1378 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 19, 1904. 



THE CARE OF YOUNG STOCK. 



To the care and skill bestowed upon 

 young stock for the first few weeks 

 sfter planting and, indeed, all through 

 the hot season, ' can be attributed in a 

 great measure the success or failure, 

 financially, of the season's crop. The 

 diflferent operations which I am about to 

 describe have much influence on the for- 

 mation and development of the plants 

 which have to withstand the vicissitudes 

 of I will not call it the forcing season, 

 but tliat period during which they re- 

 quire stimulants in the way of food and 

 temperature in order to make them pro- 

 duce crops in sufficient quantity and of 

 such a quality as will leave a handsome 

 margin of profit. Given a good, solid 

 foundation of growth, the after treat- 

 ment is much simplified. 



We all know how much easier it is in 

 point of labor to care for a house con- 

 taining robust, healthy stock than it is 

 to look after a house of unhealthy or 

 weakly stufl', and if we have to enter on 

 the winter with this latter grade of stock 

 the work and anxiety will be multiplied 

 and in nine cases out of ten the profits 

 and pleasure will be nil. Therefore, aft- 

 er planting, our eiforts should be di- 

 rected to get a good, stocky growth, 

 which should be trained with the object 

 of forming the desired percentage of 

 fiower-bearing eyes, having at the same 

 time an eye on the question of quality. 

 To effect this purpose great care and 

 attention must be bestowed upon the 

 cultivation, watering, ventilation, feed- 

 ing and training of the young plants. 



As I mentioned in my notes of last 

 week, cultivation plays a very impor- 

 tant part in the successful growing of 

 young stock and should be persisted in 

 each week as long as is found necessary 

 or until the feeding roots approach so 

 close to the surface of the soil that fur- 

 ther cultivation cannot be practiced with- 

 out causing injury. 



The intelligent use of water is also 

 of tlie utmost importance and requires 

 a great amount of study and careful ob- 

 servation to determine the proper amount 

 required by tlio plant at its various 

 stages of growth, also taking into con- 

 sideration the vaiying conditions of the 

 atmosphere, which may one day be sur- 

 charged with moisture and the "next day 

 evaporation may be so rapid that over- 

 watering may be next to impossible. 

 These conditions should form a very in- 

 teresting course of study for the student 

 as without tills knowledge he is groping 

 in the dark and, however clever he may 



bi' in the manipulation of the nozzle, 

 without this knowledge his efforts may 

 often be worse than useless. 



The art of syringing properly can 

 only be acquired with a definite idea of 

 the work to be accomplished, and after a 

 long course of earnest study and prac- 

 tice only can he become an expert in the 

 proper use of the hose. 



The theory and practice of ventilation, 

 a:; understood by up-to-date growers, 

 consists in keeping a sweet and pure at- 

 mosphere in the house. This atmosphere 

 nuist at the same time contain sufficient 

 moisture to sustain that well nurtured 

 appearance of the foliage without which 

 nil rose, however fine the bud may be, 

 can approach the ideal. To maintain a 

 ttmperature free from all sudden ana 

 extreme fluctuations is also essential to 

 the formation of leaves of a firm tex- 

 ture, which in a measure makes them 

 immune from many troubles, such as 

 black spot, mildew and anthracnose. 

 which readily affect plants which have 

 bten coddled until both wood and foliage 



are soft and spongy and an easy prey. 



During the growing period, or" when 

 roots, wood and foliage are doing their 

 utmost in the formation of the future 

 flower bearer, if the sod has been of the 

 riglit quality and has been properly oom- 

 jii'Sted, they require veiy little feeding, 

 especially of that kind of food which 

 has a tendency to produce soft, succu- 

 lent wood or foliage, such as is sup- 

 I'Hed by mulching or liquid feeding. A 

 shght sprinkling of bone meal, varied 

 ■.<i intervals with a dusting of lime or 

 wood ashes, is amply sufficient until the 

 -■ioil in the bench is well filled with roots, 

 when the exhausted elements will have to 

 1 supplied periodically in proper quan- 

 tities. 



As soon as convenient, after planting 

 is finished, the plants should be support- 

 ed and trained into position in order to 

 give free access of light and air to all 

 the eyes, so that they may be fuUy de- 

 veloped and ripen equally, keeping" each 

 shoot in an upright po"sition without 

 crowding and allowing no branch to trail 

 on the bench, as t^e eyes formed on 

 such wood are very productive in the 

 formation of bHnd wood, which, if en- 

 couraged to start, is a hard problem for 

 even the most experienced grower to 

 solve after the dark weather commences. 



Grafted stock should receive a sup- 

 port as soon as planted, as otherwise the 

 force of water required to make svring- 

 ing effective is liable to detach the cion 

 from the stock. The best method of sup- 

 porting roses is still an open question 

 and furnishes a field for profitable ex- 

 periment. The method at present in use 

 in large growing establishments will be 

 discussed in my next week's article. 



ElBES. 



PLANTING. 



Those growers who figure largely on 

 exhibiting their flowers make a point of 

 planting their stock this month, so as 

 to get the benefit of a long season of 

 growth, which is essential to the produc- 

 tion of the very highest grade of flowers. 

 One cannot plant in June or July and 

 produce so fine a grade of flowers "as the 

 man who plants in Hay, all other things 

 being equal. 



There is one point to be considered in 

 early planting, and that is the question 

 of head room. You should have anyway 

 six feet of space between the top of the 

 bench and the glass, and even then the 

 varieties need a careful arrangement in 

 planting, so that the tallest are put in 

 the center of the house. In the case of 

 the standard varieties the heights are 

 pretty well known, if the grower has 

 kept, as he should, some memoranda of 

 his plants in previous years. The new 

 varieties offered are, many of them, quite 

 reasonable in the matter of height. 

 Henry Barnes is the tallest and must 

 have lots of head room to do it justice. 

 Next in order come S. T. Wright, Ben 

 Wells and Mayuell, with Dxickham, Cob- 

 bold. Harrison Dick and Mrs, F, W, 

 Vallis all very sturdy and inclined to 

 be medium, and Cheltoni and Donald lie- 

 Leod very dwarf, Donald Meljeod I 



ili.iiiyht lasi ye:ir was one of the neatest 

 growers I ever saw in a bench, a per- 

 fect pyramid of foliage from the soil to 

 the flower. 



The question of soil when filling the 

 benches need not. in my humble opinion, 

 give much cause for worry. I would, 

 personally, rather plant in "soil inclined 

 to be poor than in soil that has been 

 made too rich. Good sod that has been 

 stacked up long enough to rot and has 

 had, at the time of stacking, a fourth 

 to a sixth of cow manure with it, is 

 about right. Bone can be added to the 

 heap when it is being chopped down and 

 turned over and I always liked to add 

 a little leaf soil when I could get it. 



The very best possible thing to run 

 along the cracks for drainage~is green 

 sod turned upside down. This affords 

 ideal drainage and as it rots the roots 

 love to ramble in it. Fill the bench level 

 full with soil, then after it has been 

 planted and firmed down it will be just 

 about right. I may say here that 1 

 sreatly prefer a bench to a solid bed 

 in growing chrysanthemums. In a bench 

 the roots are at all times entirely under 

 control and more liquid food can safely 

 be applied. 



In planting run the rows straight down 

 the bench, but set the plants diagonally 

 across it, as each plant by that means 



