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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



APRIL 21, 1S9S. 



Cannas and Caladiums. 



You should not lose a ilay. now. in 

 getting all of these into 4 and 5-inch 

 pots. Much room has been saved for 

 the past two months b.v having these 

 in flats, crowded together and growing 

 in some light, rich soil. We are tear- 

 ing them apart and putting the strong- 

 est cannas in 5-inch and others in 4- 

 inch pots. The caladiums must have 

 at least a 5-inch, for they are great to 

 root. There is an annual increase in 

 taste for bold or sub-tropical garden- 

 ing, in which cannas take a leading 

 part, and you are not likely to be over- 

 stocked with them. Remember that 

 coarse as the caladium is. it is truly 

 tropical, and will not grow unless kept, 

 warm. The canna will grow moder- 

 ately in a lower temperature. Papa 

 cajina is a grand variety and no longer 

 expensive: all should have it. 



Chrysanthemums. 



You should endeavor to put in a 

 large batch of cuttings just now. With 

 the help of fire heat, and daily water- 

 ing of the sand they will root very 

 quickly. Cuttings rooted now will 

 make just the plants to put on the 

 bench the middle of June to make 

 your plants for lifting in September 

 for pots, but what is of more conse- 

 quence they will, if kept growing, oe 

 fine plants to put on the benches at 

 the end of .June for your main crop of 

 flowers. If you have a nice lot of 

 Bonnaffon or Jerome Jones propagated 

 two months ago. as they should have 

 been, and they are growing strong. 

 don't pinch them, because the tops 

 would make "such nice cuttings." Let 

 them grow, and even if you have to 

 put them into 4-inch pots for a month, 

 it will p.-iy you over again. You should 

 manage to get the two varieties men- 

 tioned, also Ivory and Mme. Bergman, 

 planted by the middle of May, it you 

 expect or want to get Al flowers, with 

 good stems. Young chrysanthemums 

 that are in 3-inch pots will do very 

 well in a cold frame, far better than in 

 a close, stuffy house. 



Asparagus Plumosus and Sprengerii. 



Several weeks ago I advised the sow- 

 ing of both of these. Sprengerii is 

 one of the most useful plants we have; 

 its beautiful fronds or branches are 

 going to considerably affect the de- 

 mand for Maiden Hair ferns; then 

 again, it is so durable and adapts it- 

 self to a bench, a pot. or a hanging 

 basket. Plumosus has proved this 

 winter -with us of the greatest value 

 as a plant for fern dishes. So well is 

 it adapted for that purpose and so 

 satisfactory to the purchaser, that we 

 have been frequently asked of late to 

 refill a fern dish with a Cocos Wed- 

 deliana and nothing else but A. plumo- 

 sus. They are bushy little plants, 

 sown last July, but to have them of 

 useful size in November they should 

 be sown not later than this date. If 

 one-third of your stock of small planfs 

 for ferneries is composed of Asparagus 



plumosus nana, you will be fortunate. 

 Where the nana comes in I don't see, 

 as it would grow thirty feet high, if 

 allowed, and does in the lofty houses 

 of Mr. Wm, Elliott, 



The Use of Hot Beds. 



Some readers may think it's rather 

 late to talk about hotbeds, but it's not. 

 It would be to start growing cucum- 

 bers or lettuce, but for the next five 

 or six weeks it's just the place to in- 

 duce a healthy, free growth on many 

 plants; it is the genial warmth that 

 the roots get when plunged, or the 

 ammonia in the atmosphere — most 

 likely both. Certain it is that many 

 plants will grow with more freedom 

 and vigor than it is possible to obtain 

 in any greenhouse with the greatest 

 care. 



Here is a list of what we are just 

 now plunging in three or four inches 

 of soil on top of eighteen inches of 

 stable manure, evenly and firmly 

 made: Tuberous rooted begonias, that 

 were started in flats about five weeks 

 ago; just the place to prepare them for 

 bedding out at end of May; some tube- 

 roses that were also started in fiats 

 several weeks ago. and which you will 

 be asked for at bedding-out time; the 

 variegated and bronze geraniums; al- 

 ternantheras of all kinds, the only 

 place for them; mignonette, three lit- 

 tle plants in a 3-inch pot; they are al- 

 ways wanted; lemon verbena, sweet 

 alyssum (of course, only the double), 

 verbenas, rose geraniums, ageratum, 

 and others, 



I don't approve of putting the zonal 

 geraniums in a hotbed: they make 

 such a rank growth that although at- 

 tractive enough to your confiding pa- 

 tron, are very liable to stand still 

 when bedded out later on, and that 

 would redound to your discredit. These 

 homely structures are not only a help 

 to the plants, but give you much more 

 bench space, so scarce an article till 

 you begin to bed out. 



An Omission. 



My notes last week were w'ritten un- 

 der an exuberance of animal and men- 

 tal spirits, produced by the charming 

 weather of Easter, and were very in- 

 complete, I started to say something 

 about mignonette, but never reached 

 it with my pen, A friend was kind 

 enough to make very fiattering men- 

 tion of it in a contemporary. Cer- 

 tainly I have never grown anything 

 that pleased me more, but there were 

 only a few score of them— 500 would 

 have about filled the bill. It is a long 

 way off preparing for them, yet they 

 were a long while growing, and must 

 be. to do them right. A friend remark- 

 ed to me; "Seventy-five or even fifty 

 cents was a mighty good price to get 

 for a 4-inch pot of mignonette, but 

 they took a long time to grow." Not 

 any longer than we give to a geranium 

 — from September to perhaps June 1 — 

 and then are doing well to get $12 per 

 100. The seed of this mignonette was 

 sown the middle of August, and when 



large enough, carefully potted into 2- 

 inch pots. In December they were 

 shifted into 3-inch, and the midtfle of 

 February into 4-inch. They were 

 pinched several times, the last time at 

 the last shifting. The whole secret 

 was a low temperature. They were 

 never out of a violet house till sold. 

 You could grow them in half the time 

 with more heat; tnen they would be 

 drawn up and useless. They were about 

 8 inches high and 10 inches broad, Th; 

 variety was obtained from John N. 

 May some years ago. and good spikes 

 selected for seed every season. I still 

 think it is a grand variety, and bids 

 "defiance" to them all. 



WILLIAM SCOTT. 



BALTIMORE. 



Easter Report. 



Taken as a whole, Easter trade was 

 very satisfactory. A few days of sun- 

 shine and mild weather had the happy 

 effect of opening stuff up and restor- 

 ing lost color and vigor, thus making 

 the local supply more plentiful und of 

 better quality than expected. This fa- 

 vorable change came too late, how- 

 ever, to entirely satisfy the demand, 

 and as nur market was taxed to its ut- 

 most. Washington. Philadelphia and 

 even New York received and respond- 

 ed to a good percentage of our orders. 



The retailers all did as much busi- 

 ness as they could conveniently 

 handle. Every one has reported "as 

 much, if not an increase over last 

 year's sales." 



A glance at the store and window 

 decorations confirms the fact that thay 

 never have been more tastily deco- 

 rated than at this season. The store- 

 keepers seem to have tried to outrival 

 each other in this particular. 



Crimson Rambler was the talk of 

 the town and sold well at novelty 

 prices, while laurels, ericas, acacias, 

 genistas, scores of azaleas, lilies and 

 the common blooming stuff in general 

 were as much in demand as ever. Fan- 

 cy dresses of crepe paper, ribbon, etc., 

 added much to the attractiveness of 

 these plants, and in many cases helped 

 to sell them. 



Brunners. Jacks and Meteors were 

 the red roses. Beauties, being some- 

 what poor, were not sought after. Car- 

 nations were the favorite flowers, and 

 many thousands were disposed of at 

 $1.<X> and .'fl,r>(» per dozen. Violets 

 were miserably poor. Many of ' our 

 retailers refused to take orders or 

 even to handle any, while those that 

 did are now wishing they had not 

 touched them. The chief complaint 

 was that they did not keep twelve 

 hours after picking before turning to 

 water, and were too rank for use. 



The markets on Easter Saturday 

 evening presented a sight which is 

 seldom seen outside the domains of a 

 flower show. Most of the stall holders 

 augmented their supply of stock by 

 double the usual amount. This, how- 

 ever, proved a well taken precaution, 

 as the streets were unusually crowded 



