HORTICULTURE 



September 16, 1905 



Achimenes 



This is a class of somewhat fragile and tender decora- 

 tive plants, but exceedingly ornamental when well 

 grown for conservatory or dwelling house adornment. 

 The various receptacles that they adapt themselves to 

 for purposes of ornamentation makes them doubly use- 

 ful for artistic effects. They can be grown in baskets, 

 fancy or grotesque, as well as they can be in plain pots 

 and pans; the former to be useful as suspended plants 

 from the roof of the building they are intended to gar- 

 nish when in flower. They are especially well adapted 

 in supplying artistic effects when placed in nooks and 

 corners on brackets in a pretentious conservatory, when 

 they blend harmoniously with other well-chosen 

 subjects. 



Again, the colors afforded by this race of charming 

 plants are quite striking and pleasing, the blues of vari- 

 ous hues and intensity being particularly attractive. 



Achimenes are not difficult to grow; with a little 

 pains-taking at the beginning of their culture, any 

 ordinarily intelligent person should succeed with them 

 quite satisfactorily. They require stove treatment at 

 starting time, but should be transferred to a warm 

 greenhouse soon after they appear above ground and be 

 kept close to the glass. This induces a short and sturdy 

 stem which is very essential to good flowering and 

 shapely plants ; they also should be shaded from bright 

 sunshine. In approaching the flowering stage cooler 

 and more airy treatment is necessary as they will hold 

 their flowers longer in perfection in such quarters ; they 

 should not, however, be transferred to quarters where 

 violent gusts of wind blow on them, as the flowers are 

 exceedingly delicate and easily disfigured by clashing 

 or rubbing against each other in heavy gusts of wind. 



Any good light soil will suffice for a compost to grow 

 them in; maiilen sod well rotted, with a 2-5 supply of 

 guild Icai'niimld in lieu of peat, sand and charcoal 

 uiidules in addition will make a good compost, other 

 detail being scrupulously attended to. 



Achimenes do best in a limited quantity of soil, 

 that is in shallow pans or well-drained pots. The scaly 

 bulbs, or stolons as they are termed, should be stratified 

 evenly 1-2 inch under the surface of the soil; if some 

 start more vigorous than others it is well to pinch them 

 back a bit; this will tend to have them conform with 

 less vigorous companions and result in a more compact 

 and finished plant. 



The English method of starting achimenes in other 

 receptacles than they are to grow and flower in — that is, 

 starting them in boxes or pans and when they are an 

 inch or two grown transferring them to their flowering 

 pots, — I certainly would not recommend, as being cer- 

 tain of checking the plants in the operation. Stimula- 

 tion by artificial manures is necessary to obtain best 

 results, and it is astounding how much they stand of it, 

 considering their otherwise frail nature. Sheep manure 

 water, Cleary's fertilizer and guano I have had excel- 

 lent results from. 



Some short time after the plants are done flowering 

 water sliould bo given less frequently, gradually with- 

 holding the same until finally it is dispensed with alto- 

 gether. Some hold that they will winter best in the 

 soil that they grew and flowered in undisturbed. I am 

 inclined to that belief myself, though I have wintered 

 them well and often shook out clean, afterwards packed 

 away in clean sand in separate stout paper bags, con- 

 signing them to their winter keep in a dry and semi- 

 warm place in boxes or drawers whichever is most con- 

 venient. 



One of the important steps in achimenes culture, as 

 with all other plants, is to obtain the best varieties, and 

 to that end I subjoin the following varieties: Ach. 

 longiflora major; this is one of the finest of all. Ach. 

 longiflora, the type, is a fine variety; flowers violet in 

 the latter, in the former flowers large blue. Mauve 

 Queen is a splendid variety, flowers large and mauve in 

 color with brownish spots in the throat, habit compact 

 and excellent. Longiflora alba similar to the type in 

 form and habit, one of the best whites. Margaretta, 

 pure white, fine but not so large as the above. Madame 

 A. Verschaffelt, flowers large, pure white ground, con- 

 siderably veined with purple ; very showy variety. Pink 

 Perfection, deep rose, eye rayed carmine and violet, very 

 fine. Eosea magnifiea, bright rose with a yellow eye and 

 spotted; a lovely variety. Harry Williams, bright 

 cerise red, large yellow eye, petals nicely fringed, one 

 of the best red varieties, Aurora, rich rosy scarlet, yel- 

 low throat, large and fine. Williamsii, bright scarlet, 

 orange throat, flowers large, habit free, splendid 

 variety. Lady Littleton, carmine rose, large, white 

 tliroat, excellent. 



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Rose-house Wisdom 



Close your house up tight before the sun goes down 

 to keep it warm during the night. This was the advice 

 I read once, some years ago, in the latter part of 

 August. Whether the writer practiced it or not him- 

 self I never have had a chance to find out. We started 

 heat this year the middle of August, earlier than we ever 

 have done. With about one inch of air on the houses 

 and a little heat run round in the early hours of the 

 morning tends to get up a circulation and dry the air 

 which otherwise would become charged with moisture 

 and show that nice-to-look-at appearance, little bells 

 of water adhering to the edges of the leaves. Much has 

 been written regarding this but there are some who fall 

 into the trap every year. I was caught once myself not 

 having the heat connected in time. I got a little experi- 

 ence which proved valuable to me in after years, black 

 mildew is what it is generally called. Not later than 

 last year I saw a fine house laid up for the winter with 

 this "same thing. It may seem extravagance to start 

 fires so early, but it pays. Eemember the health of your 

 plants now is what counts usually for the carrying them 

 through the winter. Kepairs on boilers should be made 

 at once if in the rush of work they have been neglected. 

 About steam boilers, horizontal tubular type, water 

 sliiDuld have -been drawn off, manhole and handhole 

 plates taken off, and the inside washed thoroughly out 

 with a hose, then swab with a cloth any water that may 

 be lying on the shell, and dry thoroughly leaving every- 

 thing open. In starting up we put in soda ash after the 

 water becomes warm enough to dissolve it, which keeps 

 the tubes and shell, especially if they are steel, from 

 pitting. The boilers should receive more care than any- 

 thing else as they are the most essential part of a 

 florist's establishment in the winter. 



