46 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



December 4, 1902. 



The most frequent cause of splitting 

 is an uneven temperature in the carna- 

 tion houses, and it is the least excusable 

 of the lot. Sometimes it may be a lit- 

 tle unpleasant or inconvenient to get 

 up steam for a few hours, and you 

 think that a low temperature for a few 

 hours will do no harm, as the plants 

 seem to grow right along; or perhaps 

 you are busy and can't look after the 

 fire regularly, etc. There are many ex- 

 cuses to be found for such a condition 

 of things, but none of them will justify 

 the act. A temperature of 85 degrees 

 during the day and 50 degrees at night 

 will surely bring on a case of splitting, 

 so watch your ventilators during the 

 day; 60 to 70 degrees during the day is 

 about right. Robbing the plants of too 

 many cuttings at one time will often 

 bring on the same trouble, with some 

 varieties quicker than others, and you 

 should bear this in mind when you take 

 your cuttings. If you take only the 



cuttings from the flower stems you will 

 seldom cause splitting. 



You will iind in almost every case of 

 .splitting that it came about through a 

 check of one kind or another, and to 

 avoid giving your plants a check is to 

 prevent calyx splitting, if nothing worse. 

 Sonic (if our most valuable varieties will 

 split as soon as something is not just 

 right, and it pays us well to study the 

 wants of each variety and grow it ac- 

 cordingly. The first year Mrs. Lawson 

 was out most of us kept it at 50 de- 

 grees to begin ^vith, but soon we found 

 that that was too cool, because nearly 

 every calyx would split in that tempera- 

 ture during the winter, and the tempera- 

 ture was raised until most of us now 

 grow it at 54 to 56 degrees, and only 

 a few calyxes split for us now. Ethel 

 Crocker had the same experience, and 

 so did Flora Hill a few years ago. 



A. F. J. Baur. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Christmas Plant Baskets. 

 I spoke last week of some combina- 

 tions of plants for filling baskets of va- 

 rious sizes for Christmas sales. These 

 baskets are of necessity quite low, but 

 always with a handle, which gives a 

 chance for some ribbon decoration. For 

 some years I was inclined to think that 

 only in the very largest cities were these 

 baskets of plants salable, for they arc 

 expensive and cannot be very last- 

 ing, as proper care in watering can- 

 not he given. Their durability is, how- 

 ever, not worth the florist troubling him- 

 self about. They are never, or hardly 

 ever, purchased by the person to whose 

 home they are going. They are l)eautiful ; 

 they appeal to the eye and the sense of 

 beautj', and it occurs to the person 

 with the congested purse who usually 

 buys them (and it is because the in- 

 spiration moves them with that delight- 

 ful thought), "How that pretty basket 

 would delight IMrs. So and So." 



In considering any scruples that may 

 arise about their artificial arrangement 

 or fleeting time of beauty, you have 

 only to remember that they will out- 

 last a vase of roses or any other flow- 

 ers, and the customer gets a larger 

 show for his money. In making up 

 these baskets be sure that the ball of 

 earth of each plant is thoroughly moist 

 before it is put in. Wrap the ball of 

 each plant in oiled paper, which will 

 keep the earth moist for several days 

 longer than it otherwise would. Then 

 there is no occasion to have the 

 sphagnum moss more than just moist 

 in which you plunge the plants. Another 

 plan, and this applies more to baskets 

 filled -with one kind of plant, is to fill 

 the tin dish that lines the basket with 

 earth, and put the plants in as you 

 would in filling a fern dish. With care- 

 ful watering this gives the plants a 

 chance to exist far longer than when 

 wrapped in oiled paper and plunged in 

 moss, but it makes the basket very 

 heavy and there is not much gained. 



Tliei-e is a chance to make many 



combinations, and it is no easy task to 

 attempt to tell you just what plants 

 will make an efl'ective and pretty com- 

 bination. The plants that you have at 

 your command for this purpose at this 

 season are by no means few. We have 

 lieforo us the small orange trees, aza- 

 leas, poinsettias, Begonia Gloire de 

 Ijorraine, Lilium Harrisii, cyclamen, 

 primulas, ericas (familiarly called 

 lieather), narcissus (yellow and 



white), Koman hyacinths, lily of the 

 valley. There may be a few others that 

 1 aui not yet familiar with. The ber- 

 ried plants, ardisia and the solanum can 

 be classed with lloweiing plants because 

 they are high colored. 



Flowering plants are by no means all 

 that go to make these baskets hand- 

 some and 'attractive, for what would not 

 the flower lose but for its natural set- 

 ting of green. However brilliant and 

 striking a mass of high color may be 

 at first sight, the eye and senses soon 

 tire of what is unnatural. Most of the 

 plants we use have enough of their own 

 foliage to afford a relief to their bright- 

 er flowers, yet the addition of foliage 

 plants is of the greatest help in form- 

 ing a pleasing and chaste combination, 

 and here again we have a large field 

 to select from. That ancient family, 

 the ferns, gives us the nephrolepis, adi- 

 antums (of which the cuneatum is al- 

 most indispensable), Cibotium Schiedii, 

 Cyrtomium falcatum, pteris of several 

 species, and many small ferns such as 

 we use in our small fern dishes. Small 

 palms, particularly Kentia Belmore- 

 ana and Forsteriana. Areca lutescens, 

 Cocos Weddeliana, Araucaria excelsa, 

 Pandanus Veitchii. The latter in small 

 sizes (from 12 to 18 inches high) mil 

 add a style to a basket more than any 

 other plant I know of. 



Let me digress just a moment, Mr. 

 Editor, and mention a plant that is, I 

 believe, not yet in commerce, but soon 

 must be, and that is Pandanus Sanderi. 

 This beautiful plant would be at a 

 casual glance passed over as simply a 



well-colored P. Veitchii, but it is very 

 ditlerent. There is a rich golden tinge 

 about it that Veitchii does not possess, 

 and when it can be bought by the com- 

 mercial florist it will quickly displace 

 the latter. A group of it at the Madi- 

 son Square Garden, exhibited, of course, 

 by Henry A. Dreer, attracted every one's 

 attention. Another point greatly in 

 fsivor of this beautiful plant is that it 

 is not so liable to collapse under 

 changes of temperature, or an excess of 

 moisture as Veitchii, for good house 

 plant as is the latter, it will, after 

 months of good health and growth, sud- 

 denly dissolve. You may properly call 

 it "heart failure." In fact Sanderi is 

 a tougher plant. You will wonder why 

 I am so well posted on this plant, being 

 436A miles from its habitat. It's be- 

 cause I have kept myself posted on it. 



"But to our tale," as Burns says in 

 Tam o' Shanter. It's difficult to tell 

 you what plants will make an at- 

 tractive combination. You will not 

 have all the plants mentioned at your 

 command, but you will have enough to 

 make some pleasing baskets. White 

 goes with any color, and so does green. 

 Pinlv and red together will suit the 

 taste of few. Colors of the flowers of 

 one genus rarely are at variance, and 

 alwiiys please. Wliile brilliancy of 

 color where one kind of plant is used 

 will be attractive and natural, in the 

 mixed baskets use plenty of green foliage 

 to distract from the varied forms and 

 colors of widely dilTerent species, and 

 avoid stitTness in outline and crowding. 

 Tliere are many people who will prefer 

 a basket composed of one kind of plant, 

 but not necessarily of one color. Tlie 

 primulas, cyclamen, begonia and poin- 

 settia are all most attractive massed 

 alone. 



Kow about the ribbons, quite an im- 

 portant part of these baskets. I am not 

 especially a ribbon man, and inwardly 

 protested against the over-profuse use of 

 ribbon, which reached its climax a few 

 years ago. A well-flowered azalea (let 

 it be any variety) as a single plant 

 cannot be enhanced in beauty by a lot 

 of millinery. To cover the pot with 

 pretty paper and ribbon is entirely ad- 

 missible, and does not mar the beauty 

 of the plant. With these baskets the 

 case is entirely different. Had they not 

 a handle they would look like a dinner 

 table plateau and would never sell, and 

 it is on the handle that the ribbon dec- 

 oration is not only admissible but ap- 

 propriate and even necessary. Tied 

 with a liberal bow on top or side of 

 handle, with its flowing ends mingling 

 with the plants, is in this case as nec- 

 essary as the moulding at the ceiling 

 or the border in a papered room. Com- 

 mon sense will dictate the color of the 

 ribbon. If on a mixed basket green or 

 white alone are possible. If one color, 

 such as poinsettia or begonia "Lor- 

 raine," then a shade identical with the 

 color of the flowers is the thing. Noth- 

 ing will be so pleasing as to decorate 

 with ribbon as near as possible the 

 shade of the flower. Wiluam Scott. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN THE 

 SOUTH. 



In a paper presented to the Chrysan- 

 themum Society of America at the recent 

 Chicago convention, Mr. F. P. Davis, of 

 Mobile, Ala., says the modern chrysan- 

 themum is yet a novelty in many parts 

 of the extreme south. He says that few 

 of the excellent varieties can expand 



