812 



The Weekly Floristfi' Review. 



RUkcu 17. 11104. 



Tulips, hyacinths and other 'bulbous 

 stuff you have only just brought in. If 

 the sun shines they will be all right in 

 a cool house; if cold and cloudy they 

 may want 60 degrees at night. Don 't 

 be late with that beautiful double tulip. 

 Murillo. It wants to bo out several 

 days to show its satiny pink shade. If 

 azaleas are showing color they are just 

 right ; if too forward put them in a 

 cool, shaded house. A bright, sunny day, 

 if not shaded, makes them jump. Rhodo- 

 dendrons will do if just now showing 

 color. They drop tlieir flowers quickly 

 and you don't want them a day too earlv. 

 Spirsea (astilbe) with the very earliest 

 of their flowers showing white, will be 

 all right and they are wonderfully im- 

 proved if each plant is stood in a saiicer 

 and some liquid manure is constantly kept 

 in the saucer. Lilacs como on so fast 

 that you are not likely to be late with 

 them, but they last a long time in a cool 

 house, so get them out. Every year we 

 have sold 6 or 7-inch pans of double vio- 

 lets. Don't lift them till the last mo- 

 ment, for they are never as good as the 

 hour or day you make them up. If you 

 had Lawson carnations in Ci-inch pots_ 

 with a dozen flowers or buds, how they 

 would sell. William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES-WEST. 



Preparation for Easter. 

 Two weeks from next Sunday Easter 

 will be with us and, as usual, you will 



year than it is at Christmas. Not only is 

 it easier to get the blooms open on ac- 

 count of the increased sunlight and the 

 natural strong, quick growth the plants 

 always make about this time, but it is 

 not so dangerous to the health of your 

 plants. Raising the temperature at this 

 time of the year is not so apt to injure 

 your plants or make the stems weak, be- 

 cause the plants are more robust and 

 growing stronger than in midwinter. 

 Not only do they suffer less, but they 

 will recover quicker. That is, of course, 

 providing you do not overdo it. To raise 

 the temperature 20 degrees and keep it 

 up there for a week would go a long wav 

 toward ruining your plants for a good 

 spring crop. You can get as many 

 blooms to open by raising the tempera- 

 ture 10 degrees as you can by raisins; 

 it 20 degrees, and it will not injure 

 3-our plants. 



If you have not commenced to feed reg- 

 ularly you must prepare to give your 

 plants a little extra food during this pe- 

 riod of forcing. The soil will be pretty 

 well exhausted and unless you supply a 

 little extra in the way of a liquid or a ton 

 dressing the blooms will come out small. 

 A sprinkling of wood ashes would be an 

 excellent thing-, or a light dressing of 

 sheep manure, about a good handful to 

 every four plants. If you have neither 

 of these, you can give a dose of liquiil 

 made of cow manure once each week. 



Also see that there are no dry spots in 

 the beds near the steam pipes or along 



Carnation Imperial. — Haines. 



this high tompei-ature is red spider. 

 After this long continued firing and in- 

 frequent syringing you will most likely 

 find a spot here and there near the 

 steam pipes where a few spiders kept 

 themselves hidden all winter and are 

 now multiplying rapidly, and unless you 

 get rid of them at once you will find it 

 a hard task to subjugate them when the 

 days are bright and warm. This spell 

 of raised temperature would give them 

 such a start, too, that it would tax your 

 efforts to the verv utmost to head them 

 off. 



With saving up the blooms you should 

 proceed much the same as j'ou do at 

 Christmas, only you cannot save them 

 quite so long if the weather is warm. 

 They come quicker and they go quicker. 

 Whatever you do, don 't hold back a lot 

 of fine blooms which would bring a fair 

 price until they become a lot of trash 

 and will not only bring a trashy price 

 themselves, but will injure the sale of 

 your good, fresh blooms. In short, try 

 to be fair to your plants and your cus- 

 tomers. A. P. J. Bauk. 



want to cut about four times as many 

 blooms during the week previous as you 

 do during ordinary weeks. It is a much 

 easier task to do so at this time of the 



the edges. That will tell on the quality 

 as quickly as anything when the davs 

 are bright and warm. Another thing 

 you should look for before beginning with 



ROSES. 



Composting the Soil. 



As soon as the frost is out of llie 

 ground the selection, collection and com- 

 posting of soil for planting purposes 

 should begin. This work, when left till 

 near planting time, does not give the 

 compost time to get thoroughly incorpo- 

 rated and put into the condition that the 

 young stock requires to draw its food 

 supply from, and consequently if too 

 fresh the young plants have to remain 

 in a starved condition while the food is 

 being prepared by the process of decom- 

 position. 



The quality of soil being of para- 

 mount importance, its selection should be 

 accompanied by careful, intelligent study 

 and a thorough knowledge of the re- 

 ((uirements of the different varieties to 

 be grown. A stiff, fibrous loam is the 

 most suitable for most of the varieties 

 at present cultivated under glass, and 

 this should, if possible, be taken from 

 old pasture land which has a good, grassy 

 sod. The top spit, six or seven inches 

 deep, is the richest part and contains 

 the most fiber. It is therefore the best 

 and, when this can be obtained in quan- 

 tity, it is preferable to going deeper. 



This should be put into a neat pile on 

 ground a little above the surroundin<^ 

 level and well decomposed cow manure 

 added in the proportion of four of soil 

 to one of manure for such varieties as 

 Bride, Bridesmaid and Ivory. For Beau- 

 ties and Meteors it can be made even a 

 little richer. This should be allowed to 

 lie for at least three weeks before being 

 chopped up. After bcincr chopped it 

 should be allowed to lie for about ten 

 days and then turned over. The turning 

 over should be done, if possible, during 

 bright sunny weather. 



Turning the pile over two or three 

 times will pre%-ent weeds from growini^ 

 and put the compost into that hearty and 

 mellow condition so dear to the grower's 

 heart. The young plants will then im- 

 mediately go to work when benched. 



Soil collected during the spring and 

 handled thus is preferable to that col- 

 lected during fall, as it does not sour so 

 fiuickly and is not so liable to produce 

 that objectionable crop of green scum 

 on the surface. Ribes. 



