748 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



ICTOBEII 1. If 



plants so that the extra long stems which 

 may reach above the stakes may have 

 sonic support to prevent them being bent 

 by the action of the syringe. These are 

 usually the prime blooms and it is worth 

 an effort to have them perfect. 



With the shorter day and decreasing 

 sunshine watering will have to be more 



carefully studied and the supply regulat- 

 ed to keep pace with the slower evap- 

 oration and growth. A careful examina- 

 tion of each bench previous to watering 

 to ascertain its wants may save a deal of 

 alter trouble, which is sure to follow- 

 careless and indiscriminate use of water 

 at this season. Kibes. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Storing Cannas. 



Before the frost destroys the flowers 

 of your cannas or kills the leaves they 

 should be looked over for any that are 

 not under their correct name. It takes 

 in . spert to distinguish the many vari- 

 eties in the spring when the plants are 

 small and not in flower, and it is annoy- 

 ing to find three or four of the wrong 

 variety in a bed that is otherwise most 

 satisfactory. Label them now, while you 

 know what they are. Cannas are just as 

 well left in the ground until the tops are 

 killed, but not so late that frost enters 

 the ground. Large growers may have 

 root houses or especially constructed base- 

 ments for the wintering of these impor- 

 tant plants. The smaller grower has not. 

 I have never lost five per eent of the 

 roots when placed on boards on the floor 

 beneath a bench where the house was 

 kept anywhere from 40 to 55 degrees, 

 provided there was little or no drip from 

 the bench above. A drip on the roots 

 will rot them, and don't forget the 

 boards. They will prevent the clumps of 

 roots from starting into growth and 

 save you the trouble of frequently mov- 

 ing to prevent starting. 



Boxing Dutch Bulbs. 

 Two or three weeks ago I said I would 

 have more to say about forcing tulips. 

 etc. There is no particular reason for 

 putting off the boxing of these bulbs 

 after the middle of October, and when 

 any quantity are forced the boxing an. I 

 labor connected with it should be done 

 out of doors. I can only repeal whai 

 I have so often said: Use a box or flat 

 of uniform size. Twenty-four by twelve 

 inches and three indies deep »'■ find very 

 satisfactory. Any old soil will do. Tin' 

 soil that was used for last year's carna- 

 tions would be just the thing. Plant 

 thickly. It is a waste of space and la- 

 bor not to do so. A box the size des- 

 cribed above will hold seventy-two La 

 Reine or sixty or perhaps sixty-six Yelli.w 

 Prince, or fifty Von Sion. We fill the 

 flat full of soil without much firming 

 and then squeeze in the bulbs, which 

 leaves the top of the bulb only a trifle 

 above the top of the box. One good 

 man, with help to bring in his flats tilled 

 with soil and another to wheel them 

 away and place them on the ground 

 where they are to remain for the winter 

 will box a good many thousand tulips in 

 a day. 



Place strips of board under the flats 

 in the beds. Thoroughly soak the soil in 

 the flats and, when the water is soaked 

 in. shake over the least bit of straw or 

 or buckwheat husks will do very 

 well, and then cover with three inches 



of earth dug out from between the beds. 

 I like the beds not over six feet wide 

 and six feet between the beds. This 

 gives you soil enough between the beds 

 to cover the flats. This is all there is to 

 do for the next two months, except to 

 soak the soil above the flats every week 

 if rain is scarce. Remember there is no 

 natural moisture arising from the earth 

 beneath; the bottom of the flat prevents 

 that. While on the subject of watering, 

 don't neglect the taper Whites and 

 Romans which you boxed two or three 

 weeks ago. I have tried cellars, cool 

 basements and root houses for storing 

 these flats of tulips, narcissi and hya- 

 cinths, but they were never so good as 

 those put on the ground out of doors. 



Fre. 



Last winter the freesia was in good fa- 

 vor, and so it may be, for it is a sweet, 

 delicate flower. Some growers plant 

 them along the edge of a carnation 

 bench; others grow them in flats, and 

 some in pots. The finest, freesia blooms 

 I ever saw was last winter, and the bulbs, 

 or properly corms, were not of the lar- 

 gest size. They were planted across a 

 five-foot bench in five inches of good, 

 rich soil, a light loam. The rows were 

 six inches apart and the bulbs three 

 inches, and that is the way I shall grow 

 them in future, and plant, say 200, every 

 two or three weeks uironghout the fall 

 and winter. A great number can be 

 grown in comparatively small space. I 

 may add that the temperature of house 

 was about 50 degrees at night. 



Carnations for the Border. 



There lias been in the past, and always 

 will be. a good demand for carnation 

 plants in the spring to plant out in the 

 border to give the owner a carnation 

 blossom when he feels like it, and these 

 plants are seldom to be had in any de- 

 cent shape. You can root cuttings now. 

 They root easily and surely in the cold 

 sand and you can grow them on during 

 winter and spring and by next May they 

 can be in 4-inch pots and make good 

 flowering plants. Another way is to dig 

 up the plants in tne field that were 

 not good enough to put on the 

 benches. Plants of small or me- 

 dium size are better for this purpose. 



filled in with Strings of Smilax 



