The Weekly Florists' Review* 



667 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Beware of Early Frosts. 

 Already there are rumors of frost in 

 tlir northwest and we must expect it to 

 travel eastward. While our seacoast 

 cities on the east and south may, and 

 more often do, escape all frost until 

 early November, we in northwestern 

 New York rarely escape a frost at the 

 end of September or in the early days 

 of October. And I have known, in this 

 little village from which I am writing, 

 a killing frost on September 19, and the 

 remembrance of all this tells us to be 

 prepared. 



There is nothing gained, in fact, a big 

 risk is run, by resting easy and leaving 

 tender plants out of doors until you feel 

 the cold spell coming, for then they are 

 hustled indoors in great confusion. 

 Azaleas, acacias, metrosideros and any 

 of those hard-wooded plants that ynu 

 summered over out of doors should be 

 in by September 25. There is nothing 

 gained by leaving them out. That use- 

 ful plant, the sweet stevia. should be 

 lifted at once and potted firmly and 

 stood in the shade out of doors. It is 

 most valuable at Christmas and therefore 

 should be kept outside as long as pos- 

 sible, yel it does no1 want a single de- 

 gree of frost and indoors thrives in 40 

 I degrees at night. A few plants of the 



best kinds of acalypha should be lifted 

 and put under -lass. They lift well 

 . and some of them may 1"' use 

 ful for decorating, and after the holi- 

 days they can be cut down and will give 

 you cuttings of the right kind. It 

 should not be necessary to say that a 

 few plants of such things as ageratmn. 

 feverfew, lobelia, and any plant that 

 you can increase rapidly during winter 

 and spring, should be potted and taken 

 care of. A few old plants of these are 

 far better than propagating just now. 

 Salvia splendens and its improved dwarf 

 varieties make a splendid show if lifted. 

 and the flowers are often found very 

 useful after frost has cut off everything 

 outside, and the cut-back plants give you 

 the best cuttings. 



The hydrangeas are best outside for 

 some time yet, as a few degrees of frost 

 does not hurt them. It ripens the wood 

 and prepares them better for forcing. 

 In mentioning a few degrees o^ frost 

 it is well to remember that the effect 

 of, say three degrees of frost depei i al 

 together on the previous weather. If 

 we have had a few nights down almost 

 to freezing, the plant is able to endure 

 two or three degrees when it does come; 

 but if there has been no night lower 

 than, say. 45 degrees, and it has been 

 moist and the plants are still growing, 

 then a sudden freeze is most disastrous. 

 I have seen just such conditions prevail 

 and have suffered by being "off my 

 guard. ' ' 



Propagation. 



Perhaps some people still propagate 

 verbenas and petunias in the fall. Of 

 course, it is the only way to perpetuate 

 named varieties of these pretty bedding 

 plants: yet I do not think it worth do- 

 ing. You can buy seed of verbenas 

 equal to any named varieties, save room 

 and labor and have much healthier 

 plants; and the same with petunias. 



I told you in the spring to pot up a 

 few plants of lemon verbenas, lantanas 

 and heliotropes and plunge them outside 

 in a frame. Hope you have done so, 

 fur they neither propagate nor lift at all 

 satisfactorily from plants that have been 

 in the ground. A partial rest, when 

 brought in, of a month or two, and then 

 a shortening back of the wood will give 

 you cuttings that will easily root, of 

 both the lemon verbena and the lantana. 

 The heliotrope must be kept shifted and 

 growing or it will get rusty. 



Li'ies for Early Forcing. 



We put our earliest arrival of Ber- 

 muda lilies in a frame this year and cov- 

 ered with two inches of loose, decayed 

 manure, just to keep them from drying 

 out every day. They don't all start at 

 once, but as fast as the growth is up 

 through the manure the latter is shaken 

 off, and the plants brought into a bright. 



warm bench. The man who grows for 

 retail does not want them all in at once. 

 A hundred or so, which were brought in 

 two weeks ago and will be kept at (!0 

 or 65 degrees when firing is necessary, 

 should be in flower by the middle of No- 

 vember. As fast as you can select a 

 hundred that are well started bring 

 them in at intervals of two weeks. The 

 common greenfly is their greatest enemy 

 and they get so deep down into the 

 crown of leaves that it is difficult to 

 fumigate enough to kill them. So a 

 \< i . . • ik s,,] n tion of some nicotine 

 preparation must be applied to keep 

 down the aphis. 



The Dutch Bulbs. 

 The tulips will soon be arriving, and 

 if you want very early flowers you must 

 get some into flats as soon as you re- 

 ceive them. A small proportion of your 

 import order will do. The bulk can 

 wait for a month. No better place can 

 be found for the flats than out of doors, 

 covered with three or four inches of soil. 

 I shall have more to say about these 

 bulbs later on, but will just say now 

 that as soon as put in the flats they 

 must be well soaked, and unless the 

 weather is unusually wet. the soil that 

 covers the flats must be soaked once a 

 week. If the soil in the flats be allowed 

 to remain dry, little root growth is be- 

 ing made, and without roots you can't 

 force. "William Scott. 



NEW YORK'S GREAT HALL. 



The Chrysanthemum Society of Amer- 

 ica will have the finest exhibition hall in 

 the United States at its disposal for its 

 second annual show, to be held at New 

 York, November 10 to 12 in co-operation 

 with the American Institute. Arrange- 

 ments have been made for the use of 

 Herald Square Exhibition Hall, on the 

 ninth floor of the magnificent new Macv 

 building, Broadway and Thirty-fourth 

 street, where there are nearly 70,000 

 square feet of space on one level floor, 

 arched by a beautiful dome of glass. 

 The location is one of the very best in 

 the city, as all lines of transportation 

 converge at this point, and the hall, spe- 

 cially built for this class of exhibitions, 

 is reached by a splendid battery of a 

 dozen express elevators. For the handling 

 of exhibits there are two immense freight 

 elevators, each built to carry a loaded 

 truck and team. 



The premium list for the exhibition in- 

 sures a good display, for the prizes are 



Herald Square Exhibition Hall, New York, where the American Chrysanthemum Society's Fall Show will be held. 



