194 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Decembek 23. 1S()7. 



public, the judging is completed, the 

 prize cards are affixed, and the prudent 

 judge, if at all apprehensive, has left the 

 town. W. T. Beli,. 



MISCELLANEOUS SEASONABLE 

 HINTS. 



When these lines reach the reader 

 we shall be all too busy to stud}- any 

 hints, but will soon lie cleaning u]) the 

 houses for a new start. Remember to 

 save enough of several things for your 

 ne.xt year's supply. I refer to plants 

 that you are liable to sell clean out of or 

 cut 3'our entire crop for Christmas or 

 latest at New Year's. 



Stevia Serratifolia. 



Stevia .serratifolia, commonly called 

 sweet stevia. is most useful just now, but 

 it is sure to all go within a week or two. 

 Save a few old plants cut down within 

 six inches of the ]iot and keep on some 

 cool bench as you would chrysanthe- 

 nuims. March is plenty early enough 

 to propagate it. 



Begonia Incarnata. 



The begonia which we call incarnata 

 grandiflora is also very likely to be cut to 

 pieces before the holidays are over. To 

 have a good stock of this you must not 

 stand the plants down bv the path and 

 expect to get good cuttings. There is no 

 hurry in propagating them. It is strange, 

 but they root more readily in May than 

 they do in February, \vhen we have a 

 brisk bottom heat. 



Harrisii Lilies. 



It may pa\' to keep for summer plant- 

 ing the bulbs of Harrisii lilies of those 

 you have cut at Easter, but it will never 

 pa)- to bother with these earlv forced 

 ones, so out with them as soon as you can 

 to make room for other crops. 



Maiden Hair Ferns. 



Maiden hair ferns that have been cut 

 down, and it pays best to pretty well 

 clear them off, not pick fronds here and 

 there, making all a shabby lot, can be 

 moved to a cooler house. Thev should 

 be kept rather on the dry side" till the 

 young crop of fronds are showing a good 

 growth. This is also an excellent time 

 to thoroughly clean them of 'their worst 

 enenn-, the slugs. 



Stnilax, 



I have reminded you before to be care- 

 ful about a smilax bed when denuded of 

 its growth, especially when the strings 

 are not well ripened. I have seen thous- 

 ands of smilax killed by a deluge of wa- 

 ter with no top to use it up, and the 

 fleshy roots will have an odor like a rotten 

 potato. If the roots of the smilax are 

 showing on the surface, which they often 

 do, it is just the time to put on a mulch- 

 ing. An inch or more of loam and cow 

 manure in equal parts is good for the 

 purpose. 



Centaurea Gymnocarpa, 



There are not many seeds to sow for 

 the next month. If \-ou grow Centaurea 



gymnocarpa (dusty nnller). you can 

 sow it soon after New Years, the slower 

 and cooler it is grown the more satisfac- 

 tory it is for any purpose. It wants to 

 be in that condition when planted out 

 which florists call "hard." It is seldom 

 seen in flower gardens uow-a-days, but 

 for vases or veranda boxes, is very useful. 



Lobelias, 



You should propagate lobelias from a 

 few plants lifted, but if you did not do 

 that, then sow soon, for thev' are slow to 

 make pl.-mts that are of a useful size. 



Tulips. 



The tulips that were brought in early 

 in this month have proved but a very 

 limited success and I hear of others in 

 the same condition. Every week makes 

 a difference and by New Year's you can 

 bring in any of the early tulips and nar- 

 cissus. For all the month of January 

 you will want a heat of 70° to So° and 

 keep a shade over them. Yon can now 

 bring in La Reine, Vermillion Brilliant, 

 Proserpine, Yellow Prince, or Chrysolora 

 tulips and Von Siou narcissus and be rea- 

 sonably sure of a medium stem and good 

 flower. 



Azaleas. 



I will remind you once more that about 

 now and for two weeks to come you must 

 keep the young growths that surround 

 the flower buds on azaleas rubbed off or 

 they will exhaust the buds, which will 

 shrivel up and you will have a green bush 

 instead of a flowering bush. Sorts like 

 Madame Van der Kruyssen, which are 

 rather eaily to flower, can be kept but a 

 little above the freezing point, while late 

 varieties like Emperor de Brazil will be 

 about right in 50° at night. 



Easter. 



Some weeks ago I was asked what date 

 Easter came on next year. Strange to .say 

 from several sources I was unable to find 

 the information. A few days since I 

 struck a man getting up calendars and he 

 could tell me the date of Easter in 1999. 

 Few of us are interested a century ahead 

 but florists are much interested in Easter 

 of '98. Easter .Sunday is April 10, slightly 

 earlier than the average of years. 



Bermuda Lilies. 



Last year for the first time in many 

 years I reckoned wrongly on the earline.ss 

 of a large lot of Bermuda lilies and had to 

 do a lot of forcing the last few weeks and 

 then with many too late. I hope I mis- 

 lead none who are kind enough to 

 read the hints, which are most 

 sincerely meant. Be on the safe side. 

 It is difficult to give advice on this sub- 

 ject, but I would say that a strong lilj- 

 that is now nine inches to one foot above 

 the pot should be in a night temperature 

 of not less than 55°, with plenty of light. 

 You would think that the average custo- 

 mer woidd prefer a lily with two open 

 flowers and five buds to one with six open 

 flowers and only one bud to open, but 

 with the great majority it is not so. With 

 most of our customers it is the eye that is 

 appealed to with little exercise of brains. 

 W. Scott. 



OUR GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



No. 3. 



Every subscriber is requested to sen 1 

 his photograph for use in our general in- 

 troduction, but please do not send us 

 photos that nmst be returned, as we have 

 to cut them in arranging in the groujSs. 



5o. Thomas Young, jr.. New York. 



61. Wm. C. Smith, Philadelphia. 



62. Peter Reiuberg, of Reinberg Bros., 

 Chicago 



63. Elmer D. Smith. Adrian, Mich., 

 secretary Chrysanthemum .'-ociety of 

 America. 



64. I'". Lehnig, Hackensack, N. J., 

 president New York Market Florists' As- 

 sociation. 



65. J. J. Beneke, St. Louis, Mo. 



66. Alex. Rennie, with W. W. Potter 

 & Co., Providence, R. I. 



67. T. J. Clark, of Houghton & Clark, 

 Boston. 



68. R. L. Ridgely, Park Commission- 

 er, St. Louis, Mo. 



6g. Milburn P. Ward, of J. M. Ward 

 & Co., Salem. Mass. 



70. John F. Rupp, Shiresnuiutown, Pa. 



71. F. E. Palmer, Brookliue, Mass. 



72. Henrv Ostcrtag, St. Louis, jVlo. 



73. W. C' Kaber, La Porte, Ind. 



74. James Uuinu, Brookliue, Mass. 



75. A. W. Hoyle, Spencer, Mass. 



76. G. W. Brown, of Brown & Hershey, 

 P'airhope, O. 



77. Samuel Pepper, Belvidere, 111. 

 7.S. H. H. Cadwell, Decorah, la. 



79. W. S. Davis, of A. B. Davis iV: 

 Son, Purcellville, Va. 



80. Wm. Freytag, manager of Jacob 

 Freytag's retail establishment, Milwau- 

 kee, Wis. 



81. C. W. Wors, St. Louis, Mo. 



82. Theodore Koss, MiUvaukee, Wis. 



83. D. Corbin, Philadelphia, Pa. 



84. Samuel C. Moon, Morrisville, Pa. 



85. Charles A. Hunt, Terre Haute. 

 Ind. 



86. George Reinberg, of Reinberg 

 Bros., Chicago. 



87. John Meyer, Jeffersonville, Inil. 



88. Charles J. Hewson, Buffalo, N. Y. 



89. Miss Ella Kaber, La Porte, Ind. 



90. Frank Ellis, manager Mound City 

 Cut Flower Co., St. Louis, Mo. 



gi. F. H. Houghton, of Houghton & 

 Clark, Boston. 



92. O. E. Carr, of M. L. Carr & Sons, 

 Yellow Springs, O. 



93. Robert Warrington, Stamford, 

 Conn. 



94. James Macfarlaue, Madison, N. J. 



95. P. D. Gatton, with S. J. Renter, 

 Westerly, R. I. 



EUCHARIS AMAZONICA. 



I am pleased to see in the initial num- 

 ber of the Florists' Review the interest 

 Mr. Samuel Murray is taking in the 

 cultivation of the beautiful .\mazon lily. 



I herewith outline briefly the somewhat 

 novel method of culture adopted by Mr. 

 Alfred Allum, Newburg, N. Y., for flow-er- 

 ing the Eucharis amazonica in winter. 

 The plants are grown on benches, as is 

 done by Mr. Murray, but with this differ- 

 ence: In tlie spring, or about June, the 

 bulbs are removed from the benches, the 

 strongest selected, and planted in the 



