378 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JANUARY 



189S. 



ranging exhibitions, and holds that 

 the judging cannot Ije properly done 



unless the competing entries are placed 

 side by side for comparison. 



Dracaena Indivisa. 



One of two plants that I shall very 

 shortly sow seeds of is Dracaena in- 

 divisa. It is a plant that we find a 

 continuous use for. They do not make 

 better plants, but they sooner make a 

 good sized plant, if planted out in a 

 deep rich soil during the summer 

 months. If sown at once the young 

 plants can be put out in early June and 

 if lifted in the fall and kept growing 

 during winter will make useful plants 

 the following spring. It is a plant not 

 yet overdone, for at this moment it is 

 not easy to buy any quantity of the 

 right size. Never keep this plant in a 

 shaded, moist house, where you would 

 expect a kentia or erica to thrive. Keep 

 it warm, if you want it to grow, but 

 light, airy and not over-wet. and don't 

 overpot it. 



GrcviUea Robusta. 



The other plant is Grevillea robusta. 

 Sown now they make just the right 

 size for inexpensive decorations the 

 next winter and for vase and veranda 

 box work the following spring. The 

 grevillea does its growing in the sum- 

 mer and you always have a spare yard 

 or two of bench, but I trust not many, 

 for you should find some crop to oc- 

 cupy the benches every day in the year. 



Smilax. 



A good many times I have advo- 

 cated planting a smilax bed every year 

 and after deviating last summer from 

 my own judgment, I come back still 

 more convinced that annual planting 

 is in every way better than carrying 

 over an old bed. The strings are more 

 uniform in size, quicker to make a new 

 growth and less liable to die even if 

 they are given ignorant care. Sow the 

 seeds soon, so that on July the 1st you 

 have a nice plant in a 3-inch pot about 

 to make its second growth. By that I 

 mean the growth that will make a 

 string. If planted early in July and 

 given a night temperature of 60 de- 

 grees, you can easily get four crops be- 

 fore it is time to replant. 



Tuberous Begonias. 



It is too early to start tuberous root- 

 ed begonias for bedding purposes, but 

 a few can be started for selling in May 

 in pots. They don't all start at once. 



and instead of potting them in 3 or 

 4-inch pots, as we used to do, we put 

 them in flats of sand and place in a 

 warm house. When they have made 

 a couple of leaves they lift out with 

 all their roots and receive no check 

 when potted in 4 or 5-inch pots. I am 

 sorry to say that they cannot be com- 

 mended as a plant for a room, dropping 

 their flowers quickly; this is the con- 

 stant report. But as a bedding plant 

 they are yearly becoming more popu- 

 lar. People want a change from a bed 

 of geraniums occasionally, and we have 

 a fine oue in a bed of begonias. For 

 several years there have been some 

 grand beds in our North Park, also in 

 F"orest Lawn cemetery, and last year 

 our customers asked for them. There 

 is a notion that these begonias want 

 shade. The finest beds I ever saw 

 had not a particle of shade. It 

 is true they need more care than 

 a bed of geraniums or cannas. 

 John Thomas, the coachman-gardener, 

 cannot be allowed to hose them every 

 evening. But surely it will pay to keep 

 the soil stirred between them and a 

 careful watering once a week. Bego- 

 nias that have been grown under glass 

 for two months, especially shaded 

 glass, are by no means best suited for 

 a flower bed. -Although several weeks 

 ahead of time. I may as well give you 

 my experience with them the past 

 two or three years, and I see no reason 

 to change it. The end of March the 

 bulbs were placed in flats quite thickly 

 (one inch of sand and one inch of soil). 

 The flats were placed on hot water 

 pipes, where the heat wasn't too 

 strong. In three or four weeks they 

 had made two or three leaves. They 

 were then potted, the very strongest 

 in 0-inch, next grade in 4-inch, and 

 smallest in 3-inch. They were plunged 

 in a mild hotbed and grew like lettuce. 

 Two weeks before bedding time the 

 sashes are removed so the plants get 

 a thorough hardening off. for which 

 more of our bedding plantswouldbethe 

 better for their future welfare. These 

 begonias treated in this way were sold 

 for $1.50 to $2.50 per dozen. Surely this 

 is a better paying plant than many we 

 grow. 



Cannas. 

 It is rather early to start the main 

 crop of cannas, but of varieties that 

 vou are short of or varieties that you 



want in flower, it will soon be time to 

 get them growing. Many of them are 

 now so fine that if in bloom in May 

 you can easily persuade a customer to 

 plant a bed, which you could not if 

 they saw only the green leaves, and 

 to the humbler dwellers in a cottage 

 with a small garden their beauty ap- 

 peals, and if which is the truth you 

 can say, "Yes, ma'm. they will grow 

 large and flower continuously all sum- 

 mer." That settles it; you have made 

 a sale. Under a bench where there 

 has been no drip on them and a tem- 

 perature of about 50 degrees they are 

 wintering finely. When you do start 

 them, cut up the roots, leaving one 

 lead or eye to each. Place in flats of 

 three or four inches of sand, where 

 they can remain until they have made 

 a growth of several inches, then pot 

 into } or 5-inch pots. By starting them 

 in Hats you will save nearly a month 

 of valuable bench room and really lose 

 fewer than when started in pots. 



Geraniums. 



Geraniums that were shifted at New 

 Year's have made growth enough to 

 give a good cutting. They would need 

 stopping anyway. When you stand 

 over these geraniums, which should be 

 done with lightning speed, beheading 

 them as they pass through your hands, 

 don't expect the man that cuts their 

 heads off to reset the plants on the 

 bench. A cheaper man can do that, 

 and don't have the cutting in your 

 mind: study the plant. It is useless 

 to destroy or cripple the plant for the 

 sake of getting a good cutting. The 

 plants will not be of a uniform height, 

 and some may not give you a cutting, 

 as you have no time to go over them 

 again, so top them all, with the welfare 

 of the plant in view, and you will get 

 a uniform lot of plants that will all 

 flower about the same time. It is 

 waste of time to put the cuttings in 

 sand, and they would not make as 

 good plants if you did as those potted 

 at once into 2-inch pots. Pot firmly, 

 not by pressing your thumbs on the 

 surface, as you see too many do. but 

 get your finger down by the side of the 

 cutting like a wedge. You ought eas- 

 ily, if somebody is carrying away the 

 plants, to pot S.OOO a day of such ma- 

 terial as this. Give the cuttings a 

 thoro\igh watering and then be care- 

 ful and water only when they are dry 

 till they make roots. 



Wm. Scott. 



KENTIA DUMOINEANA. 



The palm here illustrated is com- 

 paratively rare, and probably is a seed- 

 ling variation from K. Belmoreana, 

 showing, as it does, many characteris- 

 tics in common with that species. K. 

 Dumoineana, so far as noted in a 

 young state, appears to be of compact 

 habit, and with leaves of much the 

 same graceful form as those of K. Bel- 

 moreana, but having narrower seg- 

 ments and a greater number of them. 



The leaf stalks are dark olive to 



