September 21, 1912 



HORTICULTURE 



405 



NOTES ON CULTURE OF FLORISTS^ STOCK 



CONDCCTBD BY 



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Questions by our readers in line with any of tlie topics presented on tliis page will be cordially reoei%-ed and promptly answered 

 by Mr. Farrell. Such communications sbouid invariably be addressed to the office of HORTICULTURE. 



Care of Poinsettias 



Give all poinsettias a place where they will have 

 light firing from this out. No other plant that the 

 florist grows is so affected b\' the chilly nights as these 

 plants. A temperature of about 55 degrees at night 

 will be high enough until the bracts begin to show 

 color, when 10 or 15 degrees higher should be given. 

 Do not let them become dry at the root, and keep the 

 floors damped down so as to produce a proper amount 

 of moisture in the atmosphere. To insure finer ilower- 

 head.s give some liquid manure once a week and then 

 increase to twice a week until the bracts are fully de- 

 veloped. See that the plants are securely tied and 

 staked so the stems will not becjome bent and twisted. 

 You should get busy now and make up a number of 

 pans for the holiday trade. Use any good light and 

 moderately rich soil and when making up the pans 

 work in some little ferns, asparagus, or any other small 

 green plants which will help to finish them oif. 



Compost for Next Season's Supply- 

 Now is the time to jirocure a bountiful supply of the 

 sod from some loamy pasture. It should be cut about 

 four inches deep and when stacking it up place some 

 well rotted manure between every third layer to the 

 depth of about five inches. Keep adding sod and 

 manure in this proportion in square piles of any 

 length, until you reach a height of about six feet, leav- 

 ing the top flat. Early in November you can chop it 

 down and turn the whole pile over which will help 

 decomposition. The autumn is the best time to haul 

 soil and pile it up, because it will be open to the win- 

 ter atmosphere, frost and snow which will leave it in 

 a nice pulverized state by spring. So do not let these 

 few remarks pass unheeded, but start and get plenty of 

 soil until you have heaps looming up all around which 

 will make the foundation for your success another year, 

 no matter whether you grow roses, carnations, chrys- 

 anthemums, violets or any other florists' stock. 



Cuttings of Vincas 



To have a good useful size in 3-inch pots by next 

 May now is the time to put in a batch of vinca cut- 

 tings. Select the growth that is ven' well ripened up, 

 leaving two eyes to each cutting. Place them in a 

 propagating bed and keep shaded, with a certain 

 amount of moi.sture in the sand and a good number 

 will root. When they are rooted they can be potted 

 into 2-inch pots using any good soil. With ordinary 

 good culture they will grow into fine stock by spring. 



Eucharis amazonica for Christmas 



If j'ou want a crop of Eucharis amazouica for Christ- 

 mas sales now is the time to begin resting these plants 

 up. They should be rested until the middle of Novem- 

 ber. Where you have a batch with their leaves fully 

 matured, cease shading and gradually withhold water 

 at the roots until the soil gets dry enough to cause the 



Mr. Farrell's next notes wil! lie on the following: Ardisias, Cb 



for Forcing, 



leaves to flag slightly, but never let them become so dry 

 that they lose much of their foliage because this would 

 be an injury to them. Give them an alternating treat- 

 ment of drying to the point of flagging and then a 

 slight watering to freshen them up again and continue 

 this treatment until the above mentioned date when 

 you should have them well rested and ripened up. Give 

 plenty of ventilation and a night temperature of from 

 50 to 55 degrees. After the middle of November they 

 can be given a thorough soaking of tepid water with 

 bottom heat and an atmospheric temperature of 70 

 degrees at night and the spikes will come along all right 

 for the holidays. 



Making a Lily Bed 



Lilies are highly-bred plants and cannot shift for 

 themselves. To maintain all their superlative excel- 

 lence they .should have special treatment and care. They 

 are flower garden subjects and where you want them 

 primarily for cut flowers, plant them in an area by 

 themselves, where they will have every attention. So 

 where you have the ground to spare make a lily bed 

 and there is no better time for this than ne.xt three 

 weeks. Select a well drained piece of land for this is 

 one of the principal requisites for outdoor lilies. Make 

 the soil very rich by the addition of plenty of nitro- 

 genous manure, bone dust and wood ashes. Before put- 

 ting on any manure have the ground made loose to a 

 depth of at least two feet. Where it happens that the 

 subsoil does not provide sufficient drainage to let the 

 water pass off freely, under-drainage will lie necessary 

 to ensure success. Plant at least 6 inches deep and 

 anywhere from 13 to 18 inches apart each way. It is a 

 good plan to place a handful of sharp sand under and 

 over each bulb. Where you have old beds give them a 

 covering of good manure to the depth of 5 or 6 inches. 

 The heavy rains will carry the richness of the manure 

 down to their roots. When the winter sets in give the 

 beds a good mulch of coarse manure to the depth of 

 a foot ; tliis will help to carry them through in good con- 

 dition. 



Mignonette 



This is the time of all others when mignonette should 

 not be neglected. When the cool nights come so that the 

 temperature falls below 40 degrees it will be better to 

 run a line of heat through your house, but do not at any 

 time coddle the plants with too much heat. Keep 

 plenty of ventilation on all possible occasions as this is 

 one of the most important points in growing fine 

 mignonette. Do not pinch the plants back but let the 

 centers run up and flower. There will always be four 

 or five shoots to start from the base to give the main 

 crop. Wlien the plants reach 4 or 5 inches high they 

 sliould be given support by running wires the length of 

 the bench and tying strings crosswise, for there is 

 nothing ^^■orse than mignonette with crooked stems. 

 Where the green worms are troublesome keep the plants 

 sprinkled with Slug Shot most of the time and you will 

 not have much botlier. ' 



rysanthemums, Violets, Lilium gi^anteum, Home-Grown Shrubs 

 Pansies 





