550 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



It would have paid you to lift your car- 

 nations and pot them any time before 

 August I'll, into about l-incb pots, and 

 then plant them on the benches jus! as 

 soon as you can after thej have rooted 

 tvell. Vimi Burely hai e a bench 

 or two thai you can spare to put the 



pots on. Tl stra work would not be 



verj great, because they will become es- 

 tablished in the puts quicker than they 

 would on the bench, and when they are 

 planted on the bench there will "be no 

 wilting, etc. They will take hold much 

 quicker from the pots than they would 

 from the field, too. You will gain al- 

 most as much as you would by planting 

 them on the benches at the time you pot 

 them. 



However, it' you have them in the field 



until the date you mention yon si Id 



ii M" 1 ■■ the blooming stems as soon as the 

 buds are well set and a few days lie- 

 fore vim plant you should go ovet them 

 and remove all those that would show a 

 bud by planting time. If the p 

 of fair size I would not top them so 

 close from now on as I would earlier 

 in the summer. They should be encour- 

 aged to throw blooming shoots from 

 now on rather than grass, but you should 

 not allow- the plants to wast.' thin 

 strength mi perfecting the blooms. You 

 ran I iy guild managing .-nt a v en fair 

 crop i if 1 ili ii mis by Christmas, but thej will 

 not be as good as they would be from 

 earlier ]. hinted stock, nor will there be so 

 main. Vmi will also lose at least a 10 

 weeks' cut and fr.nu 25 to 50 per cent 

 in quality up to March 1. Will the use 

 nf your houses for some other crop be- 

 tween August I and September 25 re- 

 pay you for this h.ss? Vou know your 

 business better than I do, but think this 

 matter over carefully before vou decide 

 to plant so late. A. F. J. Baur. 



THE FOLIAGE PLANTS. 



Rejuvenating the Stock. 



From -July to about the end of Octo- 

 lin is the season of most rapid growth 

 in this class of plants, the warm nights 

 keeping them in a state oi continuous 

 acth it y. And it is also during 

 son that the patching up of the various 

 remnants of plants that have been u- 

 for decorating is going on, an operatioi 

 that occasionally pay-- where one is 

 compelled to do more or less cheap com- 

 petitive decorating. 



An Areea hit. -eon- that has been bad- 

 ly used up by exposure to frost, 

 draughts and dusi i- -eld worth keep- 

 ing bo hospital treatment, for this palm 

 does nut easily recover from such a con- 

 dition, but there may be -nine kentias that 

 could be washed out at the roots and 

 then bunched together in such a way 

 as to produce a pa—able plant for deco- 

 rative purposes. 



I his 1 1 i.t hod of washing out the runts 

 has been frequent h described, n„. M b|eet 

 brine to remove the old soil to such a 

 degree as to permit oi planting two to 

 four p hints that may be imperfect in 

 themselves in one poi of a convenient 



size, a strong burr of w.itri re ving 



the soil without any material injury to 

 the root s. Bui the warning should also 

 be uprated that any plant that has been 

 subjected to this treatment must be re- 

 pel ted as -' . n .i- possible in order to 

 avoid drying out the routs, should then 

 be well watered to settle the soil, and 

 be placed in a shaded greenhouse where 

 frequent syringing may be given during 

 bright weather and. in short, should re- 



ceive a rational e.nu-e nf treatment tend- 

 ing to promote a new growth. 



Phoenix canariensis and other strong 



i not ing palms are - el imes gi\ en ei - n 



much more he] oic treat m I ban this, 



inasmuch that the oi n abundant roots 

 oi these palms are sometimes chopped 

 off in in der to fa. til itate i epotl ing into 

 the same sized pot they have been o 



'i,.. n g bin i his pi .i. ' i. i i- not a safe 

 one to recommend to an inexpn n in • .1 

 grower, and as a rule it is much better 

 ii"i tn i prune a palm. 



Latania Borbonica is not an easy 

 plant to kill, even though a specimen 

 that has been long used in a dwelling 

 often becomes verj shabby and may re- 

 quire some elippiii" ot the tips of the 

 leaves to remove the dead portions, but 

 this palm soon makes a fresh start dur- 

 ing the summer, and Before Thanksgiv- 

 ing may become quite presentable again. 



I'.ut if any palm should become badly 

 infested with insects and at the same 



i in- iii bad condition from exposure I 



would not advise any hesitation in re- 

 gard to the course to be pursued, for 

 such a , .l.i in should be at once con- 

 demned to the rubbish heap. 



Aspidistras are alwaj - useful to hai i 

 and if one has a few large plants that 

 . an be spared for stock put poses, it may 

 be found profitable to divide them now, 



as they will soon recover from tl pera 



t ic in and make some more leaves before 

 the plants are needed. 



A well-filled pot or tub of a-pi.li-iia 

 that has not hern disturbed for several 

 -ra-ons may be divided into a number 

 of useful plants of the 5-inch or 0-inch 

 size, and in addition to this there will 

 be found a lot of old rhizomes in the 

 soil that may be cut up into short sec- 

 tions and thus used for further increase 

 of stock. The joints are very close to- 

 gether mi these underground stems of 

 the aspidistra, and in consequence they 

 may be cut into sections about one inch 

 in length, the roots bring cut back so 

 i hat the rutting- mav h - planted more 

 . , m. iiinii l\ . I hese , lit t ings or root 

 sections are then to be planted to a 

 depth of about our and a half inches, 

 in light, sandy soil ei1 her in a bench in 

 t lie propngat ing Inm-r m in I he ilnl -. I he 

 latter lining most com enienf in many 

 plai es from the fan! that the flats ma' 

 be moved about if necessary. Nearly all 

 of the joints of an aspidistra possess a 

 dormant eye or bud. or will produce 

 our. and though the process oi growth 

 may take some months, yet a large ma- 

 jority .t these root i uttings will ulti- 

 mately grow, and as soon as I hej foi m a 

 leaf may be taken up and put into 3- 

 inch pots. 



\-|n li-tras will endure partial starva- 

 tion of their runts alnnii as long as nn 

 plant with which I am familiar, but 

 they will also respond to more generous 



1 i ml inriit. and a fail prnpm 1 it g I 



stable manure and also a sprinkling of 

 bone dust will be found highly beneficial 

 to them at the t ime oi i epotting. 



Few insects tn uble these plants, but 

 during the hot weather there maj appeal 

 some thrips upon them, if any of these 

 pests are about, but this difficult} mav 



be overcome bj v ig is ;yi inging and 



fumigation. 



Crotons. 



At midsummer there is little difficulty 

 in rooting croton tops, Ficus elastica 

 and other species of that genus, dracsenas 



and in fact any of those foliage plants 



that are commonly propagated by slit- 

 ling a -veiling gmw tb and then tying up 

 the wound in a handful of damp moss. 

 Large and highly colored croton tops 

 in. a be more easily rooted by this meth- 

 od than any other. Uie tops being left 

 i u the parent plant until the roots show 

 freely through the moss, after which 

 the nuttings are taken off and potted up 

 in puts of a suitable size. 3-inch pots 

 answering for the purpose unless the 

 rutting be from an extra strong growth. 

 The nrwlv potted cuttings should be 

 kept somewhat close for a few days, 

 and shaded from the sun until th.-v be- 



hring capable of funning good plants ill 

 6 oi ; inch pot- before < ht is1 mas. pro- 

 vided they are shifted on and given 

 proper cultural attention. The chief 

 .■--eiitials are warmth, light and plenty 

 of moisture, both overhead and at the 



1 nnl S. 



Thrips on Ficus. 



'II in 'I familiar with the ravages 



of the tin) yellow thrips on [leas aro 

 sometimes at a loss to undcr-tand what 

 i- the cause of rusty looking scars 

 on the young leaves of the 

 Reus, such evidence being quite likely 

 to appear at this season if any of these 

 troublesome insects are at work. Theso 

 injuries cripple the leave- to a greater 



side of 



apparent it would be well 



animation at. once of tin 



the foliage of ficus, the most likely tima 



in ii ml the iii-ects being in the ea;ly 



morning or else late in the afternoon. 



The insect in question is very small, 

 moves rapidly, and is whitish or yel- 

 low in i oloi . and ii ;nn are suspected to 

 i it is a good plan to give a 

 string fumigation with tobacco dust or 

 tobacco stems on two or three successive 

 ■ v . ■ 1 1 1 1 1 -j - I'm i l .1 1 syringing will also 

 t.-inl to di-hide.,. tin' thrips. but -viirg- 



ing .'I ■ vill probabl fail '■ effect n 



cure, as it is practically impossible to 

 reach all portions of a lot of plants 

 with a stream of water, and the i,ico- 

 : in,- v a por will sea i ch out tin insect s in 

 a much more thorough manner. 



YV. n. T.irr.ix. 



VARIEGATED FERNS. 

 When considering the great number of 



spi n - a ml v a i mi ii - nt fei in. it is re- 

 markable to find how few truly variegat- 

 ed forms exist. A good number are wnat 

 i iii.-il a, . nli ut ally variegated, 

 such as Pteris eretica, P. serrulata, and 

 P. palmata. in which part of the fronds 

 a] peai freely splashed with white or yel- 

 low. Such forms a • also occasionally 

 met with in the genera as] lenium, loma- 

 ria. ncphi nlcpis. etc.; but in all these 

 i-.i-e- 1 In v uric-rat imi i- not constant, not- 

 wit h-ian. ling the ran- and attention be- 

 ll them by the cultiv ator. In 

 Allium um eiincatum variegatum, the 

 character is often retained for a good 

 length of time, but large specimens are 

 seldom, it ever, seen; if only this form 

 could be grown successfully in large quan- 

 tiths it would prove an acquisition for 

 decorative purposes. The only other va- 

 riegated adiantum is A. maerophyllum 

 alb., -i i i.it um a most, beautiful plant 

 when well grown, the young tinted fronds 

 freely streaked with white, rendering it 

 pai ti.ulaily attractive. 



The pteris family contains the most 

 Useful of variegated ferns. Foremost of 



