314 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



January 7, 1004. 



at what teniperature should they be kept 

 after growth commences? ' L. N. 



If bench room was of no j^reat im- 

 portance to Tou, then it would be best 

 to pot these iilies at once and liccp them 

 in a very cool house, say 40 degrees at 

 night, or even beneath a bench where 

 there is not too much drip would do very 

 well for a month. It is better for the 

 bulb to bo in the soil and slowly mak- 

 ing roots, than it is to be in cold stor- 

 age. Although for July, August and 

 September flowering we have had very 

 satisfactory results from bulbs kept in 

 cold storage till May or June. June flow- 

 ering is not late and if started at once 

 and brought along very cool they would 



■ not be in flower before June. If space 



is of great importance to you, then you 

 can defer starting them till the middle of 

 March, but then you will have to give 

 them a brisk heat both day and night 

 during April and May. 



This may be some guide: A few years 

 ago we received 2,000 Japan bulbs too 

 lato for Easter, or we then thought so. 

 We left them in cold frames in 5-inch 

 pots till after New Year's, then kept 

 them in a cool house, 40 degrees to 4S 

 degrees at night. With the natural in- 

 crease of heat and sun as the season ad- 

 vanced they came in just precisely right 

 for Memorial day the last of May. 



W. S. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Starting the Easter Roses. 



Last week 1 spoke of Easier roses soon 

 . needing attention. The most important 

 of these arc the Crimson Eambler and 

 li.vluid perpetuals. It is of no use now 

 hi mention the varieties of the hybrids 

 liest suited for forcing, as you have them 

 already. 



To begin with the Ramblers. Perhaps 

 (Jie largest growers of these lift them 

 fi-om the field about the middle of No- 

 vember and keep them in a coo!, shaded 

 house or shed, with frequent syringing, 

 so that the canes do no shrivel nor are 

 the eyes injured. They slowly get hold 

 (if the soil and will now bear a little 

 more heat and the fullest light. Perhaps 

 .-ibout 4.5 degrees at night would be a 

 good temperature till the leaf buds are 

 ready to break, then 50 degrees at night 

 for some weeks, finishing off with 55 

 degrees at night. I am certain that if 

 you can develop their beautiful trusses 

 of bloom in 5.5 degrees you will have a 

 much deeper, finer color to the flower 

 than if done in 65 degrees. Spraying the 

 foliage on every briglit day till the flow- 

 ers are out should be done. It helps' 

 tlicm to break into growth, keeps down 

 red spider and produces an atmosphere 

 congenial to a healthy growth. 



Ramblers Grown in Pots. 



Plants that were grown in pots last 

 summer and have made three or four 

 good canes and have been resting in a 

 cold frame since the first of November 

 will make the most satisfactory plants 

 and will do it with little trouble and 

 no risk of their coming blind. They will 

 force in less time than the lifted plants 

 if you choose, because they have active 

 roots undisturbed. Still they are better 

 given plenty of time and the middle of 

 the month is late enough. Start them 

 slowly and increase the heat as they need 

 it. These plants, grown all summer in 

 pots, will have about used up the soil, 

 so take off an inch of the surface and 

 replace with two inches of not over-de- 

 cayed cow manure. 



I think every one prefers a ttembler 

 rose that is not over-tall, but one that 

 is clothed with foliage and some flowers 

 from bottom to top. Three or four 

 stakes three feet long and pushed into 

 the soil of a 7 or 8-incb pot will enable 



you to tie the canes spirally aroundthese 

 stakes and make a far more attractive 

 plant than one having only flowers three 

 feet from the pot. 



Mildew on Ramblers. 



Mildew often attacks tlic I\amblcrs. 

 It was quite bad outdoors last summer, 

 on pl.ants that were growing vigorously 

 in the open ground. That could be ac- 

 counted for by a few scorching days in 

 .Tuly. then a night of cold rain and tn« 

 temperature down to 43 degrees on July 

 20. How is that for a subtropical cli- 

 mate? Under glass it can be avoided. 



But there are several causes for mil- 

 dew, any one of which will account for it. 

 Letting the plants get dry at tlie root, 

 dry to the wilting condition, will bring 

 on mildew, but the most fruitful cause 

 is a serious fluctuation of temperature. 

 A week of bright sun in March, the 

 temperature of the house SO degrees and 

 during the night 60 degrees, and then 

 through carelessness or bad luck (?) a 

 drop to 45 degrees some night, and you 

 have mildew. A^entilators left open an 

 hour too long and a chill settles on the 

 plants which w^ill "fix" them. The cooler 

 or rather more moderate the temperature 

 the less fear of mildew. 



Dorothy Perkins. 



I hope you have some Dorothy Perkins 

 to force along with your Crimson Ram- 

 blers. It wants just about the same time 

 and treatment and the few we had last 

 year were quickly picked up. It 's a 

 beautiful pink. The truss of bloom may 

 not be quite so large, but the single 

 flower is as large as Crimson Eambler. 

 The habit of the plant is fine and the 

 small, dense, bright green foliage makes 

 it most attractive. 



Hybrid Perpetuals. 



Few hybrid pci-potual roses are grown 

 in pots the previous summer for Easter 

 blooming, for there is no need of it, 

 they do so well lifted in the fall. It's 

 quite a different case from the Ramblers. 

 On them you retain all the wood ; on 

 the hybrid perpetuals you cut off at least 

 two-thirds of the previous summer's 

 growth and they have comparatively only 

 a few eyes to support and roots are made 

 as fast as the top growth progresses. 



I said last November to pot these rose* 



and, after a good soaking, to lay them 

 on their sides and cover with four or 

 five inches of earth and later a few 

 inches of straw or litter to keep severe 

 freezing out. I trust you will have little 

 difficulty in getting them out and you 

 will find the wood and the eyes plump, 

 more so than if you had stood them up 

 in a cold frame. The middle of the 

 month is time to start them and, as far 

 as temperature, spraying, etc., the treat- 

 ment needed is just the same as with 

 the Ramblers lifted from the ground. 

 There are no active roots and, therefore, 

 they must start slowly. 



Cutting Back Important. 



The cutting down is a very important 

 point. If cut too high you will have 

 only the top eyes to break, with six or 

 seven inches of bare stem. If cut too 

 low the eyes at the base of the growths 

 may come blind and then, as a pot plant, 

 your labor is in vain. It's difficult to 

 teach without having a plant before you. 

 T would say leave three or four good, 

 plump eyes on each growth, cutting out 

 the weak growths entirely. If these rosi/ 

 ]ilants were budded high it is almost im- 

 possible to get root and stem into a 

 6-ineh'pot and make a presentable plaut. 

 That is why all roses planted for this 

 jmrpose iu the spring should be low 

 Ijudded, so that whe'n severely cut down 

 at planting time the young growths start 

 almost at the surface of the gr(iuu<l. 



The nearer you can finisli these roses 

 to 55 degrees the stouter and better in 

 color in leaf aud flower will they be. and 

 better value to your customer. When 

 Easter comes a Crimson Rambler may lie 

 in fullest bloom and please all the bet- 

 ter. What is coming won 't be ipies- 

 tioncd, but with a hybrid perpetual they 

 are so familiar to all that two expanded 

 flowers and seven or eight buds to open 

 will please far better than one with 

 f(nir (.)pen flowers and the rest ready to 

 shed their petals. William Scott. 



EARLY MUMS. 



For some years I have grown two 

 houses 18 X 100 in early mums; by 

 early I mean being all cut by October 

 26. This season I planted Pacific, l-'id- 

 ly Rose, October Sunshine and Roliin- 

 son. These I consider good commer- 

 cial mums, but I would like two or 

 three more sorts to come iu about the 

 same time. I have tried such stand- 

 ard sorts as Monrovia, Bergmann, Wil- 

 lowbrook. Lady Harriet, etc., but for 

 different reasons have given them u|p. 

 I would be glad to hear any sugges- 

 tions in reference to same. H. D. I). 



If H. D. D. has not already tried Mrs. 

 Coombes and Alice Byron, I would 

 add them to my list of standard varie- 

 ties to grow for early cutting. Prices 

 for the past two years have been very 

 poor for October mums, but if he per- 

 severes H. D. D. may reap a goo<l 

 harvest yet, for when we happen to 

 get a killing frost early in October 

 the mum is needed and badly, too, to 

 fill up the sudden blank caused by tlir 

 removal of the outside stock from the 

 market. I think he will find Byron a 

 much more satisfactory white to han- 

 dle than Robinson, for it does not spot 

 and if the bud is taken early in August 

 the flower can be cut in fine shape 

 early in October. A novelty of last 

 year, Mrs. T. W. Pockett, brought me 

 good money the first week iu October 

 and H. D. D. would not be far wron;; 



