914 



The Weekly Florists'' Review. 



MAY 12, 1S9S. 



the regularly spaced leaves of P. cela- 

 tocaulis lying flat against the wall, be- 

 ing shown on the right. 



Other prominent feature.s in the pict- 

 ure are the beautiful specimens of 

 Polypodium subauriculatum suspended 

 in a basket from the roof, the Ihxu- 

 riant growth of which gives a good 

 idea of one of the most beautiful bas- 

 ket ferns, and the thrifty and well- 

 grown example of Calathea zebrina in 

 the foreground. Several aroids. 

 dracaenas and other foliage plants oc- 

 cupy the base of the picture, and a 

 careful examination reveals Mr. Strom- 

 back, who is almost hidden behind the 

 large calathea referred to above. 



In addition to the plants noted, some 

 of the ficus are well adapted for cov- 

 ering walls. F. stipulata and its va- 

 riety minima, and also F. barbata be- 

 ing especially good for this purpose, 

 their .growth being rapid and the 

 foliage having but little attraction for 

 insects. 



Piper porphyrophylla is another 

 good subject for such use. its growth 

 clinging closely to the wall, and its 



large, velvety leaves of dark green, 

 marked with pink, being singularly at- 

 tractive. From the fact that the plants 

 to which reference has been made are 

 natives of the tropics, it will be readily 

 understood that a warm house and 

 abundant moisture in the atmosphere 

 are among the essentials to success in 

 this kind of gardening, and frequent 

 syringing helps much in establishing 

 the plants upon the wall. Shading is 

 also required throughout the greater 

 part of the year, and especially so if 

 the wall to be covered happens to face 

 the south. 



Clean young plants only should be 

 planted for wall covering, it being 

 practically impossible to eradicate 

 such insects as scale and mealy bug 

 when once established among the 

 climbers on the wall, and if such an 

 unfortunate condition should be dis- 

 covered, the only true remedy would 

 be found in tearing the whole ar- 

 rangement out, thoroughly cleansing 

 the wall and woodwork and then be- 

 ginnin.g over again. T. H. 



Feeding. 



Perhaps it is early yet to talk about 

 feeding ■"mums." but last year one 

 florist I know began to feed his plants 

 with liquid manure in May. His re- 

 sult did not make any great stir in the 

 exhibition world, and this year he will 

 use more judgment and less manure. 

 The mum is universally conceded to 

 be one of the grossest of feeders, and 

 in consequence the man that is start- 

 ing out for the first time to grow ex- 

 hibition flowers often makes a great 

 mistake by beginning to feed long be- 

 fore the plants need it. What is the 

 result? The plants grow very rapidly, 

 but the growth is of a soft, long-joint- 

 ed, sappy nature, the tissues of the 

 stem never solidify, and firm, well- 

 ripened wood is an impossibility. It is 

 a fact that fine flowers were never yet 

 cut from plants that had been rushed 

 up seven or eight feet high in about 

 six weeks; the wood must be mattired. 



When filling the benches, use good 

 loam, full of fibre, with a liberal 

 sprinkling of wood ashes and a little 

 bone mea! mixed through it. It the 

 benches are planted in June, this will 

 carry the plants along without any 

 feeding at all, till they show the bud, 

 all other details of culture having been 

 properly attended to. Then, when the 

 bud is taken, feeding can be indulged 

 in to almost any extent, with the cer- 

 tainty that it is going where it will do 



the most good, namely, into the fut- 

 ure flower, and having a sound basis of 

 healthy, naturally grown wood to 

 work on. Fertilizers at that time on 

 such plants can be calculated to be 

 three times as effective as they will be 

 on plants that have become gross and 

 bloated from early feeding. 



We are not in sympathy with the 

 idea of mixing a lot of crude manure 

 with the soil. We prefer to use it 

 later in the season as a mulch when 

 the bench is full of roots. That is the 

 time when it is beneficial. If the soil 

 is heavy and deficient in fiber, a little 

 old mushroom bed manure benefits it. i 

 Of course, no hard and fast line re-' 



I garding feeding can be laid down; the 

 grow'er, if he is interested in his work 



i and is in sympathy with his plants, 

 feels rather than knows when they 

 need a stimulant. It may be that a 

 yellow tinge shows in the leaves as a 

 danger signal that digestion is not as 

 it should be; then the water supply 

 should be decreased and a little tonic 



! of nitrate of soda administered. In a 

 hundred ways will a plant show an ob- 

 servant and inquiring mind if it is 

 happy in its surroundings, ways that 

 are learned more by experience than 



j anything else. 



The great trouble is that we get into 

 a rut and from year to year add our 

 fourth or sixth part of cow manure 



j to the soil without questioning 



' whether it's right or wrong. By using 



proper care we have grown exhibition 

 flowers in soil innocent of even the 

 faintest trace of manure at planting 

 time. Some growers claim that by the 

 use of chemical fertilizers natural ma- 

 nures can be dispensed with altogether. 

 It may be so. though it always seemed 

 to us that best results were obtained 

 where both were used, alternating 

 from one to the other, thus giving the 

 chemicals a chance to work on the 

 manure, making its good properties 

 soluble and in a condition to be taken 

 up immediately by the plant. 



We will refer to this question of 

 feeding later on in the season, but if 

 you are a beginner and feel tempted 

 to use very rich soil, our advice is. 

 don't do it. C. TOTTY. 



WISTARIAS FOR FORCING. 



One of the most pleasing novelties 

 as a florists' plant that I saw amongst 

 the great displays of flowering plants 

 in the stores at Easter was the Wis- 

 tarias, in neat bushy specimens about 

 .'! feet high, adorned with several of 

 its characteristic long, pendulous 

 sprays of purple-blue flowers. Wis- 

 tarias, as flowering vines for covering 

 w'alls or any bare structure about the 

 home, have been popular for many 

 years, but the beauty of these forced 

 plants serves to "point a moral and 

 adorn a tale" by showing that whilst 

 we scour the world for something new 

 to offer, there are scores of available 

 plants about us quite as well adapted 

 to use and more likely to And favor 

 from personal knowledge of them and 

 associations therewith. 



Possibly the wistaria best adapted 

 for pot growth and forcing is the 

 native American species W. frutescens. 

 it being of a more bushy habit of 

 growth than its Japanese relatives. A 

 stock of it could be easily and cheaply 

 raised from seed which it ripens freely 

 in the open air. and the seed sown out- 

 side in spring will germinate readily. 

 Given good cultivation in well en- 

 riched ground, the plants should at- 

 tain a useful flowering size in two or 

 three years, and beyond keeping them 

 clean, the attention needed would be 

 small. 



The aim of the grower should be to 

 secure the formation of flowering 

 spurs, that is, short side branches, and 

 to encourage this, gross growths that 

 manifest a tendency to run away from 

 the balance of the plant should be 

 pinched two or three times during the 

 growing season. 



When plants of a desirable size h.ave 

 been secured, they could be lifted and 

 potted in the fall and given ordinary 

 forcing conditions, which for this 

 plant need not be extreme, as being 

 naturally precocious outside, it will 

 quickly respond to the stimulus of 

 forcing conditions under glass. The 

 blue and pure white forms of Wistaria 

 japonica are just as amenable, and 

 more beautiful still, having much 

 longer racemes of flowers. They, too, 

 can be increased from seed or by lay- 

 ers, and systematic stopping of their 



