For January, 1923 



13 



The Greenhouse, Month to Month 



GEORGE F. STEWART 



THE season has arrived when many plants need a 

 general overhauling, especially if one has a tropical 

 house. Late January and early February is as good 

 a time as any to pot or propagate many of these plants. 

 Nice clean tops of codiceum (or to take the more popular 

 name crotons) should now be selected for propagation. 

 The best method we have found is to root them on the 

 plant. Remove the bark by girdling, where one wishes 

 the top to root. Cut the bark clear round in two circles, 

 about half an inch apart, and use a tvvo-and-three-quarter- 

 inch paper flower pot, which is easy to keep in position by 

 tieing to a stake. Get the girdled part well down inside 

 the pot. Use a compost of sphagnum moss, sharp sand, 

 and good loam in about equal parts with some powdered 

 charcoal added. Pot firmly, using great care, as it is 

 very easy to snap the wood at the girdled part. Keep the 

 compost damp all the time until the top roots, which will 

 be in about a month. In a regular tropical house tempera- 

 ture ,sho-ild be 65 deg. at night with a 15 deg. rise during 

 the day. I forgot to mention above that the bark be- 

 tween the two girdled parts should be removed, which 

 is vcr}" easily done as it comes off clean. By this method 

 of propagation, one v.-ill hardly ever lose a leaf, if, before 

 removing the top from the parent plant, said plant is 

 allowed to become quite dry at the root, keeping the com- 

 post damp around the top that is rooting. After the tops 

 are well rooted remove them and pot for a first potting 

 in a four-inch pot in a light compost. Keep them close, in 

 a humid atmosphere, until they begin to root freel}' in 

 the new compost. We have grown plants four feet high 

 in a six-inch pot with leaves furnished clear down to the 

 pot in one season, that is, from the time of propagation 

 until the following Fall. 



If large specimens of cordylines (dracsena) are re- 

 quired they can be rooted the same as crotons by girdling. 

 Nice small table plants, however, may be had in one season 

 by cutting up the woody stems in pieces, about two inches 

 long", covering them with sand in a propagating bed that 

 has 80 deg. bottom heat. The shoots start from an eye 

 in the old w^ood, and when they have developed a few 

 leaves, may be removed with a heel and rooted as any other 

 cutting, and potted along as they require it. Dracaenas 

 like a good fibrous loam to grow in, adding about one part 

 leaves to three parts loam with enough sand and charcoal 

 to keep th soil sweet and porous. Add also about a third 

 of dry cow manure to the compost. 



Alocasias, to grow them well, must be turned out of 

 their pots each season, and all the old material shaken 

 gently away from the underground stems and roots, and 

 potted. They grow well in a mixture of equal parts of 

 osmunda fern root, sphagnum moss, and the fibre of 

 loam with a good sprinkling of charcoal. IMound them up 

 a little in their receptacle. They may be fed a little when 

 growing vigorously. 



Anthuriums are divided into two sections, those grown 

 for the quaint shape and beauty of their flowers, and the 

 other section for their foliage. Both sections grow well 

 in comp>ost similar to alocasias, only adding more sphag- 

 num moss. Anthuriums are also strong rooters, but mav 

 be grown in the same pot (if mounded up with sphagnum 

 moss) for two years. .Vnthurium Scherzerianum and its 

 varieties, by judicious treatment, can be grown into hand- 



some specimen flowering plants, which by their striking 

 appearance when in flower will always command attention 

 and admiration. 



Marantas, now most known under the name calathea 

 (the difference between the two being botanical), were 

 once very popular plants, and around Boston twenty to 

 thirty years ago, very fine specimens were to be seen. 

 \\'here a tropical effect is wanted in some warm corner of 

 the conservatory, these plants, with their fine colored 

 markings, are among the best to be used. They now need 

 attention at the roots and should be examined to see that 

 their drainage is all right. They may be grown in the 

 same pot for several years, in fact, they do not like over- 

 potting. The loose soil may be rubbed off the ball which 

 can be easily done, if they have been kept on the dry side 

 for the last two months. A compost of equal parts of the 

 fibre of loam, half decayed flaky leaves, drier cow manure, 

 with enough sharp sand and broken charcoal to keep the 

 whole in a porous condition is what we have found they 

 delight in. Marantas do not like hard potting, just 

 moderately firm. Give them plenty of room to develop 

 their foliage and keep them clear of insects, an easy matter, 

 since the advent of hydrocyanic gas, as a fumigant. 



All these tropical plants, noted in the above remarks, 

 like a humid atmosphere and the paths and under the 

 benches, also between the pots, should be kept in a moist 

 condition. Coal ashes we have found are best for covering 

 the benches to set the plants on. There is something about 

 them that is congenial to plant growth, far more so in 

 my experience, that the more clean and artistic looking 

 pebbles, which are commonly used for that purpose. 



Adiantum cuneatum and its varieties are very useful 

 in six- and eight-inch pans when grown hard, that is, 

 giving plenty of air when se\^ere \\'inter weather has gone 

 by and not shading them heavy in Summer. Plants that 

 have been two years in the same receptacle may be divided 

 in two and potted in a good fibrous loam with some 

 ground oyster shells and sand added. If grown in a good 

 house and given plenty of room they will make nice plants 

 next Fall. A large well grown specimen is also a hand- 

 some sight and there is generally some corner in the 

 mansion where they look well for a week or two. 



There are many other varieties of Adiantum that are 

 seldom seen of late years in greenhouses. A few varieties 

 such as caudatum, decorum, tenerum, trapeziforme, 

 gracillimum, Williamsii rise in mind as I write. These 

 all may be grown into fine plants, and are very decorative. 

 The variety Farleyense, supposed to be a form of tenerum, 

 would need a special article by itself to describe the mode 

 of propagation and culture. Adiantum. Glory of Mordecht 

 or Gloriosa. is in my opinion inferior to the old Farleyense. ' 

 I have never yet seen fronds or plants of it the equal that 

 the late David Allan and David Fisher used to grow, 

 when I worked under them thirty years ago near Boston. 

 Probably some of our young men will say, "Oh yes ! 

 There were giants in those days." However, if need be 

 we can produce the witnesses. Many other ferns such as 

 Davallia, Gleichenia, Gymnogramma, Lomaria, etc., also 

 the Selaginellas, of which there are quite a number of 

 fine forms, need looking over but do not overpot any of 

 them. Large pieces, if they have been well potted, will 

 go several years in the same pan or tub they may be in. 



