Al'llII. 30, lOOS. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



961 



View in the store of J. H. Small & Sons, New York, at Easter. 



I 



not staked, for they are mostly all top 

 heavy. We had a man talking life in- 

 surance to us last July, and they all 

 fell over. 



Your tubs of hydrangeas, which should 

 have lieen little above the freezing point 

 all winter, will begin to grow rapidly 

 if in a shed or pit. and should be given 

 the outside, but those in the frost belt 

 •should have the means to protect them 

 ag.ainst wliat we may yet have to come. 



Pansies. 



It's a pity that ]>eople are not edu- 

 cated (or more of them) when to plant 

 the pretty pansies. They will come 

 along about the 5th of June and ask 

 for tliem. Talk pansies now if you have 

 them. We filled vases with them three 

 weeks ago, and they are none the worse 

 for a good many freezes. 



Ferns. 



You have all noticed how scarce the 

 Boston fern is of late and the great 

 demand for it. Tlie wonderful N. Pier- 

 son i can not supplant it yet, because 

 there are not enough to go around, and 

 the price of Piersoni will not be poji- 

 nlar just yet. When the latter lieauti- 

 ful fern is common all other nephrolepis 

 will liave to retire to the rear to be 

 seated. As soon as you have a good, 

 light bench with 5 or 6 inches of rich 

 soil and some well rotted manure, and 

 if leaf mold be added, so much the bet- 

 ter, you should plant out plenty of tlie 

 Boston fern, also some Anna Foster, for 

 -it is a pretty and easy growing fern. 

 Nothing like having the plants early 

 in the fall. You can lift a nephrolepis 

 from the bench one day and sell it to 

 your customer the next, but that's not 



fair. They should be lifted a month, at 

 least, before they are sold. Most ferns 

 do like shade, but not all, and the 

 nephrolepis is one that will grow under 

 un.shaded glass throughout the summer 

 if well supplied ^vith water and will 

 make a better plant than when shaded. 

 William Scott. 



CARNATION NOTES— WEST. 



Pknting Out. 



We have had some good planting 

 weather duiing the past week, and some 

 of our carnation men are right in the 

 midst of planting jut their young stock. 

 There have been some cool nights and 

 once or twice a few degrees of frost, but 

 nothing to hu.i. auu there is not likely 

 to come a killing frost now any more. If 

 you are a believer in housing carnations 

 early yon .should by all means be among 

 the early planters, but if you do not 

 house your cainations until after Aug. 

 20 you arc still in good time. The next 

 two weeks will be veiy favorable for 

 thi? kind of woik. and thc' iiiglits aie 

 cool and the dews are heavy, so that 

 the young plants will take hold readily. 

 Be sure tliat your ground is in good 

 shape when you have it plowed; if it 

 is too wet v-.u had better wail until it 

 dries off enough, even if you don't get 

 your plants in until the latter part of 

 May. You will gain by it. especially 

 if the soil is of a hea^•y nature. 



Having plowed and pulvcvized the soil 

 properly, yt u are ready to i-et in the 

 young plants, and the sooner you get 

 them in after the soij is j)lowcd the 



better for the plants. Give tie •,-.'uiig 

 plants a thorough watering a few hours 

 before you begin planting, so ll-.ey will 

 not sufl'or if they do not get a ifin f<T 

 a few days. The sooner you get tli<; 

 young plants into the soil aft^r ll.-y aie 

 dumped out of the pots or dug fronx 

 the l)ench the Ijetter for the plants. On 

 some places they have a boy drou the 

 plants along the lino at the !>roper dis- 

 tance, and a man or two following him 

 up, planting. This is all right on a 

 cloudy day, but when the sun in shining 

 hot, as it often does now, I do noi: 

 like it unless the planters keep right up 

 close to tlie dropper. We have our 

 plants placed in Hats aliout 12x1'! inclies, 

 and each ni.an takes a Hat of plants, 

 sliding it along as lie plants. We usu- 

 ally have two men to a row. working 

 from opposite ends towards the ci-nter. 

 and when they meet they return to the 

 ends and move the line and begin over 

 again. 



Of coui-se you use a line in planting, 

 as that is the only way you can get yotir 

 rows straight, and see that tK)lli men 

 plant on the same side of the line. Use a 

 trowel to plant with. There are sure 

 to bo some lumps that need breaking U". 

 or perhaps where some one stepped, .ind 

 you can't dig through witli your Tngers. 

 If the sun dries a crust on lop iwfoie 

 you get through planting you can dij 

 up some moist earth to set the plant in. 

 This may not lie quite so rapid as some 

 ways, but in this case speed is not all 

 that is desire*!. A thous'nd plants well 

 planted are better than two thousand 

 plants thrown into the soil any old way. 

 Set the plants just the same ocpth as 

 they were inside, or if they iiro from 

 jot-: there should be about .i r,uarlcr of 



