64 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



growing so luxuriantly outside, they are 

 not appreciated as pot plants, unless it 

 be for filling up in the summer and fall. 

 It would not be at all difficult to start 

 with a 4-inch plant in February and by 

 the following October have a plant six 

 feet across and as even in outline as an 

 umbrella, but few would stop to admire 

 it. They would only remark or reflect: 

 &quot;How long it must have taken John 

 Smith to grow that plant ! The plant 

 is not worth the pains. 



To digress a moment. To me it is no 

 pleasure (simply a bore, in fact) to see 

 an elephant on a tub, a horse waltzing, 

 or a dog walking on his hind legs. I 

 feel very tired if it lasts long, and in 

 stead of being amused by such mon 

 strosities am continually thinking how 

 many weary days and weeks it must 

 have taken to teach these lower animals 

 the tricks. That s all there is in it; it 

 shows the patience and untiring perse 

 verance of some men; the result is noth 

 ing when attained. I will go a long 

 ways to see a dog chasing a rabbit or a 

 fox, a horse s neck stretched out to pass 

 the winning post first, or an elephant 

 pulling a ten-ton cannon and showing 

 his majestic strength, and it s about the 

 same with this specimen coleus. It only 

 shows the patience ana skill of the work 

 man; the result is meager after all the 

 labor and cost. 



To obtain a good stock of coleus for 

 bedding purposes it is better to carry 

 over a few each of the leading varieties 

 in pots during summer, say in 5-inch or 

 6-inch pots. If you should have a cool 

 spell in October and November, when 

 firing but little, the fair-sized plants can 

 stand it, but small plants in 2-inch pots 

 cannot. By starting these plants in good, 

 strong heat after New Year s you will 

 soon get plenty of cuttings. As is known 

 to every florist, the coleus roots most 

 easily in sand the year around, and in the 

 months of March and April, when you are 

 doing your heaviest propagating, a bot 

 tom heat will save several days. 



Coleuses are sold cheap and must be 

 raised expeditiously or there will be no 

 profit. We endeavor to have several 

 sizes. The largest are in 4-inch pots. 

 Perhaps these have been stopped at least 

 twice, their cuttings having been used 

 for propagation. The 3-inch pot plants 

 were stopped once and the smaller plants 

 in 2% -inch pots had the top pinched 

 out. We find customers want different 

 sizes. Some are willing and able to pay 

 for the largest plants; others think the 

 smallest plants just as good. They 

 grow very fast, you know. We keep 

 on propagating to the middle of May. 



I have seen, in fact I have had, a poor 

 lot of coleuses, for sale at the end of 

 May, just when they should be looking 

 fine, and the reason was I thought it a 

 saving to buy no more fuel after the end 

 of April or first of May, and perhaps to 

 add to the trouble had some whitwash on 

 the house. A sudden drop in tempera 

 ture with a cool, damp house is the very 

 worst thing for coleuses. They lose 

 their leaves, grow decidedly smaller, and 

 instead of showing their fine colors, all 

 assume a brown paper appearance. Full 



sunlight and heat is what they want and 

 must have. 



I must refer once more to the hotbeds. 

 There is no place like them to grow 

 good bedding coleus. They need not be 

 built up as if you were growing cucum 

 bers in the month of March, but one foot 

 of solid stable manure with four or five 

 inches of loam or refuse hops on top 

 and some clean glass over them will pro 

 duce in three weeks_ a better bedding 

 plant than you can make in ten weeks 

 inside. Have a big batch of cuttings so 

 that they are ready to pot off middle of 

 April. By first of May they can go into 

 the hotbed in 3-inch pots, and that is 

 their finish. One more g~reat advantage 

 is that on warm days toward bedding 

 out time you can remove the sash, which 

 finely prepares these tropical plants for 

 their next and last move. 



We use coleuses of several varieties 

 for veranda boxes and vases. They al 

 ways do well. The only trouble with 

 them is that they grow so freely that if 

 allowed they will smother the geraniums, 

 the flowers of which are always looked 

 for. 



Any light loam with a third of sifted 

 rotten manure will grow coleuses, and if 

 we wish to hurry them along we add a 

 quart of bone flour to every bushel of 

 compost. 



Mealy bug is about the only green 

 house pest that troubles the coleus, and 

 if it has been a gardener that had charge 

 of the hose, that would not be seen. A 

 proper use of the hose will keep them 

 down; if it does not, use the kerosene 

 emulsion in the mildest form, and if 

 your plants are very bad throw them 

 away and start with a clean lot. 



&quot;Verschaffeltii I can remember very 

 well watering as a rather choice ex 

 otic about the year 1863. It is by long 

 odds still the best of them all, and Golden 

 isedder is such a fine golden yellow that 

 nothing is equal to it in its color. If you 

 grew 5,000 coleuses for bedding plants, 

 2,500 should be Verschaffeltii, 2,000 

 Golden Bedder, and the rest your own 

 fancy. For vases, etc., the fancy sorts 

 are useful. We have long since neglected 

 to keep record of the names of the fancy 

 coleuses, and grow only half a dozen that 

 are most distinct and keep their color 

 and markings outside in the broad sun. 



COSMOS. 



The annual varieties are now great 

 favorites, not only for the flower border, 

 but more especially for cutting. Its 

 finely divided foliage and handsome 

 flowers are now produced in various 

 shades, there being crimson, pink, white, 

 and last, a yellow. By the cross 

 ing of species and selection great im 

 provements have been made and still 

 more are confidently expected. In the 

 south and in California it flowers beau 

 tifully but in the northern and eastern 

 states it is too often cut off before or 

 just when beginning to flower. Special 

 ists in the cultivation of this graceful 

 flower have enlarged it from one inch 

 to three or four inches in diameter. Let 

 us hope they will give us varieties that 

 will bloom abundantly before any dan 

 ger of frost. They have already con 



siderably advanced their season of flow 

 ering. While a tendency to early flow 

 ering is produced, the later strains are 

 also more compact in growth; that, how 

 ever, to the florist who grows for cut 

 flowers, is not so important, as it is in 

 the long sprays that it is particularly 

 graceful, and for decorations few flow 

 ers surpass it in light, airy beauty. 



Only moderately rich soil should be 

 given it or it would grow too strong. 

 Plants that have many blooms yet to 

 open can be lifted, planted in boxes, 

 and placed in a light position at the end 

 of a carnation house, and will be greatly 

 appreciated after all outside flowers are 

 killed. Growing in a position where a 

 deep coldframe could be put over them 

 in fall to protect them from the first 

 severe frost will well repay the trouble. 



They are best sown in March, 

 transplanted into flats, kept in cold- 

 frame and planted out middle to end of 

 May, or when there is no longer danger 

 of frost. 



COTYLEDON. 



These now include what we have so 

 long known as the echeveria and sem- 

 pervivum. They are dwarf succulents, 

 a few of them forming stems, mostly 

 perennials. Very few are of any value 

 as flowering plants. Many of them are 

 indispensable for carpet bedding. In 

 fact, the rage for carpet bedding of 

 twenty-five years ago brought several 

 species of the echeveria into great promi 

 nence and millions were grown. They 

 will always be most interesting plants 

 for the rockery. 



They are of the easiest culture, all the 

 useful species sending out a number of 

 offsets, which can be removed from the 

 parent plant in fall and planted into 

 sandy loam thickly in flats. The species 

 such as metallica and retusa that form 

 stems should not be exposed to frost, and 

 will do very well in a night temperature 

 of 50 degrees. But for wintering most 

 of them a much lower temperature will 

 do; and give them little water during 

 the dark months. 



While propagation by offsets is much 

 the easiest plan, they can all be raised 

 from seed, which is best sown in very 

 early spring. The following list in 

 cludes the most useful as well as hand 

 some species: 



C. sempervivum, house leek; per 

 fectly hardy. 



C. gibbiflora metallica, fine for cen 

 ter of carpet beds, or worthy of pot cul 

 ture; broad, thick leaves of a metallic 

 hue. 



C. agavoides, beautiful form, resem 

 bling an agave, with sharp points to the 

 leaves; one of the handsomest. 



C. Calif ornica, fine form; good for 

 carpet bedding. 



C. glauca, leaves form a dense ro 

 sette; largely used. 



C. secunda glauca, this is the one 

 most in use; does well in any soil, is 

 easily and rapidly propagated, and for 

 carpet bedding is un*jjualed; there are 

 several varieties, all useful. 



Some recent experience with this va 

 riety so largely used is worth recording. 

 Our park department, having many thou- 



