612 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



MARCH 10. 'S9S. 



of a lower temperature, say from 45 to 

 50 degrees, two lines of pipes in th? 

 center run may be omitted, but as the 

 cost of running these additional ppes 

 is so small and the advantage of being 



able at any time to increase the tem- 

 perature is so great, it would be ad- 

 visable to put in all the pipes as 

 shown. HENRY W. GIBBONS. 



New York. 



Pansiis. 



There is no time cf year when you 

 must keep a sharper lookout than now 

 or many things will be spoilt. There 

 is no frost in the ground and plants in 

 cold frames, particularly pansies. want 

 plenty of ventilation. We have had 

 a spell of mild, bright weather, and 

 they will begin to glow. The change- 

 alile weather has raised them out of 

 the ground, so as soon as they are dry 

 and the ground is mellow you should 

 go over them, pulling out the wetds 

 that have been certain to appear and 

 pressing the pansies back into the 

 bed. Give air to all stuff in frames 

 on every favorable occasion. 



Pelarponiums. 



Pelargoniums that were propaga'.ed 

 last September have been on a shelf 

 near the glass in 4-inch pots since De- 

 cember last and with one pinching 

 have made fine, sturdy plants. They 

 do with little water during the dark 

 days, but as the sun gets powerful, 

 want to grow. A shift to a 5-inch pot 

 will now be necessary, and if fxtra 

 strong a O-inch. Always remember 

 that a pelargonium likes a solid pot- 

 ting, and as they will be too large for 

 any hanging shelf, must have a light 

 bench. At no time do they like any 

 dampness, either on leaves, flowers or 

 roots, or in the atmosphere, or I would 

 say, not a damp house. While not 

 wanting a high temperature at any 

 time, they are easily ruined by a damp 

 period in May. if the fire heat is ab- 

 sent; particularly is this the case 

 when in flower, dampness causing the 

 petals to drop on the foliage and de- 

 cay of the foliage begins at once. 



Seed Sowing. 



The middle of the month is a busy 

 time with seed sowing in our latitude. 

 Asters, phlox, stocks, zinnias, mari- 

 golds and balsams if sown by the 15th 

 are about early enough for the general 

 crop and in right condition to sell 

 to your customers for their garden. 

 How to sow seed has been treated at 

 some length of late, both from my 

 pen and others. If you do err let It 

 be on the side of sowing thinly. A 

 bench where the temperature will av- 



erage 55 degrees at night will do nice- 

 ly for all of these useful annuals, and 

 a shading of newspapers on sunny 

 days will keep the soil from drying 

 up. Plants with roots may like an 

 almost natural time of dryness and 

 then enjoy a good watering, but not 

 so with seeds that are germinating. A 

 uniform moisture will help very much 

 to successful germination and welfare 

 of the very young plant. 



Cannas. 



Cannas that were started a few 

 weeks ago in flats and perhaps placed 

 on the hot water pipes will now have 

 grown six or seven inches high. If not 

 convenient yet to pot them, move them 

 into the light, and if not more than 

 50 degrees at night they will do well 

 enough. 



About the middle of this month we 

 start our Caladium esculentum. We 

 start them as we do cannas, placing 

 them an inch or two apart in thiee 

 inches of soil and give them the ben- 

 efit of the heat of the pipes. They 

 will quickly start by this method and 

 you will save several weeks' time and 

 valuable space on your benches. These 

 roots have got down to a very low 

 price, but don't let that induce you 

 to buy the large size because they ap- 

 pear cheap. The 2-inch in diameter 

 are large enough for any purpose. 



Lilies. 



For several years we have found a 

 good use for the Lilium lancifolium. 

 album, roseum and rubrum and a few 

 L. auratum. The most useful of all 

 is L. L. album. We have never tried 

 to force them, and if they come into 

 flower the earliest in July and a cut- 

 ting is followed along till October, we 

 And good use for them. We believe in 

 potting them in -1-inch pots as received 

 during the winter, placing under a 

 cool bench and not watering. There is 

 moisture enough in the soil to start 

 them growing, and if they do not start 

 for six weeks it is just as well. They 

 have now made a growth of five or six 

 inches, and when that far advarced 

 must have the light of a bench and 

 a shift into their flowering pots. A 5- 

 inch will flower then nicely, but we 



find when three good plants are put 

 into an S-inch they take less watering, 

 make better flowers and meet with a 

 better sale. Great quantities of these 

 lilies are cut from out of doors, but 

 they are poor samples compared with 

 those produced under glass, and the 

 lancifolium type pay best, when they 

 come in after longiflorum and candid- 

 um are gone. 



Rhododendrons. 



If you force any rhododendrons for 

 Easter they are not nearly so easily 

 started into flower as azaleas. If not 

 showing an inclination to open their 

 buds move them into a temperature of 

 00 degrees and keep them well 

 syringed. WM. SCOTT. 



BALTIMORE. 



The Market. 



Trade continues at about the same 

 pace as last week. The store windows 

 are now resplendent in a glory of 

 spring flowers. 



Messrs. John Cook and E. A. Seid- 

 weitz both presented a very tasty dis- 

 play of miscellaneous bulbous stuff, 

 which particularly caught the eye of 

 your correspondent. Good stuff is now 

 more plentiful and quite equal to the 

 demand. The wholesale prices h; ve 

 changed but slightly. 



Gardeners' Club. 



In striking contrast to last meetirg's 

 "record breaker." there was but a slim 

 attendance at the Gardeners' Club 

 Monday. February 28. Little impor- 

 tant business was transacteil and upon 

 the whole things were unusually quiet. 



Messrs. Halliday Bros, exhibited a 

 very fine specimen of Mrs. McBurney, 

 the stem being almost equal in qual- 

 ity to that of a Beauty, and measured 

 twenty-four inches long by one-fourth 

 inch in diameter. Having looked for- 

 ward to an interesting talk upon the 

 never tiresome subject of carnations, 

 we regret very much Mr. VV. P. Craig's 

 inability to be with us election night. 



Question Box. 



What are the advantages of planting 

 chrysanthemums in benches over solid 

 beds? Mr. Binder Ihcught "no special 

 benefit beyond the fact that better con- 

 trol could be had in watering." 



Does huckstering plants affect the 

 regular trade? The general sentiment 

 of the club was vo'ced by Mr. Christy, 

 who thought it did. as the class of 

 people who did that kind of business 

 were seldom reliable and in many 

 cases both ignorantly and willfully 

 misnamed and misrepresented, thus 

 causing the public to become su pi- 

 cious and to even distrust the legti- 

 mate trade. 



Name the best geraniums for bed- 

 ding purposes. Centaur, pink; S. A. 

 Nutt, red; La Favorite, white. 



To the question, "Would poinsettias 

 ever come to the front again?" Mr. 

 Pentland replied. "That their extreme- 

 ly difficult culture made it very im- 

 probable," a temperature of SO degrees 



