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The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



FEBRUARY 10, 1S98. 



SEEDLING CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



In reply to your correspondent. H. C. 

 H., I would say that plants needed for 

 the purpose of hybridizing are easiest 

 to handle if grown in pots. They should 

 only reoeive just enough feeding to 

 keep them in good health, because 

 when plants are fed heavily to get good 

 flowers they are necessarily gross and 

 bloated and the reproductive organs 

 are subordinated to length and breadth 

 of the petals. The best results are ob- 

 tained when the plants are grown har- 

 dy, but perfectly healthy. 



Keep the best flower on the plant to 

 be retained as the seed bearer and re- 

 move all the others. Then, when the 

 flower is fully developed, cut off with 

 a pair of scissors all the petals down 

 to the stamens, stand the plants to- 

 gether that are to be crossed and keep 

 the atmosphere dry and moving. If 

 the weather is lu'lght a fine camel's hair 

 brush used on two successive days in 

 con.iunction with plenty of air will be 

 sufficient to insure pollination. In dull 

 •weather it is better to take the pollen 

 on the end of a pointed match stick 

 and touch the stamens with it. The op- 

 eration is tedious, but effective. 



After fertilization gradually dry off 

 the plant and keep in a dry atmosphere 

 till the seed is ripe. Black fly must be 

 kept away from the flower and a little 

 sulphur dusted over it is beneficial. The 

 seed can be sown in March or April in 

 nice light soil and placed in a tempera- 

 ture of 60 degrees with just a little bot- 

 tom heat. They will germinate in a 

 couple of weeks or less and the young 

 seedlings should at once be pricked out 

 and gradually hardened off. They can 

 be planted out and grown straight 

 ahead and left pretty much to shift for 

 themselves the first year. Seedling 

 mums are very interesting, but they 

 are no Klondike, and if H. C. H. gets 

 even one or two good things out of his 

 batch he is lucky; so very, very few 

 stand the test of time. How dear to my 

 heart are the "mums" of my childhood, 

 but they have gone the way of all flesh. 



Indiscriminate crossing is useless. 

 The operator should start out with a 

 definite object in view and hang on to 

 it. By the time the returns are all in 

 and the seedlings have all flowered 

 there may be nothing else left to hang 

 on to, "but that's another story." For 

 instance, let him take Bonnaffon and 

 cross it with, say Modesto, to improve 

 the color and so on. This will give 

 better results than getting two or three 

 different colors mixed up trying to 

 strike a good combination. Strive to 

 get a good pink. There is plenty of 



room for it. The better breed the pa- 

 rents the higher type should be the 

 children. Onward and upward is the 

 cry of the hybridist. C. TOTTY. 



BOUGAINVILLEA GLABRA. 



How shall I treat Bougainvillea ga- 

 bra to have it flower well'? Please give 

 both summer and winter treatment, 

 lime to prune, etc. My plant is sev- 

 eral years old and is trained against a 

 brick wall. Some branches are over 

 ten feet long, but the plant has pro- 

 duced few flowers. It is planted in a 

 small tub, temperature 60 degrees at 

 night. SUBSCRIBER. 



The natural time of flowering is in 

 June, July and August. The flower 

 proper is but an inconspicuous affair; 

 the bracts, as in the poinsettia, are the 

 gay attraction. After the bracts have 

 fallen, which is usually in November, 

 a rest by withholding water (not dry- 

 ing up, but keeping on the dry side), 

 till February will best suit the plant. 

 In February the shoots can be pruned 

 back and the weak ones cut out. Be- 

 gin to water more freely and with the 

 increased heat of spring they will make 

 growth and flower freely. It is well 

 that the plant is in a tub, as there is 

 a limit to root room. When given un- 

 limited root room they make a strong 

 growth with less tendency to flower. 

 By resting earlier in the fall and start- 

 ing earlier in winter the flowers would 

 appear as early as April and May. 



W. S. 



RATS AND MICE. 



How can I get rid of rats and mice? 

 The little field mice are particularly 

 troublesome. They climb up on my 

 carnations, bite off the flowers and 

 when the.v reach the ground chew 

 away the inside of the calyx and the 

 lower part of the petals. I have tried 

 a number of remeaies, but have so far 

 failed to succeed. N. Z. 



I have been a fellow sufferer this 

 winter with our friend from the depre- 

 dations of rats and field mice. The 

 latter are much the worst, for the rea- 

 son that the rats will eat poison when 

 tastefully and pleasantly administered, 

 but the mice prefer a diet of green 

 stuff and will only touch the poison 

 in the way of dessert. These field mice 

 are perfectly distinct from the little, 

 sharp-nosed, long-tailed rodents which 

 make a restaurant of our cupboards 

 and pantries, and which cause the pet- 



ticoated part of our family to forget 

 age and decorum and spring with agil- 

 ity to the top of the nearest chair or 

 table. I once knew an old maid who 

 ran screaming to the house if a butter- 

 fly was encountered in her walks in the 

 garden. The mouse scare is about as 

 absurd. 



The field mouse has a short tail, 

 stub nose and is much heavier than 

 the house mouse, and more resembles 

 the mole in size and habits. It prefers 

 the leaves and stems of carnations, vi- 

 olets and even lettuce, to a sardine 

 sandwich or Stilton cheese. A good, 

 cat is the best cure for rats and mice, 

 but in the absence of pussy get two 

 ounces of arsenic and thoroughly mi.x 

 it with half a pint of coru meal. Don't 

 put this in an elaborate dish tied with 

 a ribljon, but just drop a little round 

 here and there in a careless way; on 

 the edge board of the bench is a very 

 good place. It is an excellent plan to 

 put a little of the pure meal down the 

 first night in the way of a "jollier." 

 They will taste it, approve of its qual- 

 ity and eat it up, and the next night, 

 lo the end approaches. Arsenic pro- 

 duces a frightful thirst, and to use the 

 language of an old rat poison peddler 

 whose little speech has been repeated 

 ten thousand times and came out au- 

 tomatically when he opened his mouth. 

 "They eat the poison, go to the water 

 and drink and burst." Within three 

 weeks I have followed the plan recom- 

 mended and found both field mice and 

 rats dead close to where they could get 

 at water, and from their corpulency 

 they had evidently imbibed, having the 

 appearance of just departing from a 

 New York florists' smoker. W. S. 



■WATER SUPPLY. 



I want to build a greenhouse this sea- 

 son, and as I am beyond the line of 

 city water supply, I would like to ask 

 the cheapest way of heating it without 

 water. ENQUIRER. 



We would not advise "Enquirer" to 

 heat by any other system than hot 

 water or steam, and the place would 

 be too small to apply steam. However 

 small the place would be, you would 

 need water for the plants, and if your 

 hot water apparatus is properly con- 

 structed, pipes screwed together tight 

 and no leaks, it will use no more water 

 than a dozen geraniums would need 

 to keep them in good condition. Don't 

 try to heat with that obsolete method, 

 a brick flue. The cost would be as 

 much as the hot water pipes, and you 

 are always in danger of fire, and 

 would be debarred from that great 

 blessing, insurance in the "Florists- 

 Fire Insurance Association." 



When you have settled on length, 

 width, height and shape of your pro- 

 jected building, send a sketch to the 

 editor of The Review and you will get 

 up-to-date advice on how to heat it, 



W. S. 



