Feebuaey 11, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



547 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Geraniums. 



Geraniums of the zonale type that were 

 shifted from 2-inch pots soon after New 

 Year's, should now give you a cutting, 

 which, if potted into a 2-inch, will make 

 a good bedding plant by June 1, and you 

 are sure to need them after the 4-inch 

 plants are gone. These cuttings, the 

 tops of the 3-incli plants, are much bet- 

 ter put into soil, potted firmly, than prop- 

 agated in sand. After one good water- 

 ing, keep them rather on the dry side 

 until they have started roots. A light 

 bench at about 50 degrees at night is the 

 place for them. 



Although this is a very simple subject, 

 I must repeat once more, that for the 

 sake of a cutting don't murder the 3- 

 ineh pot plant. If you can leave at least 

 two good eyes, all right, if not, don't 

 look for a cutting but just pinch out the 

 top of the plant and you will have a fine, 

 bushy geranium. It should be needless 

 to say that after you have cut away 

 half of the stem and two-thirds of the 

 leaves of these geraniums they need lit- 

 tle water until the eyes break and new 

 growth begins. We seldom have room 

 to give the fall propagated zonale ge- 

 ranium.* their final shift, a 4-inch, until 

 after Easter. Fortunately for the ge- 

 raniums, perhaps unfortunately for oth- 

 er important crops, Easter is very early 

 this year, April 3. So that will give you 

 an abundance of time to shift them after 

 Easter and have them in good flower at 

 the bedding out time, with us from May 

 20 till June 1. 



Cyckmen. 



I have received very recently a terri- 

 ble specimen of a cyclamen. The leaves 

 were not apparently diseased, but the 

 flowers had all the ills that a cyclamen 

 is heir to. This is no stranger around 

 here and it has stricken several growers 

 who are acknowledged careful, good 

 gardeners. The plant may be and often 

 is most vigorous during the summer and 

 up to October, when the flowers begin 

 to rise from the corm, and when they ap- 

 pear above the foliage and later make 

 the abortive attempt to expand their 

 lovely petals and beautiful shades of 

 coloring, they have only the mottled 

 shades of liver sausage and the form of 

 flower that could be imagined after pass- 

 ing through a sickness of St. Vitus' 

 dance and general debility. 



It may not be out of place just here 

 to say that two of our local florists had, 

 in September last, as fine a lot of cycla- 

 men plants as the writer has ever seen: 

 a most vigorous leaf growth and very 

 large plants, but not a perfect flower. I 

 understand it is neither aphis, thrips or 

 red spider, but a minute mite. I wish I 

 could prescribe a remedy, but I cannot. 

 Let us hear from someone who has over- 

 come this pest. 



We have escaped so far, and this leads 

 me to say that as the little seedling 

 plants are now, or soon will be in 2- 

 inch pots, or transplanted from the seed 

 pans into other pans or small flats, it is 

 most desirable to surround them with to- 



bacco stems, and renew the stems when- 

 ever they begin to decay. This is not 

 enough, although a great help. Fumiga- 

 tion, either by burning stems or dust, or 

 vaporizing nicotine, must be faithfully 

 done. Perfectly light position, where 

 they can get the benefit of ventilation, 

 when possible, and a fine spraying on 

 bright mornings, is the place for these 

 little plants for the next two months, 

 with about 55 degrees at night. 



Salvia Splendens. 



In answer to a correspondent, I have 

 something to say about Salvia splen- 

 dens. This brilliant, late summer and 

 fall-flowering plant has been growing in 

 favor at a rapid rate for the past few 

 years. Where ten years ago we grew 

 dozens, we now want hundreds. 



I can recall a delightful ride a few 

 years ago, through and about the lovely 

 home of Germantown, Lansdowne and 

 other suburbs of Philadelphia, and ev- 

 erywhere as a margin to shrubbery or a 

 border beneath a veranda were masses 

 of the scarlet sage. I can scarcely think 

 of any flowering plant that would have 



settles spider, and greenfly in the house 

 is one of the unpardonable sins. You 

 may think this is a good deal of talk 

 iov so common a plant, but its growing 

 popularity warrants it. 



Lemon Verbena. 



Lemon verbena is another favorite 

 plant that is often diflicult to procure 

 if you have missed growing it. How- 

 ever modest may be the little garden, 

 this sweet scented plant is sure to be one 

 of those wanted. Plants that grew in 4- 

 inch pots plunged outside last summer 

 and which have been resting beneath the 

 bench since November, should now be 

 started up. Shake oft' the old soil and 

 repot. Ti'im back the unripened ends of 

 the shoots and put them into a night 

 temperature of 55 to 00 degrees, with a 

 daily spraying, and you will get all the 

 cuttings you need. If kept daily wa- 

 tered in the sand they will root as easily 

 as a chrysanthemum. The lemon ver- 

 bena will make more growth in a mild 

 hotbed in three or four weeks of April or 

 May than it will in three months in the 

 greenhouse. 



Primula Obcocica. 



Primula obconica is likely to be a 

 useful Easter plant this year, as Easter 

 is so early. It took years for this beau- 

 tiful plant to become widely popular. 

 Pretty as the Chinese primulas are, ob- 

 conica eclipses them in every way as :i 

 commercial plant. There is a note in 

 last week's Review regarding its poison- 

 ous properties, and a remedy where it 

 does poison. The writer has always con- 



Primula Obconica. 



the same cheerful and seasonable effect. 

 Have plenty of them. Shift and grow 

 on the cuttings you have now struck and 

 from them you will get plenty more. 



There are some decided improvements 

 over the old type. A rather dwarfer 

 growth and early flowering are what is 

 sought. St. Louis has these qualities 

 and is a great improvement over the old 

 type. Red spider and greenfly are the 

 enemies of this very free growing plant. 

 It delights in being svringed and that 



sidered the poisoning qualities of this 

 plant as largely a ghost story, yet there 

 must be something in it. On inquiry I 

 find that of at least ten men and boys, 

 only two have complained that their epi- 

 dermis was irritated by it. One of our 

 lady florists on Main sti-eet is so affected 

 by it that she can't endure an obconica 

 in her store, but then we have known 

 ladies to have a dread of harmless crea- 

 tures. We well remember a most amia- 

 ble spinster of mature years who ran 



