The Weekly Florists' Review* 



123 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Valley. 

 Many of us will be growing ;i few 

 hundred valley during the summer 

 months, some from pips we have in our 

 own ice houses, and some getting them 

 weekly from the firms that keep them 

 in cold storage and send them on to the 

 retail growers. In the early summer 

 months they usually flower very satis- 

 factorily if treated atall right, ('hop off 

 but, a half inch 01 so of the ends of the 

 roots] give them a depth of sand in the 

 boxes or beds equal to the length of the 

 root; have the glass over them rather 

 beavilj shaded; but what is most par- 

 ticular of all is not to let any draughts 

 strike them, such as open doors may 

 cause. Give them water daily and on 

 very hot days twice. What may not be 

 known to all, yet which is of vital im- 

 portance, is not to wet the bells after 

 thej begin to color, or rather to whiten. 

 Water the san 

 spike. I ha\ 

 that, the \ all. 



but don't wet the How. 



not !«■ cut until eVI -IV bell is white. Yet 

 it is always most desirable that the 

 - j . i k i ■ -. should be cut. twenty-four hours 

 before being sold or used and put into a 

 jar of cold water, because they do not 

 then wilt, as fresh cut flowers do. and 



this applies to al st all the flowers we 



use. 



The use of some green foliage with 

 many flowers that do not supply linn 

 own is i e and more in use and is only 



enhair fern is queen ami there i- no 

 king. 



Smilax. 



Before I speak of adiantums, etc., let 

 us be reminded that the good old smilax 

 has been in great demand and very 

 scarce this past winter and spring. A 

 few years it went slightly out of 

 fashion, sold cheap, and growers drop- 

 ped it, which accounts for its scarcity, 

 and when an article is hard to obtain 

 it is in fashion. It is so simple to grow 

 and the simplicity of its culture so well 

 known that 1 am merely going to say 

 now that a bed or bench the size of your 

 requirements should be on every retail 

 er's place. When you want fifty strings 

 you can buy them, but when you want 

 five strings in a hurry it is nice to have 

 them on the place. And I believe that a 

 house of smilax, well grown, is just as 

 profitable a-- a house full of carnations 

 or mam other things. 



Smilax should be planted by the first 

 of duly, then by the next. .Inly you will 

 have cut lout crops. It should be re- 

 planted every year with strong. •'! inch 

 pot plants. It should have six to eight 

 inches of heavy loam, with a fourth Or 



even e of animal manure. Whether 



it is on the floor or on a low bench mat 

 ters little, except that you want head 

 loom, and it is more convenient to tie 

 when it is planted near the surface of 



have mi degrees at night throughout the 

 winter, and lots of syringing to keep 

 down red spider. Always begin at one 

 end of the bed and cleat it off as you 

 need it. because then the plants arc at 

 .mcc deprived of all their growth as 

 they are when you cut a -mug. They 

 should not be watered until they have 

 started to make new growths or the 

 fleshj roots will rot. 



Adiantums. 



Adiantum cuneatum is the fern most 

 -cue] ally grown for cutting. A. de 



coruni is preferred by s ■. ami now 



Mr. Crowe, of Utiea. is sending out 

 his grand form of this fern. Wiethe] 

 it is a fine form of decorum of a (lis 

 tinct variety, either originating from a 

 spore or a sport, it is, as he grows it. 

 a splendid fern and its origin is of no 

 great importance. He has named it A. 

 (loucanum and well may he crow over 

 the success he has hail ami the immense 

 stock that he has to distribute. 



It is nowadays most desirable thai we 

 should have a bench of adiantum to cut 

 1 1 oiii iii case of emergency . even it 3 mi 



the soil. The 

 for adiantums. 

 ing freely in a peat 

 1 and ill a sandy li 



The great and frequent failures with 

 the average grower of adiantum if 

 , , m -,-, 1 by the plants being thrown in 

 five .0 six inches of soil on a bench thai 

 has three or four hot water or steam 

 pipes. That is all wrong 

 eled fronds and failures 



ind the shr 

 hat occur i 



a , successful as the brick or stone bed 

 only the latter is permanent. 



Aphis seldom troubles the adiantum. 

 When it does tobacco dust will keep it 

 down, and its great enemy, the little 

 slugs, can be kept under by a profuse 

 dusting of slaked quick lime which do<- 

 them no harm. Get the dusted lime 

 well down on the crown of the plant, I. 

 there is where the slug makes his roost- 

 ing place, and being hungry about the 

 time the sun sets, he feeds on the tender 

 young fronds that, first catch his eye o' 

 touch. A warm atmosphere, sa\ 60 1 1 

 65 degrees at night, will do for them 

 and a. house that gets no direct rays of 

 t he sun is the one. 



Don't, forget to prepare fot plantin" 

 Asparagus Sprengeri about the fist ,,' 

 July. Yon can help largelj to pa j 3 



eoal bill I.3 growing this graceful I'oli 



age planl \l anon about this. 



Keep \ 1 1 1 1 1 I. ilium laiicifolium shaded 

 ami give them all the ventilation you 

 can. Our hot days under glass make 



them short, lived. A rathei g 1 busi 



ness prevents these notes being longer. 

 William Scott. 



GERANIUMS. 



of II 



best bedding geraniums, also three 

 four of the best of the i \ \ lend si 

 lion. What eol.,1 1- the variety B. 1 

 Hill? Last year Mr. Scott wrote som 

 thing about a varietj named Riehrnoi 



l'.eanl.\ - I - t li.it a new ■ not yet se 



out or an old one taken into fav 

 again'.' X. Y. Z. 



New 

 and soi 

 provem. 



zonalc 

 ill Km. 

 largelj 



cili-e] \ 



but mi 



for th;i 



varietii 



are hal 

 can be 



ders" : 



I let]. 



re annually sent out, 

 are undoubtedly im- 



varieties, splendid 



lli I be a failure in 



It is "bedding" 



is after, and here 



111011 pink: .lean Viautt, soil pure pink ; 

 S. A. Null, crimson scarlet, indispen- 

 sable; Mine. A. Chevelliere, white. 



There is also l.e Solcil, 1 think all 



improvement over that wonderful sari 

 ety. S. A. Null. It is much newer and 

 therefore ha- more vigor. Mrs. K. <;. 

 Hill i, a single salmon. \er\ free ami 



robust, with an i tense truss, very dc 



sii.ihlc. Mis. .1. M. Gaar is a single 

 whit.', very free, l-ast fall we were so 

 licited io Ian a few dozen ol I he new 

 scarlet semi-double, Tie-... You will see 

 it advertised in I he trade papers. It is 

 said Io 1... a wonderful bedder. That. 1 

 caul swear Io, but we now have it in 

 flower ami it is the most charming 

 bright scarlet of all geraniums and 

 every one of you must have it. II stands 

 oul in brightness among other /..males 

 as Jupiter does among the other stars 

 ami planets. 



Richmond Beauty is one of E. G. 

 Hill's, as it- name would imply. It is 



A- a pot planl foi spring -;iles ii al 



Freedom of flower is whai is wanted 

 in the ivy-leaved section. We use them 

 only f.n edging to vases and veranda 



boxes. The pink varieties are most in 



Glory, bright scarlet; Souv. dc ( harles 

 Turner, .hep. bright pink; .lean d'Arc, 

 white, ibove I mentioned that the ivy- 

 leaved section arc used by us only for 

 vases ami flowet box.-. < >t course, as a 

 market plant thousands are sold. Their 

 beauty sells them. 



Late Moral new- from Wasftington ait 

 nounces that the first I ... I > oi the land 



$760 without tilling. lb 

 twenty years be.n pre-emi 



