J96 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Dkcembek 28, 1897. 



open ground, enousb space being given 

 to allow for proper cultivation and care. 



Early in the fall the bulbs are taken up, 

 the largest again selecteil and replanted 

 in the borders about six inches apart, the 

 benches being well drained and filled 

 with turfy loara. In a short time flower 

 spikes will begin to ajjpear in numbers. 

 This precedent seems to be the reverse of 

 all iileas in the culture of this charming 

 flower. 1". I,. Atkins. 



Short Hills, N. J. 



HORN SHAVINGS. 



"J- T. T." asks "what are the best uses 

 for horse manure and horn shavings from 

 a blacksmith shop?" By what is meant 

 as horn shavings is the paring of the 

 horses' hoofs at the forge. The.se horn 

 shavings are considered, as a fertilizer, 

 verj' valuable for almost any plant that is 

 benefited by an organic manure. How 

 inuch to Use in a given quantity of soil 

 it is difficult to say, unless we know how 

 much of the horse manure is mixed with 

 it. Supposing it was the shavings pure- 

 ly that you procured, I would say one 

 part to ten of soil would be suflicient. It 

 should, at least for our greenhouse plants, 

 be mixed with the soil several months be- 

 fore using. None of its fertilizing proper- 

 ties will be lost, as they will be absorbed 

 by the soil to be given out again to the 

 plants. 



Its value mixed with sweepings of the 

 "village smithy" it is hard for me to de- 

 termine. If you have two or three horses 

 shod at the shop, a cigar occasionalh- 

 ought to pay for the sweepings. Theii 

 again, if you can't get it on those terms, 

 it would be cheap enough at one dollar 

 per one horse load. But the price of ma- 

 nure all depends on localitv. In the 

 country you hear of men sending hund- 

 reds of miles to a big city for carloads, 

 while a florist in a big citv gets it 

 dumped on his lot and fifty cents bonus 

 for granting the privilege. ' 



The following is an instance of what 

 sort of a fertilizer these horn shavings 

 are: Two years ago a neighboring black- 

 smith spread the sweepings of his .shop 

 on a piece of miserable clay. He spread 

 it thickly, 'tis true, and planted sweet 

 corn which grew fourteen feet high and 

 the color of the plant was almost blue. 

 In fact I have never seen such corn east 

 of the Little Miami. W. S. 



FORCING PAEONIES AND DIELY- 

 TRA (Dicentra.) 



A subscriber of the Review asks "vvhat 

 is your method of forcing the above for 

 Easter blooming. " The tree p;eonies can 

 be forced for Easter in six weeks. I pre- 

 fer to have them established in pots be- 

 fore forcing. The herbaceous pieonies, 

 wanted for their flowers onlv, could be 

 grown on a bench in six or seven inches 

 of soil or in large pots. Give them seven 

 or eight weeks in the house. 



The dicentras are more easy to force 

 and make a fine decorative plant. Allow 

 .six weeks to bloom them. As Easter 

 time- their natural time of flowering — is 

 drawing near, a night temperature of 6o° 

 ■will do very well. Be on the safe side 

 and have a few days to spare. I have a 



neighbor who now has tree pseonies 

 showing color and herbaceous p;eonies 

 that are showing bud on plants that were 

 dug up in October, l)ut they will scarcely 

 be so satisfactory as those flowered at 

 Easter time, this vear .\pril the loth. 

 \Vm. Scott. 



SWEET PEAS. 



l-"roni "Joliet" comes this question: 

 "Can sweet peas be .sown now and give 

 blooms for Easter? If so, what kinds are 

 best? An answer through the columns of 

 the Review will greatly oblige." In my 

 opinion it is too late to sow sweet peas for 

 Easter bloom. They should be sown in 

 September. It is true thev make little 

 progress in the dark weather and show 

 no inclination to flower till we eet 

 bright weather. I have never tried 

 them in a rose house and believe it 

 too warm. A carnation house that is 

 kept about 50° at night is all right. 

 If sown at once they may flower 

 at end of April and you can pick peas 

 during Jlay and lune. There are seldom 

 any sweet peas picked out of doors before 

 July I, at least in our latitude. If you 

 devote a bench to sweet peas, don't give 

 them more than four or five inches of 

 soil. With too much rich soil thev grow 

 all to vine ami won't flower before the 

 Fourth of Jul V. 



White, ]iink and purple are about all 

 you want for forc'ng: P^niilv Henderson, 

 white; Blanche I'erry, pink; and Countess 

 of Radnor, will fill the bill. 



Easter Sunday is April 10. 



W.vi. Scott. 



NEW YORK. 



Among the Store Folk. 



As usual a week or ten days before 

 Christmas, the shoppers are out in full 

 force, though very few orders have been 

 given 3'et, and the retailer will not know 

 "where he is at" until about the middle 

 of the week. It seems to be getting 

 Jiabitual that the buying of flowers is 

 put off' until the last minute, so the re- 

 tailer has scarcely any idea of his wants 

 until that time, and it therefore comes 

 like a football rush. .-Ml want waiting on 

 the same time, and all want their goods 

 delivered the same time, and if is a won- 

 der to me how some come out of the 

 maelstrom witli their seven senses intact, 

 but let the customers come. I'll guaran- 

 tee they will get attention and good at- 

 tention at that, and "system" which 

 seems impracticable at other times, will 

 reap its just reward. Gentlemen, success 

 to vou ! 



I took a mental "snap-shot" at Mr. 

 George M. Stumpp's window yesterdav 

 and noted its simple and appropriate ar- 

 rangement. The front was edged with 

 selaginella, while the sides were grouped 

 with handsome Otaheite oranges, in full 

 fruit: in the center a mass of Solanum 

 Capsicastrum; to the right was a fine 

 piece of Dicksonia antarctica, stem about 

 six feet, and to the left a handsome speci- 

 men of Cibotium princeps with its large 

 spreading fronds reaching out, almost 

 forming a canopy over the whole, while 

 in tlie center of the window was a vase 



of Pyrus japonicus, its pretty apple-tinted 

 flowers giving a light and effective ap- 

 pearance. [1 might mention here that 

 this beautiful shrub forces very easily, all 

 that is necessary is to cut off some dor- 

 mant branches, place them in jars of 

 water and force them gradually. — En.] 



In the rear of the window platform.Mr. 

 Stumpp has erected a movable ''arm," a 

 simple branch of oak, that stands on the 

 floor and reaches out gracefully about 

 sixteen feet. On this are attached stag- 

 horn ferns, orchids, and other epiphytal 

 plants that at once give it a natural and 

 unique appearance. This can be turned 

 on its "axis" in any direction and can be 

 made to reach otit into the store or the 

 window or form a background for the 

 latter. 



Hanft Bros, have opened an annex for 

 their Chri.stmas trade, chiefly for the 

 handling of Chri.stmas greens and holiday 

 goods. 



I noted in the front of several stores 

 pyramidal hollies in fruit, which are 

 handsome and appropriate at this season 

 of festivity. 



A Jaunt in the Street. 



.\swasanticipated, the Creedon-McCov 

 fight over in Long Island City, did not 

 have any material effect on the flower 

 market. However, in a fifteen-round 

 liout — prices versus stock — the latter 

 won. Both are again in training for 

 Christmas, and I hope to send a special 

 report from the .seat of war next week, 

 covering all the important points; mean- 

 time the odds are a little in favor of 

 prices, the growers are giving the "stock" 

 a special "rub down" and "prices" arere- 

 cei\-ing the same attention from the whole- 

 salers before rubbing them up; the re- 

 tailers, usually interested spectators, will 

 "weigh in" the two "principals," while 

 the private customer will fonn a "fl\ing- 

 wedge" in an attempt to break down all 

 precedents, we hope, and "clean out" the 

 whole stock. 



Stock is fairly plentiful this, the early 

 part of the week, but to give prices 

 would only be misleading and there is no 

 telling where they will be by Saturday 

 next." .\11 fine grades of Beauties are be- 

 ing spoken for and cattleyas have been 

 gobbled up weeks ago. From appear- 

 ances now there will be plentv of stock, 

 though it is quite problematical at this 

 date. 



Later indications are that roses of all 

 kinds will be very scarce this week. 



Thomas Young, Jr., reports an unpre- 

 cedented number of orders for shipping 

 Christmas week. He expects the New 

 Vear trade to be equally good and is 

 making preparations accordingly. 



Seed and Bulb Trade, 



In spite of the apparent shortage in the 

 finer grade of tuberoses, several heavy 

 shipments were made to Europe last 

 week. The tuberose is still verv popular 

 there, the Inilb being used chiefly for 

 pot culture and funeral work, the short 

 summer not permitting their being grown 

 in the open, e.xcept in the more southern 

 portions of the continent. 



Mr. J. L. Schiller goes south on a mys- 

 terious visit 10 spend Christmas some- 

 where in Marvland. Is it a Baltimore 



