194 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



August, 1913 



Exterior View of Mr. T. A. Trenholm'* Conservatory, Montreal, Que. 



^^^iSt't^^wiiJ to""",!"!!?"^ •''''";»,**' ventilating shaft at tie ridge on both sides, so that which- 

 ever way the wind may be blowing the opposite sash can be opened so as to prevent a draught on 



the pUtnts. 



ture, the fumes of which destroy the lice. 

 The doors and ventilators must, of 

 course, be tightly closed during this fum- 

 igation process. 



In this small house of his Mr. Whyte 

 has tried many kinds of plants. His 

 chief show plants, however, are the bulbs 

 and never from early winter till late 

 spring is his house without a beautiful 

 display of these gorgeous and most sat- 

 isfactory flowers. Freesias, narcissi, tu- 

 lips, hyacinths, form the staple crops, 

 while crocuses, grown in flat pans, also 

 make very effective shows. Several 

 hundred pots of these plants are grown 

 each winter. In addition to the bulbs, 

 he finds geraniums, begonias and cacti 

 are among the best plants to grow. He 

 is quite partial to the cacti, chiefly be- 

 cause all of them are quaint and practi- 

 cally proof against all injury from no 

 matter what cause, and also because the 

 two classes which he chiefly grows, 

 namely the Epiphyllum or Crab Cacti, 

 and the Phyllocactus, are showy flow- 

 ering plants and their blossoms last dur- 

 ing a whole season. Cacti may be ne- 

 glected for days and no injury will re- 

 sult. In this regard no other flower can 

 compete with them. 



Ferns are such useful plants that 

 everyone should possess at least a few 

 varieties. Mr. Whyte finds the sword 

 ferns, or the Nephrolepis type, do best 

 with him, the maidenhairs or Adiantum 

 are apt to dry up too quickly. Palms 

 and shrubs although tried he has not 

 found so satisfactory on account of the 

 large amount of space they require. 



Vegetables, such as lettuce and radish, 

 are not grown to any extent for the same 

 reason that shrubs are not grown. That 

 is, Mr. Whyte loves to have a big dis- 

 play of flowers to which he is partial, 

 and does not care to crowd them out to 



make room for a greater variety of 

 plants, and besides this, vegetables re- 

 quire a somewhat lower temperature 

 than suits most other plants. 



ADVANTAGES OF A SMALL GREENHOUSE 



A large amount of interest and pleas- 

 urable recreation it attached to the care 

 of a small ' 'home greenhouse. ' The real 

 labor on the other hand is very slight. 

 The advantages of growing plants in a 

 small greenhouse as compared to grow- 

 ing them in the rooms of the house, may 

 be summed up as follows : 



The light conditions are better and 

 more easily controlled. 



Temperature conditions may be made 

 nearly perfect. A temperature of sixty- 

 five to seventy-five degrees by day and 

 fifty-five to sixty-five degrees at night 

 are the optimum temperatures. 



The humidity of the atmosphere may 

 be kept more regular; the dry atmos- 

 phere of rooms often causes the death of 

 plants. In a greenhouse the floor can 

 be sprinkled. 



Such work as potting is more easily 

 and pleasantly performed than in a 

 room. 



Proper ventilation can be given with 

 less likelihood of direct draughts. 



All types of flowering plants may be 

 grown, as well as foliage plants. 



Insects can be dealt with more easily. 



No injury results from leaking gas 

 pipes. 



Cuttings may be grown in a propa- 

 gating bench. 



What lover of flowers would not have 

 a greenhouse? 



For the important task of thorough 

 weeding I find the trowel a great help, 

 especially where I do not care to trust 

 the hoe. — H. M. Speechly, Pilot Mound, 

 Man. 



Preparing Plants for the Winter 

 Conservatory 



Wm. Hunt, O.A.C. Gaelpb, Oat. 



The all-endurinK, useful gerai.iuii.> 

 are often imposed upon by flower 

 lovers and expected to continue grow- 

 ing and flowering the whole year 

 round without cessation. Most plants 

 require a season of rest and special pre- 

 paration to do their best in the winter 

 season. The geranium is no exception. 



If there should happen to be a few 

 geraniums left over after finishing up the 

 Ix^dding out and window boxes, they 

 will come in splendidly for winter flower- 

 ing if properly treated. They should Ix; 

 potted up at once into six or seven inch 

 pots, using plenty of drainage at the 

 bottom of the pots. Give them a good, 

 rich, loamy soil, and when potted plunge 

 the pots (that is, sink the pots up to the 

 top) in the open ground in the garden. 

 It is well to put about an inch of coal 

 ashes or a piece of slate or flat stone 

 underneath when doing so to keep earth- 

 worms from getting into the pots. Keep 

 them well watered and all bloom buds 

 and blossoms picked off until September. 



About the first or second week in 

 September the pots may be lifted from 

 the ground and taken into the green- 

 house. If the plants are given a little 

 liquid fertilizer every week or ten days 

 from this time on, they will flower well 

 all the winter. You may have some old 

 plants of geraniums in pots that have 

 grown tall and unsightly. If so, they 

 may be cut well back to where the stems 

 are getting slightly woody. Leave them 

 in the pots, giving them enough water 

 to keep the soil moist. In about three 

 or four weeks signs of young growth 

 should be seen on them. They may then 

 be taken out of the pots, all the soil 

 shaken from the roots, the roots cut 

 back nearly one-half, and the plants pot- 

 ted into a rather sandy soil in a one or 

 two sized smaller pot. This is called 

 "potting back." They should not be 

 given too much water at this time. 



When the new growth has five or six 

 leaves developed, they can be potted 

 carefully without disturbing the roots 

 into the original sized pot or one size 

 larger. Use nearly an inch of drainage 

 and good, rich loamy soil when repot- 

 ting them. Old plants treated in this 

 way, in July or August, will give good 

 flowering results during winter, much 

 Isetter oftentimes than young plants will. 



PELABGONIUMB 



The fancy type of pelargoniums or 

 "Lady Washington" geraniums, as they 

 are sometimes called, should be treated 

 just in the same way as the old geran- 

 iums just mentioned. About the end of 

 August is the best time to cut them back. 

 They should be cut back so that only 

 three or four inches in length of the base 

 of the shoots or growth made last year 

 is left . The future treatment is the same 



