FEBRUARY 



1S9S. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



433 



and better for its health than a shift to 

 larger sized pot. At this, as well as all 

 tedious jobs, don't let one man or lad 

 do it. Man is a gregarious animal and 

 loves company; if lie don't he is dis- 

 eased. Let two be at it. They will 

 work, talk and be merry, and can. with- 

 out detriment to their work, either in 

 speed or quality, discuss Teller's silver 

 bill, "Helpful Reminders," or any 

 other instructive or important subject. 



Ficus Elastica. 



There is quite a dearth of rubbe s 

 just now. Ficus elastica must be used 

 somewhere in large quantities. With- 

 out doubt, it is a fine plant and we shall 

 in future endeavor to raise our own. I 

 am an earnest believer in that most ad- 

 vanced state of civilization known as 

 "division of labor." The average florist 

 had better leave to the specialist the 

 raising of young palms, ferns and other 

 things, as he does to the Dutchm:iu his 

 hyacinths and the Bernuulian his lilies, 

 but the rubbers are so easily increased, 

 if you have a few old plants, that you 

 might as well increase your stock. 

 Four or five eyes below the end of the 

 shoot make a cut. slanting upward, an 

 inch or so long, and half way through 

 the shoot: insert a little sphagnum 

 moss to keep the incision open, and 

 wrap a little of the same material round 

 the shoot above, lielow and to the thick- 

 ness of half an inch round the cut. If 

 the temperature of the house is kept up 

 to GO degrees or above and the moss 

 kept moist by an occasional syringing, 

 roots will soon appear when you can 

 sever the shoot just below the cut, and 

 you will soon have an established 

 youEg plant, %\ hich you should rol; o\ er- 

 pot when first taken from the parent 

 tree. 



Propagating. 



You should not allow a single foot of 

 your propagating bench to now lie idle. 

 The spring will soon be here, and don't 

 be found deficient on any stock for 

 which you always have a good demand. 

 This is about as late as fuchsias should 

 be propagated, and make good plants 

 for spring sales. There is santolina. 

 Begonia vernon (if not raised from 

 seed), lobelias, abutilon, vincas, coleus, 

 achyranthes, senecio, lophospermum, 

 anthericum, all of these should be 

 propagated as fast as you can afford to 

 give them room. 



Ivy Geraniums. 



Xot least in importance are the beau- 

 tiful ivy geraniums. They are as much 

 a pelargonium as any of the so-called 

 geraniums, but are very different in 

 habit. They cannot be recommended as 

 a bedding plant, for when given root 

 room go out of flower and into a vigor- 

 ous growth, but they sell in our markets 

 and thousands are used in our ceme- 

 teries as an edging to a vase or basket. 

 Hundreds of vases are filled in our cem- 

 etery (Forest Lawn), where Emile de 

 Gerardin occupies the center and a 

 semi-double ivy leaf is the entire edg- 

 ing drooper or "vine." It is demanded 

 and we must obey. Plants that we prop- 



agated in October are now in 3-inch 

 pots and will make fine (IScent) plants 

 by the end of May. Their tops will even 

 make fine cuttings and root like a weed, 

 and make useful 3-inch plants by sell- 

 ing time. Pot them in the sand, not 

 pot them as you would a zonale ger- 

 anium. 



Care in Fumigating. 



.Just let me remind you for the sev- 

 enth time that you must not fumigate 

 in a house where the young growth of 

 astilbe is now expanding. Wetting it 

 thoroughly will help when smoking. 

 Covering witli papers or cloth is bet- 

 ter, and no smoke is best of all. 



Azaleas 'Wilting. 



I also notice in florists' windows (my 

 own among the rest) beautiful plants of 

 ■Vervaeneana and other azaleas allowed 

 to wilt. It is simply want of a good 

 soaking. The clerks are prevented by 

 an abnormal development of length and 

 stiffness of shirt collar from lowering; 

 their vision to the level of the pots, and 

 the poor plants have to suffer. These 

 azaleas make no roots, at any rate tiil 

 spring, in the new soil, and a heavy 

 watering is necessary to sufficiently wet 

 the old bulb, so don't neglect. When 

 you lose a good azalea you have knock- 

 ed off the profit of at least the sale of 

 two others, W, SCOTT. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 



Cuttings. 



Cuttings may be inserted right along 

 as they are ready now, and should not 

 be left on the stock plants long enough 

 to get run up and spindly. It should 

 be remembered that when rooted, they 

 can be boxed up, and when growing 

 again they can be topped, and the stock 

 thus rapidly increased to the desired 

 Quantity. Much has been said and writ- 

 ten on the question as to whetlier cut- 

 tings should be trimmed or not. some 

 maintaining that they should not. 

 while others claim that they should. It 

 is hardly worth while arguing about it. 

 as the mum will root anyhow: but one 

 thing stands to reason, that w-hen the 

 bottom leaves are taken off and the 

 others just tipped by one stroke of the 

 knife, it adds greatly to the appearance 

 of the cuttings in the bench, and allows 

 the air to circulate between the rows: 

 thus reducing to a minimum the danger 

 of damping or fungus striking in. The 

 bottom leaves always die if left on, so 1 

 don't see why they should not as well 

 be removed first as last. 



The cuttings should not be allowed 

 to wilt down in the sun, if it is possible 

 to keep them up. Our propagating 

 house faces north and the sun never 

 strikes it at all. but where growers are 

 not so favored, the cuttings can be 

 shaded with newspapers, which should 

 be raised several inches on labels or 

 short sticks, to allow a current of air 

 to pass beneath the papers and the 

 bench. When we put in cuttings we 

 water them thoroughly, and oftentimes 

 they get no more till they are ready to 

 be taken up. We do not believe in 

 syringing them in the bench, because 

 if the house is kept comparatively cool, 

 as it should be — 50 degrees nights and 

 55 degrees days — they do not need it. 

 With this treatment, and with proper 

 cuttings, we guarantee 100 per cent ev- 

 ery time. 



Watering and syringing are in too 

 many plaies entrusted to the boy, when 

 in reality no part of the routine of 

 greenhouse work is so important. Some 

 varieties, if they get too much syring- 

 ing in the cutting bench, will lose their 

 points by damping, Mayflower being a 

 particularly bad one in this respect, 

 and as it is also with us mighty slow in 

 throwing cuttings, one cannot afford to 

 lose many. 



One thing that should be particularly 

 noted is to have the cuttings free from 

 black fly before putting them in the 

 bed, A dip in tobacco water will dis- 

 pose of them quick enough, and it pays 

 to begin like The Review did, "On a 

 clean foundation." The old plants 

 should be well dusted with tobacco 

 dust, to keep them clean, and mildew, 

 to which this vile weather has intro- 

 duced us, can be easily cleaned off with 

 sulphur. 



When cuttings are rooted, if the idea 

 is to grow them into specimen plants, 

 they should be potted up singly into 

 21-j-inch pots from which, as they fill 

 the pot with roots, they can be moved 

 into 5-inch pots. 



For ordinary work, the young plants 

 can be put into flats. This is the sim- 

 plest and quickest way, and answers 

 well enough. The soil for the first 

 shift should have a little leaf soil or old 

 mushroom bed manure mixed through 

 it. to lighten it somewhat, and encour- 

 age root action, the object being to get 

 nice, thrifty young plants, perfectly 

 healthv, without any pretensions to 

 grossness. C. TOTTY. 



JUDGING NE-W CHRYSANTHEMUMS 



I see it has been suggested that rais- 

 ers of seedling chrysanthemums be re- 

 quired to send flowers to all of the dif- 

 ferent cities where there are commit- 

 tees of the Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America. While I admit that the aver- 

 age of the judgment of the various 

 committees might be desirable, the ex- 



