THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



old bulbs just after the flowering or 

 when you start the bulbs into active 

 growth; the former is the better plan. 



The amaryllis flowers in July and Au 

 gust, the hippeastrum in April and May. 

 Though hardly a florist s plant they are 

 gorgeous flowers for the conservatory. 



AMPELOPSIS. 



Although more of a nurseryman s 

 than a florist s plant, there is one species 

 of this most useful genus of hardy 

 climbers that enters largely into the 

 plantsman s trade. We all handle, and 

 some of us largely, that unrivalled 

 climber, A. tricuspidata, so universally 

 known as A. Veitehii. It has many 

 aliases among our patrons, being called 

 the Japanese ivy, Boston ivy, etc. For 

 the covering of unsightly walls, stone or 

 brick barns, and on the most costly man 

 sions if the owner chooses, it has no 

 equal, needing no support of any kind. 

 When first climbing in its early years 

 it assumes most picturesque forms, but 

 whether it is good taste to cover densely 

 the whole front of a fine house is a 

 matter that must be left to the taste of 

 the owner. 



Though making but a moderate 

 growth the first two years, it is, when 

 well established, a most vigorous grower 

 and it climbs to the roofs of our loftiest 

 houses. There is a fallacy about its 

 growing only on the south and east 

 aspects, and in one city I heard it stated 



not a suitable climber for a frame house, 

 for the house must be painted and that 

 settles the vine unless you are content 

 to cut it down and begin again from 

 the ground. 



Propagation is by cuttings or seed. 

 The cuttings can be put into flats and 

 should be made in September with two 

 or three eyes of the current year s 

 growth. A light loam is a good com 

 post for the cuttings and a shaded 

 bench in the greenhouse is the place. 

 Or, the cuttings can be put at once into 

 the ground in a coldfraiie. They should 

 be wintered whether propagated inside 

 or out in a coldframe and planted 

 out the following spring. Two-year 

 and three-year-old plants from cuttings 

 when planted permanently start off with 

 a vigorous growth. We have raised 

 many thousands from seed. Sow in flats, 

 in February or March. Pot singly in 

 S^-inch pots and later into 4-inch. If 

 you have vacant benches in July, Au 

 gust and September, with a stake to sup 

 port them, you can have nice plants by 

 fall. Put them out into coldframes 

 early, so that they can ripen their 

 growth. These plants should be pro 

 tected in coldframes and can be per 

 manently planted the following spring. 

 These seedlings, however, will be much 

 slower for the first two years than the 

 stronger plants from cuttings. 



ANANAS. 

 The beautiful variegated pineapple is 



Ananas Saliva Varicgata. 



that it did best on the north side. It 

 will grow on every side of a house, 

 north or south, but should be given a 

 bushel of good soil for a start, and in 

 exposed places some litter over the roots 

 the first year. Millions have been plant 

 ed in the residence portions of our 

 cities and millions more are yet to be 

 planted as our cities spread out. It is 



a variegated form of the pineapple that 

 is grown for its fruit, Ananas sativa. 

 When well grown there is no variegated 

 ornamental plant surpassing it in beauty. 

 Pineapples, when well grown, can be 

 fruited in two years. They were once 

 a great feature of British gardens. The 

 writer has helped or \vat-hed the packing 

 of tons of Black Jamaica and Quee;i 



pineapples, some forty-five years ago. 

 when fruits of either of those fine vari 

 eties were worth from $5.00 to $10.00 

 each. That was in the days when the 

 foreign or tropical grown fruit was little 

 larger than a baseball and about as 

 tough. Since then the cultivation of 

 the pineapple has been skillfully and 

 systematically taken up in several tropi 

 cal countries, perhaps to the greatest per 

 fection in the Azores, and the fruit being 

 almost equal, both in appearance and 

 flavor, to those grown under glass, the 

 industry is no longer profitable and 

 would be out of the province of this 

 chapter if it were. 



The propagation of the pineapple is 

 by suckers, which start freely from the 

 base of the stem, and from the leafy 

 crown on the fruit. They should be 

 cleaned off and a small portion of the 

 base of the sucker cut squarely off. Pot 

 firmly into 3 or 4-inch pots and plunge 

 into bottom heat of 75 to 80 degrees. 

 Keep only moderately moist until rooted. 

 The suckers appear at the time the plant 

 is fruiting, and the larger the suckers 

 when severed from the old plant, the 

 better. 



The soil best suited for them is a 

 good, loamy sod, not too finely broken 

 up. If heavy add sand with a fifth or 

 sixth of leaf-mold and rotted cow 

 manure in equal parts. They should at 

 all times be firmly potted. To hasten 

 their growth they should be plunged 

 during summer in a light house and 

 shaded only during the very hottest hours 

 of the day. Plenty of water should be 

 given in summer, but the plants should 

 be kept rather on the dry side in winter. 

 By all means avoid a stagnant, wet 

 soil. 



This plant is beautiful at all stages 

 of its growth, and is particularly at 

 tractive when in flower and fruit, the 

 latter lasting on the plant several weeks. 



To those growing them largely for the 

 trade I might mention an item in their 

 culture which may or may not be in 

 practice. As it was an excellent plan 

 to produce a plant of the green foliaged 

 fruiting varieties it cannot but be good 

 with the variegated variety. It was to 

 plant out the young rooted suckers from 

 the 3-inch or 4-inch pots into six inches 

 of good compost under glass during sum 

 mer and lift them in the fall or follow 

 ing sprirg. Where some bottom heat 

 can be given to the bed they will make 

 as much growth in six months planted 

 out as they will in twelve months grown 

 in pots. 



ANNUALS. 



The title hardy annual as applied to 

 many of our summer flowering plants 

 is a misnomer, for those that can be 

 sown out of doors and come to perfec 

 tion before frost touches them are very 

 few. Many plants that are perennials 

 we treat as annuals, growing them but 

 one year and finding it more profitable 

 to raise a new crop from seed each year; 

 primula, cineraria, etc. 



The few annuals that can be sown 

 out of doors, such as candytuft, migno 

 nette, poppy, eschscholzia, etc., should 

 be sown as soon as possible after the 



