 water away from the Imds and flowers 

 are the great essentials. 



By putting in a few hundred or few 

 thousands, according to your wants, every 

 week without a miss you will have valley 

 till it is in flower out of doors. If you 

 should be going to rig up a bed to hold 

 a few thousands, don 't let it be in a 

 house that perhaps in March you will 

 want to run up to 70 degrees to force 

 some belated lilies. If you do your val- 

 ley will be a failure. Keep a cool top. 



Lilacs. 



It is very nice to have a few white 

 lilacs from now on. They are easily 

 brought into flower if you have the tem- 

 jierature, which for some weeks yet 

 should be 70 degrees. Keep them well 

 sprayed till they show color. 



Shifting Geraniums. 



One of our most important jobs at New 

 Year 's is to shift our zonale geraniums 

 from a 2-inch to a 3-inch. Some may 

 consider this a waste of labor and mav 

 keep them in the 2 or 2i->-iDch till the 

 middle of February and then shift into 

 3V2 or 4-inch, their last shift. We think 

 the shift now into a 3-inch pays well. 

 They will take up little more room and 

 be much stouter and more vigorous and 

 by the end of this month will give u.s, 

 the most of them, a cutting, "a little 

 piece off the top. " And by this shift 

 now their roots are active and they break 

 strong and sturdy and the final shift 

 into 4-inch, wheii they _ will want lots 

 of room, can be deferred till after 

 Easter. 



Eambler and hybrid perpetual roses 

 will want starting soon, but they will 

 wait a week. Willi.a-M Scott. 



CARNATION NOVELTIES. 



The accompanying illustrations show 

 two of the Chicago Carnation Com- 

 pany's novelties. Crusader is the scar- 

 let which showed up so well at the last 

 Chicago Florists' Club exhibition. Mr. 

 Hartshorne says, in speaking of this 

 variety: "A¥e did not claim great 

 " +'0- it as an exhibition variety, 

 but now it seems there is nothing in 

 sight that can equal it in this respect. 

 The color is even, there being no white 



spots on it at all. Mr. Wieuhoeber, of 

 Chicago, who handles tlie blooms, claims 

 it to be the ideal shade of scarlet for 

 his trade, it being more of the old 

 Portia color than the Adonis. ' ' The 

 photograph of the house also repro- 

 duced here shows a very fine growth 

 and a big crop of buds. 



Reliance is their new white, a very 

 regularly formed flower and a free 

 ' •!» sforpil iHl points on sev- 

 eral occasions, but Mr. Hartshorne says 

 it is no more than justice to state that 

 in the recent cold, dark weather, from 

 10 to 20 per cent have bureted. 



VIOLET GROWING. 



Violet growing is something that every 

 florist must have a try at before he can 

 be content, and it is a business which 

 many a woman, and man, too, believes 

 can be engaged in without experience but 

 with quick success. To the latter the 

 article on A^iolet Growing as a Business, 

 by B. T. Galloway, published . in the 

 January issue of Country Life in Amer- 

 ica, will probably be an encouragement 

 to make the experiment, although Prof. 

 Galloway canuot be charged with not 

 having sought to point out the difficult- 

 ies and the chances of failure. 



Prof. Galloway is chief of the bureau 

 of plant industry in the United States 

 Department of Agriculture and author 

 of Commercial Violet Culture, the stand- 

 ard work on the subject and now in its 

 second edition. The article under review 

 deals with the writer's experience in 

 company with P. H. Dorsett in building 

 the violet growing establishment at Gar- 

 rett Park, Md., now conducted by David 

 Bisset. The aim is primarily to interest 

 the amateur reader, but many points 

 covered are of interest to the trade 

 grower. 



Beginning with twenty hotbed sash, 

 t'ae first step was to buy stock from the 

 advertisers of " cuttings. " " We 

 found,'' says Mr. Galloway, "that they 

 could be purchased all the way from 

 $5 to .$20 per thousand, but we did not 

 find, until a year later, that the $20 

 cuttings were often many times the 

 cheapest. Thev were really divisions of 



