872 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Ai'RiL 10. 1003. 



^(IU me liable to get suiiouudeti witli 

 more of these cumbersome plants than 

 are profitable. 



Geraniums. 



I think the above (lisj)oses of most 

 of our familiar Kaster plants, and hav- 

 ing disposed of them, we turn to a more 

 important chapter, viz.: our plants for 

 suunner gardening. The most important 

 of all tlie.se is the zonal geranium. When 

 we could find space we have been shift- 

 ing these from 3 to 4-ineh pots, simply 

 liecause two men and a helper can't 

 shift 2.5,000 in two or three days, but if 

 you can get them all shifted by the 25th 

 of this month, all will be well. Better 

 far for the appearance of plant and for 

 its future welfare to have it growing 

 vigorously by end of May than pot 

 tound and losing its foliage. Pot firm- 

 ly with hea\-y loam and not more than 

 a fifth of well rotted manure. In the 

 absence of manure use one pint of lx>ne 

 flour to a bushel of loam. I have often 

 spoken of the great benefit of plunging 

 plants like geraniums and fuchsias in 

 the month of May under unshaded glass. 

 It is a great benefit, but the geraniums 

 don't need it when first shifted. We con- 

 sider that from the time they go into i- 

 inch pots they want at least three 

 ■'stand-overs," becau.se they grow so fast 

 and get crowded, so do the plunging on 

 the first occasion you have to move them 

 to give more space. 



Shading, 



This has been a strange spring, early 

 and mild beyond my recollection, yet 

 many cloudy days, and I don't think" of 

 any day in March or this month when 

 we have had a burning sun. Those days 

 follow frosty mornings, so we have not 

 thought much about shade. Avoid the 

 peruuinent shade all you can. If you 

 sha<le such plants as geraniums, coleus. 

 or cannas, then you must keep a good 

 fire heat, and a soft growth follows. \ou 

 fire a lot and a stunt follows. Keep the 

 .glass clear as long as you possibly can. 

 and by careful attention to watering you 

 will suffer little by burns and scalds and 

 have far better plants. 



Cannas. 



Tlie next important plant is the can- 

 na, which has been waiting in the flats 

 or benches for attention. While wait- 

 ing they have made lots of roots and a 

 growth of six inches. Some we can put 

 m 4-inch pots— the majority— and a few 

 will need a 4i or 5-inch. Give them 

 identy of rotted manure in the soil, a 

 light airy house where it can be 5.5 de- 

 grees at night, and you mil soon have 

 fine plants. 



The C'aladium esculcntum have been 

 started in flats of sand and have made a 

 mass of roots. Tliey also want a light 

 bench and a .5-inch pot. 



Crimson Ramblers. 



I want to hark back a moment to 

 Crimson Rambler roses. There is no 

 denying that this is one of oui- most 

 popular Ea.ster plants and desirable for 

 us all to grow. There is more than one 

 v>ay of handling it. I am aware that 

 Mr. Robert Craig. Mr. W. K. Harris, and 

 niany others grow them finely by plant- 

 ing out either young or dormaiit plants in 

 the spring and lifting them from the 

 field about middle of Novenilx-r, and 

 then by careful management for the next 

 two months bring them along with in 

 creased heat in fine bloom for Easter. 

 If I had my own nursery I feel sure I 

 could do this, and I trust without seem- 

 ing to be egotistical I intend to spring on 



you in the fall a method of handling them 

 for the first month or two after lifting 

 them from the ground (the most critical 

 time of all), a method that will make 

 success doubly sure. Yet there are many 

 who have no space for planting out, or 

 have not been successful when buying 

 field grown plants in the fall. Then, 

 here is the other plan, and I can only 

 say in its favor that we tried it with 

 great success (whether it emanated from 

 our own think box or not, I don't 

 know ) . 



Buy last year's field grown dormant 

 plants now. Put them into 5, 6 or 7- 

 inch ix)ts as they may deserve. Cut 

 back to within 3 or 4 inches of last 

 year's growth and place them in cold 

 frame or the coldest house you have. 

 You will get a good many breaks, but 

 you want to leave only four or five to 

 grow, and they will grow; as the houses 

 get warm you will get canes .5 or 6 feet 

 long. Keep them in a light house until Au- 

 gust, when they should Ije plunged out- 

 side. I will have more to say about 

 them later, but will say now that the 

 principal thing is to start them slow 

 when first potted and avoid mildew in 

 the hot days of June and July, the cause 

 of which is neglecting them ifor want of 

 water. When these canes are tied 

 around a few stakes (but that you don't 

 do until next New Year's), you'can have 

 flowers to the rim of the pot. 



Some growers manage H. P. roses the 

 same way. and they" could be forced 

 much earlier than Easter, but for Easter 

 flowers a good, strong dormant H. P. 

 rose, such as Ulrich Brunner. planted 

 out in the field at once and cut down so 

 that you can haidly see it above the 

 ground, will make ifour or five stronc 

 growths. And the plant can be lifted 

 and potted after the first frost has rip- 

 ened the wood: and if kept in a cold 

 frame until middle of May and not al- 

 lowed to drv out. and liard frozen, it 

 will force with <juite as good results as 

 the pot grown. It's quite a different 

 case from the Ramblers. You don't cut 

 them down at all. Tlieir long, strong 

 growths have to be supported for a 

 while with no working roots, while the 

 H. P.s are again cut well back before 

 starting in to force. Plant out a few 

 hundred of the best forcing hybrid per- 

 petuals in some strong loam now and 

 they will 1* much more profitable than 

 cinerarias and occupy valuable bench 

 room half the time. 



William Scott. 



ROSES. 



Seasonable Hints. 



Collecting and preparing soil for 

 planting time should now demand atten- 

 tion. Tlie work of composting, to be 

 eflective, requires to be done just as soon 

 as the season will permit, as it requires 

 from to (i weeks to get the soil into 

 the right condition. 



The top spit of about inches deep, 

 taken from old. well sodded pasture land, 

 of a yellowish, loamy nature, is about 

 the ideal soil for roses under glass. This 

 should be built in a neat pile on ground 

 a little elevated, using alternately a 

 layer of sod and a layer of well decom- 

 posed cow manure, in the proportion of 

 four of sod to one of manure. There 

 are few soils so rich of themselves that 

 they cannot bear this proportion, and 

 many soils can stand a larger per cent 

 of manure without l)ecoming too rich. 

 After Ix-ing in the pile for three weeks 

 the sod and manure should lie chopped 



in pieces of about 2 to 3 inches in diam- 

 eter. 



To thoroughly incorpoi-ate the sod and 

 manure, and to get it into a fine mellow 

 condition it should be turned over at 

 intervals of ten days, always seleclin.' 

 a bright, sunny day for this operation, 

 and when the compost is in a half dry 

 condition. Turning the compost over oc- 

 casionally until it is required will pre- 

 vent the crop of weeds which so quickly 

 appear at this season, and which, if 

 allowed to become rank, use up the ele- 

 ments which should be kept in store for 

 the young rose stock. 



Carelessness or slovenliness in attend- 

 ing to the proper preparation of the 

 compost no doubt helps in many cases 

 to bring after troubles to the grower 

 both by way of sour, lifeless soil and in 

 introducing colonies of undesirable in- 

 sect pests into the houses, where, under 

 the more congenial temperature they 

 multiply with amazing rapidity. 



To derive the full lienelit from Unia 

 meal it should lie added to the coni|wist 

 at planting time. The easiest way to 

 apply it is to spread it on the surface 

 of the soil after it is placed on the bench, 

 using from 5 to 7 lbs. to every IdO 

 square feet of surface. 



Many of these laws may seem small 

 and trivial, but in rose glowing there is 

 nothing so minute but that a "beneficial 

 lesson can be learned from it. 



RiBES. 



ROSE SOIL— BENCHING. 



Please tell me the best compost for 

 roses — the kind of soil, proportion of 

 manure and bone meal. 



I expect to have the beds ready by 

 July -1. Will it be safe to plant my 

 roses in the beds from 3-inch ])ots at 

 that date and leave them without the 

 glass for about two months? 



Cox.sTANT Reader. 



Replies to the questions anent .soil and 

 compost will be found embodied in the 

 article under the heading of ro.ses in this 

 issue. 



Plants from 3-inch jxits are what arc 

 mostly used for May and .June planting 

 (Beauties excepted)". For later plant- 

 ing a shift into 4-ineh pots will be neces- 

 sary to prevent them from becoming pot- 

 bound. 



Benching previous to glazing is run- 

 ning too great a risk, as We have abso- 

 lutely no control over the watery ele- 

 ment, which (if the season at all' takes 

 after the last) would drown them in a 

 week I>eyond hope of lesuscitation. Bet- 

 ter carry them in pots under glass until 

 the house is ready and hustle along with 

 getting it readv. Ribe.S. 



CARNATION NOTES— EAST. 

 Under Glass all Summer. 



Several years ago when the question 

 of cultivating carnations the year 

 around under glass was brought up. it 

 was generally thought to l>e neither jxis- 

 sible nor juactical. It has l>een proven 

 to be jiossible but is it jiracticar; 



My oi>iiiion was at the time the matter 

 was brought up, that at no distant day 

 we would see carnations grown continu- 

 ously under glass as are roses. My views 

 have l>een somewhat changed after six 

 years of experimental work along these 

 lines, so that now as the case stands a 

 compromise lietween field and indoor cul- 

 ture seems the best plan to follow if 

 you intend to change from field to house 

 culture. Before going further T \vill say 



