THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



23 



Asparagus Plumosus. 



feeder and requires an abundance of 

 water and will grow and keep its color 

 in the full sun; only from our hottest 

 suns should it receive any artificial shad 

 ing. 



It is easily raised from seed, which is 

 best sown in early spring. By the fol 

 lowing winter the plants will give fine 

 sprays, i or hanging baskets it has 

 scarcely a rival, either for the conserva 

 tory, the veranda or parlor window. The 

 magnificent baskets that remain in good 

 condition while hanging for months in 

 a florist s window are evidence of its 

 great adaptability to unfavorable sur 

 roundings. Three small plants put in 

 a 10-inch basket in July or August will 

 make fine ornamental baskets for win 

 ter, most useful for decoration or to sell 

 at a good profit. While the Sprengeri 

 lacks a little of the grace and fineness 

 of plumosus and tenuissimus, it is for 

 certain purposes their superior, and when 

 the sprays are matured their lasting qual 

 ities are equal to the well known dura 

 bility of plumosus. Depth of soil Spren 

 geri must have or it will soon be ex 

 hausted. We know a rose grower who 

 grows it most profitably in some con 

 necting houses beneath the gutters. He 

 plants in English glass boxes which are 

 eight inches wide, sixteen inches deep and 

 two feet long. In these, with liberal 

 liquid manure, he cuts large quan 

 tities of fine sprays for two and three 



bed every three or four years. The roof 

 of the house should be at least ten feet 

 above the surface of the bed or you will 

 not get the full benefit of the growth. 

 Specialists like Mr. Elliott have houses 

 twice that height. 



It is not only the long strings that are 

 used. The short sprays are in great 

 demand for mixing with cut flowers, par 

 ticularly bunches of roses. While many 

 short sprays can be cut from the planted 

 beds, many plants are grown on side 

 benches in six inches of soil or in 6-inch 

 or 8-inch pots with the view of producing 

 sprays only. The plants will, if vigor 

 ous, throw up the long running shoots, 

 but by -nipping off the tops of the shoots 

 when eighteen to twenty-four inches long 

 the production of branchlets is stimu 

 lated. 



We have found small plants of A. 

 plumosus very useful for fern dishes, 

 outlasting any of the ferns. For this 

 purpose the plants are best kept in 

 3-inch pots, though for large arrange 

 ments of flowers and foliage bushy plants 

 in 4-inch pots are most useful. 



A. tenuissimus needs precisely the 

 same treatment as A. plumosus, but 

 it is not such a general favorite. Its 

 very finely divided, graceful branchlets 

 are, however, preferred by some above 

 A. plumosus. 



A. Sprengeri is a more recent intro 

 duction and comes from Abyssinia (the 

 other species are from South Africa). It 

 is a strong grower, forming a large clump 

 of roots and crowns from which it sends 

 out long, strong shoots covered on all 

 sides with fine branchlets. In older 

 plants there is an inclination to run up 

 strong shoots which may climb, but the 

 value and beauty of the plant is in the 

 long, pendent growths. It is a strong 



Asparagus Sprengeri. 



