376 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JANUARY 



1S98. 



however, keeping them moist, shaded 

 and fairly close until root growth is 

 fairly manifest, when more airy condi- 

 tions may be given. 



Early in the year they should be 

 ready for potting off singly into 2',- 

 inch pots, using a compost of light, 

 open character made by mixing some 

 fine peat or thoroughly decayed leaf 

 mould with the loam in the proportion 

 of one to four, and a little well-rotted 

 manure may be added. When they have 

 made two or three inches of growth 

 the points of the shoots should be 

 pinched out to induce them to make 

 nice, compact bushes. As soon as they 

 break again, after the pinching, they 

 should be ready for a shift into 4 '--inch 

 pots, and from these latter they may 

 go into 6-inch pots. Syringing over- 

 head is always beneficial throughout 

 the growing period, but it must never 

 be to cause excess of moisture at the 

 root. 



By the latter part of the fall they 

 should be neat, bushy plants, each 

 shoot having set its flower buds at the 

 tip after the manner of an azalea. 

 They may now have azalea treatment, 

 iu. fact, plants introduced into more 

 heat will soon come into flower, while 

 others kept cool may be retarded so 

 you can have them for Christmas or 

 Easter. The flowers coming in close 

 heads or clusters, if it is desirable to 

 cut them the shoot must be cut as 

 well, but it may be noted that there 

 are auxiliary growth buds at the base 

 of the leaves that will break out again. 

 1 think, however, this daphne would 

 find most favor to sell as a pot plant. 



Two hardy species only occasionally 



seen in cultivation would soon find fa- 

 vor, too, if offered in pots to apprecia- 

 tive patrons, especially D. Genkwa, a 

 deciduous species from Japan, where it 

 is much prized. I find it hardy here, and 

 in a neighboring garden a group of it 

 is one of the features of the place quite 

 early in the spring. The flow-ers are of 

 a light violet blue, disposed in clusters 

 all along the shoots, and look like the 

 Persian lilac in miniature. Stock of 

 this could be raised by layering the 

 shoots of a plant in the open ground. 

 A batch of plants established in pots 

 or tubs would furnish useful material 

 for cutting, and with proper cultural 

 attention they might be kept for years, 

 as there would be ample time for the 

 plants to grow and ripen flowering 

 shoots after they had been denuded 

 by cutting the shoots off the pre- 

 vious season's growth. The flowers 

 come in advance of the leaves, and are 

 delightfully sweet scented. 



D. Cneorum is another sweet kind, 

 never exceeding a foot high, but 

 spreading out into broad masses in 

 course of years. It flowers profusely in 

 spring, and a little again in the fall, its 

 flowers being a bright rose pink color 

 and disposed in compact clusters ter- 

 minating the shoots. It can be in- 

 creased by division, as also from cut- 

 tings. Plants carefully lifted from the 

 open ground, potted up and brought on 

 with gentle warmth might be had in 

 blossom at any time during winter. 

 A. Herrington. 



Madison, N. J. 



VENTILATION. 

 In reading over my last notes I find 

 that I forgot to mention ventilation. 

 We ventilate freely in our propagating 

 house, and to a large extent regulate 

 temperature with the ventilator. But 

 there one has to be careful, for a draft 

 through the house will cause more 

 wilting than a rise above the tempera- 

 ture it is desired to regularly main- 

 tain. Further, it is important to ob- 

 serve the greatest cleanliness in the 

 sand, in the walks and under the 

 benches. Nothing should be left lying 

 around to decay, for we must never 

 forget that the condition of the cut- 

 tings, the condition in which the house 

 is kept are important factors in the 

 development of fungous diseases. If 

 that dread disease, cutting bench fun- 

 gus, appears, the affected cuttings, to- 

 gether with the sand, should be re- 

 moved from the house at once, in or- 

 der to prevent the disease from spread- 



ing. We use fresh sand for each batch 

 of cuttings as a means of precaution 

 to prevent the disease. 



Rooted Cuttings. 

 As I said before, as soon as the cut- 

 tings are rooted they should be plant- 

 ed in soil. Any delay in this respect 

 will cause the roots to become hard, 

 and the young plants pass into a stage 

 of inaction, from which it often takes 

 considerable time to arouse them. We 

 had occasion to notice this in a lot of 

 rooted cuttings we received, that were 

 planted in small pots. Part of them 

 were kept too long in the sand, and 

 had a good bunch of roots, but were 

 yellow and hard. The others were 

 rather too young to ship, for with a 

 somewhat careless packing the young, 

 soft roots were nearly all broken off; 

 at a casual glance one would have 

 thought they were never rooted. But 

 these younger, softer cuttings with the 

 broken roots filled the pots with a new 

 growth sooner than the uninjured but 

 older ones, and kept in advance of 

 them in their future growing. When 



cuttings are grown for shipping they 

 should attain a degree of hardness in 

 order to stand the packing and to save 

 the young, brittle roots from breaking. 

 When intended for flats or pots, the 

 youuger and softer the roots the bet- 

 ter, when handled by a careful per- 

 son. 



Types in Carnations. 

 Among carnations we can observe 

 different types as regards their habit 

 of growth and as to the form of the 

 flowers. To make a classification is 

 nearly impossible, as we find the habit 

 of growth and the form of bloom inter- 

 mixed. The most desirable habit of 

 growth is the one that is slightly 

 spreading, so that it cannot be called 

 compact. The strong branches stand- 

 ing firm, clothed with medium to 

 heavy foliage, assuming a nearly up- 

 right growth, but leaving space enough 

 between for the air to circulate, is the 

 type which generally has the strongest 

 flower stems, and I will mention Mme. 

 Diaz Albertini as an example. They 

 are easily managed and 'kept in a 

 healthy condition. The possible free 

 circulation of air through the branches 

 causes the plant to dry out faster when 

 wet. This is still more pronounced in 

 the extreme type of the spreading hab- 

 it, as in Daybreak and intermediate 

 varieties, such as Wm. Scott, when 

 properly supported. The reverse of 

 this is the short bushy growth of which 

 Jubilee is a good representative. They 

 have very short branches, are of more 

 compact growth and nearer the ground. 

 They are the nearest approach to the 

 original garden or hardy carnation, 

 from which our present varieties have 

 sprung. 



None of the different forms or size of 

 bloom are to be found in any one type; 

 neither is fragrance, strong or weak 

 flower stem, sound or bursting calyx, 

 shy or free blooming qualities. But it 

 indicates much how they produce their 

 blooms as to time, whether they come 

 in crops or whether their time of 

 blooming is evenly distributed over the 

 whole season, being in the latter case 

 continuous bloomers. The closer the 

 type resembles the original or garden 

 carnation, with its one crop lasting 

 only a short time, the oftener we find 

 the cropper, as for example. Brides- 

 maid. While on the other hand, the 

 more spreading habit represents the 

 continuous bloomer, like Wm. Scott. 

 Most of those which we call continu- 

 ous bloomers come also in crops, but 

 their crops are so extended in time, the 

 period of the going out and coming In 

 of the new crop being so closely linked 

 together that is is scarcely perceptible, 

 but it is very noticeable in the quality 

 of the flowers. The only variety com- 

 ing to my notice that absolutely does 

 not show any cropping, that furnishes 

 an even quality and quantity of blooms 

 during the whole season, is Mrs. Geo. 

 M. Bradt. 



Now as to the value of these different 

 types to the grower, the quality and 

 the quantity of the blooms will decide 

 their value. A cropper is only of 

 value to the grower situated near a 



