682 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



MATiCH 24, 1898. 



plants. The stringing tor the support 



of the shoots and flowers is well shown 



in the photographs, especially in plate 



II. The inverted V shaped wire 



netting supports which rest upon the 



soil between the rows of plants are 



not, however, quite so well shown in 



the photograph, being obscured by the 



foliage of the p'ants. This is by no 



.■ means the most insignificant part, for 



■J., they serve not only to keep the lower 



foliage of the plant from contact with 



the soil, and admit air, but also afford 



- . an easy method of applying water to 



the soil without wetting the foliage. 



Not the least interesting feature 



about the place at this time is Mr. Dor- 

 ner's seedling house, in which several 

 hundred varieties are being carefully 

 studied. Mention might also be made 

 of the propagating house, which is now 

 being pushed to its utmost, in order to 

 fill orders for rooted carnation cut- 

 tings. It is needless to say that every- 

 thing about the premises and green- 

 houses betokens thrift and cleanliness, 

 evidencing the fact that the firm of 

 Dorner & Sons Co. attend to the minor 

 details of their business as well as to 

 that of the larger ones. 



WM. STUART. 

 Exp. Station, Lafayette, Ind. 



Correction. 



In my notes under this head of two 

 weeks ago, I remarked that to bring in 

 lilies and other plants just right for 

 Easter you would have to resort to 

 forcing, retarding and maneuvering. 

 Unfortunately it got into print to read 

 "manuring." Holy farmer, I trust those 

 that do me the honor to read my lines 

 will not think me guilty of using by in- 

 tent such a mis.-ipplied word. The word 

 maneuvering is just what I meant and 

 fills the bill exactly, while manuring is 

 both senseless and misleading as ap- 

 plied at this late date to any Easter 

 crop.5. Perhaps it was the editor's 

 fault, but the original sin lays at the 

 door of an old man whose feeble pen 

 wags in uncertain characters. 



Azaleas. 

 Anything that can be said now about 

 Easter crops will be of little avail: still 

 to use that word once more, quite a 

 little maneuvering can and will be 

 done. The mild, beautiful and unprec- 

 edented weather that we have had 

 since the first of the mouth has upset 

 all calculations. Hyacinths are flower- 

 ing outside almost, and if they are 

 brought into the greenhouse by the 

 28th or 29th of this month they will be 

 in ample time. Azaleas have come 

 along much faster than we wished or 

 expected. This is particularly the 

 case with that well known sort, Ma- 

 dame Van der Cruyssen. We are re- 

 moving them to a cool, light cellar 

 and placing them so they can be care- 

 fully and properly watched for water- 

 ing and tissue paper thrown lightly 

 over them. You will notice that Van 

 der Cruyssen has far more flowers 



than the plant can well develop with- 

 out being sadly crowded. When remov- 

 ing them to the cellar, or if you don't 

 have that convenience, beneath a 

 bench in n cool house, you can pick off 

 the flowers that are now expanded. 

 They never will be missed, there are 

 plenty more to come, and you will be 

 giving them a good chance to develop; 

 otherwise the open flowers may rot 

 and injui-e those to come. , . 



Lilies Acacias. 



The wonderful weather has brought 

 Harrisii lilies along a little previous, 

 but has also helped longiflorum to get 

 there In fine shape. I would not remove 

 any lilies to a very cool, shaded house 

 until the earliest buds are about to 

 open, then they can be as cool as yoa 

 like. With the glass shaded, ventilat- 

 ors open day and night, if possible, 

 and only enough fire heat to keep 

 dampness out, you can keep lilies, spi- 

 raeas, lilacs and other plants about 

 standing still. The beautiful Acacia 

 armata, of which there were fine plants 

 imported last fall, is with us a trifle 

 early, although kept very cool all win- 

 ter. They can be kept near the freez- 

 ing point, but should not be damp, or 

 their beautiful little globular flowers 

 will decay. 



Hydrangeas. 



If your hydrangeas are well ad- 

 vanced in bloom, two weeks In a cool 

 house will harden them up and help to 

 make them more satisfactory to the 

 purchasers. If you sell any of these 

 forced hydrangeas, it will be good for 

 your reputation if you will attach a 

 ticket to each, reading: "Please water 

 this plant every hour while awake." 



Pansies. 



The advice I gave some weeks ago 

 about lifting pansies from the bench 

 and putting half a dozen in a 6 or 7- 

 inch pan has turned out with me very 

 satisfactory, and they will be" attrac- 

 tive and sell well. Don't let the flow- 

 ers remain on a pansy plant; it does 

 not last long, so keep the flowers 

 pinched off till within ten days of 

 Easter; you will have more when you 

 need them. 



Alternantheras. 

 It is a good time now to propagate 

 that high-colored little plant, the al- 

 ternanthera. If you have an abundance 

 of old plants, you can tear them to 

 pieces; every piece with the slightest 

 bit of root attached will make a plant. 

 But if you wintered them in flats, 

 propagated in August, you can now put 

 in the tops, and by the time they are 

 ready to pot off from the sand, it will 

 be time to have some hot-beds to re- 

 ceive them and the plants from the 

 flats. A hot-bed is the only place to 

 grow the alternanthera. 



Tuberous Begonias. 



It is now time to put your main lot 

 of tuberous-rooted begonias in flats in 

 a couple of inches of sand, or what I 

 prefer, an inch of sand on top and an 

 inch of rotted manure below. By the 

 middle of April they will be large 

 enough to pot, and a mild hot-bed is 

 the place for them. They will then 

 have six weeks to grow, and the last 

 two weeks the sash can be removed, 

 which makes the proper conditions to 

 prepare them for the flower bed. 



Herbaceous Plants. 



If you grow herbaceous plants and 

 your customers want any, dan't delay 

 planting after the ground is dry. Most 

 all our well-known plants of this kind 

 put up with very rough treatment, but 

 remember, when transplanted, when 

 they are almost dormant, or before 

 they have made a start, they will 

 scarcely feel the change at all. And 

 don't spare the labor to dig deep and 

 manure heavily. I have oceasion to 

 remove and give more room to several 

 hundred paeonias. The ground is 

 stirred one foot deep, and all the ma- 

 nure I can possibly work in, and the 

 paeonias will be planted four feet apart 

 each way. All herbaceous plants 

 should have this liberal treatment, not 

 all, of course, needing as much room. 

 We call these herbs perennial, which is 

 near enough, but they are far from be- 

 ing perennial as is an cak tree, and 

 every few years want lifting, dividing 

 and new earth and surroundings. If 

 not, they get exhausted and dwindle 

 away. 



The perennial phlox is one of our 

 best herbaceous plants, although I am 

 sorry to say not of great use w'hen 

 cut, dropping the petals sadly. I have 

 been told by one of our best known and 

 widely respected florists that the 

 Frenchmen grow the phlox as a pot 



