Aphii, 21. 1904. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



nsi 



Wonderful Group of Rambler Roses Exhibited by M. H. Walsh, Woods Hole, Mas?., at the Boston Spring Show. 



gins anew. And this is the time when 

 they trouble one most; if you don't water 

 enough they will wilt; if you water them 

 too much they will get sic-k roots, and 

 in either case they will lose their lower 

 leaves. Keep a close watch on them when 

 they undergo the change from field to pot. 



CARNATION NOTES. WEST. 



We have been ready to begin plant- 

 ing in the field for a .couple of weeks 

 already, but it seems to be very slow in 

 warming up. During the past week we 

 have had as much as ten degrees of 

 frost and very few nights without some 

 frost. While these conditions prevail 

 there is no need of beginning to plai.'t 

 out unless your stock has been hardened 

 off extra well, which in most instances, we 

 do not find to be the case. Most growers 

 grow their young stock in the same 

 houses with the blooming plants, and 

 the young plants are at this time in n 

 good growing condition and hardly in 

 shape to stand six or eight degrees of 

 frost. T would rather wait a week 

 longer and not have my plants exposed 

 to any such dangers. If you are afraid 

 that you will be late in finishing, you 

 can very easily put a few extra hands 

 to help on the job when you do begin. 

 It is a job that should be done as 

 quickly as possible anyway, so use every 

 available man. 



A little system will help to facili- 

 tate matters, if you have several men 

 and boys helping on the job. For in- 

 stance, detail a man and one or more 

 boys to dump the young plants out of 

 the pots as fast as they are needed. The 

 man should be thoroughly familiar with 

 your stock, as you may have two or 

 three batches of one variety, and, of 

 course, you want to plant all of a kind 

 together as far as possible. This man 

 will know that if a batch is a little dry 

 they should have a good watering, so 

 they will not only come out of the pots 



easier, but they will not dry out so 

 quickly while being planted. Don 't 

 have them standing out in the sun too 

 long before planting, but rather keep 

 them in the shed after knocking them 

 out of the pots and take them out as 

 they are needed. 



Have a boy to each planter to drop 

 the plants for him, and see that he does 

 not get too far ahead of him. He can 

 stay just far enough ahead of the 

 planter so that the planter will not have 

 to wait for him while he changes his 

 empty box for a full one, brought to 

 him by another boy who wheels them 

 out as they are needed. 



We use a line to plant by and use a 

 trowel in planting. There are many 

 advantages in using a trowel, and, in 

 fact, we think it is almost impossible to 

 do good planting without a trowel. If 

 your soil is extra well pulverized and 

 quite mellow you can perhaps dispense 

 with it, but we find that while in some 

 spots the soil will be fine and mellow, 

 in other spots it will be lumpy or per- 

 haps the horse trod just where the plant 

 should be set. Then again, if the day 

 IS warm and the plowing was done a 

 few days previous, the soil at the sur- 

 face will be i|uite dry and with a trowel 

 with a few jerks you can bring enough 

 nice, moist soil to the surface to set the 

 plant in. After setting the plant in 

 and pressing the soil around it, be sure 

 and cover the firmed soil with a half- 

 inch of fine, loose soil. This will pre- 

 vent evaporation and baking of the soil. 

 For the same reason each evening you 

 should go over what was planted that 

 day with the cultivator between the 

 rows. 



These hints apply equally well whether 

 you plant in beds or just in rows across 

 the field. We plant in rows one after 

 another until we' reach the other side of 

 the lot. The plants are set about eight 

 to ten inches apart in the row and the 



rows are set from iifteen to eighteen 

 inches apart. We like this way for 

 many reasons, too numerous to mention, 

 but under certain conditions the bed 

 method may have some advantages; 

 particularly in a wet season and on 

 clayey soil where the water does not soak 

 away readily. 



Be sure you use good sized labels 

 to mark the varieties. The loss of a 

 label may mean a big loss to you some- 

 times, especially if you are not a carna- 

 tion expert and able to tell at a glance 

 what a variety is without looking at 

 the label. Some men have this faculty 

 developed to a wonderful degree, while 

 others are good growers but unable to 

 see the distinguishing marks of the dif- 

 ferent varieties unless they see a bloom. 

 The seedling raiser knows how to ap- 

 preciate this advice. 



Don't plant out any plants that are 

 not in good condition, especially of the 

 standard varieties. A poor, diseased 

 plant will stand a poor show of making 

 a first-class plant that will produce 

 prize-winning blooms. One may be ex- 

 cused if he has some plants of a novelty 

 that are not strictly first-class. Most of 

 the novelties have behaved well so far, 

 but one variety is so covered with rust 

 that it will be a wonder if they make 

 good plants by August. One other has 

 shown a tendency toward stem-rotting, 

 but we hope to los? no more, now that we 

 know it must be guarded against. 



If you have some in the sand yet, 

 don't plant them from the sand to the 

 field, but pot them into small pots and 

 leave them to be planted last. Two or 

 three weeks in pots will do them lots of 

 good and they will suffer less when 

 planted out. Of course, your main stock 

 is well established in pots by this time, 

 but you may have a few late cuttings 

 of a seedling or a variety you bought 

 last vear, of which you want all you 

 can get. A. F. J. B.\UK. 



