46 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



plants is utterly ruined by them. Don t 

 wait till you see the fly, but smoke mild 

 ly every week at least, without fail, and 

 till they are taken to the show house 

 should always have tobacco stems strewn 

 among the pots. There is no feature in 

 the cultivation of the calceolaria so im 

 portant as this; never let aphis be 

 seen on them. 



The shrubby section of calceolaria is 

 used in Europe largely as a summer 

 flowering garden plant. The writer has 

 tried it here several times, but always 

 with failure, and that, I believe, is the 

 general verdict. Our hot summer is the 

 obstacle. As a flowering plant for the 

 greenhouse they are not nearly so orna 

 mental as the herbaceous varieties. The 

 same cultural directions will apply to 

 them, excepting that they are usually 

 propagated by cuttings, which root read 

 ily in the fall in a cool, shady frame. 



CAMELLIA. 



This once universally cultivated 

 plant has gone largely out of fashion 

 and for the last twenty years is neither 

 seen nor spoken of. The cause is not 

 far to seek. Our largest and best tea 

 roses are as beautiful in form, of warm 

 er tints of color and fragrant. Then, 

 again, all cut flowers must now have 

 their natural stem, and that largely bars 

 the camellia. There was a time which 

 all older florists remember in the first 

 days of the use of elaborate mechani 

 cally made designs when camellias were 



dimcult but because the demand both 

 lor the plants and flowers is too meager. 



In cool conservatories they make 

 grand bushes planted out *n the border. 

 The writer well remembers the day when 

 it was his duty to jar the stem of a 

 large double white camellia every morn 

 ing when in flower and then rake up 

 from the perfectly kept oorder hundreds 

 of fallen petals, but that was in a cli 

 mate more suitable, I think, for the 

 camellia than this one. 



They like a good, strong yellow loam 

 and should not be overpotted. The roots 

 should be moist the year round and in 

 the spring and early summer, their grow 

 ing time, should have plenty of water 

 anu an occasional syringing. They can 

 be hau in bloom from October till -\ ay, 

 but eudure no such thing as forcing. 

 The only way to get them into bloom 

 early is to start them growing in the 

 spring early. At that time they will 

 stand a good heat with plenty of mois 

 ture on leaf and root. As soon as they 

 have made their growth and show the 

 small flower bud on the end of the 

 growth they should be kept as cool as 

 possible during the remainder of the 

 summer. The hot summer is what they 

 don t like, and there is no better place 

 in summer than out of doors in the 

 shade of a building or, what is still 

 better, a summer house covered with lat 

 tice-work, which gives partial shade and 

 coolness. They will do very well in win 

 ter in a temperature of 40 degrees at 

 night. 



Calceolaria Flowered in 6-inch Pot. 



indispensable, and more than one of us 

 can remember the request or order of 

 our patrons of thirty years ago: &quot;Be 

 sure to put in plenty of japonicas. 



They are mostly all propagated by 

 grafting the fine varieties on seedling 

 stocks or stocks raised from cuttings 

 put into sandy soil in July and August 

 in a coldframe that can be kept shady 

 and cool. The propagation is better 

 left to the specialist and the growing 

 of camellias to the private gardener. 

 Not because their cultivation is at all 



When I say they are hardy in the 

 south of England and the milder parts 

 of Ireland you can form an idea as to 

 their hardiness. I remember about the 

 year 1864 a large plant of the Lady 

 Hume s Blush that was badly covered 

 with white scale. It was left out of 

 doors all winter, with the intention of 

 applying the radical treatment of kill or 

 cure. The camellia came through the 

 winter unharmed. I forget whether the 

 scale was killed or not. The scale is 

 about the only pest that troubles the 



camellia and that can be destroyed by 

 washing with the kerosene emulsion. 



The hybrids that were raised from 

 the several species are the most use 

 ful if you grow them at all. The sin 

 gle colored varieties are fine decorative 

 flowers. I learn from a Philadelphia 

 firm that a great many camellias are 

 now sold to go to the southern states. 

 Where planted out they would be very 

 fine. 



CANNA. 



The canna was of old often called 

 Indian shot, because the seed is ex 

 cellent as a charge for the shotgun when 

 a stray dog Is the game in view. 



Few plants have undergone such a 

 change and improvement of late years 

 as the canna. Thirty years ago cannas 

 were grown almost exclusively for their 

 handsome tropical foliage, but since M. 

 Crozy introduced his wonderful hybrids 

 the flower is of more importance than 

 the leaves. Our summers are admirably 

 adapted to the perfect development of 

 the canna and as a decorative plant for 

 our summer gardens it easily Jakes the 

 front rank. Gorgeous beds are seen in 

 the parks, cemeteries, private grounds 

 and even in the humble little garden of 

 the day laborer. In an 8 or 9-inch pot 

 they make grand plants for the decora 

 tion of a large conservatory, Avhere you 

 can see the fullest perfection of their 

 grand flowers. 



Since the introduction of the Crozy 

 type or, as they are often called, 

 flowering cannas, the old species 

 and types, whose leaves were the attrac 

 tion and flow y ers small and few, have 

 sunk into desuetude and are rarely cul 

 tivated, because the newer varieties have 

 not only splendid spikes of flowers but 

 all the variety in color of foliage also. 

 There is one of the old type still left 

 that for effect of foliage I have never 

 yet seen equaled by any of the large 

 flowering ones. We call it La Grande 

 Eouge. It grows six feet high in any 

 ordinary soil, has narrow, long, pointed 

 leaves, in color a deep, almost purple, 

 -bronze, and very upright habit. For 

 the center of a large bed we don t know 

 its equal. 



Our own American florists have 

 raised many grand varieties equal to 

 any of the imported ones. The canna 

 seems well adapted to our climate and 

 environment. In the north in winter, 

 outside the greenhouse, our vegetation 

 is largely hibernating. The somber 

 pines keep green, tis true, but we are 

 without the broad-leaved evergreens of 

 the south. Our giants of the forest are 

 bleak and bare and the snowbird flies 

 noiselessly across the waste. Our woods 

 are solemnly still. Our wild plants have 

 scattered their seeds and herbaceous 

 plants are covered with their welcome 

 overcoat of snow. Except for man and 

 his necessities it would be a quiet scene. 

 The bear slumbers in the hollow tree 

 and dreams of honey, the squirrel stops 

 at home and enjoys the fruits of his 

 irugal care, and the marmot curls up 

 in his deep burrow, but peeps out in 

 early March to see how prospects are, 

 and about the time he takes his first 



