188 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



TIN FOIL. 



American brand FLORIST FOIL— Tue stand- 

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TOOTHPICKS. 



Berlin. N. Y. 



WIRE SUPPORTS. 



Model Extension ca 

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Model Extension carnation supports; a 

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WIRE WORK. 



We are the largest manufacturers of wire 

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are manufacturers — no middleman's 

 POLLWORTH CO.. Milwaukee, Wis. 



76-78 WabaBh Av 



FLORICULTURE. 



Under the above title a paper was 

 read before a Farmers' Institute at Tif- 

 fin, O., by Mr. Lewis Ullrich, the florist 

 nf that city, and should a similar paper 

 be read before like bodies all over the 

 i ountry a vast amount of good to the 

 trade would result. Florists are as a 

 rule inclined to overlook or ignore these 

 opportunities to advance their business 

 interests. This paper is so well adapt- 

 ed for the purpose that we print it be- 

 low and if any other florist should wish 

 to make use of it in the manner origi- 

 nally used by Mr. Ullrich we feel sure 

 no objection would be made by that 

 gentleman. 



Floriculture is the cultivation of 

 plants and flowers, for pleasure or profit. 

 Plants have been cultivated more or less 

 through all the ages, up to the present 

 time, and there has been a vast increase 

 in the taste for floriculture in the last 

 fifty years. Almost every part of the 

 earth is clothed with vegetation, each 

 particular plant being adapted to the 

 circumstances and conditions in which it 

 is placed. In the tropics we find the 

 plant kingdom at the height of its de- 

 velopment, the wonderland of flowers, 

 and in the more temperate region the 

 plant kingdom is less striking and grad- 

 ually diminishes in all forms, until we 

 reach the perpetual snow line, where no 

 vegetation exists. 



God Almighty in his infinite wisdom 

 saw fit to create this great diversity of 

 plants and flowers to break the same- 

 ness and monotony that would otherwise 



in beh 

 nature 

 boundl 

 upon o 



l kin-s 



ources to bear practical!} 

 wants and luxuries. Now 



'Should the cultivation of 

 plants I"' encouraged?" Of course I 

 would say it should, being in the floral 

 business, but that would be a selfish mo- 

 tive if I could give no other reason for 

 their cultivation. 



Take a little child into the fields in 

 early spring, when the wild flowers first 

 begin to bloom. There is something in 

 thai little body that urges it to get 

 these flowers. That "something" is the 

 love for the beautiful, which God has 

 placed into nearly every heart and needs 

 only the proper condition to develop. 



As this child 



it it will 



be satisfied with the native wild flowers, 

 but will want some of those which have 

 been brought from foreign countries and 

 have been acclimated by the practical 

 florist, so as to serve man's purpose in 

 decorating home and garden. 



In passing through the country we 

 come to a fine residence surrounded by 

 a beautiful lawn. The fences are nicely 

 painted or whitewashed, everything about 

 the place is neat and orderly, no stray 

 tools lying about. The walks kept clean 

 of weeds, no rubbish growing along the 

 fence rows, the trees and shrubbery 

 nicely trimmed and kept. Prominent in 

 one place we see a bed of bright geran- 

 iums, at another, farther back on the 

 lawn, a bed of blooming French cannas 

 and at another place a bed of tea roses 

 and near by a fancy bed of coleus and 

 other foliage plants; along the fence on 

 the north side of the yard a bed of 

 annuals and other blooming plants, and 

 last, but not least, is a permanent per- 

 enniel bed which will produce blossoms 

 the whole season through, year after 

 year, from early spring until frost comes. 

 The general appearance of such a place 

 as this wnul. I suggest the occupants to 

 be persons of order, taste and refine- 



At this time a few suggestions as to 

 the proper preparations and planting of 

 such beds as are here alluded to may 

 be of interest to some of my hearers, 

 and if you will bear with me a few 

 moments, I will try and make it as plain 

 to you as I can in as few words as pos- 

 sible. 



In preparing the soil for a geranium 

 bed it is essential first to spade deep. 

 If the soil is in a poor condition a 

 good quantity of well rotted stable 

 manure spaded under is necessary, but 

 if the soil is a good rich loam it will 

 not take much manure, for if the soil 

 is too rich the geraniums will grow too 

 rank in foliage and will not bloom as 

 freely. Now when the bed is prepared 

 if you want it all one solid color, for 

 such a bed is more attractive than mixed 

 colors, don't plant any old thing, for 

 there are lots of geraniums that are 

 not worth the room they take up. Select 

 only free blooming ones. If you want 

 the bed a solid red color take any of 

 the following sorts: Heteranthe, Pres. 

 Smith, S. A. Nutt, Bruant, etc. If you 

 want it pink, any of the following : 

 Miss Frances Perkins, Emile de Girar- 

 din; if white, LaFavorite is the best. 



After the geraniums ure placed, hav- 

 ing planted them about 15 inches apart, 

 if you have chosen red, a good effect 

 is produced by planting a boarder of 

 yellow coleus on the edge of the bed 

 about 15 inches from the outer row of 

 geraniums and about S inches apart in 

 the row. If it is a rank growing coleus 

 you must keep the plants pinched back 

 so they will not gum higher than the 

 geraniums, and that thej will branch 

 out and fill up the gaps between the 

 plants, so us to make a solid yellow 

 border. 



Now as to a bed of French cannas 

 and caladiums (or Elephant Ears as 

 some call them). Both of these to do 

 very well want a great deal of manure 

 and water. These thrive best in a 

 heavy soil well fertilized. In prepar- 

 ing a bed of'this kind I advise to throw 

 out two spades' depth of soil, say from 

 18 to 24 inches deep. Such a bed is 

 usually made round and wide enough 

 so as to place the plants 15 to 18 inches 



rankest stable manure you can get, put 

 about, a foot deep in the hole you have 

 dug and framp as firmly as possible, 

 then put the soil on top of this. 



There are various ways of planting 

 canna beds, a very effective one is to 

 plant in the center a tall-growing, red- 

 blooming sort and around this a more 

 dwarf kind, blooming yellow, then out- 

 side of all these a row of Caladium 

 osciileiituui bulbs. Such a bed is very 

 inexpensive, say I 1 .,, dozen well estab- 

 lished canna plants mid one dozen Cala- 

 dium esculentum bulbs. These can be 

 procured for from $1.00 to $1.50 per 

 dozen, so that for $i.50 to $3.50 you 

 can have a showy and attractive tropical 

 effect on your lawn. The roots of these 

 can be wintered over in a good cellar 

 and you will have enough to plant two 

 or more beds another season. 



Now I will describe the preparation 

 and planting of a bed that should adorn 

 the yard of every home, and that is a 

 bed of tea roses. Something that, if 

 properly planted and cared for will give 

 you roses all summer. These should be 

 planted ill the spring time as early as 

 the soil can be worked, say in April. 



Prepare the bed about in the same 

 manner as the canna bed before de- 

 scribed, with this difference: instead of 

 using rank, strong manure, use such 

 as is well rotted to put in the bottom 

 of the bed. Be sure to select a sunny 

 spot where the water will not stand 

 around the plants in winter time. After 

 you have the bed prepared put your 

 plants on top of the bed. placing them 

 so that they are about 15 to 18 inches 

 apart all around. Now after you have 

 spared them as you want them, then 

 plant them just where they stand, dig- 

 ging a hole large enough so as to re- 

 ceive the roots without cramping them, 

 and tramp the soil very firmly around! 

 the plants, and when all are planted 

 give them a thorough soaking; by that 

 I mean not a sprinkling of water with 

 a watering can, but a thorough water- 

 ing so that the bed is soaked entirely 

 through to the bottom of the trench, 

 and after a few days they will show 

 by their growth that they have taken 

 hold of the soil. "Then they want a 

 thorough soaking every evening during 

 the summer, especially if the summer 

 should be a dry one; this is very im- 

 portant if you want lots of roses during 

 the season. The soap suds you get on 

 wash days is a very good thing to throw 

 on your rose bed. Such a bed is very 

 inexpensive. You can get the plants for 

 from 15 to 25 cents each by buying them 

 of a florist who makes it a business to 

 grow roses for cut flowers. You can get 

 large plants from the benches with a 

 clump of soil about the roots and if 

 planted at once as I advise, they will 

 go right on and bloom and never suffer 

 the least by the transfer to your garden. 



The most essential thing in rose cul- 

 ture is to plant early, firmly, and give 

 plenty of water. As to the protection 

 they need during the winter, after the 

 ground is frozen, cover with dry leaves, 

 but not enough to cover the entire 

 plants. Such a bed, if properly planted 

 and cared for, will thrive for years. 

 I know of some that have been planted 

 at different, times during the past six or 

 eight years, and are yet in good condi- 

 tion. Of course now and then a plant 

 dies, but at a small outlay can be re- 

 placed. The foliage of rose plants is 





