THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



63 



patient of results we recommend the 

 cobsBa for immediate effect, or till the 

 hardy vines make a show. When this 

 is done be careful not to let the cobseas 

 smother the permanent vines when 

 young. 



The variegated form of Cobsea scan- 

 dens is a beautiful plant and makes a 

 fine greenhouse climber, but is not of 

 value outside. The variegated sort is 

 always propagated by cuttings which 

 strike root in the sand at any time you 

 have good young shoots ready. 



Cobaea scandens is always raised from 

 seed. We sow in March in flats con 

 taining two inches of light, sandy soil, 

 and keep in a temperature of 60 de 

 grees. Press the soil down evenly and 

 moderately firm, and press the seeds 

 into the soil, always on edge. No cover 

 ing is needed; the upper edge of the 

 seed can be even with the surface of the 

 soil. Give them a good watering and 

 keep moist till the young plants are up 

 an inch or two, when they should have 

 plenty of light and be soon potted off 

 singly in small pots. 



They grow rapidly, and when five or 

 six inches high we shiff them into a 

 4-inch pot and put a stake two feet 

 long to each one. If not staked and 

 tied they get entangled with each other 

 and it would be impossible to get them 

 apart. There are few of our customers 

 that don t know the cobea and a few 

 hundred are asked for every spring. 

 And when you have to buy it is one of 

 those things difficult to get in satisfac 

 tory shape. 



COLDFRAMES. 



What we call a coldframe (low walls 

 of wood or brick supporting some glazed 

 sash) is a miniature greenhouse with 

 out any artificial heat. Every grower 

 should 1 kiiow the great value of them 

 and how much they add to his capacity 

 for raising many plants and temporarily 

 increase the area of his glass. There 

 are times, especially with the man who 

 raises bedding plants, when his place is 

 fearfully congested and the addition of 

 another thousand feet of bench room is 

 the greatest relief. 



Coldframes are used for many pur 

 poses. In the fall and winter for pan- 

 sies, to store away hybrid perpetual 

 roses, to winter pot carnations that are 

 wanted for next summer s bloom, to 

 winter many herbaceous plants that 

 have been raised from seed the pre 

 vious August, to protect Eoman hya 

 cinths, and also the Dutch hyacinths are 

 as well under glass, where they don t 

 get so wet, and the severe frost does 

 not crack the pots. 



Some of our common little vase plants 

 we winter in coldframes, viz.: the sed- 

 tims, lysimachia (money vine) and the 

 variegated glechoma. In the spring 

 these frames are of still greater use; 

 not only do they relieve our crowded 

 benches, but many plants do far better 

 in them than in a greenhouse. In the 

 frames you have perfect light, an abun 

 dance of air, and on fine, warm days 

 the sashes can be removed, when full 

 exposure to sunlight and air can be 

 given. 



Carnation growers can put their young 

 plants into the coldframes the first part 

 of April and a few weeks in them will 

 condition the plants for the open field 

 much better than a lofty hothouse. By 

 the middle of April all the annuals in 

 flats or planted can go into the cold- 

 frames, and many of our bedding plants 

 will be greatly benefited by a few weeks 

 in the coldframes. It is a far better 

 place for geraniums than a shaded 

 house without fire heat. 



In the summer, without the sash, we 

 find great use for the frames for plung 

 ing out our azaleas, acacias, hardy roses 

 in pots, and many plants that are kept 

 in pots during summer. Boards fast 

 ened up to keep your plunging material 

 in place may do as well, but the frame 

 is all ready to hand. 



I had forgotten one very important 

 use, and that is for the longiflorum lilies 

 in the fall. Both the Bermuda and the 

 Japan grown are potted and placed in 

 the coldframes, and in ease of very 

 heavy rains are much better covered 

 with the sash. Those you keep for East 

 er and later flowering must be kept in 

 the frame till December or later, and 

 there is where your coldframe will come 

 in right; in fact, it is a necessity. 



The ground on which these frames are 

 stood should never be in a place where 

 surface water will stand, even if only 

 during heavy rains. If it is not a nat 

 urally dry position make provision to 

 carry off the rains from the surround 

 ing surface. Where a large lot of sash 

 is used for this purpose some of the 

 frames at least can be permanent. By 

 that I mean they can be built of cedar 

 or cypress posts (4x4 is a good size) 

 driven into the ground every eight feet 

 for the back and front line of the frame, 

 which can be any desired length. I 

 have one of thirty sash in length devoted 

 to violets. Where they are built to fixed 

 posts in this way it is best to use 2-inch 

 plank for the walls. Where the frame 

 is movable and is made in length to 

 fit three or four sash, 1-inch lumber 

 will do. The sashes are made of various 

 sizes, but it is wrong to have them an 

 awkward size; six feet long by three 

 feet six inches wide is large enough, and 

 some prefer three feet wide. 



For a great majority of our frames, 

 whether permanent or portable, the 

 height at back is eighteen inches and the 

 front twelve inches, giving the sash a 

 slope of six inches to the sun; that is 

 plenty. For a few larger plants we have 

 some frames that are two feet at back 

 and eighteen inches in front. I prefer 

 the cypress sash, butting the glass. Al 

 ways use double thick glass; these sash 

 get a good deal of handling and occa 

 sionally one blows off in a gale. They 

 run risks of breakage far more than a 

 fixed roof; they are moved repeatedly to 

 ventilate and are raised to enable you to 

 water, so the double thick glass will save 

 the extra price of glass in one year. 



Always have a rafter for every sash 

 to rest on and slide on. They are very 

 simply made by nailing a piece of pine 

 2x1 on to another piece of pine 4x1, and 

 have a hook and eye for every sash, to 

 keep them from blowing off in a storm. 



There are always enough spare sash in 

 the dark winter days so that you can 

 overhaul the whole lot, mend them where 

 needed and give them a coat of paint. 

 And then when you put on the sash over 

 a young batch of carnations there won t 

 be a glass out in each sash, which you 

 often see decorated with a piece of 

 board, and which blows off to make a 

 hole in the next sash, to chill or drown 

 out the plants beneath, to disseminate 

 profanity and vex all around. Some men 

 may take all the little accidents that en 

 sue from neglect quite placidly, but de 

 pend upon it when they do they are 

 sluggish, good natured fellows that won t 

 get far ahead. 



A hail storm that knocks out all your 

 glass is no cause to get irritable. The 

 writer has been through it and knows 

 how it feels. It can t be helped, no 

 power could hinder it, and therefore you 

 should be cheerful and clean up and find 

 out the best place to buy glass as quick 

 as possible. But these so-called accidents 

 which are purely neglect are what vex a 

 man. 



A good part of your frames should be 

 made to take four sash, because they 

 are what are used on the hotbeds. You 

 seldom need those deeper than eighteen 

 inches by one foot and the ends should 

 be fastened to a 2x4 post in the four 

 corners. All sashes should have a strip 

 of iron running across the middle on the 

 under side, to which each bar should be 

 fastened with a screw. It helps greatly 

 to strengthen the sash and keep it from 

 winding. The strip of iron can.be %x*4 

 inch. In summer, when of little use, see 

 that the sashes are laid or stood on tim 

 bers, off the ground, not winding, and 

 that a door or some such thing be stood 

 up and tacked to the last one covering 

 the glass, so that your sons or sons 

 friends, when showing you how they can 

 curve a ball, will be satisfied to break 

 the windows in your barn and not go 

 through three or four depths of sash. 



COLEUS. 



This handsome tropical foliage 

 plant is not so largely used as it was ten 

 years ago. A change of fashion in flower 

 gardening will account for this. A re 

 turn to less formal style and the larger 

 use of flowering plants lessened the 

 popularity of the coleus; still there will 

 always be some demand for them. Ver- 

 schaffeltii is a variety raised from 

 Blumei, which species is also the parent 

 of the thousands of varieties that have 

 been raised, disseminated, and many now 

 forgotten. The coleus as a bedding plant 

 is finely suited to our warm summers, 

 and those that have not seen it strug 

 gling along, dwarf and scrubby looking, 

 in the gardens of North Britain, don t 

 realize what a grand plant we have in 

 this tropical herb. 



In climates where they make but a 

 poor growth out of doors they are ap 

 preciated as decorative pot plants, for 

 which they make fine specimens. They 

 can be pinched and tied to most sym 

 metrical forms and for pure beauty of 

 form and color are as handsome as any 

 plant. But here, where we see them 



