548 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



Februarv 11, 1904. 



screauiiiifr into the house if she saw a 

 butterfly in ^he garden. 



This "primula has been so marvelonsly 

 improved that we now have from white 

 through sliades of lavender and blue to 

 rosy pink, and "florets one and one-half 

 inches in diameter and twelve to four- 

 teen on a truss," is no exaggeratiim. So 

 procure the best strain of seed that is 

 to be bought and sow early in March. 

 Sown early, they have time to make good 

 stout plants before the dark days set in. 



Boston Ferns. 



There seems to be constant demand for 

 Boston ferns of every size, and fre- 

 quently for plants that have a spread of 

 fronds four or five feet across. This 

 sounds like a very large plant, but it 

 really is not so very large, as you will 

 discover if you measure a plant. \Mien 

 there is a graceful droop to the older 

 fronds they are also much preferred. 

 You may not have such plants, but you 

 can manufacture a few dozen and have 

 them ready for a later date. Few ferns 

 or plants " of any kind so well endure 

 the disturbance of their roots as this 

 nephrolepis, yet it is not quite right to 

 make up a pot or pan of these ferns and 

 sell it the same day, or the same week. 

 Three good 5-ineh pot plants put into a 

 9 or 10-inch azalea pot now and raised 

 up so that the fronds can spread and 

 droop, will make grand plants in two 

 or three months. Tliere is always some- 

 thing you can grow beneath these "ped- 

 estal" plants. Small plants of the same 

 thing would be all right there. 



A Few Brief Reminders. 



Look out for the young growths on 

 azaleas, which, if not kept pulled off. 

 ■will take all the strength from the flower 

 bud and it will perish. 



Sow verbena seed now. They will be 

 more healthy and vigorous than plants 

 from cuttings and a bed of mixed ver- 

 benas is quite as pretty as one of all one 

 color. 



houses are in the vicinity of extensive 

 limestone quarries, where the stone is 

 ground up for some purposes as fine as 

 coarse sand, has for the past two years 

 used this material for propagating with 

 the most unqualified success. It is abso- 

 lutely clear of all earthy substances, 

 which sand, either pit or lake shore, sel- 

 dom is. He thinks it far superior for 

 all kinds of cuttings to sand of any 

 quality. He adds that directly after 

 cuttings are rooted they should be potted 

 off, for growth is very rapid in this 

 limestone. This may be no news to 

 some of your readers, but knowing that 

 in some localities sand of any kind is 

 difficult to procure and you may be next 

 door to a limestone quarry, I thought I 

 would mention the fact. This material 

 can be bought of the firm by the car- 

 load. WrLLi.\5i Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES— EAST. 



Feeding Again. 



As stated in my last notes, there are 

 a few things in connection with feeding 

 about which it may be well to add a 

 few words. There are various mixtures 

 which might be recommended as benefic- 

 ial and profitable to use in the operation 

 of feeding, but it is impossible, not know- 

 ing the nature and mechanical condition 

 of the different soils in which carna- 

 tions are grown, to give minute direc- 

 tions as to what is most suitable to use; 

 however, it is hoped in these remarks 

 that I may furnish food for thought. 



In studying the behavior of different 

 varieties in soil that is practically uni- 

 form in every quality, it will be noticed 

 that while some give good returns others 

 are behind in productiveness, size of 

 bloom and general appearance of health, 

 or perhaps there is a disposition to be 

 grassy. This point I wish to bring to 

 your direct attention as demanding in- 

 telligent thought when the matter of 

 feeding is being considered, and I may 



House of John Murchie's New White Carnation, Fred Burki. 



As the season advances the tulips and 

 daffodils will want less heat ar i less 

 shade to produce a good stem and better 

 flower. 



In a night temperature of 55 to 60 

 degrees Azalea mollis and Pyrus japoni- 

 ca will want four weeks to be right for 

 Easter. Lilacs and Prunus triloba about 

 five weeks. Dutzia gracilis seven weeks. 



Propagating Bench Material. 



A neighbor of mine. C. E. Foss, whose 



include soil preparation, too, for al- 

 though the term feeding is generally un- 

 derstood to mean the use of liquid man- 

 ure, it must be admitted that growing 

 plants require and are feeding con- 

 stantly. 



It is only by close observation that 

 one can decide what a variety is most 

 partial to and at what time the differ- 

 ent fertilizing elements in the soil are 

 likely to become lacking or out of pro- 

 portion. The fact that the beds have 



leceived repeated applications of liquid 

 food does not by any means justify a 

 grower in saying his plants have not suf- 

 fered from lack of nourishment. It may 

 be true that plenty of nourishment was 

 given but the vital question is, have the 

 dift'erent fertilizing elements been sup- 

 plied in proportion to maintain condi- 

 tions conducive to the production of 

 bloom in paying quantities? I might 

 say in answer that the chances are too 

 much of one certain element has been 

 used, particularly at a time when some- 

 thing else should have been more in evi- 

 dence. 



To illustrate, let us suppose a variety 

 to have given good returns up to this 

 time but indications point to an off crop 

 period ahead. If the plants are healthy 

 and show plenty of shoots coming along 

 for future development of bloom, one 

 would naturally decide that nitrogen 

 was most needed, but if the variety is 

 natttrally grassy you would be careful 

 that it was not supplied in maximtnn 

 doses or at frequent intervals. As the 

 shoots advance and signs of stem ap- 

 pear, potash will be wanted. Later 

 phosphorus is needed to properly develop 

 the flower. 



This is only one case, btit every grower 

 can learn the elements most in evidence 

 in each manure or fertilizer and by ob- 

 servation during daily association with 

 his plants, be reasonably sure of mak- 

 ing a variation in the composition of his 

 liquid manure to fit his particular case, 

 remembering that stiff soils retain fertil- 

 izing elements much f)etter than those of 

 light texture. Geo. S. Osbor??. 



CARNATION NOTES— WEST. 



Late Cuttings. 



If you for some reason fail to take as 

 many carnation cuttings out of the prop- 

 agating bench as you need for next sea- 

 son's planting it is not too late to take 

 good cuttings of most varieties, with a 

 good chance of making good plants by 

 housing time. In fact, many growers 

 prefer ctittings taken between January 

 1.3 and February 15 and some varieties 

 tliat naturally grow very rank and rath- 

 er soft will do better when propagated a 

 little late. Such varieties will take hold 

 better if the plants are only medium in 

 size. Norway is a good example. The 

 first year we had fine large plants, but 

 they stiffered severely and it was late in 

 winter before they were really what they 

 should have been. At the carnation con- 

 vention Messrs, H. Weber & Sons showed 

 a vase of blooms that beat everything 

 else in the 100 white class and Mr. Web- 

 er told me they were grown from March 

 cuttings. There are not many of these 

 varieties, however, and as a rule I favor 

 the earlier cuttings if I can get them. 



Every grower knows full well that he 

 should plant out about twice as many 

 plants as he wishes to house in the fall 

 if he wants to fill his benches with good, 

 healthy plants. That means at least 

 twice as many cuttings as you want 

 plants to house. 



We are sometimes asked as to the ad- 

 visability of using the propagating sand 

 twice. If there is any sign of fungus you 

 would better not risk using the sand 

 again. Take it all out, wash the boards 

 off and give a heavy coat of hot lime 

 wash and use fresh sand. If the cuttings 

 rooted well, with no sign of damping off. 

 we take off about one-half to two-thirds 

 of the sand and put that much fresh 



