July 22, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



97 



Seasonable Notes on Culture of 

 Florists' Stock 



CALLAS 



Don't neglect your richardias now. Shake all the 

 old soil off and pot up into 6 or 7 inch pots. Give them 

 a compost of three parts fibrous loam to one of well- 

 decomposed cow manure and a good dash of bone meal. 

 After the bulbs are potted they should be placed out- 

 doors in a frame with coal ashes to stand on. Care 

 should be exercised in watering for at this stage they 

 make roots rather slowly and are very likely to receive 

 too much water. Neither allow the plants to dry out 

 too much nor keep soaked with water, as one is as bad 

 as the other. When they have made some top growth 

 .-\ ringe them regularly every day, and fumigate when- 

 ever there are signs of thrips or fly. You can keep 

 them out in a frame until there is danger of frost. 

 Some time in September they can be given a place in 

 a well-lighted house that does not run below 60 degrees 

 at night. 



MULCHING MIXTURE 



Now is the time to prepare your mulching material 

 for fall and winter use, on all such crops as roses, car- 

 nations, etc. By getting the material ready now it will 

 save time and some anxious worry later on. In pre- 

 paring this mulch make it rich. I would say let it con- 

 sist of two parts of well-decomposed cow manure to one 

 part of good fibrous soil. You will have to chop it up 

 quite fine and make it up into a neat pile and let it 

 stand for about three weeks and then turn it over three 

 or four times at intervals of about every ten days, when 

 it will be in a fine mellow condition to put through a 

 94-inch screen. This should then be stored away un- 

 der a shed or any other place where the rain and snow 

 will not reach it. Where you want to use bone meal 

 or other fertilizing material this can be added at any 

 time before applying. Having this mulch in good 

 condition and in a handy place under cover constitutes 

 one of the first elements of success in growing good 

 flowers. 



PANSIES 



From now until August 20th pansy seed for spring 

 use should be sown, but as a general rule with a ma- 

 jority of florists the first week in the next month is the 

 date selected. Buy the large-flowering strains and sow 

 in a cold frame. Make a compos! of loam and leaf mold 

 in equal parts and add about one-third of well-decayed 

 manure. After digging over your frames, place about 

 four inches of the above mixture, for, to grow pansy to 

 perfection you simply must give a soil of high fertility. 

 Shade the frames with whitewashed sash or, what is 

 still better, lath shutters, with laths about half an inch 

 apart. Sow the seed in drills about four inches apart. 

 After the seedlings have made their second pair of leaves 

 they can be thinned out to stand about four inches apart 

 and the others that you have thinned out can be trans- 



planted into other frames of rich soil. Be sure to keep 

 the beds moist and clear of weeds. 



PAINTING AND REPAIRING 



A few reminders about painting and repairing will 

 not be out of place now. Summer is the best time for 

 this kind of work, when houses are dryer and 

 the weather such that you can give them full exposure 

 to the drying air. You can make all such work more 

 tolerable by shading your house or by placing some 

 covering over the roof during torrid weather. All neces- 

 sary work to put houses in good condition before the 

 approach of cold weather should be done now. There 

 is nothing worse than leaky and draughty houses. Give 

 a general inspection as to painting, puttying, and re- 

 pairing; examine boilers, fire-boxes and grates, also give 

 piping a thorough going over and readjust ventilators 

 and all other machinery. If you take note you will 

 find that the most prosperous growers are always those 

 who put their houses in proper shape before the cold 

 weather sets in. 



RAMBLER ROSES 



When Ramblers have made a long and stout growth 

 they should be put outside to ripen up their wood. 

 Place them on some material which they will not root 

 into for you do not want them to make any more growth 

 but to give them a gradual ripening up. Great care 

 should be taken not to harden up the wood too earlv. 

 Don't let them wilt on account of the lack of moisture 

 in the soil, but keep them watered for some time yet 

 as from now until the end of August they are making 

 buds that will give you fine trusses of bloom for next 

 Easter. See that each plant has room to allow plentv 

 of Hght and air around it. By the end of August you 

 can begin to shorten up on the water and by the time we 

 begin to have cold weather they will be nicelv ripened 

 up. 



SOLANUMS 



Berried solanums that are in the field should be en- 

 couraged to make rapid and bushy growth. Those that 

 seem to be making too much top growth should have 

 their tops pinched out. During the next six weeks 

 these plants, if on well enriched land, will make fine 

 large and bushy stock. Keep the soil well-stirred which 

 will help these plants during the dry part of the sum- 

 mer and keep them growing right along. If the weather 

 is very dry it would be wise to use the hose where pos- 

 -iMc. When watering them give one good and thorough 

 watering and that will suffice for at least ten davs. 

 Merely sprinkling the plants should not be practicedas 

 it does more harm than good. These plants can be 

 lifted and potted up the last of August or early in 

 September. Keep them freely syringed and shaded for 

 a few days and they will soon become established. 



Mr. Fan-ell's next noti Ml be on tbe following : Calanthes- 

 Ualets; Bougainylllens: I> isies; Gardenias; Schlzanthus. 



Our Seventh Annual Convention Number 



<J Will be issued under date of August 12, 191 1. It will be full of interest for those who go 

 to the Convention at Baltimore, and equally so for those who stay at home. It will be widely 

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IT PAYS! 



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IT PAYS ! 



