December 30, 1905 



H ORTI CULTURE 



703 



The American Beauty 



SOME IMPORTANT POINTS IN MID-WINTER CULTURE 



The keeping qualities of flowers from disbudded wood 

 as compared with those that have not been disbudded 

 has been sometimes questioned. In my opinion there 

 should be no difference for if the wood is so hard that it 

 will not draw up water it is too hard to make a good 

 bud. The wood is soft at time of disbudding and the 

 terminal shoot generally sprouts from the first eye at 

 the top, grows sometimes as long as twelve to sixteen 

 inches before forming bud, and makes a good flower. 

 Of course the point to be borne in mind is to keep the 

 wood in good growing condition. 



One of the objects in disbudding Beauties is to keep 

 plenty of wood on the plants and by so doing you can 

 always get them to give strong breaks from the bottom 

 of the plants something which is hard to do if one lets 

 them harden up. A most important factor is the 

 watering. Always see that the plants do not suffer for 

 lack of water at the roots; even if the benches (if 

 raised) look wet enough on top, dig down and see how 

 they are at the bottom. I find a good way to keep 

 Beauties in good growing condition at this season of the 

 year when heat is running steady, is to give them what 

 I call a dampening down; not a syringe over all the 

 plants but a dampening through the. bottom or lower 

 part of them, say a foot or sixteen inches from the soil 

 and to wet down the paths and under the benches three 

 or four times a week, always before noon, and especially 

 at the ends or where the main heating pipe comes 

 through the houses. By so doing a genial moisture is 

 obtained in the houses. ' This, with plenty of ventila- 

 tion on in such weather as we have been having this 

 fall, will always keep the plants in good growing con- 

 dition and the product will give no occasion for any 

 doubt whatever as regards their good keeping qualities. 



At this season, too, I find that Beauties are inclined 

 to run up as far as eight or nine feet before setting bud 

 and in low houses or benches near the glass this gives 

 much extra work in tying down. Take them down and 

 run each stem to the third or fourth plant a foot or so 

 above the bottom, then bend them up and tie as usual 

 and they will make bud sooner than left as before. 



Propagating should have been commenced before now. 

 I always like to have a first batch rooted by the first of 

 January or before. I use short-jointed wood, not neces- 

 sarily flow-ering wood, but good clean wood, for this pur- 

 pose and always get good results. Of course there is 

 much to be considered under this heading and I will 

 endeavor to find time in the near future to say some- 

 thing more on this important topic. I wish Hoeti- 

 CULTUKE and its readers every success and a very Merry 

 Christmas and a Happy New Year ! 



Morton Grove, III. 



Poinsettias 



HOW TO CARE FOR THEM AFTER CUTTING 



At one store where the writer visited, he noticed a lot 

 of poinsettias that had been sadly mistreated, entailing 

 quite a loss on the buyer. They were badly wilted and 

 the stems broken down by their own weight. Poinsettia 

 heads should be cared for the moment they are cut. 

 They must not be allowed to bleed as this will weaken 

 their stem and cause them to wilt. Cotton will prevent 

 this to a certain extent but a much better way is to dip 

 the stem in hot sealing wax at once. Before sending 

 them to the market keep them for at least twelve hours 

 in a large flat box thoroughly lined with wet paper and 

 well-sprinkled. Water will not injure poinsettias. Keep 

 them in a cool, not cold, place and they will stiffen up 

 nicely and remain in good condition for a week or more. 

 Cut poinsettias will absorb more water through the foli- 

 age than through the stem. It is almost useless to 

 place them in water as the milk forms a gummy sub- 

 stance which prevents the water from flowing up the 

 stem. 



If they are to be used for a decoration they should 

 be cut at least forty-eight hours before they are wanted 

 and sprinkled daily. Then when the test for endurance 

 comes they will hold up their heads in a satisfactory 

 manner. Store men should try keeping them in their 

 windows or some cool part of the store as a majority of 

 the refrigerators are kept at too low a temperature for 

 poinsettias. 



Orchids for Commercial Purposes 



Cypript'djuin insigne, although one of the oldest in 

 this family, is regarded as the best all-round commercial 

 cypripedium. Its culture is not so complex as that of 

 the hybrid cypripediums. 



Ccelogyne cristata is another orchid especially adapted 

 to commercial purposes, flowering from January to 

 March. 



Cattleya is the great commercial flow-er and is in great 

 demand at all times. C. labiata perhaps is the most 

 popular, flowering in the fall of the year. An indispen- 

 sable variety is Cattleya Percivaliana ; although throw- 

 ing flowers of less size than the labiata, it more than 

 makes up in the coloring. This is followed by Cattleya 

 Trianse. The above named are the most useful for mar- 

 keting and can be grown in a temperature of 60 degrees. 

 Care and judgment in watering on dull days are essen- 

 tial to the well-being of these plants. 



Cattleyas may be gi'own in pots or baskets ; personally 

 I prefer baskets, using the best selected orchid peat and 

 charcoal. I use principally clinkers as a foundation; 

 these insuring j)erfcct drainage. As every man must be 

 the architect of his own fortune, so it is with orchid 

 growing, no two men carrying out the same ideas for the 

 end — success. 



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