July, 1913 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



167 



Students Studying Floriculture at the Guelph Agricultural College 



The Normal School teachers who gather eax;h summer at the Quelph College take a course of 

 lecturee and demonstrations in floriculture. Some of the students are here shown in the rose garden. 



My Favorite Flower and How I Grow It* 



A. V. Main, Ottawa, Ont. 



THE summer treatment required by 

 geraniums is light. Remove spent 

 bloom, keep stirring the soil till the 

 foliage prevents you and during an ex- 

 ceptionally dry spell give a good water- 

 ing in the evening. In a rich soil and 

 rotted manure geraniums will scarcely 

 suffer even in a dry season. 



In October, before the frost cuts them 

 down too much, lift the plants, trim off 

 long shoots and bad leaves, put them 

 into large pots or boxes about six inches 

 deep and pack soil around the roots. 

 Place them in a basement or in a cool 

 ;ury room where frost is kept out. Give 

 water every three weeks. During Janu- 

 ary and February withhold it altogether. 



The plants I bring successfully 

 through the winter are adapted for boxes, 

 vases and other receptacles that add to 

 the beauty and environment of a well- 

 kept house. 



In April I cut the plants good and 

 hard, leaving about only three inches of 

 wood, which soon sends out new buds. 

 After their second summer of blooming, 

 I discard the plants without a grudge, 

 as the roots get old and matted they lack 

 vigor and deteriorate in every way. 



As a cut flower geraniums stand well, 

 and in the fall or after the first snowfall, 

 a vase of scarlet geraniums, with their 

 bronze foliage, is always appreciated. 



VARIETIES 



Capital bedding varieties include the 

 following: Double, John Doyle, scarlet; 



•Part of the essay that won first prize in the 

 oompotition held laRt yeaT for prizes offered 

 by Mr. R. B. Whytc, of Ottawa, and Mr. Her- 

 mann Simmers, of Toronto- 



S. A. Nutt, brilliant crimson ; Captain 

 Flavelle, scarlet; La Favorite, white; 

 Mdm. Jaulin, pink, semi-double ; Mar- 

 quis de Castelain, light crimson. Single 

 sorts include. Fiance, pink ; Mdm. C. 

 Braunt, salmon pink; Flamingo, red. 

 The silver leafed Mdm. Salleroi makes a 

 nice border to a scarlet bed. The cut 

 leafed scented geranium is an old time 

 gem, cherished so much by our grand- 

 parents. The bi-colors and tri-colors 

 commend themselves for their fine fol- 

 iage display. Thus the geranium is in 

 no way limited for variety. 



POT PLANTS 



Our favorite pot plants are specially 

 treated for fall exhibition and winter 

 blooming in the house. Prepare a good 

 soil, equal parts rotted manure, loam, 

 with sand added for porosity, also a six- 

 inch pot of bone meal to a barrow load of 

 the mixture. Do not sift the soil. Early 

 in June repot the plants into six and 

 seven inch pots instead of the flower bed. 

 Plunge the pots in ashes in a sunny 

 place. Keep them well watered all sum- 

 mer, remove every bud that shows, pinch 

 back the growths and turn the plant 

 once a week. The idea is to get a sturdy 

 plant, having plenty of roots and with 

 growths well matured. 



Three weeks prior to the show I let 

 the flowers come and continue feeding 

 the plant twice a week with Clay's fer- 

 tilizer and Peruvian guano alternately. 

 At the approach of frost I place the 

 plants in the sunniest window. If you 

 do not over-water the geraniums the 

 bloom will surprise you if the summer 



treatment has been fulfilled. In March 

 cut the shoots back to four inches and in 

 May repot into a larger sized pot or top- 

 dress . 



Towards the end of May gradually 

 harden them off for their flowering quar- 

 ters outdoors. I use a sunny aspect. A 

 rich soil, Ihalf soil and half rotted man- 

 ure, about twelve inches deep, suits me, 

 with a sprinkling of that lasting fertili- 

 zer, bonemeal. When planting, firm the 

 soil and allow fifteen inches to a plant. 

 For two weeks pick off all flowers and 

 buds, and pinch back any straggling 

 growth. This is a heart-break to the 

 ladies, but a valuable assistance to the 

 geraniums, to make roots and recovery 

 for its long flowering period June to Oc- 

 tober. 



Window Boxes 



H. Gibson, Fergus, Ont. 



When the lady of the house has plant- 

 ed her window box she sees in her mind's 

 eye a wealth of bloom and beauty the 

 future has in store. But this anticipated 

 beauty is in many many cases never re- 

 alized, hence the poor woman is disap- 

 pointed and wonders why she failed to 

 attain success. She says, "I bought good 

 plants, had good soil, and I watered 

 them myself every day. What more 

 could I do? In less than a month the 

 plants began to look sick, their leaves 

 turn yellow and fall off. They seem to 

 try to grow but the young leaves go just 

 the same, look as if stricken with blight. 

 In six weeks they are almost all dead. 

 Was the fault mine? If so what is wrong 

 with my treatment " 



In nine times out of ten the failure re- 

 sults from lack of sufficient moisture at 

 the roots. It must be borne in mind that 

 a box of a foot or more wide, and nine 

 or ten Inches deep, and from three to 

 four feet long, contains quite a large 

 quantity of soil ; to keep this moist re- 

 quires liberal supplies of water in the 

 summer. This many persons fail to re- 

 alize and adopt the little and often meth- 

 od of watering, which only wets the sur- 

 face soil, the soil beneath becoming in 

 the meantime almost dust-dry. This ex- 

 plains why the plants flourish for a time 

 and then begin to fade. They do well 

 while the roots are in the moist stratum 

 of soil, but as soon as they get through 

 that they fail to find the moisture they 

 need, and must have if development is 

 to go on, and the result is failure. 



To grow plants well in window boxes 

 they should be thoroughly soaked through 

 every morning during the hot weather, 

 and it may require to be done twice daily 

 when such hot weather is experienced as 

 we had in Canada last summer. Make it 

 part of your daily plan to water thor- 

 oughly every day, and above all never 

 allow the moist appearance of the sur- 

 face soil to deceive you. 



